When I started this year, I signed up to do a Career Coaching course, and I completed this in April. It was supposed to be another skill  in my arsenal of skills that  help job seekers. However, I soon realised that I didn’t know my a**e from my elbow when it came to coaching, so I joined the Positive Success Groups Diploma in Life and Executive Coaching, with the intention of going forward and building my Job Magnets Academy.

The funny thing is, somewhere along the way, as well as learning about my values and how to honour them, learning what my true life purpose is and how my values and goals match up, I also found my passion. My passion is not just about helping people. My passion is about helping people declutter, and here’s the reason why. My own home is full to the brim. It takes time and energy to tidy and keep clean, but during the course I read Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying. Her core message was that if you didn’t love it and it wasn’t functional then it was just stuff, and it was time to let it go. I decluttered my wardrobe, generating 3 bin bags of stuff that went to the charity shop. Now when I look at my clothes, I can see what I have, and what I have, I really love. I found that I had 35 handbags, and have gone through them and now have 10. As I let go of this stuff, I noticed a shift in me. I started noticing that the things that meant most to me would be of no value to anyone else, and that the things that others valued, I simply didn’t. As a consequence, I’m more careful about what I bring into the house now.

The other book that I read was Greg McKeown’s Essentialism book. Wow. I loved that book. It’s one premise, “less but better” has become my mantra. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m letting go of anything that doesn’t tie in with my life purpose. So Karen Brown Training will gradually wind down. I’ll bring over blog posts that tie in with personal and professional development, but my new website will have 3 key areas:

• have less. Decluttering and minimalist living.
• do less. Focusing on what is essential to me, and hopefully, to you too. I’ll include any productivity hacks I come across too.
• be more. Personal and professional development posts. For example, learn about what values are and why they’re so important.

As a person who has been coached, I can honestly say that my dreams are bigger and my goals for 2016 now are: to be visible and authentic, to dream big and dare greatly (yes, I loved Brene Brown’s book too!). I’ve started to lose weight, because my dreams include speaking more and perhaps even some tv appearances, but they also doing things like zip lining and other more adventurous things. Somewhere along the way the girl who went up in a glider, helicopter and hot air balloon, who went scuba diving and tried anything got lost, but now I’ve found her again, and we’re going to have some fun!

As I move forward, you’re going to notice some changes, and I make no apology for this. My blog posts are going to be more honest, open and authentic. You’ll get to know me more, see my passion shine through and you’ll see me achieve my goals. As I declutter my home, you can join me on my journey. They’ll be no shame, because I want my future clients to understand that I’ve been there and I’m in no position to judge or shame someone else. Brene Brown states that the antidote to shame is kindness, empathy and compassion, and as I’ve discovered in the last few months, I have these in spades.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed and spread thin, if you home is not your sanctuary, then maybe we can have a chat, and see where it takes you.

One of the cornerstones of co-active coaching is that my clients are resourceful, creative and whole, so I’d just like to remind you that you are. You truly are.

Take care for now.

Karen