WHEN I LIST MY GOALS, I’m surprised by how often I hit the jackpot - like the first time I penned that I wanted to write a book. Months later, I got talking to the woman in front of me in a queue, who just happened to be the commissioning editor of a major publishing house and had my book proposal on her desk! Writing and sending out my proposal magnetised my goal from scattered thoughts swirling around my head to an action that was concrete and tangible. Neuroscientists refer to this as encoding.
Lately, career mapping has been high on the agenda of many coaching calls with clients. During the process, people make comments such as ‘I feel better now that it’s out of my head and on the page’ or ‘it’s not as difficult as I thought it would be’. Those remarks kick in when clients write down the actions that will move them from the now to the future. Using the prompt ‘I am…’ they record actions in writing as if they have already been taken and then say them out loud.
EDITED BY ELLEN TOUT. PHOTOGRAPH: LAURA RICHARDSON