Coaching for PhD students

You are the focus of all attention.
A skillful coach is able to show you the way by listening to both your spoken and unspoken words.
An attentive coach can guide you navigating through any fog.
A master coach would let you sail on your own calm and rough waters of any depth.

This stepwise approach is the ultimate aim of coaching.

You are resourceful. You are capable. You are whole.
Your coach digs into this almost infinitive resource that is already inside of you. By bringing it out, the coach takes you outside of your point of view with somehow limited sight.
By letting you grow in all aspects of your life (psychological, physical, and social), and showing how to ‘detach’ emotionally from the problem, you will gain that eagle sight which will allow you to broaden much more your horizon.

The ultimate goal here is for you to become in charge.

As an adult, you have already a wealth of knowledge and experience.
Your coach will show you how to shift your search for answers from outside to inside of you.
Most of the times, the answer is already inside of you. Unawarely, you have already reached a conclusion. However, your conscious mind keeps you stuck on the issue you are facing.
Your coach will help you pivoting between your conscious and unconscious in order to bring out the answers you are looking for.

This is an almost paradigm shift in thinking.

When interacting with others, we tend to take on our shoulders far more that we can chew.
It is fine to be of help for others. It is right to strive tending a helping hand to our loved ones.
However, we are not paid for being firefighters. Yet, for most of our days we simply act like firefighters.
Your coach will help you understand how you can weed out those unnecessary tasks. You will also learn to spot people who abuse of your kindness and how to deal with them

This is probably by far the single most important part to improve your overall performance. At work and in private settings too.

You are not your worst enemy.
Your Inner Critic is analytical, very rational, and can be extremely cautious. Your Inner Critic is a perfectionist and will always highlight your weaknesses.
To make things worse, you can also have Outer Critics. They might reinforce the voice of your Inner Critic.
Your coach will show you how to dramatically shrink your Inner Critic and keep a bay your most difficult Outer Critics.

With time, this fine balancing act will allow you thriving by befriending yourself.

Your coach has a moral duty to help you in helping yourself.
Coaching is not about mentoring or counselling.
The coach primary goal is like a builder who gets called on a site and, after having heard what to build, he would look around the site to gather what is available and build with those.

Over time, you will learn how to become this skillful and wise builder.