No time to write?
Here’s the one coaching question that will free you up again
A few weeks ago I was thrown off when a friend asked how the book was going.
For too long the answer has been “It’s not.”
But for a couple of months I’d been getting back to writing, one day a week. It’s been painful, and also good, and I was seeing slow progress.
So I grimaced, and told him about writing on Saturday mornings. Then it spilled out how sad I was that I can’t seem to go any faster. This book wants out — it’s physically painful to have it going so slowly. I lamented that between work and everything that needs doing for the kids, I’m not able to find more time.
Peter said he was about to ask something really annoying. So I braced myself.
“Is that really true?”
A disbelieving ‘Excuse me?!’ shot through my mind. But since I love and trust my friend, I shushed my thoughts and listened.
In coaching situations this is the question that usually leads. A person is stuck, they can’t make progress on some area of their life, and they feel out of options. Coaches use “Is that really true?” because it unlocks all that. It lets you imagine, if it wasn’t true, what would that look like?
