What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit
of Calling, the podcast that provides you with
the strategies and tools needed to successfully
discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's
through inspiring stories, thought -provoking
interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on
personal growth and development, we've got you
covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy
the episode. I live with chronic pain every single
day of my life. I used to think it as a curse,
and now I know it's a blessing. Back in 2019,
I went to my first doctor's appointment for pain,
excruciating pain in my hand. To the point where
I couldn't work. I couldn't use my hand to type
on my keyboard. And as a developer, I kind of
need that function of my hand. As time went on,
I started to believe. That my pain was on purpose
as my pain increased and my condition progressed.
I fell into a rut of not even trying to try because
I didn't see the point. I was having thoughts
like, I'm in pain all the time. I don't know
why. My job sucks because no one there cares.
And I was at the point in my life where I was
thinking. I was just, my God, my God, why have
you forsaken me? I didn't, I didn't, I was like,
did I do something wrong? What did I do? Is my
faith not strong enough in order to be healed?
But God, through his infinite wisdom, through
these trials, these mental and physical trials,
he's grown me more than I could have ever thought
or imagined. And even though I have a lot more
room to grow, I think that's the best part. And
as I've, as through the last like five, six years
of having chronic pain and learning about my
condition, I've also been growing personally.
I've been really into personal development, personal
growth. And that even started before. my condition
really started taking its toll. I believe God
was setting me up because he knew what was coming.
And as I've been going on this path of personal
growth and development, I knew, I learned that
I wanted to be an entrepreneur. And where I landed
after multiple different attempts of trying to
do different things, I landed on becoming a life
coach. And a life coach, you know, that phrase,
that career path is, it's seen amazing by some
and by others, it's snake oil. And maybe you're
one of those people that see it that way. And
I think that's understandable because I think,
I know that there's a lot of people out there
that self label themselves as a life coach. without
certifications, without really knowing what it
means. And they dulled down what it means to
water down what being a life coach actually is.
So the goal of this episode is to identify, is
sorry, to demystify my coaching, why I do it
and for who. So whenever I decided to be a coach,
I decided to be a coach because I know that God
has blessed me with a unique experience that
I believe is extremely valuable to people. He's
also blessed me with a drive for personal growth.
For instance, if I were coaching you, it would
be a one -on -one conversation, a conversation
all about you, about your goals, about what you
want out of your life and why. What vision do
you believe God is giving you for your life?
What is your calling? That's what we get to talk
about during these amazing, thought -provoking
conversations. And the result of coaching is
that you get from where you are to where you
want to be faster. It's like trading your punch
bug for a Lamborghini. It's like if we wanted
to get from here in Pittsburgh to California.
on an airplane versus a car you're going to get
there faster now i'm going to say this nobody
actually needs a coach might be a weird thing
to say but when you hire a coach it's not because
you need one it's because you want one because
you want to get from where you are to where you
want to be faster than you would alone nothing
great has ever been done by one person There's
always a team. There's always people supporting
you. There's always people holding somebody accountable.
For instance, I had a client who wanted to write
a children's book. And it's funny because I knew
her for years before that. I had no idea. She
put it on her intake form and signed up for three
months of coaching. By the end of those three
months, she had a full finished draft and a partner
that she met at work. a partner to work on this
book with. And I couldn't have been more happy
because every week she came to the sessions thinking,
saying that she didn't think we had much to talk
about. She didn't think she didn't say, I didn't
do that much. And I was like, Courtney, I got
permission to tell her story. I would say, we're
going to, we're going to fill this session. Now
we always do. You say that every week. We always,
you always, I either give you, you're always
leaving with homework. You're always, you're
always coming to me with something you did or
maybe something you didn't do. And that's a great
part of coaching. Because even whenever you don't
do something you say you're going to do, the
coach holds you accountable. And then we figure
out why. Why did you not follow through? Maybe
the goal wasn't realistic that we set the week
before. I just want to give you a little taste
of what can happen in three months. A full finished
draft of a book is amazing. And I've coached
other people with different goals and they're
always exceeding their own expectations because
nobody understands, nobody knows what they're
capable of until they're truly held accountable
by the way they're held accountable through coaching.
Now, who do I coach? I coach other people, others
whose life has also presented them with circumstances
that are outside of their control. Kind of like
chronic pain or muscular dystonia. But they know
God has a calling on their lives, and they are
wondering aimlessly through life, trying to live
that calling out. Is that you? You have big goals,
but you believe because of your life circumstances
that maybe that goal that you had set, that vision
you have for your life, maybe that's for somebody
else. Maybe that's a pipe dream that's not possible.
Maybe that's not for you anymore. Right now,
what that is, is that you're letting your circumstances
define your calling instead of letting God do
that. God defines your calling, not your circumstances.
Place God on the throne of your life. Now, I'm
not saying this to condemn anyone. I'm saying
this because this is what I did. I did this to
myself. And I believe if I would have had a coach
sooner, I would have... not only found my calling
I not only understood that maybe what I was aiming
for wasn't maybe what I was aiming for was too
small but I also realized how much I was actually
capable of and I still don't believe I know and
that's exciting again just like there's no ceiling
to how much you can grow I don't think there's
any ceiling to how much we can achieve we can
just keep going So think about that. That's pretty
much this episode. I wanted to tell you who I
coach, why I coach. I coach people whose life
circumstances are starting to define your calling.
You let them define your life, but you know there's
more, and you're striving to live out the calling
that God has for you. Maybe that's entrepreneurial.
Maybe it's career. Maybe it's finding out what
that calling is at all and then pursuing that
with the excellence that God calls us to. And
if that's something that sounds interesting to
you, if you want to get from where you are to
where you want to be faster, I have something
for you, a free one -on -one discovery coaching
call. I get to know you, you get to know me,
and we are going to dive right in to your goals.
We dive right into where you want to be so I
can leave you with an actionable plan to start
pursuing your calling well. All right, if you've
listened to this full episode, I want to thank
you and I want to ask you again to click the
link down in the description that would take
you to my calendar to sign up for the one -on
-one coaching call. And if you're on, if you
use social media, go ahead and share this episode
out. wherever you use social media and share
it with your friends, share it with somebody
that you believe would find this beneficial.
And don't forget to leave a five -star review,
a Spotify, a podcast, wherever you listen. Guys,
I'll see you next time. Don't keep pursuing your
calling. Do it well. I'll see you next time.