My inspiration to become a Life Coach
For
my background, I worked for 17 years in BNP Paribas, and my last role was as
the Asian Equities and Derivatives Strategist. I had an idea to be a Life Coach
when some colleagues sought my opinions regarding their work situation and
career development. I realized people working in a competitive and demanding
work environment need assistance and support. Besides, they sought me for
assistance had made me aware that they trust my analytical skills, value my
expertise, and believe I will keep things confidential.
Before
I quit BNP Paribas, my colleague introduced an interesting concept to me –
Human Design. I was inspired. I discovered it could generate personalised
Jovari charts, which reveal our unique nature and potential based on our birth
date, time, and place. This tool is also useful in exploring individuals’
innate talents, strengths, and weaknesses. My curiosity drove me to discover
more about myself.
Human Design
Luckily,
I got an opportunity to learn from Joyce Huang - the founder of Human Design
Asia (https:/humandesignasia.org), who initially translated the Human Design
books from English into Chinese. I
attended her two-day Level 1 Human Design course in Hong Kong in late 2017 and
started to learn about my innate abilities. I found it interesting and
inspiring, and I believe it is quite accurate. I have six channels which are my
natural talents; one key channel is the 2-14 which can assist people find their
ways. Indeed, I believe I probably applied this channel in my work as a
strategist and if I become a Life Coach, I could help in giving guidance and
support to others. I also have the 39-55 channel which gives me sensitivity. I
believe I can transform this innate ability into writing to influence people.
In addition, I got the 6-59 channel, which allows me to build rapport and earn
trust from others. My coachees confirmed that I have this ability as they trust
me naturally when we meet the first or second time; this ability enhances my
coaching effectiveness.
In
early 2018, I took another course about nurture in Human Design as I wished to
understand my husband and my kids better because I found getting along with
them wasn’t straightforward. It added new perspectives, helping me to
understand and accept our differences. My awareness and acceptance of our
differences increased, which led to improvements in our relationships although
the changes weren't instantaneous and remains a continuous process.
Online learning platform – Coursera
During
the COVID lockdown in the UK, I wanted to do something meaningful, so I studied
a course “Finding Purpose and Meaning in Life” by the University of Michigan
via the online platform Coursera.org. I was attracted by the name of the course
which was something I wanted to pursue. The key takeaway was about two forms of
happiness: hedonic and euiadomic. The former is for self-fulfilment, and the
latter is for self-transcendence. Most people need only hedonism while I need
both types of happiness. Therefore, I kept thinking about how I could achieve a
meaningful life.
During
the COVID lockdown, other than studying, I also wrote and published two
articles – “Multiple Intelligences” and “Developing Important Skill Set”. I
enjoyed writing and sharing insights. At the same time, I found that I was not
knowledgeable enough to write about life topics and work skills concepts.
Therefore, I was keen to study further.
I remember a similar feeling when my ex-boss (an Asian Equity
Strategist) asked me to write strategy reports in 2000 - I didn’t know where to
start. To write better, I needed to equip myself with broader knowledge and
with in-depth understanding. After gaining more ideas about the economic and
financial parameters, I was able to generate interesting and insightful
writeups. I knew it was not a complicated process, but it would take time to
acquire knowledge.
When
our family returned to Hong Kong in the summer of 2022, we had to quarantine
for 7 days. Instead of watching Netflix or YouTube, I studied another course
via Coursera.org – “Positive Psychology: Resilience”, organised by the
University of Pennsylvania. Before going to Hong Kong, I had already decided to
take this course as I knew that it would be the perfect time for me to
concentrate on learning. It was supposed to be done in four weeks as a
part-time course, but it took me four days to finish. Under that situation, I
could only eat, sleep, and exercise in a small hotel room. I wanted to spend my
time meaningfully, or I would have a sense of phobia because the quarantine
process was a horrible experience for me. Since I have a constructive mindset,
I was determined to transform this uncomfortable situation into an opportunity
to learn.
I
choose resilience as a topic because I found my positivity and inner resilience
helped me to recover from adversity along my life journey. I relied on reading
to help me broaden my knowledge, add perspectives, and fine-tune my mindset. I
wanted to study to deepen my understanding of resilience and learn about
mechanisms that can be helpful in overcoming adversity. I knew that once I
accomplished that I would be able to help those without natural resilience
skills to overcome their hurdles. For instance, I encountered career setbacks
when my previous company requested me to move to compliance, which I had no
interest in doing. Since I could not find another role that I liked to do, so I
decided to leave. I was not unprepared for the challenge as I saw many
instances of restructuring in the finance industry. I accepted the situation
and moved on quickly because I understood ending something meant the beginning
of something else, and I believe I would develop another career. In my mind, I thought about being a Life
Coach and a blogger. A few years later, when I was operating the glass business
in the UK, COVID impacted our business; we promptly decided to hibernate it
which reduced our losses significantly. Besides, COVID also affected our family
emotionally as we had to contend with lockdowns and were stuck in the UK for
two years. I was not defeated by these challenges despite many unfavourable
situations; although I was frustrated, I maintained optimism and kept exploring
the way out.
Undergraduate Certificate in Coaching
After
we hibernated our business in early 2021, I decided to study coaching at the
Institute of Continuing Education at the University of Cambridge between
October 2022 to June 2023. The course opened my eyes to the coaching and
psychology world. It was inspiring. As a part-time course, it was quite
intense. I studied it almost full-time as they provided lots of reading, and
the professor said that although it was an undergraduate certificate course,
the amount of reading was equivalent to half of a degree course. I also
explored additional reading when I needed to write my assignments. In essence,
the quality of our assignments leveraged our amount of reading. I was new to
the subjects, therefore, I must spend more time checking the dictionary
and googling the terminologies. I completed the course with three assignments
of around 3800 words each, plus 20 hours of coaching practices with two pages
of coaching logs for each session. It was a great and valuable start to my
coaching journey even though I found it very challenging at the beginning.
After getting used to some concepts and terminologies, I found it less
difficult in term 2 and 3.
Initially,
I had five coachees support me in doing the 20 hours of coaching practice, but
I thought I hadn’t helped them completely. Therefore, I decided to devote
another 40 hours to ensure each of my coachees completed at least 6 coaching
sessions (1.5 hours per session). I adopt a holistic approach, other than their
focused areas, I also wanted to help them explore other aspects of their lives.
Ultimately, my goals were to support a few of them in their complete and sustainable
transformation and help a few with minor adjustments. Overall, I tried to help
them broaden their mindset and enhance their knowledge so that they become more
independent and confident. I kept
exploring various knowledge resources to help them expand their horizons. I
gradually accumulated and expanded my version of Coaching Approaches and
Frameworks and designed and finalised coaching structure guidelines and
checklist to cover SIX 1.5-hour sessions. During the coaching practice, my
coachees asked me whether I had the bandwidth to support more people as they
wanted to introduce their friends to me. I took it as an endorsement of my
coaching competence. One of the referrals is a Mandarin speaker who is also
fluent in English. I thought letting my coachees express themselves in their mother
tongue could lead to more in-depth communication which is crucial to coaching
effectiveness. I took this opportunity to practise my coaching skills in
Mandarin. After SIX 1.5-hour sessions, about 9 hours together, I felt both my
spoken and listening Mandarin had enhanced. Then, I asked her to introduce her
friend to me so that I could continue practising coaching in Mandarin.
My Coaching
I am
dedicated to encouraging, inspiring, and supporting my coachees on their
journey to achieve their goals. I encourage my coachees to self-actualise their
dreams by planning manageable steps. During the coaching process, I assist my
coachees in understanding themselves, recognising their strengths and
weaknesses, enhancing their self-awareness, and unlocking their potential. I
guide and encourage my coachees in their efforts to develop their life and career
strategies. With my positive thinking, I wish to influence my coachees to build
a positive and constructive mindset. Through sharing articles, I intend to help
them cultivate a growth mindset to pursue personal growth. After gaining
confidence and autonomy, they are empowered to tackle and overcome future
challenges independently.
Mentoring
As a
graduate of Lancaster's MSc in Finance program, I have actively participated in
the Lancaster University Career Mentoring Program since 2021. The university
also mapped me with students from different nations who study Economics,
Finance, Mathematics or Statistics. Last year, one of my students studied MORSE
(Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics), the subjects
that I also studied as an undergraduate. My mentees are usually keen to work in
finance, so they find my experience and information inspiring and useful. I aim
to provide support and inspiration to help them navigate the complexities and
overcome hurdles during their career exploration and development journey.
Further
exploration
During
my coaching and mentoring work, I also kept exploring new concepts and
perspectives for self-improvement. I believe the Positive Psychology Approach
fits into my belief; I strive to help my coachees build a positive,
constructive, and growth mindset. The approach promotes focusing on positive
emotions, taking constructive action, gaining awareness of the positive
consequences of a negative event, and reflecting and learning from mistakes. I
will continue broadening my knowledge and share them with my coachees.
To be a writer
I am
keen to write articles to share knowledge, thoughts, and experiences to inspire
people. I wasn't born to be a writer as my linguistic ability was average, but
I have evolved into one. My writing skills improved progressively during my 20
years of research in finance. My curiosity and analytical mind naturally drive
me to learn and to think thoroughly and deeply. Writing helps me organise my
thoughts into a meaningful narrative. I enjoy this satisfying process. Besides,
I am active in creating social media posts. I believe most people are busy, so
I wish to share concepts, insight, and wisdom, via attractive images and in a
few short paragraphs, which are easier to read and digest. I aim to catch their
attention, raise their curiosity, and entice them to explore further. My
objective is to get my readers on the path of personal growth.
Winner Lee
Life
Coach, Mentor, Writer
The original article was published on LinkedIn on May, 8 2024.
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