What do you do?
Occasionally I get asked, “What do you do for a living?” And what that really means is: what field are you in, what’s your job?
Not long ago, I would have answered, “I’m in IT.” It’s a huge field, but mostly that sentence was enough. If someone wanted to know more, I’d go a bit deeper, since the field can cover many different areas.
Nowadays, having switched career paths, my answer is different when being asked what I do: “I’m a coach.” And that doesn’t necessarily make it easier. People often say, “Hm... what kind of coach? A sports coach? What do you coach?”
There are all these nice words we like to use in coaching, but to someone who doesn’t know the field, they can sound strange or still not give any real clue. It’s a bit like: Okay, but I still don’t know what you actually do.
So instead of explaining coaching, I’d like to share…
Knowing before knowing
When I started my coaching journey, I didn't really know what to expect.
It was more of a sense. A stirring. Something was up and I couldn't quite name it yet.
I had worked most of my professional life in IT—starting on the business side and growing into different roles over the years. And through all of it, I always had this quiet feeling that something was missing.
I knew it.
But honestly, I never acted, because I didn't know what to do with that sense.
And I never asked for help.
I mean—who could have answered what was missing, when I didn't even have the question yet?
The reasons were never mine
What makes a decision the right one?
I remember sitting at my desk on a Friday, years ago, already dreading Monday. Not because the weekend was too short, but because two days felt like nothing against everything waiting for me when it ended.
I was still in my probation period. Everyone told me to push through. Stick to it for two years, then switch departments. You're secure. You already have a job. You've changed companies too many times. It will look bad on your CV…
Those were the reasons people gave me to stay.
But the reasons were never mine.
Five months in, I came to the office as I did every day, not knowing what the day would bring. I sat down at my desk and decided, enough.
Earth Day - a reflection from the inside out
Rest is Part of Growth
Life fills up fast. I think most of us know and experience this at some point.
There are appointments, school runs, deadlines, grocery lists, and somewhere in between all of that - actual work. We wear so many hats in a single day: Taxi driver, nurse, organiser, cook, listener, scheduler. And often somewhere at the bottom of that list: ourselves.
I know this from my own life. Not as a theory, but as a reality. And I wouldn't want to miss a single thing out of this.
And still, I look outside, take time. At the Rhine meadow near where I live in Cologne / Köln, where I took this photo. And I notice something.
Nature is not rushing.
The wildflowers aren’t rushing. The grass…