I never thought that becoming a coach would mean I might literally choose to walk over hot coals. This week I have the opportunity to challenge myself in that dramatic way. Walking on fire is the main event on the first day of a certain guru’s  coaching seminar, where thousands of people, including myself and my colleague, will participate in four life changing days in Long Beach, California.

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Why would anyone do such a crazy thing?

Becoming a coach involves a great deal of internal change and growth. It is an ongoing process of learning about yourself, about how you relate to other people and about what you can provide to support and help them in their personal or professional growth. But the first step really is about you. What motivates you? What stops you in your life? How can you get past the obstacles? How can you keep moving forward in the face of massive fear and uncertainty? If you don’t have the answers for yourself, how can you powerfully coach someone else through their challenges? That is what the fire walk is all about.

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Is becoming a coach a good enough reason?

The value of accomplishing the fire walk is in knowing that you can master your physiology and accomplish what you desire under any circumstance–in this case, even when the action you are taking goes against human nature. Once I have done the fire walk, the ordinary fears and challenges of life will seem trivial, or so I’m told. As desirable as that outcome is, I don’t think that becoming a coach is going to be enough on its own–it’s going to take some significant coaching to get me on those hot coals. And it will be a choice in the moment, like so many life choices are.

Whether or not I will choose to step onto the bed of coals, I don’t know. What I do know is that in becoming a coach and taking on that identity, I have already taken actions I would never have expected of myself and grown personally in surprising ways. Becoming a coach has expanded the boundaries of my comfort zone enough that the edge of the fire pit is in reach. At least now I have the opportunity to make a choice.

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Dorine G Kramer
JTS Advisors Certified Strategy and Accountability Coach