Learning to Slow Down: An ITD Coaching Case Example

From ITD coach Jenny Petersen, MoxieQuest Coaching

My coaching client, an up-and-coming leader, was focusing on how to slow down and create a more sustainable work week. He was tired of sacrificing his time for others work and he wanted to run his day vs it running him.

In previous sessions, we talked about his people pleaser so I asked if he’d be willing to try something a little bit different. He said yes!

I asked him to think about his people pleaser and to share with me the internal messages. He shared - not wanting to be replaced or overlooked, not being valued, wanting to bring value, and that he often felt like an impostor. I asked him about the energy level of the people pleaser and he shared that he was running on reserves. Then I asked if this part of him had a name. He said, “Yes, it’s called Pete.”

Next, I asked if there was an opposite of Pete and he laughed and said, “Yes, Vinnie.” So he told me about this character in a negative framework - Flaky, unreachable, at home taking a nap, goes for a walk in the middle of the day, takes care of himself, does what he wants to do no matter what.

I asked if Vinnie had any redeeming qualities - like taking a nap. How could it help him if he listened to Vinnie a bit more? He took a big pause and shared that he lost half of his paid time off last year because he didn’t take it. He went on to say Vinnie might be able to help him take time for himself - schedule time off - no computer, no phone, no work etc.

Then we played with turning the volume up and down on Pete and Vinnie and thinking through how that might help him.

He left the session with an assignment to work more with Vinnie and plan out his vacations - days off to charge his batteries.

At the end I shared about ITD and what we had just done. His reply was perfect - “There are probably many more parts in there that we could explore !”