These are just a few of the comments I have received from some of the many clients that I have worked with:

Mrs. E. (Oxford)

• Firstly I would like to thank you for your time and input into what turned out to be a very useful and rewarding journey. I found all the exercises you gave to me to be beneficial, and the mere fact that I had been asked to focus my mind on what outcomes I wanted for myself served a very useful purpose. The most valuable thing to have come out of the sessions was my gradual though profound realisation that the obstacle in my way was my own lack of assertiveness in close personal relationships. As when one emotion is stifled - so are all the others affected, I do believe that when I have sorted my assertiveness skills, other areas of my life will fall into place in a more productive way and my subconscious will feel safe to allow me to progress with my new business. Whilst I have known that "something" in me has been stopping me from progressing because I "knew" something would get in the way of success, I did not know what this "something" was. Whether Life coaching as opposed the therapy has revealed this? - I have to say yes because throughout previous training and therapy I had not fully realised the impact of this in the present. Although difficult and challenging the process has resulted in a monumental shift in my approach to life. I do feel that I have at last found the answer to the question of why I couldn't progress. I am investigating assertiveness training, but in the meantime continuing with brining it to conscious awareness every day and making sure my language is both clear and without emotional loading. I'm not sure how this has occurred, but it has for which I am grateful. As to the level of training any life coach should have - I refer back to a previous feed back - I don't believe that if you had not had the experience and training that you have had, then I would still be wondering what my problem was. You knew when to go full on and when to back off, because of your training and experience, you knew what I was likely to respond to and what I was not - would that be true of anyone without sufficient training? - I don't think so.

• Once more Ian had to work with me on a “last minute agenda”. During the previous session we discussed a business I was setting up with a friend, and I was helped by Ian’s vast knowledge and experience in the subject to ask some rather difficult questions of both my friend and myself. This resulted in the breakdown of the business before it got off the ground, which saved me much time, money and heartache as by the very process of asking the pertinent questions I was afraid to ask, I realised that to set up in business with my friend was a huge mistake and would result in much unhappiness for us both. Once more then I contacted Ian only days before our next appointment and Ian asked me therefore to look at what motivates me, and to ask myself the questions “if I had a magic wand and could wish anything for myself, in reality, what would it be, what changes would I perceive and what changes would others perceive of me. I meditated on this and found that much of what motivates me was, in my mind, negatively orientated: For example duty, reliability and responsibility. Ian helped me to reframe this to what I perceived to be more positive ideals, such as dignity and purpose. I finally realised that with Ian I had been able to grow within myself into a realisation of what it was I wanted, as throughout my life I have always tried to do what others might expect of me – or what I thought they might expect. This has resulted in a lot of time spent developing gifts and skills, but when I come to use them I find myself in conflict and feel drained and alone. Ian has given me a much larger and intricate picture to work from. One in which I have finally found the courage to say that I don’t want to do it for others any more. I have also been able to come to the space where I can say that I want to get off the treadmill for a brief while so that what it is that motivates me can come from within, rather from guilt obsessed and driven thoughts and feelings. Much of what Ian has reminded me about myself, and the sharing of his knowledge and wisdom will, I feel, grow and develop inside of me, to enable me to choose a far more creative and fulfilling role in life than I would have done previously. I also feel this time as it will come from within the energy and commitment will not have to be dredged up from the depths, but will simply be available on demand. To get the best out of Life Coaching I feel you have to be totally honest and in this way it gives Ian the best possible opportunity to help in the right way. It has stretched me, challenged me and strengthened me in ways I didn’t expect and I feel a much happier and content person.

• The life coaching started during a period of my life when I felt just about able to maintain homeostasis, although not in danger of sliding too far down the scale. A combination of personal factors and short, cold, damp days where I live resulted in my seeking refuge by a blazing coal fire every evening, and in procrastinating. Ian's work began prizing me out of hibernation a couple of months earlier than I was prepared for. His empathy and understanding of my situation helped in the establishment of realistic goals and timescales, although I am aware that I was sometimes obstructive. I feel I have now moved forward and am approaching a personal breakthrough next term when I will be attending computer classes, something I have stalwartly resisted since the arrival of our first family computer in 1980. Ian's records of the sessions, better kept than mine, frequently reminded me of forgotten targets. Brainstorming helped me to come up with good solutions. I originally felt uncomfortable about the personal work, but by the end of the sessions I feel I have gained insight and created more order in my life. Things that had seemed like alien challenges, when treated like items on a supermarket shopping list, can be ticked off quite easily.

• The coaching sessions began with various preparation forms filled in and returned to he coach. From these forms certain goals were picked out and for the first 3 sessions were the main focus of the coaching. I have (had) a problem with procrastination in all areas of my life and difficulty committing myself to large workloads without clear and definite rewards and time restraints. Although the initial coaching sessions (first 3 of 6) were useful in looking at the specifics of the goals discussed, I felt that my problems are more generalised and that the specifics of these issues were not the "real" problem. With this in mind, and after some discussion of the forms filled out etc. the focus of the coaching changed to a more general goal setting and time management focus. We used the SMART action planning process, amongst other things, in order to set deadlines and target specific goals within specific time frames. The effect of this was immediate and powerful. Although I initially procrastinated over doing it, it has given me , for the first time in my adult life, clear aims and objectives to fulfil within certain deadlines, and, more importantly, a set of actions to put these goals in motion. Of specific note was an NLP process that the coach went through called well formed outcomes, in which a series of questions designed to analyse specific goals and their effects led to a discussion about my goals and, prompted by several suggestions from the coach, we agreed that I could fulfil my main goals by doing a specific piece of research and writing. I am excited and enthused by this in a way that I have rarely if ever, been about anything before. On reflection, I think this is due to the specificity of the task involved. I must thank my coach for his patience and adaptability in helping me. To sum up, although the coaching started in an exploratory way, and I did not achieve an awful lot in the first three sessions, I felt that once we were exploring more general issues in the last three, it provided me with the most useful strategies and advice that. I now have no excuses left.