Kalpana Khot

One of the ways I think we can help clients better is make them familiar with some of the central myths around coaching. The truth is, although business and executive coaching is fairly known, personal coaching is still in its infancy. And there are a tremendous amount of sticky sweet self help slogans out there that I believe do more harm than good. I believe we've created a narrative around coaching that involves creating some kind of perfect life,   in a perfect bubble, where everything is magical and everybody knows their purpose at every moment. The clients I have coached over the years have all had central themes that haunted them in moments of doubt: "I'm not good enough." "What right do I have to be doing this work?" and "I can barely get it together myself." We've all been there, and that's ok, it goes with the territory. But I have arrived at a conclusion I think is more helpf...

FOCUS ON YOUR FEELINGS, NOT ONLY YOUR GOALS !! Contrary what we've been told, achieving our goals does NOT give us lasting happiness. Working towards and achieving goals is the PURSUIT of happiness. Because eventually the euphoria wears off and then we're back where we were before. What will give you LASTING   happiness is learning to deal confidently with difficult situations, feelings and emotions... That's not to say we shouldn't have goals. I'm a coach - I LOVE goals! But what's absolutely critical to our LASTING happiness is not goals, but how we deal with life's inevitable problems. Imagine for a moment that you are a billionaire. You can have anything you want. And while some goals may take a while to achieve, you'd have the money and influence to get the best experts in the world to teach or help you, and be able to keep trying without fear of financial consequences. You can pay people to do anything you don't like to do - hou...

A woman approached me during last winter, she was facing an excess of challenges in the different roles she was playing in her life and wished to consolidate her leadership position. Post the first consultation,I could sense the leadership potential this women was holding within her which needed an impetus by her own self to be unleashed. So she started taking challenging leadership roles that included longer commitments and   Travel.   While satisfying in many ways, her work was draining as she learned a new role in a new environment and on the other hand was also gearing up to accelerate her primary business. Then crisis struck, just when she was looking forward to her time off over the summer break, her strategic planning & executive abilities were needed in another area of her business. She had been brought in to 'turn the ship around' and her typical day now includes putting out fires, sometimes literally! She spent her holiday time juggling between...

Client: Reeta* (* name changed for privacy) a Young Architect, having her own firm, practicing for 3 years graduated with Degree with one of the top Architectural Universities. Back Ground: For a young and effervescent 31 year old Reeta, born and brought up in an independent family & free environment where she believed speaking her mind and following her instincts to make decisions was a way of life. Things went helter-skelter post her marriage which was not in concurrence with her parents wishes. A typical case in Indian Society where the women is made to feel guilty for her decisions pre and post marriage and in the interim faces emotional as well as cultural challenges from the environment which creates a sense of loss of identity in herself. This leads to a collapse first in the inner states and effects relationships as it’s difficult to interact with people because of their perceptions about her. At every juncture then she has to prove herself and it becomes a bur...

The Transforming Power of Coaching – Kalpana Khot THE SITUATION Neha seemed to have all the external trappings of a successful life. Married to a successful man, a wonderful child, a successful career with an MNC. But her marital relationship was all a facade that she tried to maintain for as long as she could. The constant mental abuse and pressure of managing all her responsibilities started taking a massive toll on her emotional health. One day, she walked away from her marriage and took her advocate’s advice of leaving her job so she could claim higher alimony for their child. Without a job she had no choice but to shift to her parent’s home. THE PROBLEM STATE The once chirpy, happy-go-lucky girl was now dull, self-doubting, emotionally crippled, financially dependent. Her self-esteem had tanked, and she was fearful of taking even a single step towards the future, which appeared to be in total darkness. Her isolation was complete when she started having difficu...

How Transformation Coaching helped a Client to Bounce Back , Take ownership of her E ntrepreneurial Abilities, take LEAD and Unlock Possibilities My name is Smita (name changed for privacy purpose) and I have been an entrepreneur for 20 years. I started with direct marketing, then began advising as a financial planner and achieved tremendous success there. At one point I had crossed 500+ clients and was awarded in the Life / General Insurance segments multiple times by esteemed financial institutions. Since my early age my passion was to create my name as an entrepreneur but also had a strong desire to empower women, and with that intent I launched her day-care center and then a pre-school. For a decade, both my financial and educational work flourished.  But the last few years were challenging because of some emotional issues that started to fuzzy my thinking and the stress led me to doubt myself. I closed the pre-school center and continued with the day care...

For most part of my personal journey has been exhilarating and rewarding. Yet, identifying and creating personal choices has been difficult too. The price paid to keep my opinions live was not always worth it. While often labelled as an expert in being straightforward and clear, I felt the pressure to live up with what I put up in words. I wanted to be a model for others. Indeed, there were times when I could actually do that. At other times I pretended while I disintegrated inside. At that time, it became evident to me that real assertion had to begin within. My goal was to clarify my values, likes and dislikes, and most of all become comfortable with my inner self. The person within me knew what to do. I had to open to what she was telling me. But what if it meant risking change? Among the most difficult risk for me are those in my career. Much of my identity and security are tied up to my professional life. I had made three major career moves overall from my C...