Tuesday, August 17, 2010

MY TIME - By Darren Becket (Pepperdine Student)

When LIFE REVOLUTION came to Pepperdine University in the Spring of 2010 I was ecstatic to hear from a professional in the field of life coaching. They did a workshop in my class and we got to experience first hand what a life coach had to offer us, as well as tips to help relieve stress from parts of my life. Part of becoming a life coach means that you need to be coached as well as applying your skills in the field, because understanding what strategies work and those that do not is important when working with clients. After talking with the founder of LIFE REVOLUTION, Clark Souers, I wanted to feel what it was like being a client. At the time I didn’t expect to learn much about myself through a one on one session. I figured that this was a chance for me to learn about a career path that I was interested in.

Needless to say, when Clark and I met for our session I was blown away by what Clark had to say. Just by listening to me talk about the last year of my life Clark was successfully able to give me advice not only about achieving short term goals but making those short term goals long term habits. We called it my “beach mentality.”

After I stopped playing baseball at Pepperdine I found myself picking up every known hobby and business opportunity I could get my hands on, just to fill the free time I now had. I was making commitments to things that I didn’t have time for, and rushing to figure out a viable career path for myself. What I didn’t realize was that I was burning myself out.

After listening to me talk, Clark asked me to think of a moment when time didn’t seem apparent. You know, one of those days where time passes but you had no idea where it went. The first thing that came to mind was beach days with my family. Growing up two miles from the beach we would grab dinner to go, and walk down to the beach. Between digging massive holes in the sand and throwing the Frisbee with my dad time seemed to just fly by, and I could have cared less. That moment was my time.

What I found was that in my rush to find my dream career before I had graduated I had forgotten to enjoy the time in the present. And now, when I feel stressed out from pushing myself to hard, I remember back to those days when time passed freely without me realizing. I call it the “beach mentality.” To help remind myself of this I have a picture of a beach on my computer screen, and I try to spend more time at the beach between classes, because my time is worth every penny.