You will find a sample of success stories below that have been included on the site to provide you with evidence of my effectiveness as a coach. All of these success stories are genuine - the names have been excluded to protect the confidentiality of the individuals I have worked with.
Fears and Phobias Success Stories
“I had lived with a fear of the dark/night-time for virtually half of my life (over twenty years). I tried so often to get help especially when my fear was at its worst and affecting my life so badly that I felt I was trapped in this life of fear with no way forward and no-one to help me. No-one seemed to understand what it was like living like this, but the fear was very real for me.
My children have been very good, taking it in turns, making sure I was never on my own at night, but they are all grown up now and have their own lives and their own children and I couldn’t expect them to be there to "baby sit" me every night because I was too scared to be on my own.
As I said, I tried to get help over the years, but felt downhearted to be told yet again to "pull yourself together" or to just leave the light on at night, or don't be so stupid if only they knew how I really felt.
When I saw the My Life Coach advertisement spotted Fears and Phobias, I read how the coach had helped other people achieve their goals in life, overcome obstacles, maybe he could help me.
I have had two sessions and can't begin to tell you how I feel, with the coach’s help I am no longer scared at night and I must admit I didn't realise it was so easy for me once given the right tools. I feel as if a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I am now free of the fear that has affected my life so badly for so long.
The coach was very understanding of how I felt and knew instantly how he could help me and I am so grateful that he has given me my life back.”
“After having a few sessions over the phone with my coach, my life has dramatically begun to change!
I have suffered with agoraphobia, social phobia and emetophobia (vomiting) phobia for a few years now and have tried many different therapies which never seemed to work and some cases, even made my phobias worse!
First of all doing the sessions over the phone made me feel in control and at ease and with my coach really listening to what my problems were and what I wanted out of the sessions, we were able to work together to do quick and easy NLP exercises which truly were both fun and very effective!
After years of only being able to go on very short little walks once every blue moon, I have made unbelievable exiting steps forward on to the life path I choose for myself. This past month I have been on 25-30 minute dog walks, both by myself and with a family member, I have stayed at my Mum's house three times and I hadn't even been able to attempt to go over to her house in nearly a year! I have also been able to have people come round which I used to get panicky about before and I have recently been into five shops in the space of a fortnight both by myself and with a family member! I cannot describe to you the weight I feel has been lifted off my shoulders! I now feel in control, confident, happy and importantly I know and believe that I deserve to be happy! I don't even mind walking past people on walks or waiting in a queue at the shops which is a complete turn around for me! I know now that after having a few sessions with my coach I am truly freeing myself of long years of ways of thinking and reacting in a way that I had 'learned wrong'!
I am so glad I came across the My Life Coach site as after a few fun, easy and effective sessions, I have been freed of nearly eight years worth of misery and pain for both myself and those close to me.
I am now looking forward to booking a holiday for the spring time, planning a shopping trip for the after Christmas sales, enrolling on a couple of courses I intend on going to go to in the new year! The excitement and endless possibilities of all the things I know I can now do is literally unfolding before me and I cannot describe how wonderful that feels! Thank you very much!”
“I started speaking to Darren five months ago. At that time, I had very low self esteem, a lack of confidence and willpower. I would have scored myself four out of ten on how I was feeling.
Since then Darren has been able to sort out a lot of issues for me, long term issues from my childhood and now I can look back at the event with no emotion at all. I have changed a lot since speaking to Darren, I feel a lot more confident and I have the willpower to challenge myself and set goals.
Darren is very friendly and easy going. Sometimes it doesn't feel like an hour has gone on the phone, chatting to him! I now score myself on how I am feeling at eight out of ten and by the time we finish it could be even more.”
Health, Fitness and Weight Loss Success Stories
“From being scared to go to the gym, I am now there at least three times a week and have no concerns whatsoever. I am healthier and happier than ever before, and am living a fulfilling and well rounded lifestyle.”
“Since giving up smoking two years ago weight had gradually been piling up. Before Christmas I decided it was time to do something about this. I had an introductory session with a coach who offered techniques that helped motivate me. He helped me to understand all the bad things that could happen if I did not lose some weight (depressing, but useful) and helped me to understand all the great things that would happen if I did. I set a target to lose one and a half stone before Easter. I have remained focused and so far I am nearly half way towards my target. I am feeling great and very positive.”
“I had tried loosing weight numerous times previously but this time was different as Darren suggested I try Paul McKenna’s “I can make you thin” programme. The programme made sense to me, is easy to stick to and has provided results as well as something that is easy to maintain. I have consistently used the programme on a daily basis and it has now become my new way of life. I have lost two dress sizes without much difficulty and have increased my fitness as well as being able to cope better with an early menopause at age 46.
Darren also helped with useful tips to help me motivate myself to exercise more and I now enjoy going to the gym 4 -5 times a week.
I would recommend Darren’s methods to anybody wanting to loose weight in a sensible, healthy and lasting way.”
Career Success Stories
“Although I had the usual ‘why me’ moments, I was more than happy when I was made redundant. Someone had finally made the decision for me and was paying me! But I was conscious that I wanted to maximise the potential and opportunity to change the balance of my life. If I really wanted to work long hours, then I wanted it to be my decision, based on choices measured against my own yardsticks, not someone else’s.
My life coach enabled me to work through the issues. He challenged me to think about things – making me work at the answers, rather than coming out with the usual half thought platitudes. This isn’t someone giving you the answers; this isn’t someone you can use as an excuse when things don’t go according to plan. This is someone who will help you dig out the answers that you already have – your answers that will help you take responsibility for what you do; your answers that will teach you to value who you are and to be amazed at what you can achieve.
We all have great potential and a lot of it goes unused and unappreciated by the most important person in our lives – ourselves. Sometimes we need some help finding the right keys to turn. What a waste if I hadn’t taken up the offer of help.”
Case Study: From Fast-Tracked Manager To Travel Writer - by Marie-Louise Cook
as featured in Personal Success magazine www.theacademyclub.com
Before he discovered life coaching, Dave was on a fast-track to senior management at work but felt as if he was being railroaded into a career he wasn’t sure he wanted.
‘I was being pushed into a management role and heading into a senior management leadership team. I was working far too many hours and starting to wonder if this was it, if this was what I would be doing for the rest of my working life. I was thinking surely I should be happy that I had this career but I wasn’t. I was so bogged down and blinkered. I was in a hole with no light. It felt like, “This is it, this is me now.” I had been caught in a bit of a maelstrom – I was either working or sleeping.
‘My housemate at that time suggested I speak to Darren. He’d been to see him and thought it would help me too. He thought I was starting to disappear within myself.
I spoke to Darren and we had a single session and he ran through some exercises about my current priorities and what I would like them to be. I could see just from that one exercise that I wasn’t concentrating on stuff I really enjoyed. I never really took the time to stop and evaluate what I was doing. The exercises gave me the opportunity to just see things from different angles, to see what I thought I could do better and to think about whether I could stick on my career path or whether there was something else that I wanted to do. When I re-evaluated what I’d like to be doing, my two main priorities were travelling and writing.
‘It is a bit of a strange process because Darren never suggested anything. I just worked through the exercises and it started to become clear. I could look at it objectively and say, “Hold on. I am following a path because it’s there and it’s not what I want to do at all.”
Directive coaching would not have worked for him. ‘I think if Darren had said, “I know what you want to do. You want to go travelling and writing so you need to quit your job,” I would have thought “No way.” I’d have rallied against it even if it was something ultimately I wanted to do. Darren helps me to retain focus on what I have decided is going to be my goal and helps me to put goals in place within that but at no point is he saying, “You have to do this.” He prods me to start thinking about it myself.
‘I made the decision about leaving my job and travelling about six months ago. Since then, my sessions with Darren have been about keeping on track because I work better to a timetable.
‘I finish up my job in a couple of weeks and then fly to America. I’ll spend three months there and then go into Mexico. I’ll be writing a travel blog and submitting articles to magazines, websites and any publications to build up a portfolio.
‘Coaching helped me look at the way I am living my life as opposed to the way I want to live my life. It’s all about giving me a bit more structure to my day and channelling my energies into different things. Being coached gives me the ability to step away from what I am doing and evaluate it, to understand why I have done the things I have and what I am going to do in the future.’
“I found the coaching I received very helpful. The regular sessions helped to keep me on track with my goals, and it was useful to set regular actions for myself that could then be reviewed at the next session. The coaching style was very positive and motivating, and helped me to challenge what I thought I was capable of. When I was facing situations I was concerned or worried about, for example confronting my manager about a problem, we used the coaching sessions to talk through different ways of approaching the situation, coming up with strategies, and preparing myself so that I felt confident to tackle the situation.”
Time Management Success Stories
“The techniques I learnt were straight forward to apply. I use them to establish priorities, set goals, and plan actions. It is an incredibly motivating approach. By committing to spending a small amount of time on a weekly basis I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could achieve that previously I would have thought impossible.”
“I was faced with a major challenge juggling a full time job with two masters degrees. It was good to talk openly with my coach about the difficulties I faced and the pressure that I was under. The first thing we did was to understand my current situation. We estimated the amount of work that was required, looked at the various options for approaching it and put a plan in place to move me forward. My coach helped me think in a more structured way and prioritise my time more effectively. I would recommend the services of My Life Coach to others who face challenges and need support to help them get to their destination.”
“The techniques I received from my life coach helped me to prioritise my very busy lifestyle. Before the coaching I felt like I could not fit everything into my week, whereas now I can prioritise what is important and what isn't. I have a different outlook on life now and feel more in control of my time. Overall I found my coaching sessions very helpful.”
Business Coaching Success Stories
Case Study: From Lecturer To Business Owner - by Marie-Louise Cook
as featured in Personal Success magazine www.theacademyclub.com
Jenny was a qualified counsellor, specialising in anger management, but had moved away from that career into full-time lecturing in mental health. At the time she found Darren Cockburn’s Life Coaching advertisement, she was unhappy in her work but unsure what her options might be.
‘I didn’t really have a goal in mind – I just wanted to be able to sound off to someone really: “Here I am in this position. Give me some guidance to where I might be able to go.”
‘At the end of the first call, I felt so motivated.’
Telephone coaching suited her schedule whereas face-to-face coaching would have meant an additional hour of travelling to and from the appointment. ‘I knew I had an hour when I could make the space available.
‘I had about 10 sessions. Initially the sessions were an hour long but as I started to get my business going and become more involved in it, I didn’t need the full hour so we would ‘bank’ the remaining half hour and use it another time. I found that flexibility really helpful.
‘During the session I would write notes but afterwards, Darren would email me with a list of action points that we’d agreed on. It was great because I might have missed something that we had agreed was part of the action plan.’
The first few sessions took place on a weekly basis but were then moved to once every fortnight and then every month. Now Jenny books a session when she needs it.
‘I’ve left my full-time job and started my own company, Counselling Solutions and I counsel people one to one and by email and online and do training within organisations. I love it. I’m much happier. ‘I’m making around the same level of income and working less hours. It’s great.
‘I made the decision to resign from full-time employment quite early on in the coaching sessions, probably within the first two or three weeks. Darren helped me to look at what my exit criteria needed to be because I would be going from a full-time salary to the vulnerability of working for myself. I have commitments so he helped me to look at what I needed to do to make the transition. In the beginning, I was all guns blazing, thinking “I’m going to hand my resignation in now” which would have been a totally wrong move. Darren helped me to look at the consequences of doing that and to look at other options and as a result I spent six months preparing and left my job in September.
‘One of the things I hadn’t thought about was the consequences of me giving up a full-time job and putting in extra hours to build my own business would have on my role as wife and mother. Darren helped me to clarify the effects it would have and to talk to those it was going to effect and get support from them where I might need it and so everyone was comfortable with my decision. I wouldn’t necessarily have thought how it would impact other people.
‘Darren helped with me to look at other areas of my life too – things like my exercise and diet. He explained that because I was working at full pace, I needed to be sure that my body was up to that. I now make sure I have regular breaks and take time out for lunch and exercise on a daily basis. I wasn’t exercising before but I do now. It’s great. I do have much more energy.
‘My husband has built a small gym for us at the end of the garden so I go and spend half an hour on the running machine and do some weights. I didn’t need to lose weight but I have definitely toned up.’
‘Without life coaching, I think I would have still been procrastinating. It gave me clarity and courage and above all, it motivated me. We worked on a business plan with projected hours and projected income so it took it from being an idea in my head into something that had a reality to it. Once I could see it was workable it gave me motivation.
‘I recommend life coaching to everybody. I have thought about doing life coaching training myself… I think it will be something that I do in the future.’
“I found Darren's coaching style to be both positive and challenging, bringing out the best in me. I had several 'aha moments' during our session and numerous opportunities opened up to me. I appreciated Darren's honest, non-judgemental and dynamic approach.”
“My Life Coach enabled me to really think about how I could progress my business and enabled me to plan the changes in manageable stages. More than anything he prevented me from my usual habit of procrastinating by encouraging me to set achievable goals, focus and refine these goals. I am pleased to say that my business is progressing in the direction I had hoped.”
“I started the coach mentoring with Darren during the early stages of my life/career coaching business. The production of my website was made so much easier with the help of Darren as he was able to share his knowledge and experience and ensured I kept focused on achieving the results I wanted. This has allowed me to move my business forward and take it to the next level.”
“The coaching I received from My Life Coach helped me to set well formed business goals, which have fed into a steady improvement in revenue. The session I had also made me get things into perspective and helped realign my priorities. A big thank you for that.”
“I would urge you to have book an initial consultation session with Darren. I am already successful and highly motivated yet still needed to focus on some defined outcomes for my immediate and longer term future. Darren's expert coaching helped guide me to really get specific about what I wanted and, more importantly, how to get there.”
Miscellaneous Success Stories
Before seeing Darren I thought I had a good framework for my life plan, although I've always been aware of a tendency to prevarication and inertia. In my life coaching sessions Darren identified this, and brought closer focus on needing to act on the plan. He asked challenging, relevant and specific questions which got me thinking in a different way setting achievable goals.
By acting to achieve these goals I feel I've got real traction now. This has given me a new, positive energy to push on and increase the pace of achievement. Darren's approach has been really dynamic and positive, and has given me a new perspective.
“Over the last five months the coaching sessions I have received, have made me ask myself important questions about my life and what I want to do with it.
With Darren's Guidance and help,I now feel empowered to go forward with purpose and direction, knowing the only person who can change things is me.
I am now learning to look at life differently, and that by reprogramming my mind and understanding how it works I can live a life of peace and enjoy living.”
“Thank you for the coaching we had. You highlighted many techniques, strategies, and approaches to help me progress in life, in particular a very interesting NLP technique that I can use and share in the future.
At all times, I found you supportive and insightful. What's more, you even managed to inject humour into situations that could have been very painful for me to discuss.
Your professionalism is without question, and as we discussed my potentially emotive situations, I felt no fear or any of the negative emotions that have blocked me from approaching professional support in the past. Our sessions felt as comfortable as chatting with a friend, and I highly recommend your service to others, even if only for a trial, as you achieved so much in so little time with me.
My perspective of life has changed, which is key to everything, and I feel freed from constraints that have been in place for years.
Please accept my sincerest thanks and I wish you all the very best....you deserve it.”
“The session was very motivational and helped me to refocus my mind on what is really important in my life and reestablish my priorities. I feel enthused and empowered by the session and would highly recommend the quality of the coaching to anyone.”
“Darren has a very uplifting positive energy which I found very addictive! He is really focussed and to the point which was to me was extremely refreshing and empowering. The coaching gave me a lot more clarity and vision for the future. Thankyou!”
“I had been drowning in a wide and unhappy array of issues that cropped up in the course of a few short months (including a double bereavement, pregnancy and redundancy). The issues were all significant and none of them could be ignored for long. My head was in a muddle, I felt like my life was disintegrating and I knew I needed to make some crucial decisions fast with the minimum of stress. I also knew that my decision making skills were flawed. My kind husband knew this, introduced me through a friend and that is how I signed up for Life Coaching.
The help I received from my coach was extremely valuable. My coach helped me to organise, prioritise, take responsibility and learn how to follow through on my ideas and choices. The icing on the cake is that I have begun to take a different approach to running my own life, often by seeing the funny side of situations that previously had caused a great deal of distress. The results have been phenomenal. I feel empowered now to be the best that I can be, to use all my experiences to add to my life rather than take away from it. Now I actually enjoy taking responsibility for my own life instead of running away from it, and I feel liberated from being trapped by other peoples’ perceptions of me and by my own self-limiting perceptions. Although I am still dealing with the same issues (except I have had the baby!) and the emotional fallout of the last 9 months, I am not depressed, lackluster or waiting for someone else to tell me what to do with the rest of my life.”
“A few months ago I had to deal with a number of serious issues including the suicide of a relative and issues relating to my personal health and fitness. The coaching provided a framework that helped me to manage my issues get my life back on track.”
“When life throws a lot of problems at us, it can be all too easy to lose sight of the way forward. A lot of the things you said make good sense. I will try to hang on to these ideas, which should help me to stay positive even when things get really tough.
One particular thing you reminded me about has helped me a great deal. That is what you said about allowing others to influence the way I feel, thereby allowing them to control me. I will certainly remember this when I have to deal with my boss on Wednesday. The NLP visualisation will also be helpful, I am sure!
Although I have only had one coaching session, I can tell that the techniques you use to help your clients move forward from difficult situations are very effective. I would definitely recommend your service and I wish you the very best of luck with your business.”
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