As a child I never knew what I wanted to be professionally. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t clueless. I just knew that I wanted a profession that would allow me to help people, but I knew that it wasn’t nursing, or being a doctor, or anything related to that. Every time I was asked at school what I wanted to be when I grew up, I was embarrassed because I didn’t have the answer. He was not aware of the name of the profession he wanted to pursue.
I finished high school and by going to college I had given up on finding that profession I wanted to be in. It was clearly in my head and there is no such thing. Since I was good at drawing I decided, let me be an architect, at least I have the skills for that. Unfortunately I didn’t get to Architecture because the points weren’t enough for that particular course, I managed to get my second choice which was Social Sciences because it includes Economics. It made sense to choose him because if I can’t get the profession I’m passionate about and good at, at least let me focus on being rich. I thought being an economist would get me there.
I chose Economics and Statistics as my majors, I had Psychology as one of the options for my first year. I was intrigued by this Psychology class, it somehow made me want to explore it more, but there was a hiccup, there was no psychology. as a course in the University, it was just an elective in my faculty and was done in the Faculty of Education. In the second year of my degree something happened, Psychology was introduced, finally something good is happening to me, I signed up for all Psychology classes for the second year and asked to change my major from Statistics to Psychology. I felt that psychology is something close to what I always wanted as a child, but not quite yet. I finished my degree in Economics and Psychology. I wanted to do my masters in psychology, but I have to be specific, I didn’t want to end up giving therapy to people with mental disorders, I just wanted to guide them. One course resonated with me, Organizational/Industrial Psychology, at least I will finally guide people in their workplaces to be better people, leaders, team players, achieve optimal results and be happy at work.
In the meantime, I looked for a job and was hired at the Ministry of Labor and the Interior. I was still giving up my dream of being an Industrial Psychologist, I was already finding where the Ministry needed me as an Industrial Psychologist. Although I was not doing anything related to Psychology at work, I participated in areas that sought to resonate with the field such as the Work Improvement Teams that make organizational diagnoses within the Ministry and provide recommendations and solutions. This was where I performed best because it was what I loved the most.
In 2010, 2 years in the Ministry, I was chosen to attend a leadership training in Portland, Oregon, USA. I was excited and enthusiastic. This was the turning point in my life, I had been assigned a life coach, Tammy Zinsmeister, to guide me through the entire 2 weeks. Wow, she is in the profession that she loved since she was a child, it was called Life Coaching, finally. I didn’t sleep that night, she was creating a Life Plan to become a life coach. Something she led me through. My two weeks were more meaningful to me than any that was there. He had finally figured out who he wanted to be, a life coach.
I started looking for schools that offer Life Coaching training, and in Botswana they were not there, they are still not there now. I finally went online and found the International Federation of Coaches and the World Coaches Academy (WCA). I chose WCA because I had been offered a scholarship.
I am over the moon with the change in my life, I feel happier, thinking of coaching is like being on vacation somewhere advising a couple of friends on how to improve their lives. It is Coaching, it is a profession for others, it is a Life purpose for me.