Today I received a postcard from Andrea on her holidays. Andrea, a twenty four year old P.A. called me some time ago, clearly very upset. She was spending more than she could afford, and the worry was making it worse, and she had to do something before it became a disaster. She described how she’d developed a habit of “going nuts” with money, and later regretting it.
We are often too close to our own issues to see them objectively. We tend to describe our own problems either as one small aspect of them or in vague generalisations. As a mentor and coach it’s vital to explore and make sure that I’m dealing with the real issue and not a red herring. “Going nuts” obviously meant something to Andrea. I needed to find out what.
During our conversation, ...