Inspiring others to find their purpose by taking their life into their own hands.
Meet Chelsea Montgomery- successful Business, Life, and Clarity Coach who is a passionate thought leader dedicated to empowering and inspiring others. As a woman on a mission and a Clarity Coach, Chelsea offers life coaching and business coaching, where she guides both service-based businesses and professionals on how to gain clarity and reach their goals through transformational coaching, workshops, and speeches. During Chelsea’s sessions, clients receive a clear and thoughtful step-by-step plan designed to help change lifestyle habits, offer purpose, and set those up to thrive, during her 3-month programs.
Today, HOLR is sitting down to chat with Chelsea about her successful career to date and how she inspires others to find their purpose by experiencing true clarity and taking their life into their own hands.
Tell us about yourself and your life story. How did your personal and entrepreneurial experience inspire you to become a clarity coach?
I am currently Toronto-based but grew up in a small town in Ontario. I always had a strong work ethic and a desire to help others and make an impact. When I look back I can connect the dots now and see that what I really loved was helping people tune into their potential and achieving their personal goals be that in a work setting, educational or other. I took that passion and combined it with my business experience (corporate, small, and start-up), did my certifications in Health and Life Coaching, and built a business that supports individuals in thriving in both their professional and personal lives.
What is clarity coaching?
Clarity Coaching is the method of getting clear on where you are, who you are, and where you want to go. Most of us do not take the time to stop and evaluate these things, we are in a constant state of motion without direction, the feeling of busyness without actually getting things done. Clarity coaching allows for my clients to get to explore these facets of their lives, develop a plan and implement the change that they have hoped for in the past but not truly experienced. When working with my corporate clients the methods of Clarity coaching can be applied to a specific project or to improve employees’ wellbeing and in turn their productivity.
Walk us through what we can expect during a one-on-one session or a workshop?
In an initial one-on-one session I develop a connection with my clients and put them at ease with the type of self-exploration we will be undergoing together over 12 weeks. We review what has and has not worked for them in the past when they have had major changes in their life and get clear on what they are wanting to achieve now. Sometimes clients don’t know what it is they want but they know that they want something else, I help many people get clear on this. As we move through the program, sessions begin to look like: reviewing the past week, reviewing the implementation of concepts and ideas we worked on in the previous sessions, and fine-tuning the habits and patterns to achieve the bigger vision and goals. My workshops are customized and specific to the groups I work with but they are all focused on connection, to oneself, community (workplace or other), and the vision the group of individuals are working towards. I also offer workshops focused on mental wellness like How-to-Journal, Self Care at Work, and Burnout.
Work-life balance is difficult to achieve these days. Can you offer some tips or advice on how to stay motivated?
This is probably the most common question I get when people find out what I do and my answer is always the same – stop thinking of it as “work-life balance”. My clients know I am big on analogies and I believe that they can be powerful tools to reframe things we are struggling with changing in our lives. The idea of “balance” is hard, it’s like walking a tightrope trying to give your attention to two things in each handwork and life. I believe if you reframe and think of work and life as two things that coexist in a space with ebb and flow, you put boundaries up where and when they are needed. Address your wants and needs in your work and life with a plan and not as a balancing act that you do as you go. Write out what you want your work and life to look like, your ideal schedule, your availability, time spent with family and friends, time for rest, and self-care; then write out what this all looks like now. Establish the gaps between where you are and where you want to go and ask yourself how can you get closer to where you want to be, small hinges move big doors so start small, aim for 2% improvement each day. This can look like shutting things down when you’re scheduled to. Schedule a time to check email and not be constantly refreshing on your phone while working on your computer or taking a twenty-minute walk outside with no tech. The goal is to start small and just head in the direction you wish to go, with small improvements, and moving forward you will get there, you just first need to establish where you want to go with Clarity.
Post-pandemic life is on the horizon. With new stress such as going back to the workplace setting in, how can we work to address these concerns in our own lives?
As with anything acknowledging the stress is important because you can’t change or address what you’re not clear on. I suggest a good ole’ pen to paper braindump to get this process started. Set a timer for twenty minutes and be it through note-taking or free-flow writing get all of the things you are stressed or concerned about out of your head and onto the page. This may feel awkward or challenging at the beginning but the key is to keep going, don’t self-censor, and don’t judge what comes out, just get it out. After the timer goes off, look at what comes out and organize (there may be some repeats or things that are connected) put the things you are concerned about into two lists: “What is Within your Control” and “What is in the Control of Others”. For example: “Within Your Control” may worry about time. You will now have to factor in time for your commute to the office which may cut out the time you were working out or getting a few extra ZZZs. Things within your control you can prepare for, so this would look like evaluating your schedule to fit in the workout or adjusting your bedtime to get the sleep and still wake up on time. “Things out of your Control” would look like this: What if it’s safe? This is something you can learn about, check with your employer to see what rules they are bringing in to address health and safety for employees. Go through each concern you have in both lists and write down beside each how you can either “Prepare” or “Learn”, re-evaluate and play with these answers and keep addressing them to get more comfortable with the idea of going back. The more we look at things, the more we familiarize ourselves with ideas and realities the more we can adapt and act in a way we would like to. If you are in a position of leadership at your company I would highly recommend you bring in a corporate wellness professional to run a workshop or just to support your employees to adjust in the transition of returning to work.
Where can we go to find more information or to book a program with you?
My website is the best place to do this www.chelsea-montgomery.com. You can book 1:1 programs or corporate wellness programs and workshops for your team.
Visit Chelsea’s website here for more information.