Coaching is not teaching or “fixing” people. It is guiding them into growth.

Don’t NFT me, bruh.

Someone who I have been coaching recently shared this feedback about working with me…

A rising tide lifts all boats.

What a nice thought. I’ve said it myself when teaching. And when expressing how sharing and helping other people helps us all. It conjures a mind movie of all people, together. Enjoying the bay, and sailing out to the sunrise.

The start of a wonderful adventure, that we all get to experience. We’re all masters of the sea and our own journeys.

But a rising tide does not lift all boats.

Holes and driftwood

What if your boat has a hole in it? Or is somehow unsound? Leaky. What if you’re floating on a piece of wreckage from a previous adventure?

Or, you never had a boat at all? And you’re clinging to some driftwood.

That rising tide would conjure a very different mind movie.

How can I stay afloat? What lies beneath these waters? What dangers live in these depths? Monsters!

Seas, Storms, and Boats

At the start of the Covid 19 Pandemic people were expressing that “we’re all in the same boat”. Meaning this terrible thing is affecting us all the same way. I read or overheard a response to that that changed my thinking on the Rising tide lifts all boats quote.

That response was that yes, we’re sailing the same seas. Yes we’re in the same storm. But we’re all in very different boats.

I can’t remember where I heard or read this. Apologies for my leaky memory.

Marina

In this mind movie, let’s cut back to the Marina, where we reflect on our journeys. What if we all took a moment to look at our boat’s cargo and larder? Thought about what we each needed for our journeys, and shared the rest?

Then, the rising tide could lift all boats.