“When I came to Junko I felt lost. I felt a failure. I needed to new avenue. I needed a raison d’etre, that would dovetail with my family responsibilities. But this ‘something’ had to resonate with who I was, and what I believed in. But who was I?

Coaching helped me unpick my life. Junko helped me work out what forces had consistently driven me. What I valued; what I wanted in life. It sounds corny, but she helped me realize what my life’s mission was.

First I realised the passions that had consistently driven me throughout life were my quest for knowledge and education, combined with my love of film making and story telling. I wanted to give something back to young people, and I was going to use my film making skills to do it. But how could I do that? I was a failure, right?

Junko took me back to the bare bones. I took a long hard look at what was stopping me move forward and what was quashing my self-belief. I re-examined my achievements, my expectations, what I thought to be true. I learned to see myself and talk about myself in a new way. I re-evaluated and blew apart my negative opinions. It was a bumpy road, but I started to glimpse pathways that would work for me. Junko has a brilliant way of visually mapping out your life at one moment, so it’s plain to see like a road map. She’d identify two or three areas to work on and break them down into manageable action steps. This really worked for me.

I could hold this map in my mind and work on different elements. I’d chip away at things. So even if I wasn’t actually producing anything, I still felt like everyday I was moving forward. I began to believe in myself.

I could also talk to Junko about specific things that were worrying me such as difficult conversations I might need to have, or self doubts and problems I needed to solve. Junko has a way of seeing the wood from the trees. Things always seemed much clearer after talking to her.

Before every coaching session I would fill out a feedback form about how the last session had gone, what I’d achieved in the meantime and where I felt I needed work. This really helped me focus my mind and realize how far I’d come in just a few weeks. Junko would devour this information and come with a very clear structure for each session. She had a real understanding for my concerns and a passion and determination to wrestle through problems. I never felt alone. I always felt Junko was pondering, thinking through things with me as I went through the process. But she did so with subtle, gentle guidance and questioning – always supportive; always enlightening.

Junko’s advice was also very practical and project based. She’d set me practical exercises to build my self-confidence, to help me formulate ideas and to build up my portfolio. She encouraged me see that working on projects was essential. She set me small tasks and schedules and goals to work towards and think about. What films could I make? Who was my audience? How would I make money? What was my work-life balance? What would the website look like? Etc. These questions she set, helped me focus my mind and find the solutions.

Gradually I formulated projects and a mission for my company that resonated with my beliefs, my life and my skills. Throughout the process, I regularly had ‘Eureka’ moments when things would slot into place and I’d feel elated. Finally I realised my goal. Something clicked and it just felt right. I was going to make ‘edu-tainment’ 360 films and virtual reality experiences. My mission was to spread ‘Wisdom through the experience of film’. I was also going to use this company to research the use of ed-tech with children and lecture the next generation of film makers.

I would never have reached this clarity in life without coaching with Junko. She has been a rock, a visionary, a believer, a nurturer, a problem solver, a teacher, an artist and above all, a great friend.”

RS

Get in contact →