Hey, I'm Phil.
This is how I became a coach.
Inspired by my time teaching in the Himalayas and a lifelong pursuit of wisdom, I've dedicated myself to coaching, offering guidance and support to help you navigate life's challenges and discover your own path to happiness and growth.
India
It all started when I was eighteen. Euphoric at the completion of my A-Levels, I found myself compelled to go and live in the Himalayas and teach Buddhist monks English for six months. What actually happened was that they ended up teaching me a lot about Buddhism! I was forced to grow up fast. When you've no electric to keep your food fresh, you quickly get dysentery(!) and without Mum or Dad telling me what to do, or offering me comfort, I had to work hard at managing my mindset. At this point a local Buddhist man took me under his wing and jokingly offered to be my guru! In the next few months we struck up what turned out to be a lifelong friendship and he ended up teaching me what he would call ‘Real World Buddhism’. From this moment on I became transfixed in my search for wisdom and every book that talked about the sources of happiness was on my reading list.
Trying Anything
But I wasn't just reading this stuff, I was trying it out. Whether it was the ancient teachings of the Bhagavad Gita or the state management strategies of modern gurus like Tony Robbins, I would somehow find a way of incorporating it into a real life situation. I remember once resigning from my job in front of the entire staff, giving only the reason that Wakantanka (the Native American buffalo god) had told me to do it! While this isn't an example I'm particularly proud of, it showed a determination to take life by the horns and really live on my terms. This sense that life is something to have fun with - as much as take seriously - is something that remains a part of who I am today and a big part of how I coach.
My Training
At a certain point the exploring has to come to an end and you have to use what you've learned as a means of being useful to others. That's when I came across coaching. Coaching was great because it wasn't attached to any particular faith system and had a practical determination to reduce the amount of suffering going on in the world. Its premise of helping people to grow on the inside as a means of helping them grow their world on the outside seemed to echo the words of all the wise women and men I'd come across in my discovery phase. So I went for it. It was a tough course, lasting 18 months, involving over 100 hours of real life practice, but it gave me all the new skills, techniques and strategies I needed.
Facing My Weaknesses
Woo, I thought, course done, I'm there! Not quite. Being a coach, it turns out, doesn't just mean reading a load of books on wisdom, and then regurgitating them. Life has other ideas and makes you live out these truths. It makes you live through many of the challenges that your clients are going to be facing. It puts you in a hole and says, come on then, let's see how you climb out of this one. More than anything it teaches you through your own rather painful growth process why having a coach is actually quite a good idea. Like everyone in this world, I continue to have both my strengths and my weaknesses. And like everyone, sooner of later, life forces me to confront the latter. Facing weakness takes a lot of courage but it also requires a health dose of wisdom and support which is what I have found coaching provides.
Finding My Calling
I’m probably the most fulfilled I’ve been in my life right now. Not only because of the work I've been doing on myself with my own coach, but also because I’m doing what I feel I’m meant to be doing. It's been a very long journey to find my calling but now, doing it everyday, fills me with even greater determination to make the biggest possible difference in as many people’s lives as I can. Around 10 years ago now I had the great fortune and honour of presenting my paper on ‘Mental Literacy’ to His Holiness the Dalia Lama. We spent several minutes walking and talking in what was most likely one of the most important conversations of my life. The thing I remember most about our meeting was his insistence on being useful to other people and that '“in serving others we become free”.
Getting started
One Day or Someday are roads that lead to a place called Nowhere
I'll do it tomorrow. How many of us say this to ourselves? Before you know it, another six months has gone by and you're in exactly the same place. Getting started with anything is often the hardest part, but all it takes to get moving on your journey with me is your name and a couple of lines explaining your situation. By the end of the week, I'll have been in touch with a plan, and we'll already be moving you forward.
Let's talk
First things first, we need to speak to see if we could work together. This free, no-obligation chat usually takes place over the phone but it may also be possible to meet for a coffee or discuss your situation over email. This initial consultation is all about you explaining what it is you want from your coaching relationship and which areas of your life you feel need a little work. With this information I will be able to pick up a sense of where you are now and propose a coaching plan to take you forward. To get the ball rolling, it's as simple as you sending me a message using the form below. Introduce yourself and let me know a time you'd be available to chat. Feel free to ask questions if you'd like to find out more before arranging your free consultation.
My conditions of working with you
One of the biggest reasons why I became a coach is to make a difference in people's lives. It's the best feeling in the world to see someone achieve their goal or grow in ways that will serve them for the rest of their life. But it certainly isn't a one-way street and many people come to coaching thinking it will become the coach's job to take care of that part of their life, without any effort necessary on their part. Part of my own self-valuing system is that I only take on clients that show a genuine hunger to make a change in their life. There are many people out there in need of this kind of support but if they are not yet willing to take the required action to change their situation, then there is little that I can do to help.
Payment Options
The vast majority of my clients pay by monthly standing order. Much like a gym membership, a monthly fee means you're more incentivised to keep moving forward with your goals and receive the full benefit of the coaching sessions. As with the gym, keeping the momentum going is key to making consistent progress. I also offer a pay-as-you-go option. Many of my clients started out by doing this, before switching over to the monthly payments, once they were confident I was making a consistent difference in their lives. The cost of your coaching will depend on how you want to be coached. The cheapest way of being coached is obviously via Skype. If you want to meet up in person the cost will reflect where you want to meet and how long it takes me to get there.