We all have the ability to find and listen to our inner coach. Coaches learn that a key component to successful coaching is to authentically believe and continually remember that the client is resourceful. Regardless of how big a mess, how little confidence, or how guilt-ridden and confused a client may show up with us as, we must believe and remember that the client is resourceful. Otherwise we become a rescuer and they become co-dependent, when what we say we ultimately want in a coachee is success and confidence to move forward via independent-thinking. How might this coaching tip help you in daily personal and professional life? Reflect on these questions: Would your days be different if you knew your kids/partner/team members were resourceful? If your days would be different, then how would you be different? Do you believe your squad is resourceful? How do you know? Have you given them space, patience and trust to try? If yes, and they have yet to succeed, have you talked about it together and tried it again differently? And yet again? Do you understand that even when newbies are indeed resourceful, learning something new takes time and is messy - or are you expecting fast and perfect? Were you always fast and perfect? Where might that expectation come from if it exists? Did you start running before you crawled or walked? If yes, congratulations - you are one in a million! Are you OK with others being resourceful in their own ways or are you expecting them to be resourceful in your way? Can you enjoy the experience of watching them try new things, be brave and learn from their experiments as a chemistry teacher would? Will you jump up and down to celebrate with high-fives all around when they accomplish “the thing” in their own way in their own time? Or will you be disappointed, sad, lonely or some other ugh description? Why? Is there anything that scares you about just BEING there to help others learn to be resourceful? Are you ready for your squad to be successful, independent-thinking humans with confidence to move forward? Or are you not ready for that . . . and so you self-sabotage your and their attempts? We invite you to reflect on these questions so that you can start to understand how much of “Mom-overwhelm” is a real gap in your squad’s resourcefulness and how much is “Mom-neediness to be needed”. All of the above applies to leaders as well - do you really have “Leader-overwhelm” or are you suffering from “Leader-neediness to be needed” in this chaotic uncertain world? Here’s a term for you to ponder if you haven’t already: VUCA world. VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. That sounds like a perfect description of this pandemic world, right??? It was a term first used in 1987 . . . We look forward to hearing your thoughts.