Recently a coach I mentor shared this interesting analogy with me. It is easier to read the label of a picture jar from outside the jar. And before I lose you, let me quickly explain.
You are inside your life – your bubble, your head, your circumstances. And this is your pickle jar or bubble. A person living in a in a pickle jar can’t always see or perceive events around him as having more than one interpretation. He is too engrossed in the little world he has created for himself or that there are blind spots and information in his jar that are difficult to see from within.
Now imagine there’s a coach on the outside of the pickle jar actively seeking to understand you – your perspectives or beliefs. And they have the advantage of not being in the pickle jar with you giving them the ability to read you since there is information and insight on the label that you the coachee cannot see yet.
Now the coach too must leave their pickle jar to make room for a wide open and expansive curiosity. To make room for you. As coaches, we need to let go and look beyond our limited pickle jar, so we don’t fall prey to our assumptions, expectations, or bias.
