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Life Coach Interview: Creating Change With Ann Imig

photo of life coach Ann Imig for Whent The Flames Go Up podcast interview

When new vistas beckon later in life, we can often feel paralyzed by possibility. Certified life coach Ann Imig has studied how we can literally change our minds and find the strength and wisdom to make the jump. Listen here.

If you’re a certain age and have the motive and opportunity for a life change but aren’t sure where and how to jump, Ann Imig has studied some data-driven techniques for getting unstuck. After careers in theater, writing, and ad sales led her to create Listen To Your Mother, Ann finally realized a long-held desire, marshaled her diverse skill set and MSW degree, and became a career and life coach.

Ann’s main takeaway as the youngest child in a multiple-marriage, “nutso family system” is that she had lots of adults who loved her. This helps explain her affinity for the Positive Intelligence program, which helps people assess their behavioral patterns and determine when it might be useful to try the opposite.

It’s especially helpful for those who over-rely on external validation or hyper achievement for their self worth, pin their hopes on the illusive thought that “I’ll be happy when,” and wonder if they’ll ever feel curious again. As she did.

To improve our lives, we fifty-somethings often need to shift five decades of obsolete instinct and get our brains out of our own way. We talk about how possible that is, along with the influence of Martin Seligman, drawing out celebrations in order to savor them, and life as a JewBu.

When The Flames Go Up is an excellent community of later-stage parents, with a podcast by Magda Pecsenye and Doug French. “After we divorced, we started a blog about co-parenting to learn how to work together until our kids were grown. And now that they are, and the world is so busy disrupting and disavowing what we thought we were working for, we’re looking to our community to help us all keep up.”

Listen to more podcast conversations with life coach Ann Imig here.

What Career + Life Coaching Looks Like

My client Bryan describes his experience like this:

I came to Ann during a difficult time. I was let go from a job that wasn’t a good fit and was stuck trying to find a new job at a time where I wasn’t able to be positive. I had a hard time recognizing my strengths which made searching for a job extremely difficult.

white text on red square: what it's like life and career coaching

I had no idea what I wanted to do and Ann was able to help me shift towards a positive mindset. She took the time to listen to me and understand what I needed at the time. She understood that it was a difficult time and made me realize that what I was doing wasn’t easy. She focused on what I was good at, what I enjoyed, and how to find a job that fit my strengths.

Her positive energy was infectious and my day was completely different after speaking with her. She led me through a hard time and I will always be grateful that there are people like her in this world.

Ann kept me accountable, made me stay positive, and made me treat myself kindly. Ann not only helped me through a job search, but also helped me realize that I was valuable and that I deserved to be happy. She is great at what she does. I would not hesitate to recommend her to a friend or family in need of guidance and positivity.

Read more reviews of my coaching here, then schedule a free consult. I’d love to hear from you!

How Will Coaching Help Me?

From Listen Life Coaching reviews:

guidance through uncertainty and fear
career direction, exploration, and transitions
tools and an actual map to turn “to-dos” into achievement
inspiration and direction
help gaining traction and believing in myself again
clarifying my thoughts into actionable goals
staying focused and moving forward
getting unstuck from limiting beliefs about myself and my abilities
turning toward the positive about myself
identifying my strengths and how to apply them

life coaching and career coaching with Ann Imig of Listen Life Coaching, Madison, WI — life coaches, Madison, WI

Conversations about how life coaching + Positive Psychology can help you:

click here to listen

During our conversation, Ann explains what positive psychology is, how we can apply it in our lives and how we can use it to help our teens thrive. Ann also shares some tips about helping our teens conquer the college application process – she and I are both watching our kids go through that right now and it is no picnic. Be sure to stick around to hear Ann’s valuable advice for parents of teens. Our conversation is fun and informative and filled with lots of helpful tips from Ann… —– High School Hamster Wheel host, Betsy Jewell

click here to listen

One of our favorite takeaways was that you can pivot toward curiosity, or gratitude, and actually make changes in your brain. We love that! We talked about change and growth, and not just in a feely, sunshine and rainbows way, but in a practical, real life way. — Mom &… hosts, Suzanne & Missy

Do I Need a Coach or a Therapist?

By Ann Imig

Generally speaking, a coach helps us when we feel stuck with a decision, hit a stumbling block, or need clarity about a goal. A therapist assists us during times of personal crisis, serious or stressful life events, or if prolonged issues interfere with our day-to-day wellbeing. One process might lead to the other, and both are highly valuable.

I’m certified in Positive Psychology Coaching, a method grounded in neuroscience and evidence-based research, designed to help people navigate transitions, set and achieve goals, and create other kinds of positive change in their lives, work, relationships, and overall well-being. It is not advice giving, psychological counseling, or therapy.

“Coaching focuses on visioning, success, the present, and moving into the future. Therapy emphasizes psychopathology, emotions, and the past in order to understand the present. The purpose of coaching is frequently about performance improvement, learning, or development in some area of life while therapy often dives into deep-seated emotional issues to work on personal healing or trauma recovery.” – International Coaching Federation

What’s Life Coaching? What’s Positive Psychology?

By Ann Imig

What’s Life Coaching, Anyway?

Life coaching helps people get unstuck. While opening our mindset, we expand and explore our future potential. Coaching engages the client with curiosity, compassionate listening, supportive questions, and goal setting/achieving.

What’s Positive Psychology?

Positive Psychology concentrates on solutions instead of problems. Historically, psychology research and interventions focus primarily on treating “disfunction.” Positive Psychology research and interventions focus on building function. Rather than studying what isn’t working, Tal Ben-Shahar sums up Positive Psychology as “working with what works.” Positive Psychology provides an evidence-based framework and tools for increasing our own wellbeing. At its core Positive Psychology acknowledges the universality of hardship and human suffering — life’s ups and downs — and utilizes a person’s unique strengths to generate hope and optimism.

What’s Positive Psychology Coaching?

Humans are so much stronger and more resilient than we realize. Positive Psychology coaches help clients identify and connect to our strengths — how we’ve used them to successfully navigate challenges in the past, and how we can use them again to create and sustain positive change. Sonja Lyubomirsky’s happiness research demonstrates that while genetics determine 50% of our inherited “un/happiness set point,” we can impact fully 40% of our potential for happiness (life circumstances dictate the other 10%). Positive Psychology coaching provides researched and replicated action steps and tools to gain the maximum positive benefit for that 40% of our wellbeing that’s within reach.