Goal Success Coaching is a type of coaching that helps individuals or groups achieve their goals and reach their full potential. This is what Alison Hirtle calls herself and her goal is to guide clients in clarifying their goals, developing a plan of action, and overcoming obstacles to achieve success. Through motivational interviewing, goal setting, action planning, and visualisation, she supports her clients in achieving their desired outcomes in various areas of life, including personal development, career, finances, health, and relationships. A big part of this progress is a focus on accountability and results. Hirtle explains that goal success coaching empowers people to be consistent with their effort in reaching their desired goals, which ultimately leads to a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment.
Ahead, we spoke with Alison Hirtle to learn more about her journey as a goal success coach and what prompted her to pursue this as a career.
You dropped college, you got a mentor, and you decided to open your own business as a life coach. Tell us more about this life-changing decision.
This was the most pivotal moment in my life quite honestly. I have always had a passion for helping others, but for a while I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. I thought of being a therapist or a social worker, but my heart would break having to handle tough situations such as suicide or abuse. So I was basically attending college for thousands of dollars with no idea what I was going to do. Cut to March of my second semester, the pandemic sent us all online. With the college environment gone I realised I did not want to actually be in school, I just wanted to be around other people and have fun so I decided to take a gap year. About a year into that, I was on Facebook and noticed one girl I went to high school with had started up a business and was now working with popular artists. She used her time alone in the lockdown to build her skill and eventually monetise it. Meanwhile I was sitting at home drinking all the time and playing the victim card. My excuse for a while was that “I didn’t have enough time” but I indeed had plenty of time, I was just wasting it. The number of excuses I made for myself (and actually believed) was insane. At that point I had enough. I became determined to become the woman young Alison dreamed of and would be proud of.
I started searching for ways to improve my life and I stumbled upon the podcast “The Mindset Mentor” by Rob Dial. After I listened to a few episodes I could feel something inside of me begin to change. Thinking new thoughts I had never considered felt so empowering and addicting. Within a few weeks, my thoughts were improving drastically which in turn shifted the entire trajectory of my life. My future went from bleak to bliss in what felt like the blink of an eye. I was so amazed by the massive results a small shift produced. At the time I was teetering on whether or not I wanted to go back to school since it was back in person, but I had grown more in a month than I had all last year in school. I made the executive decision to drop school and start up a business as a life coach instead. It sounded crazy to me at first, but small steps every day have created that reality for me and now I am going to share that process with the world.
Talking about your path, you mentioned: “I have a whole new relationship with myself and that is the biggest win ever”. You now feel that you are winning simply because you believe in yourself. Tell us more there.
Before I got into personal development/coaching, I had a very poor relationship with myself. When I made mistakes or did things wrong, I would beat myself up constantly because I thought I deserved to be punished. If no one was punishing me for something I thought I did wrong, I would do it for them. I was so cruel to myself and it became harder and harder every day to feel alive. All of my insecurities and mistakes were in the spotlight of my mind, front and centre while my accomplishments and positive qualities remained in the shadows. This state of self-induced suffering became “normal” to me and that was not something I was willing to accept.
One day I was listening to a podcast to try to help my spirit and I heard a quote that resonated with me powerfully. It was something along the lines of “You only need to be punished once for one mistake so as long as you learned your lesson” Hmm, you mean once I have learned my lesson I am past the mistake? Interesting. I grabbed my journal and listed every single mistake that popped into my head, I must have done at least 30. And one by one, I began to extract what lesson I needed to learn, how it impacted my future, and what life would be like if I had not learned that lesson. Slowly I realised that if I had not made some of these mistakes, my life would look completely different, and not in a great way. The reason I have the life I do now is because of all those “mistakes” that pushed me on a different path than I was previously travelling on. Reframing my mindset around that was one of the biggest keys to my success because the mistakes shed from my identity and became simply an action of the past.
What is the profile of your clients?
- Women aged 18+
- Ambitious but stuck in the comfort zone
- Ready for change
- Wastes a lot of time online
- Mentally stable
- Going through transitions
- Stuck in life
- Motivated
What do coaching sessions look like?
Sessions run for 45 minutes each and are all one on one. Each session includes three parts: last week’s recap, an activity, and next week’s plan. All of our sessions will be crafted based on your individual goals so you are sure to make progress. We set multiple goals in the first session after you complete an intake form. This form helps us see how you are doing in nine different areas of life. These areas are career, finances, personal growth, health, romance, fun and recreation, friends, family, and physical environment. If you are in a healthy romantic relationship, it wouldn’t make sense to focus all of our sessions on that if your finances and career are struggling! We create monthly goals at the start of each month — they are bite-sized and attainable. They are actions that will take you to where you want to be in a year! I will also be checking in to make sure you are doing what you say you want to do so you are 100 per cent going to be creating a new life for yourself.
New Thoughts = New Actions = New Life
You describe yourself as a “Goal Success Coach”, could you explain that?
Yes! A Goal Success Coach is a life coach who specialises in creating and attaining goals. I don’t coach people on how to set goals and then send them off, I coach people on how to set goals and then make sure they begin to build that vision into reality!
Three words to describe the core values you always put forward in your coaching sessions:
Creativity, thinking outside the box; Optimism, reframing your perspective; Consistency, needed to build new habits.
How long do your clients usually commit for?
I suggest doing six months to a year. You can turn your life upside down in just three months, but staying consistent can be challenging. That is where I come in! I keep you accountable so we can engrain your habits instead of just creating them. These habits are lifelong and will benefit you through whatever endeavour you find yourself in post-coaching.
Can clients contact you for an initial consultation? What is the process like?
Yes you can, and it is free! Linked below is my service page where you will see “Discovery Call”. Click on that, enter your information, pick a day for a call, and you have successfully taken your first action step towards creating an up-levelled life. Once we get onto the call, we will discuss what you need support with and where you want to be in a few years. If we are a great match, we can begin sessions as soon as that week! If we are not the best fit but you are still interested in coaching, I will refer you to another coach whom I feel could offer you the type of support you need! It’s honestly a win-win. Just give it a shot, you never know what could happen.
Schedule a discovery with me here.
A piece of advice for modern women looking to become active?
You do not need to go to the gym to be active!
Once I graduated high school and sports ended, I stopped exercising completely. Slowly but surely I could feel myself getting weaker. At one point I could easily do one hundred push-ups, but that became five when I became less active. Society always stresses how if you want to get in shape you have to go to the gym, but that was not happening for me. I have tried before and it is an uncomfortable environment for me to grow. Because of that, I remained dormant for about two and a half years.
Then in early 2022 I had a few scares that pushed me to sign up for a self-defense class. Once I signed up, I learned I would be doing Krav Maga and Kickboxing. I initially thought I was just going to be doing self defense, but there was another aspect to the class. Once I started it became blatantly obvious how unfit I was. While everyone was running fine for two minutes I was gasping for air trying my best to jog. My punches and kicks were weak, and I was physically unable to keep up with the class. I did not like that feeling. So I began to run around my backyard. At first I ran halfway and walked the other half. Then I ended up running one full lap. Then that became one and a half, and then two, and eventually up to four over the span of a month. Once I was in class I noticed myself being able to breathe. I wasn’t panting for water every five minutes, I was engaged and learning. It didn’t take going on crazy runs or hiking mountains, it was just running around my backyard. I could physically handle the class by the second month and my strength began to show. Five push-ups became twenty, and twenty became forty. I realised then that I was definitely in shape, but I hadn’t gone to the gym. It was a great epiphany.
Fast forward to March 2023, I took a phase test to go from beginner (orange belt) to intermediate (purple belt) and I blew myself away. I did 90 push-ups in two minutes and set a record in my school for the most amount of push-ups done in a phase test. Then I jogged an entire mile without taking a single step. And remember guys, I could NOT handle a two-minute run a year before! Never in my life before that day had I jogged an entire mile without stopping but I did it. I was setting new records for myself and it felt amazing.
So moral of the story, you do not need to go to the gym to get in shape! There are classes that you can consider taking like kickboxing, yoga, barre, spin, zumba and many more.
Would you like to name a mentor who inspires you in your daily work?
Definitely my own coach Deb! No matter how big of an idea I get, she is always on board. She never doubts whether or not I can do it, it’s just a matter of how. I haven’t had many people like that in my life so I am eternally grateful for crossing paths with her!
Any specific testimony from one of your clients you feel highly proud of?
Let’s call her “Paige” for confidentiality reasons. I would like to share a snapshot of how Paige’s life looked when she initially reached out about coaching in Dec 2021.
- fired from job/jobless
- eating mostly junk
- spending a lot and saving a little
- frequently sat at home alone while friends were out doing things
- social anxiety
- low self-confidence
- felt like she would never find love
- struggling with communication
- not an active person
Getting fired was a turning point for her. She knew it was time for change so she decided enough was enough and hired me to coach her. We began working together to build a life she wants to live by unravelling bad habits, building new habits, reducing stress, navigating road bumps, being consistent and so much more. As of April 2023, here is a snapshot of how she is currently doing:
- taking over dads company
- eating healthy 4/7 days
- saved $20,000
- going on new adventures
- exploring life outside her comfort zone
- improved social skills and self-confidence
- consistently reading and journaling
- attends yoga 1x a week and kickboxing 2x a week
- able to set and maintain boundaries
- going on dates
To say she flipped her life around is honestly an understatement. This girl has done SO much to build a life she is proud of and every week I am able to witness her growth! She is a great example of what anyone can do if they decide it’s time for change.
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