Q: Jean, what can you tell me about your background? How did you shift from Asian Studies to a career as a trainer and then become a world-traveling life coach? What was the path to where you are today?
A: As I grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, I became fascinated with cultures and languages different from my own. After majoring in Chinese and Japanese studies I lived in China for 3 years, then came to grad school in California just as the software industry was exploding. Realizing the need to make technology easier to use, and the upcoming career opportunities for that, I applied my translation and writing skills to a technical training career. During those years I raised a child as a single mom, practiced meditation, became an energy healer, and learned entrepreneurial skills. A strong impulse to leave my Silicon Valley job to travel the world arose after my daughter was on her own. Being a nomad who enjoys connecting across cultures, sharing stories and travel tips, and coaching women how to move through big life changes to create their ideal life – that is my path today. So what I teach is what I love – as well as what I live!
Q: What is your vision for the future of your coaching practice?
A: Great question! My vision is to serve communities of women who want to express their innate ingenuity, collaborate on projects, and make powerful contributions as healers, artists, teachers and leaders. I want to facilitate retreats in beautiful places with rich cultures, where participants can meditate, relax, play, connect, share deeply about visions, projects, and growth, and together become the change we want to see in the world.
Q: What are some things that people assume will help to reach their goals, but can actually hurt their chances of success?
A: We are taught to play it safe, follow society’s rules, and work our way up a ladder instead of listening to our inner voice, and creating an authentic life over which we exercise sovereignty, and in which we fulfill our personal dreams and passions.
Q: What is most important in your coaching approach that lets your clients achieve results?
A: Deep listening. Recognizing the submerged self that wants out and up! Also holding space for the creative solutions that are right inside the problems we discuss. It’s a co-creative, heart-based approach.
Q: What are the key elements of your personal success?
A: Positive energy, self-awareness, and focus. And like many others of my generation, I draw from rich life experience, including working through challenges and recovering from crisis, and have well-honed practical skills related to teamwork, application of technology, and leadership.
Q: Â What is one thing a person can do today to get started in moving closer to their goals?
A: Take inventory! Ask yourself powerful questions such as: Which passions, interests and dreams are calling to me? Which ones are truly worth my time and energy? What legacy do I want to create? How rich, joyful and meaningful will I let my life become?
Jean Sibley, M.A.
The FreedomPast50 Women’s Coach
Jean grew up in Winnipeg, Canada. Intrigued by cultures and languages different from her own, she learned Mandarin and lived in China as a student. After grad school, she embarked on a writing and training career in Silicon Valley. As she raised a daughter, she studied energy healing, meditation, and holistic health, and became a practitioner of higher consciousness. Jean followed her guidance to leave the 9-5 and travel the world, connect with women everywhere, and weave together her gifts to form her heart-based coaching practice.
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