Parameters for Life

Since July of 2018, I have engaged Jay’s service as my Personal Coach. We meet weekly to discuss a variety of topics, ranging from my professional career as the General Manager at Progression Fitness, a CrossFit and Nutrition Coaching business in Rochester, to my personal relationship with family members and my two children. 

To summarize the myriad benefits I’ve seen in both my professional and personal life while working with Jay is a tall task. I will highlight areas where my work with Jay has been most life-enhancing and beneficial. 

With Jay’s guidance, I’ve been able to outline specific parameters for my life that describe “what I’m all about.” Each decision I make, be it personal or professional, has to first pass the “what I’m all about” test. If it matches my beliefs and values, it’s a yes. If not, well, it’s a no. Jay’s leadership in this area has helped me streamline my life to only include the tasks, commitments, and relationships most important to me. 

I am a “do-er”, driven to complete tasks by both the sense of accomplishment I get when the task is done and to avoid the feeling of anxiety I get when tasks go undone. As a manager, spouse, and parent, this trait is both helpful and harmful. My singular focus on completing tasks and projects left me unable to understand why others often failed to accomplish goals set before them.  For the longest time, I felt that others were broken or inept. Only with Jay’s patient direction, have I now discovered one of the most crucial parts of being a good manager or spouse or parent: empathy. We continually work to further understand what it means to be empathetic and how it can be incorporated into daily life. Though I remain a novice in my practice of empathy, my new outlook has profoundly impacted my relationships with others. 

Jay has the unique and valuable ability to make me squirm. He forces me to think on a deeper level that I can when alone. Our work together is casual and enjoyable, but Jay seems always to know exactly when to turn the screws and help me dig toward a particularly important realization. It is this quality in Jay that I most appreciate.

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from Jay is the power of curiosity. Using the curiosity approach both at work and at home has helped me understand what’s really at the core of a particular issue. As an example, a staff member at the gym recently came to me asking to skip out on our weekly team meetings. I used the tools Jay and I have carefully role played during our sessions and was able to discover the staff member was not feeling heard during meetings and, therefore, no longer wanted to attend. Without Jay’s guidance in learning how to be curious with my staff, I never would have uncovered this crucial point with a member of my team.  

Without Jay’s coaching in my life, I shudder to think of the “Old Me” still slogging through troubled relationships at work and at home. That me was unconsciously incompetent. After nearly 8 months of working with Jay, the  “New Me” is more aware, more empathic, more curious. And, without a doubt, a more effective manager, a more understanding husband, and a better father.

It is with my strongest recommendation that I hope your committee will consider Jay Franson.