Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Kelly.
Hi Cory, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
When I turned 30, everything changed…
I had a great job in tech that I had worked incredibly hard for, owned a home in Austin, TX, and from the outside, looked like a successful, driven, and motivated individual.
Beneath the surface though, a war was raging.
Most days, I found myself unmotivated, apathetic, and indifferent.
The constant pushing, striving, clawing, and hustling had left me empty and miserable.
I had lost the best parts of myself in exchange for a life I thought I wanted.
I knew that something had to change.
At this point, I began to deconstruct my life.
This process of rediscovery eventually led me to Transformational Life Coaching and my very first transformational life coach Emma Dewhurst.
Transformational Life Coach? The word seemed to be very popular but what WAS coaching? Emma taught me that the main tenant of coaching is that clients are creative, resourceful, and whole. After sharing a space with her, I was hooked. The way she listened, asked questions, provided observations, and held me in unconditional positive regard caused a dramatic shift in me.
We spent over a year together sharing a collaborative, open, honest, authentic space that allowed me to think my best thoughts. She empowered me in a way that I had never experienced and gave me the tools to not only visualize the life I was so desperately craving but also to create it.
In one of our first sessions, Emma asked if she could lead me in a visualization exercise. “Close your eyes and imagine a day in the life you WANT to be living,” she said.
In this vision, under the soft glow of a bedside lamp, I was reading peacefully. I looked up from my book and my partner was leaning on the door frame leading to the bathroom, in the middle of brushing his teeth. The toothbrush was held to one side of his mouth and the words were coming out mostly as a series of grunts. At that moment a comfort washed over me that I had never felt. I knew without a doubt that is what I wanted. It was a vision of intimacy that my limiting beliefs had stopped me from accessing. It was a vision worth fighting for.
Shortly after that exercise, I met the man that would become my husband.
My sessions with Emma were so highly transformational to me that I knew I had to give back.
I decided to become a coach myself and start training at the Animas Centre for Coaching.
I have since started MindfulBit.com where I utilize my unique experience as a coach and 10+ years in the technology sector to provide coaching and mentoring sessions for others.
I am also the founder of the Facebook Group Transitioning into Tech. This group serves to encourage, empower, and elevate those who are working to pursue a career in technology.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think Robert Fulghum said it best when he said “If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.”
My curiosity has continued to open my eyes to the amount of privilege I have and the number of opportunities I am given on a daily basis that I take for granted.
What a blessing it is for me to be able to type about my struggles from the home that I own, using the laptop that I purchased, and from a psychological feeling of safety.
Before I answer this question, I want to recognize that the word “struggle” for me (while feeling very real to me) is coming from my seat of power and privilege as a white male living in the United States. It is this very realization that fuels my desire to give back and utilize that strength in order to raise others up.
Learning to be a good coach requires you to completely remove your ego from the equation.
As a coach, my main job is to first create a safe, warm, welcoming, and authentic space that promotes growth through goal setting and accountability.
Second, my job is to be present. To listen and to notice.
It is not my job to give advice (which is so much harder than you might think) but rather to create a thinking space in which my clients can search for their own solutions and access their own inner-knowing.
Coaching is completely client-led which means that as a coach, I should not pollute the coaching environment with my own thoughts, feelings, or experiences.
Another challenge I have had is finding which niche I would like to focus on.
As much as I would love to coach EVERYONE (and I have tried), it is difficult to create content and target individuals without having a specialty.
I have finally landed on coaching people in technology and in particular am looking to start serving underrepresented minorities in the technology space.
The larger challenge through all of this though was confronting the limiting beliefs and assumptions that were stopping me from achieving the success I was looking for in life. This can be the most terrifying work that we do.
Confronting these beliefs removes the foundations we have built our understanding of life on. It causes us to risk the familiar for the unknown with the faith that the future could be better. It is brave and courageous work and at the same time incredibly painful.
I still have a long way to go, but I now have the tools necessary to move forward and I really am looking forward to sharing those tools with others!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about MindfulBit?
MindfulBit is setting the foundation for early-career software developers and technologists to transcend their limitations, exceed expectations, and succeed in every facet of life.
With decades of technical experience and over ten years in the corporate technology sector, MindfulBit was established to help other individuals in this hyper-competitive field navigate the early years of their career in a way that is healthy, authentic, productive, and successful.
MindfulBit offers impactful, effective, and actionable life coaching services to individuals in the technology sector who might be struggling with corporate culture, communication problems, hierarchy disconnects, negotiating, time management, navigating burnout, goal setting, and finding lasting happiness through true work/life balance.
Please reach out to me if you are
* Looking to break into tech
* Have broken into tech and are struggling
* Have worked years in tech and are feeling stuck or lost
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Books How To Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
Thrive – Arianna Huffington
Loving What Is – Byron Katie
The Gifts Of Imperfection – Brene Brown
Atlas of The Heart – Brene Brown
Podcasts
Unlocking Us – Brene Brown
Dare To Lead – Brene Brown
StarTalk – Neil Degrasse Tyson
Apps:
Airtable – I love this app! Airtable is basically a glorified version of Excel. It is a wonderful productivity tool.
Audacity – A must for podcasting or editing audio
Doodly – Excellent application for creating informative professional doodle videos
Pixabay.com – Great resources for free images, audio, and video
Canva – Perfect for social media content creation
Calendly – Excellent tool for scheduling. You can embed it straight into your website
Contact Info:
- Email: mindfulbitcoaching.com
- Website: mindfulbit.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindfulbit
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9yLqEP9QrDJvIv33KiwjSQ
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/3dvtqEsVpYqDjArju2gnAr?si=68b2f82981af49ff
