As December unfolds, it offers the perfect time to bid adieu to the past 12 months. Rituals to gracefully part ways with the past year bring a sense of closure. They allow us to harvest the lessons, preserve memories, and find peace amidst life’s experiences. Here’s three simple ways to gracefully conclude the year. 1. […]
Summer is finally here in Minnesota! Watching flowers unfurl to gorgeous blooms got me thinking about a very important, consistent challenge for my clients in coaching. Blooming proudly. Flowers naturally blossom, bloom and show off their brilliant colors and textures for the whole world. We LOVE the beauty they offer and are transfixed by it! […]
Do you find yourself in a whirlwind – so many things to do and it doesn’t seem as though you are getting anything done? That’s when I can get cranky, irritable, and out of sorts. And that mood burns up any creative, productive energy that I really need to get things done! What helps to […]
You can be anything you want, if you just work hard enough. Hmmm, really? Most people figure out that “hard work” isn’t always enough to result in major success. I could never be a pro basketball player or ballet dancer no matter HOW hard I worked. And yet this is still a culturally accepted myth […]
Want to join me for a summer vacation? Or as the pandemic made famous – a STAY-CATION – a vacation without leaving home! I love Stay-cations because I don’t need to pack a bag 😂😉 You know how it works: walk away from your office/kitchen, shut off your phone, log off the laptop, and spend […]
These days, it’s common to hear about the importance of gratitude. It has a huge array of benefits. Some of those benefits include making you a happier person, helping you sleep better, lowering your blood pressure, and even strengthening your immune system according to a study by Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. Did you know being […]
The WHO I coach is perhaps the most inspiring part of my work. AND one more favorite part?! Experiencing the incredible transformations that my clients realize. I am regularly awed by the scope and magnitude of change my clients create and the growth in their capacity for courage, wisdom, resilience, and grace. One of many […]
We talked about the WHAT of my coaching work. You learned about the HOW of my coaching work. Now let’s get to one of the most inspiring parts: WHO I coach. My clients are changemakers yearning for balance, not burnout. Does this describe you? You’re a “smart cookie” — maybe from book learning but mostly […]
Even though I’m a coach who is a cheerleader for positivity and possibility, I know that LIFE IS HARD — it isn’t always sunshine and butterflies and unicorns and rainbows. The old saying April showers bring May flowers is an apt analogy for life and coaching. We all have gray, rainy days and thunderstorms that […]
My April theme of the month is Showers and Flowers. This month always gets me thinking about the powerful transformation that happens between April showers and May flowers. Those gloomy, rainy days create the bursting blossoms of Spring. And these Spring words of change, transformation, blossoming, and growing are so rooted in what I do […]
Challenging. Empathetic. Creative.
My time with Mary has been invaluable.
I began working with Mary at a time when I was approaching a major life change: I wanted to change my career and re-balance my life. Mary was an incredible accountability partner in helping me navigate, plan, and adapt during this transition, and — most significantly — she helped me get in tune with what I truly want in this next chapter of my life.
Her direct, no-bullshit, empathetic coaching style and her ability to push me beyond my surface responses were critical to helping me take real ownership of my life, career, and relationships. Furthermore, her coaching – especially with the PQ program – has been transformative and has given me the tools to continue growing on my own which is a true treasure. I am grateful to be in a new place, with new insight and compassion for myself and others. It’s been an amazing journey–and Mary is an amazing coach!
Three Words: Energetic. Challenging. Creative.
Mary is a true “coach’s coach”. I learned so much from her as my supervisor during the coach certification process that I hired her to coach me again…and again…and again. Mary was so effective that I engaged her at several key moments in my career. Our work together was always up-lifting, insightful and action-oriented, and I am grateful for both the wisdom and the kindness she shared with me. Thank you Mary!
For sales people in general a great coach is an asset because we are forced to deal with negative emotions every day – there is a lot of rejection and fear. The resilience needed to withstand that is greater when you have an asset like Mary.
She helps me think through what is going on. If there is conflict with my values, she helps me articulate what is going on. From that we trade action steps to progress through a challenge, or take on an opportunity. She takes what is within me and helps me make sense of it and create actionable steps.
Mary does not bring a one-size-fits-all approach – this is a customized approach we have worked on over the past four years.
THREE WORDS: Professional, Humor, Authentic
Mary’s sense of humor, coupled with her raw authenticity, gave me a huge play ground to be myself and to experiment with letting go of concepts about myself that no longer served me. Our work was, and continues to be, life-changing.
I send my closest friends and family to Mary when someone needs a coach. Enough said. I know you’ll get nothing but excellence when you work with her.
I’ve pretty much doubled business over the course of working with her. I know it is tough to attribute it to one single thing, but I know with certainty that she is a part of what has allowed me to do that. And, working with Mary has helped me have much more authentic conversations with people in my life, whether those are people I’m dating, or my relatives, friends or colleagues. She’s helped me get a clear sense of my voice in all those types of relationship.
She has helped me get out of my own way on the goals that really, really matter to me.
I am somebody who needs homework. I need someone to say ‘Do X Y and Z and get back in touch,’ instead of ‘Think about this and we will talk.’ Mary structured things for me in that manner. Otherwise it is easy for me to put things on back burner.
There were two big main issues that Mary and I worked with: I had too much on my plate, and my marriage was blowing up. So we worked on both.
I gained a good sense of not only who I was but trusting that I had the answers, which is really where you want to get to: That you can trust yourself with the way you are feeling and that the decisions you are making are right for you.
My coaching journey with Mary has been wonderful. She was a sounding board to test ideas, conversations, and dreams about what I want in my career and my personal life. Coaching with her helped me grow into a stronger leader and find my voice to speak up for myself. Coach Mary helped me gain the confidence and skills to self-advocate and ask for what I deserve from my superiors. This was the catalyst for opening doors to a new career role that is a wonderful fit for me, a role that I didn’t even know was an option when I began.
There is no colleague I respect more than Mary Olk. She has an unwavering commitment to personal and professional growth for her clients and herself. She is a truly gifted inner guide—extraordinarily insightful, self aware, highly skilled, and wise. I am especially proud she has chosen to integrate the Gremlin-Taming® method into her own naturally potent style of facilitating others to tap into and channel their potential. Her clients are beyond fortunate to have her in their lives.
