Lots to Unpack There
We’re Jess and Lisa, two best friends in our 40s living in Maryland. This podcast is about life, motherhood, leadership, and everything in between. We’re navigating the “messy middle” of personal and professional life and have learned that having someone who just gets it makes the journey less hard.
Each week, we’ll share something real from our own lives and unpack it together in real time. Our hope is that as we process and reflect, it’ll inspire and help you do the same—wherever you are.
Lots to Unpack There
Unpack Snack: PCC Goal Achieved!
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Lots to Unpack There +
Exclusive access to premium content!We celebrate a major professional milestone - Jess receives the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from the International Coaching Federation, representing 500 hours of coaching practice (and a whole bunch of other things). This achievement marks a significant step in professional development, moving from Associate Certified Coach (ACC) to the widely recognized "gold standard" in coaching.
• The journey from ACC (100 hours) to PCC (500 hours) involves not just accumulating time but experiencing significant professional growth
• Reaching certification brings unexpected relief from the pressure of tracking and documenting every coaching hour
• The path to Master Certified Coach (MCC) requires 2,500 hours, typically taking 5-7 years at a sustainable pace
• Professional development includes both theoretical knowledge and practical experience that transforms how coaches work
• Achieving goals brings satisfaction on multiple levels - from the stick-to-itiveness to reach them to the professional doors they open
• Setting personal timeframes for achievement helps balance ambition with sustainable practice
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I mean, I don't want to bury the lead for our audience and like in our discussion, but you have achieved an amazing milestone.
Jess:Yeah.
Lisa:Yeah, I did the thing you did the thing you got the credential. I happen to have a nice bottle of Prosecco right here next to me that I'm going to crack in your honor, wow. I have been saving for such an occasion Now we are not near each other, so unfortunately I cannot offer you any at this time.
Jess:Well, I'm glad you're going to be drinking champagne for you any at this time.
Lisa:Well, I'm glad you're going to be drinking champagne, but I am going to have a wee glass in your honor completely for your PCC. You have achieved it. It was no small amount of effort, no, and you did it with aplomb.
Jess:Yeah, I tried to keep the stress kind of out here, but it was definitely was. I was pushing up against some capacity constraints the last couple of months and that is not a space you like to be in.
Lisa:You are not one of those people who likes to be busy to the point of like.
Jess:You know where you feel like, oh, I'm crushing it like not anymore, that's not your vibe, that was, I think that was my vibe for everyone go well, not everyone, but I think a lot of people do go through that.
Lisa:Americans in particular go through through that at one point or another. We're like I've got to be crushing it.
Jess:I don't want to be that busy and it's so funny. This is maybe a mini unpack, but we talked about it a little bit because I think I saw you the last time I saw you in person I had submitted the paperwork, but I was still waiting. Waiting, yes, and and like even that, knowing that the paperwork was in it, it just relieved so much pressure. I'm so glad it's so, but it's so weird because, like, the hours have not gone down yet, not significantly, they have gone down a little bit, but I'm like the stress of of tracking them and like getting every single, making sure every single hour is recorded and so now, what am I gonna have not?
Lisa:are you not like recording hours? Obviously you have lots of like administrative paperwork you still have to do for every client, but like you don't have to track the hours specifically as paid, unpaid, none of the above.
Jess:I do sort of, but it's like not, Because I'm not trying to see exactly when I hit that 500 hour milestone. It's like not a big deal until I get to 2,500, which is not going to happen in a year. I don't know. So this level that I'm at now, this PCC, which stands for professional certified coach, it's the. International Coaching Federation's gold standard for coaching practice. I mean, I really do think it is the gold standard. There is one level higher, which is the master certified coach. That's the 2,500 hours, that's such a big jump it is.
Jess:But if you think about associate certified coach, which is what I was before, that's 100 hours and then it goes to 500 hours and then it goes to 2,500 hours. So the interval is, you know, consistent.
Lisa:Do you?
Jess:know any MCCs? I know quite a few MCCs, oh, but I also know it's going to take me years to get to that level.
Lisa:Yeah, at the pace that you want to stay at Right?
Jess:I mean even if, let's say this, first six months I coached over 250 hours, which is like hurting my brain to think about. If I kept that pace, it would still take me four more years.
Lisa:I was going to say, yeah, like five years total to do that.
Jess:Four more years at 500 hours a month, but I mean.
Lisa:I guess that makes sense If you're looking like, let's say that you did start this as like a first career which you didn. Yeah, four more years at 500 hours a month that tracks. You don't want somebody calling themselves a master when they've been doing something for 18 months. I'm like I'm sorry you're not a master of anything at this point.
Jess:You're in the growing and learning sort of phase, yeah, and I think the same is kind of true with ACC and PCC where, depending on the level of education you can have, it's actually very similar to what we've already talked about with the learning and theory and learning and action. And like you can have the theory of PCC, you can demonstrate the skills of PCC, but there is more that happens in becoming a PCC coach, in those 500 hours or 400 extra hours.
Lisa:I mean think of all the epiphanies and light bulb moments that you've had in the last year, so many, so many. And you graduated from your program with the knowledge of a PCC Correct Right Two years ago, two years ago and you're like aha, now I've got all the lessons that go with it.
Jess:Yeah, it's very cool. But to go back to the original point, yes, I should probably be tracking the hours. I definitely need to keep a record of who I'm meeting with, but I have external records for that, like in my CRM and in my calendar and in my contract portals and those kinds of things, and so I'm less stressed about keeping those exact numbers. And also because I'm not expecting to be at an MCC level for probably another six or seven years At the rate that I would like to be at.
Lisa:I feel like that is another thing that probably relieves some pressure is that there's like there's no specific timeframe for it or anything like that. You're at the like you said gold standard. You've hit that. I think you hit it in as record time as a person can really hit it and you're doing all the things. You're doing all the things and there's so much more that opens up for you now so you can do even more things. So I'm just so proud and so excited for you and thank you Really, really, like, really made a huge effort in the last year to get where you are and I'm just so, I'm just so pleased that you achieved it and you got there, and I just I don't know, I don't ever want something that you achieve to go like unrecognized by the world.
Lisa:So, thank you, I'm using the biggest platform that I have to say yay, Yay.
Jess:It means so much and it means so much on different levels. You know, like there's the I set a goal and I had the stick-to-itiveness to achieve it. That by itself, yeah. And there were a lot of uncertain moments in there because I wasn't sure if I was going to have the clients or the hours. And you know, if it hadn't been for this coaching platform, I wouldn't have. I would have gotten there eventually, yeah, but it would not have been in the timeframe that I was looking for. And when I'm looking to go to this kind of next level someday, I think there is also more theory and more education and more it is it, it, it transforms into kind of a different kind of coaching. At that point, and so well, I'm just not in a hurry.
Jess:I think I was in a hurry to get here because I had that time deadline that I had set for myself. But now I'm I don't know. The pressure has been relieved. So I'm feeling very happy about that.
Speaker 1:Jess and Lisa here to brighten your day. Quick chats and laughs were on our way. Got the scoop. You didn't expect Unpacked snacks. Short but perfect. Funny tidbits and moments we share. Stories so light they'll float in the air. Tune in fast as the bite-sized flare. Unpacked snacks were always prepared. We're always prepared.
