Am I doing this Coaching thing right?

Coaching FAQ: Am I doing this coaching thing right / Is it making a difference?
A1: You will know if you are "doing" coaching "right", so to speak, if you achieve movement. If:

• you feel CHALLENGED, PUSHED, and STRETCHED both inside and outside of the coaching conversation, this is good. It's a bit like physical training: to build muscle, you have to warm up, break a sweat, stretch. 
• the conversation CONTINUES to play on your mind once you leave the conversation, this is good. The saying is: oftentimes, the best coaching session happens between coaching sessions.
• as a result of the work within the conversation, you INTENTIONALLY MAKE CHANGES to your own thinking and behaving and relating, this is good. Better still, if you share those changes with others, including your coach, you are more likely to make them stick and stay committed to a path. 
• you know what to watch for, ASSESS and COURSE ADJUST based on the RESULTS you are getting from the changes you make, this is good. This is the feeling of being in the driver's seat where you make the decisions, you make the movement happen and you take responsibility for results and how you will treat them. 
• you achieve SUCCESS based on the above, this is good. 
• you ATTRIBUTE each success to your intentional changes, celebrate these results, use this mastery experience to reach out for more challenges, find yourself in your dream (with that "pinch me" sense), if you share your story with others and use the words, "I did this myself", this is good. 

At the end of every day, there is you. Just you. Only you. Powerful you. In other words, coaching should feel initially uncomfortable, like you are learning a new language and forcing yourself to practice until you achieve comfort and competence. But, in the end, just like no one can learn a foreign language for you, if you attribute your success to your application, to your vision, values, will, persistence, resilience, perseverance, resourcefulness, creativity, humility, courage and care, you are "doing" coaching right, you have impact.