About Me

From Self-help Junkie, to NYC Senior Project Management Consultant and now as a Life Coach helping people overcome challenges and reaching their goals.  Life has been fun.  And along the way learning numerous techniques and methods for mental and emotional healing.

Here is a glimpse of the lessons learned from my metaphysical and self-help studies and applied to the ultra-fast-paced world of NYC's Wall St. and applying the methods of project management to personal coaching.  My last twenty-plus years summarized onto one page.

Self-help Junkie

I can safely say that I am a proud Self-help Junkie!  I began reading "Positive Mental Attitude" books and listening to audio recordings while still in my teens.  I was introduced to the subject by a friend and co-worker.  His wife worked in our local library so he always had several books and recordings checked out.  It wasn't long before I was hooked as well.

While still in High School, in a small Southern California beach community, I had debated whether to become a therapist or pursue a career in technology.  Computer Information Science (CIS as it was called then) was a new and growing field so I went with the promising career in Information Technology.  As a small-town surfer-kid, I had no idea of the impact this choice would eventually have on me.

Senior Project Management Consultant

As my career in IT developed, I went from programmer to database developer and finally to New York City as a Wall St. Senior Project Management Consultant.  The surfer-kid was still swimming with sharks, but now in a metropolitan city.

I like to compare consultants to the "hired guns" of the Old West.  A Project Manager (PM) consultant will be hired to solve a specific problem in a large corporate environment.  The task must be performed quickly, efficiently and accurately.  As a PM, (and especially in the NYC Financial environment) it was important for me to develop the skill of finding where the problem or obstacle was, then either finding a solution or developing a feasible system to fix the problem.

A good PM also never works alone.  I learned that the key to success is asking Lots of questions and getting help from others.  There were always timelines and deadlines to consider, as well as cost and budget constraints.  And, to be able to do all of this brand-new with each project using different teams of people.  Whew!

But I found that I was good at it.  I loved finding where the problems where and finding solutions.  I loved working within constraints.  It became a game of "Look at Big Picture, and then find the solution using the fastest way through the maze."  But what was missing was the feeling of working with individuals and "Personal Victories."

Studying NLP, Hypnosis, and more

Even as my career was doing great, I still enjoyed working one-on-one with people.  I continued to study NLP, hypnosis and several other similar techniques and methods.  I've had the great privilege of studying with top cutting-edge trainers such as Anthony (Tony) Robbins, creator of the many motivational programs including the "Firewalk Experience"; Richard Bandler, original co-founder of Nuero-Linguistic Programming (NLP); Michael Grinder (brother of original NLP co-founder John Grinder); and others, including Doug O'Brien, one of the very few hypnotherapy trainers endorsed by both Tony Robbins and Richard Bandler.

I would often use the NLP techniques within my career when I could, which helped tremendously, but I mostly enjoyed helping individuals.

I found that I could use my "therapy" skills as a volunteer at such places as Youth Centers, Youth Prison and similar facilities, but it still didn't quite offer the satisfaction of working with people that were in "Status Quo" and wanted more out of life.

Studying Pragmatic Metaphysics

Also during this time, I had met and began studying with various metaphysical and spiritual teachers.  

Many of these methods I have found to be highly pragmatic and useful techniques that I still use and teach today.

Moving From IT to Coaching

I found that the corporate environment was no longer personally fulfilling.  It is still a career that I recommend to young people just starting out, but I was ready for a new challenge.  Thus, the migration to coaching.

Today I work with people with many different aspirations, desires and goals.  Many of them have no real idea of what they want out of life when we start working together.  They only know they want things to be different.  This is where I find that my background from IT comes in very useful.  It becomes a natural process for me to observe (as I would as a consultant), ask questions, then propose directions, solutions or simply experimentations.

The people that I love working with the most are those that have some Burning Desire to do something (even if they are unclear about what it is), but can't seem to get started or have had trouble getting started and stopping in the past.  I am a self-proclaimed Master at assisting people to Overcome Procrastination!  I find that this is where I come alive!  To me, this involves the thrill of finding the obstacles and solutions, AND using all my training in both fields of interest.

I now get to do what I love, help people on an individual basis.  :)

I look forward to getting to know you through classes, teleconferences or working one-on-one in a Coaching Relationship.  I also invite you to find out if working with me one-on-one could help turbo-charge your goals. Contact me to schedule your Free Trial Coaching Session and find out for yourself if Coaching is right for you.

Best wishes,

Patrick