It’s the end of a busy week. I have been coaching, as ever. I am in the midst of preparing an assessment report. I have just returned to the office, ready to go through a number of e-mails that have reached me before I sign off at the end of the working week and sign onto the weekend.

This week has also been a week of “chemistry meetings”. This is the process by which a person seeking coaching and their potential coach(es) meet to establish whether or not they are well matched to work together. Typical questions that are on the table during these meetings are “what areas do you want to address through coaching?” “what outcomes would you like from your coaching?” and “what would you like from your coach?” As well as testing whether or not coach and person seeking coaching are well matched, these meetings can help the person seeking coaching to deepen his or her understanding of what he or she is looking for.

Whilst it’s often the coach’s role to hold up a mirror to a client and invite self reflection, in one meeting it’s my turn. The person with whom I’m meeting – potentially my coaching client – tells me that she has the sense that I really enjoy coaching and highlights the passion with which I speak about it.

Even as she asks the question I feel a physical response as tears rise. The truth is, I still find it amazing that I am paid – and handsomely – to do something I love so much.

The gratitude I feel lingers with me as the weekend approaches.