He takes special care to highlight my positive qualities (metaphorically, of course). “You, without a rudder, have gone places other people haven’t gone,” he assures me. He also talks about the creativity my rudderless ship situation has demanded of me, before modifying the metaphor. Now, I’m “a ship without a captain.”

He then admits that before settling on the boat/rudder, ship/captain analogies, he played around with the idea of the pirate… envisioning me as a Captain Jack Sparrow type. And this is much better. As he speaks he spins his pen.

We continue discussing the benefits of being a ship without a captain. For one, every day is going to be different. Some days will be smooth sailing, other days will be perfect storm-adjacent.

I tell him one of my favorite things about interviewing celebs, or subjects who do cool, newsworthy things is that I find it fascinating to talk with people who have articulated a goal — usually an ambitious one — and achieved it. There are a lot of reasons I love that, and it’s only in retrospect I admit to myself that articulating and achieving an ambitious goal is not something I’ve done in my own life. Not fully at least.

But Doug doesn’t let me dwell here — onward, upward, port, starboard — he’s on to my metaphor for the future.

“An architect straddles the balance between the freedom and the art of something very unique and beautiful, and yet he has to honor the natural laws he will be building in. Being an architect is a wonderful balance between freedom and structure.”

Man, oh man, do I love this one. I used to be a sucker for Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus school. I loved the sweet spot of form and function that they found. I space out on that a bit before seriously considering how the metaphor applies to me.

We wind down by discussing the architect some more, and then Doug gives me a task: Don’t become the architect just yet. Instead, embody the captain-less ship for a few more days and journal on what that’s like.

No Rudder, Will Travel: The Journal
(an excerpted version)

Friday What do I have on deck today? Um… Not sure. Oh yes, there’s the stress rolling in. This sucks.

Saturday Even those without a rudder or a captain sometimes luck into beaching onto a tropical island…

Sunday A day with loose plans and it feels good… to tweak one of Woody Allen’s old lines, 90 percent of success is having deadlines to hit.

Although initially skeptical, by the time our third and final meeting rolls around, I’m loving Doug. Normally, he meets with clients bi-weekly after three initial sessions. But for the purposes of this piece, he gives me a plan so that I can put metaphorical muscle on my metaphorical architect. He wants me to take time out daily, before beginning a task, and ask myself, “How does this connect to what I want?” He also wants me to reflect weekly on what the practice is revealing to me through journaling.

So far, so good. Since our last meeting about a month ago, I’m feeling much better about my working towards a new career, and have even decided to keep seeing Doug on my own to assist me through the transition. I look forward to chatting with him the same way I would look forward to seeing a good therapist.

Another thing he did during our last meeting? He was the first to congratulate me on my new gig: I got the job offer I really wanted just before leaving to meet with him.

Get a Life
(Or At Least a Life Coach)

Start at the International Coach Federation’s website and their gratis Coach Referral Service by going to Coachfederation.org and clicking on the “Find a Credentialed Coach” link. Here you can narrow down the list of potential coaches, whether you’re looking for a corporate, small business, personal or career coach. You can also winnow the results by specifying coaching specialty, professional experience, desired coaching method and language preference, or even post a Request for Proposal inviting coaches who match your criteria to provide a detailed, personalized response to how they would approach your specific situation.

While you’re waiting for your perfect coach to materialize, get all hippie Horatio Alger and read and complete every exercise in Shakti Gawain’s classic Creative Visualization.

Interview coaches on your shortlist by asking them the four C’s: Coach Specific Training (to make sure that they’ve actually taken one of 90 different ICF-approved programs); Code of Ethics (Are they a member of the ICF? If so, they’re required to uphold certain ethical requirements. If not, what ethical standards do they follow?); Context (What other specialized skills does the coach have? How important is said experience specific/relevant to your personal goals?); And finally, Chemistry: do you feel a connection with the coach? A solid coach-client relationship will be a vital component of your success.

Expect to pay between $75 and $125 per session. Most coaches request three meetings to get you set up with a program and then bi-weekly or monthly meetings for at least three to six months. Business coaches are often twice as expensive as other coaches.

Stephen Krcmar recently left the hills of Silverlake to work and live in the mountains of the Eastern Sierra. Although he still thinks wearing pants to work sucks, he expects wearing snowpants to work from November until June will soften that blow.