I went to a career coach so you don't have to - and it was a rude awakening

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I needed a lot more guidance than I thought.

• I worked with a career coach, Rebecca Fraser-Thill of the Pivot Coaching team, for two months.

• Fraser-Thill was supportive and encouraging, but also made sure I set concrete, measurable career goals.

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• Over the course of coaching, I learned that I'd been taking a backseat to my own professional development, and became more proactive about it.

Right around the 15-minute mark of my first phone call with Rebecca Fraser-Thill, an "aha!" moment occurred.

I was describing how I'd behave differently once I earned the senior reporter title at Business Insider - I'd feel confident that I was the right person to be tackling the stories I wanted to write and I'd think more carefully about the stories I pitched to my editor.

"It is interesting," Fraser-Thill said, "because it strikes me that both of these are certainly things you could work into your current life. "

Oh.

"I'm not a full believer in 'fake it till you make it,'" she added, "but there's also the piece of sometimes we do have to 'act as if.'"

Fraser-Thill is a career coach and for the past two months, I've been one of her clients. I pitched this story to my editor because it had occurred to me that, while I use career coaches and leadership coaches as sources for stories somewhat often, I don't know what they do on a daily basis.

Admittedly, I didn't think I needed that much guidance. There have been times in my professional past when I've felt confused or overwhelmed, but when I approached Fraser-Thill I felt pretty good about both my job and my career more generally. Signing up for coaching was more about getting a firsthand look at how someone with this job works.

Spoiler alert: I did need guidance, or at least more than I thought I did. Working with Fraser-Thill made me realize that, for years, I'd been leaving my career development to chance.