Coaching against bandwidth poverty.

Howdy Coaches,

We recently stumbled upon a great NPR segment on the behavioral effects of poverty (about 12 minutes long, but worth the time), so take a look!

The segment talks about the stress imposed by poverty, and how that stress can lead to "bandwidth poverty." If you have ever met with a client in an emergency situation, you will recognize it. A client sits down, starts talking about their finances, but gets stuck on the details of an upcoming bill cycle. The loop looks like this: I have a car loan due tomorrow, I get paid on Friday, and rent is due Monday. You try to look forward to the next pay period, but it's hard for the client to imagine what will happen between now and then, and even harder to try to plan for it. It's a stalemate, and you know that it will happen again next month if the client can't plan ahead for it. You may have chalked it up to being scattered or unfocused, but in reality, this lack of focus is not the cause of the problem, but the effect. Their "bandwidth poverty" has forced them to focus on immediate needs, and they can't think beyond the next few days.

To think about this segment from a coach's perspective, it reinforces some of our key roles: to attend to an emotional sense of well-being, to help our clients make informed and deliberate decisions, and to hold the client accountable to his or her goals. Even if it's just for an hour a week, it can make a big difference for a client to sit down and think about their finances, and to take a look into the future at how their decisions will play out over time. It's important to remember that our personal and financial lives are impossible to separate, and even more so for folks living paycheck to paycheck. This is why we are here to encourage, support, and focus our clients on the potential of a less hectic life. And unlike your own personal ISP, we will offer our bandwidth free of charge!