The very best view comes after the hardest climb
Rebecca Norton – Who am I?
Sheffield born and bred with Yorkshire grit and a love for the outdoors, my work life has never been your average 9 to 5.
With a sense of curiosity and a love for learning I’ve studied, worked and volunteered in many roles, providing me with a wide range of experience to draw upon. My jobs have involved teaching, training, community work, project work and outdoor activity instructing.
Although they may sound a disparate range of industries the thing that has run through them all is a desire to help others. I feel privileged to say that on the whole I’ve enjoyed all my jobs and never had that feeling of dread about going to work.
Reading ‘Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway‘ by Susan Jeffers in 2000 was a pivotal moment for me. It opened up a whole new world of personal development and I was hooked! Learning is a lifelong process. Continuing professional development is important to me so that I can improve myself and offer the best service to my clients.
In early 2021 I was asked to write an e-book for the learning platform, BookBoon. I’m proud to say that Balancing Act – Maintaining a Work Life Balance is available now. Early 2025 I launched my new book, RHYTHM, which takes you through my personal development model – looking at Relationships, Habits, Your purpose, Time, Health & Mindset
How I got into Life Coaching
The idea to become a Life Coach actually came to me while I was out walking (which is where I get most of my inspiration!). I was reflecting on how powerful walking is as a means to finding solutions and untangling thoughts and wanted to help other people experience it for themselves.
I attended the Coaching Academy two day taster event and encountered a powerful exercise called the Rocking Chair Test. It made me think about what I really wanted and we were encouraged to write our vision for 5 years time. After some serious thought I decided to take a leap of faith and sign up to complete my Diploma in Personal Development Coaching. It was a large financial investment for me but I realised that if I wanted to improve my life I had to be willing to commit.
Personal development is enlightening and hugely worthwhile but it can also be challenging and uncomfortable at times. The training course pulled together all my previous learning and provided me with a comprehensive toolbox so that I was able to make a difference to both my own life as well empowering my clients to improve theirs. As a firm believer in life-long learning I continue to develop my skills and practice through attending regular coach development groups as well as undertaking further training – which included adding Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner to my repertoire.
In 2018 I was shortlisted for Best Newcomer at The Coaching Academy International Award ceremony – which I was hugely proud of.
Walking my way to well-being
Sense of Direction encapsulates my love for walking as well as the personal development aspect. Walking and being outdoors has played a hugely influencing role in my life. I’ve been lost, found myself, developed skills, increased my resilience, built relationships and fallen in love – all in the outdoors.
Walking has given me many pleasures and skills over the years, including:
- a sense of peace and calm
- space to think and wonder
- companionship – walking with friends old and new
- opportunity to travel to new, beautiful places, both at home and broad
- increased fitness
- developing my map reading and navigation skills
My desire is to share some (or all!) of these wonderful experiences with you. Walking is great for enhancing creative thinking and provides time to ponder ideas and as such many of my services include walking.
For over 10 years I’ve been leading guided walks for a well respected holiday company where I get to meet lots of interesting people. I have also enjoyed personal walking in some amazing places around the world as well as at home in the Peak District. Gaining my Mountain Leader (ML) award was a very proud moment for me as it took lots of hard work, sweat and determination to complete. However, I’m as happy walking in my local park as I am up a mountain – for me just being outdoors gives me great pleasure.
I look forward to helping you find your own ‘Sense of Direction’!
‘Solvitur Ambulando’ (It is solved by walking)
Experience Session
Coaching can be difficult to explain – it’s much better to experience it for yourself. Experience sessions are up to 45 minutes and an opportunity for you to experience how coaching with me, can help you in your current situation. Although there is no financial cost to this session, it takes time and energy so please only book if you are seriously considering working with a coach.
Rebecca is a lovely, positive person – she helped me to focus my attention on the things I enjoy the most in life.
It was brilliant to talk things through and explore more of the logical reasons for everything, instead of always focusing on the emotions. I enjoyed finding out about personality traits through doing the “DISC profiling”. There were definitely some lightbulb moments there.