In academic life coaching, each week is its own kind of awesome. For years I’ve been regaling my Facebook friends with stories, both heartfelt and hilarious. It’s time to bring these stories to my blog readers as well. Enjoy these snippets from my week.

This week I could talk about…

…how much I love having clients text me in between sessions with requests like, “Do you have 10 minutes to help me think through the project that just got assigned today?” … and how sweet their gratitude is afterwards: “Thank you SO MUCH for taking the extra time! I really appreciate it!!” Teenagers are much more present, polite, and thoughtful than our culture gives them credit for.

…hearing a client rave about her new Arc organization system (bought at Staples), so proud that several of her classmates admired it. How many kids actually get compliments on their school supplies?! “I don’t know why Staples doesn’t market this, it’s so cool!” she gushed.

…working with two clients in a row on a new way to set up their planner, and having both clients comment, “Wow! You should sell this idea!”

…getting a text message from a college student announcing, “BTW, I got an 80 on my second linguistics test 😉 And that’s without a grade curve!” (from a student who is working her butt off to get off of academic probation).

…the bittersweetness in both our smiles as my client (whose been with me for 4 years) had her final session. One downer of Skype sessions is that we couldn’t give each other goodbye hugs.

…my client (junior in college) gleefully calling out “Flowchart Friday!!!” when she realized that she could get out her colorful markers and create posters of flowcharts in order to study for her biology final exam…not to mention the motivating alliteration of F. Whatever it takes to get motivated…

…my client’s clear frustration with the way I was “wasting” our time by asking him “pointless” questions about his paper on transcendentalism…and his sheer delight at the end of 50 minutes when we ended up with a rockin’ thesis statement, 3 great topic sentences, and an easy-to-follow outline for what to write next.

…competing with my client about who can earn more “points” in an online role playing game called “Habit.” This game inspires this highschool sophomore to think more deeply about his habits than any other technique I’ve ever tried in our 3 years together. Yay for gamification! Yay for www.habitrpg.com!

…how fun it is to watch my client’s hairstyle change from month-to-month (shaved one month, pink the next).