April ‘Ria’ Qureshi-Davidson: Helping others find balance in their lives

‘Coach Ria’ is a new service that entrepreneur and personal growth advocate April ‘Ria’ Qureshi-Davidson has developed to help others find balance in their lives. When asked how having a coach can benefit a busy person, she put it like this: “Where coaches come in is to develop an individual’s clarity and focus. I work with people so they can peel back the layers of ‘stuff’ in their lives, find their true motivations, and get laser focused on what is important in their lives now.  Coaching can help people work out a plan to get things done plus have quality time for themselves.”

‘Coach Ria’ – April Ria Qureshi-Davidson, ACC, ECPC, RYT.

Along with being a certified professional coach, Ria is an entrepreneur, author and speaker. In the past twenty years, she has had four different and successful careers.  With personal development and creativity as her passions, she is working on a fifth.  She also serves on the board of ‘100 Women Who Care’ – Sunshine Coast and is a member of eWomen Network Vancouver.

Ria believes that coaches need perspective, compassion and detachment.  They must listen to people on a deep level and be able to reflect what they hear back in a way a person can understand. This is what brings about client awareness, about themselves,  about their habits,  and about their motives and beliefs.

For example, when a client says they want to lose weight, it is not the number on the scale or the way that their clothes fit that is the real motivator.  These things are bi-products.

“The deeper motivation is who is that person is becoming by changing their life.  It becomes a question of identity.  We make our most transformational changes when we shift on the level of our identity,” said Ria.

To Ria the concept of balance is two sided: “People want change to happen ‘out there’.  We want others to fix things for us, because we are so busy.  The reality is that we are looking outside for an answer to something that needs to come from within. The external world won’t always change to give us what we want. We need to make an internal shift.  When we can balance our inner world and know ourselves, it creates a huge ripple effect in our outer world.  Personal change is a powerful process that influences our outer world.”

For those looking for personal growth, Ria recommends that they build a support system of people that can help them maintain their focus. She also feels recording or mapping personal goals is essential. The map gives an opportunity to revisit the goals and adjust the route along the way. “The beauty is it’s flexible and gives us choice when faced with tough decisions. The roadmap is built in with touch-points to measure progress and lead us to the ultimate goal,” said Ria.

When asked for advice for women on avoiding problems that limit personal growth, Ria laughed, “We can’t avoid the challenges and hardships, they are part of the process.  We want things to be all roses and perfect, but success in life and business is a lot of work.  You need to be passionate about what you are doing and motivated toward achieving your goals.   Connect to your purpose and anything is possible.”

Her website, CoachRia.com, has the expected service and event lists and business contact information plus an informative blog with hints and insight. Check it out!

Connie Jordison