Yes, I have clients on six continents.

I commonly work with people all over the world via Zoom. We'll find a time of day that's convenient for both of us.

If you're curious, I live in the United States, in Portland, Oregon (on the PT timezone). I moved here six years ago, and I’ve previously lived in: Washington DC, Los Angeles, Montreal, Tokyo, and a small village outside Hiroshima.

I'm an experienced coach who's helped a lot of multi-passionate, big-picture thinkers.

• I’ve spent over a decade working with leaders and team members from top Fortune 500 companies (e.g., Google, Siemens, Nike).
• Outside the corporate world, I’ve helped people ranging from a founder of a popular crypto protocol, to doctors, students, software engineers, aspiring entrepreneurs, and people who haven't yet figured out their deepest passion & life purpose.
• I created one of the most popular websites in the personality typing world—millions of people (from 193 countries) have trusted my test.
• With over 500 logged hours of training, I have a background in both executive / life coaching (CTI Co-Active Coaching, Positive Intelligence) and counseling (Hakomi somatic mindfulness, R-CS Re-Creation of the Self). You can read more about my qualifications here.
• I also have a substantial background in the existential/spiritual domain. I was raised Catholic, then turned hard atheist for much of my life. As an adult, I deeply explored many major religions, spiritual systems, and ways of thinking about meaning and purpose (including experimenting extensively with psychedelics and other paths toward altered states). Eventually, I found my home as a serious practitioner of Sōtō Zen Buddhism. I've been meditating for 14 years (currently doing so for over an hour most days), and I regularly participate in long silent meditation retreats. (But, don't worry if you don't subscribe to Buddhism—I can reference it if it resonates or leave it out if not.)

If you've struggled to find a coach or counselor who really gets you, I can empathize. It took me a long time to find someone who could keep up with me and go as deep as I wanted to go.

When I found the right person for me, it was pretty clear after only five minutes. If you think I might be a good fit for you, I encourage you to schedule a free sample session to see how it feels.

I've had a very successful career, so I understand what you need to learn to succeed.

• I won an Emmy, and I later worked at the production company of an Academy Award-winning director.
• I worked at some of the top video game companies in the world (Square Enix, Naughty Dog).
• I’ve managed multimillion-dollar web and app projects for some of the world's most famous brands.

So, I can support you in building skills like confidence, communication, EQ, social skills, decision-making, productivity, achieving ambitious goals, and the other fundamentals you need to succeed at work and at home.

I know what it's like to struggle with depression, social disconnection, and lack of purpose.

I’ve been where you are. Despite my success—an objective outside observer would say my life was amazing—I still felt an existential void for much of my adult life. It felt like I was treading water waiting for my "real" life to start.

I wondered how other people seemed to be so happy, so fulfilled, and to have so many friends. I struggled with depression, anxiety, nihilism, low confidence, procrastination, and very low motivation outside work.

But I devoted three solid years to changing that, and I learned a lot about what works and doesn’t work. I won't claim that I have it 100% figured out, and I still have hard days. But I’ve found a deep well of motivation in me and a powerful sense of aliveness. And since then, I’ve helped a lot of other people do the same.

I'm committed to creating a safe container for people with a variety of identities. That kind of trust has to be earned, and I'm willing to put in the work to build it with you.

Inclusivity and Equity

We all have complex identities that are impacted by varying levels of access & privilege as well as structural systems of power and oppression. I consider inclusivity and equity to be foundational to my practice, and I strive to continually educate myself to be able to support clients as whole people who may be impacted by a range of issues related to their multi-faceted and intersectional identities.

I'm also a big believer in transparency.

So I can tell you that, at the time of writing:

• 43% of my clients are people of color;
• 40% are outside the United States;
• 55% identify as female, non-binary, or not male.

Here's some of my other experience in the equity space:

• Back when I worked in the corporate management consulting world, I was Co-Lead of Slalom Portland's internal DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) group—creating educational materials, facilitating workshops, and coaching other consultants and leaders to empower people with the psychological safety, self-awareness, and motivation to create a more inclusive and equitable working environment for all.
• At the Oregon Country Fair festival, I volunteer as an ally at the Rainbow Connection LGBTQIA+ sanctuary space.
• Finally, I invite you to read some of my anti-racism work and some of my writing about gender.

Unearned Advantages

I'm a white, cisgendered, mostly heterosexual person, and I use "they/them" or "he/him"  pronouns. (Here's a piece I wrote about pronouns.)

I was born in Canada and moved to the United States at age 13. But aside from that, it's important to name that my set of identities is most typically regarded as the "default" in the dominant culture of the US. That status has given me a certain amount of power and a variety of unearned advantages (i.e., "privilege").

Because that privilege makes it relatively easy to ignore the systems of oppression and inequity around me, I've devoted a significant amount of time and energy over the past few years to examining the ways I've unconsciously internalized beliefs and habits related to whiteness, maleness, and so on within myself. I'm a part of several communities oriented toward collective liberation and mutual accountability with leaders of color and other historically-marginalized identities.

Trauma

In terms of working with trauma, I have some basic training, awareness, and knowledge of grounding exercises, but I'm not an expert. This is an important topic to me, and I've been focusing my learning lately on trauma-informed mindfulness and meditation practices.

If you're wanting support with complex trauma, I deeply empathize with you; however, clinical psychotherapy is outside the scope of my practice.

Neurodiversity

Similarly, I don't have any specific training in working with neurodiversity. However, quite a few of my clients identify as neurodivergent (autistic, ADHD, etc.) and they've appreciated my style and found my coaching to be beneficial.

If you're curious, I've written about potential correlations between personality type and neurodivergence (as well as how trauma might factor into type).

Sliding Scale

To acknowledge structural inequities and my own unearned advantages, you'll see in my sliding scale that I offer slots in my practice for people who identify as part of historically marginalized groups and have very little disposable income available.

This isn't just one or two token slots either. A full 25% of my clients are paying this greatly reduced rate.

I'm happy to talk about all of this and to discuss any access needs you have via email or during our free sample session (which you can schedule by scrolling down).

• "I was very impressed by the way you took all those complex topics I threw at you and quickly offered me some valuable unexpected advice.
  I’ve never tried coaching before, and this wasn’t any kind of weird pitch. I’m usually really hard to convince of things, but I’m very curious to keep coaching with you."
  —ENTP Digital Marketing Manager
• "I love the feeling of calm I experience now. I don’t second guess myself. I realize so clearly that I was irrationally confident before I started working with Michael, and I now feel a deeper sense of confidence that’s more open-minded and curious.
  I think a good video game analogy for how I’ve progressed is that I feel like I’m playing my life in first-person point-of-view mode now vs. third person.
  It’s hard to overstate how much happier I am."
  —INTP Tech Entrepreneur
• All the other counselors I've worked with have just kept validating my feelings and opinions and telling me I'm right.
  But you're different: You actually challenge me. You help me consider what I might be missing. Thanks so much for your compassion. You always deliver fantastic resources, and I can tell that you really care."
  —INTJ Director of a Non-Profit
• "I was full of self-hatred and anxiety, and I had trouble trusting most of my relationships. I felt like I had to curate myself to be accepted by others.
  I’m so amazed by the profound impact this work has had on me. The biggest surprise for me has been that I feel less bored in conversations now.
  I feel like I can trust people more, and I’m much more at ease in being truly vulnerable rather than having to play a certain role for them."
  —INFJ Leadership Trainer and Facilitator
• "It’s really unbelievable how I’ve gone from crying almost every day at home while unemployed to where I am now.
  It feels weird to celebrate myself, but little me gave me a high-five since she said I deserved one and was proud of me! I am more appreciative than words could honestly ever convey for all you’ve done."
  —ENFP Graphic Design Consultant
• "I am floored. This was truly a feeling I don't think I have ever felt before. I have so much to think about after our session. This was a truly wonderful experience, thank you."
  —INFP Speech-Language Pathologist
• "I knew within 30 seconds of our first call that Michael was someone I wanted by my side. Here was someone who could finally see me, as I truly was deep down. And that eventually helped me fully see myself." 
  —ENFJ Medical School Student
• "I kept walking away with one refreshing insight after another. There is great peace of mind in knowing that at least one person outside of my family can be absolutely trusted with my most confidential musings... I can’t thank Michael enough, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to take advantage of his gift."
  —ESTP Director at a Fortune 10 company

I love books and podcasts too, and I've learned a lot from them. But that type of learning only took me so far.

Here's how coaching is different:

You're a unique person, so my coaching is customized.

You're not the same as other people—your mind is structured differently, and what works for them might not work for you.

My coaching will be highly customized for your personality type and—more importantly—for you and the specific barriers and challenges you're facing in your life.

It's not a simple lack of knowledge that's holding you back.

Why haven't you already made the changes you know you need to make in your life?

Here's what I learned the hard way (and what I've seen in all the clients I've worked with):

You aren't being held back by a lack of knowledge. What you really need is ongoing support to change the way you think. To shift how you see the world and yourself.

It's not enough to just read or hear about what you should be doing—you need to experience it.

You need someone who can help you see what you're doing wrong and hold you accountable to make real progress toward change.

My style:

Every coach has their own unique flavor and specialty. Some coaches call themselves career coaches, business coaches, high-performance coaches, relationship coaches, etc.

I support people with all those things, but at the deeper root level. By transforming how you understand yourself and how you show up in the world, we can address your challenges in all those areas.

So, I’m a Transformation Coach (or, put another way, a Self-Awareness & Mindfulness Coach). While I do have a lot of specific advice for business, relationships, etc. as well, my style is more focused on the core person.

Who are you at the deepest level? What do you want your life purpose to be, and are you actually living it in all areas of your life? Are you moving through life in a way that allows you to feel inspired, curious, excited, connected, and fulfilled? Where are your blind spots? How are you fooling yourself? How could you feel happier and make the most of your precious life?

I'm not a "Type A" drill sergeant-type coach.

I'm less focused on maximum productivity at all times, and more on true fulfillment—helping people feel deeply alive and truly satisfied with their lives.

To escape nihilism, overcome depressive thoughts, and feel more connected and aligned with purpose.

If you want someone who's hyper-focused on holding you accountable to rigid goals, I'm not the person for you.

But if you want an ally who will help you tap into your deepest strengths and motivation while also supporting you in a caring way if you stumble, we might be a good fit.

People I've worked with have described me as:

• Powerfully-present, calm, and grounded
• Authentic, unpretentious, relatable, inclusive, and open
• Thoughtful, kind, committed, and non-judgmental
• Able to see and present a variety of perspectives
• Highly-logical and sharp, but also very empathetic, sensitive, and emotionally intelligent

Clients often tell me after our first session that it wasn't at all what they were expecting and they were very pleasantly surprised.

What does all that look like?

Dozens of studies have shown that the quality of relationship between client and therapist is the single biggest predictor of positive therapy outcomes—even more so than the specific modality the therapist is using. I believe the same is true of coaching.

And you can tell a lot about someone just from watching them for a minute or two. So, I invite you to check out the YouTube channel I recently started to get a feel for what I'm like.

Here are a few of my videos:

What will we do together?

We’ll alternate between tackling specific tactical issues you’re facing (e.g., a recent challenge at work, at home, in your relationships, etc.) and going back to the big picture (your life purpose, career path, and overarching personal growth).

I’m trained in multiple different modalities, which you can read about here. Depending on the type of challenge I’m helping you with, here are some common ways our session might go: 

• I’ll use my expertise in personality typing to help you better understand how your mind works. Then I’ll use techniques from Positive Intelligence to support you with mental fitness (like weightlifting but to strengthen your mastery over your mind).
• I’ll use my coaching and management consulting background to offer you different perspectives and specific advice and suggestions for dealing with the issues you’re facing around things like time management or communication.
• Finally, I’ll use Hakomi and R-CS somatic counseling techniques to help you get in a deeply mindful state of mind to explore the foundational experiences, stories, and neural networks responsible for the challenges you're facing. This will help you make more fundamental shifts to transform your experience of life, including shifting which thought patterns you most commonly go to. Ultimately, this will reshape how you feel about yourself and your moment-to-moment experience each day.

What's the difference between therapy and coaching?

To put it very simply: Therapists are trained to support specific mental health conditions, and they generally focus on helping clients heal wounding from their past. Coaches are more focused on the future, helping clients define and reach their goals, build new skills, and go beyond just surviving to thriving.

Here's a little more nuance:

• A psychological therapist is licensed, and they've attended a full Master's-level program in that field. Licensing is a rigorous process that takes a significant amount of time and energy, and it equips therapists to deal with more clinical-level disorders and complex trauma. This is not me.
• A counselor is someone who has completed training in one of many psychology-related modalities (in my case, I completed three years of training in Hakomi counseling). Counselors are able to help clients through a variety of psychological challenges, but they have a more limited scope of practice. This is me.
• A coach (e.g., a life coach, executive coach, etc.) is focused not only on supporting you in the moment, but on helping you achieve your goals and guiding you to a place of greater fulfillment in your life. A good coach will be able to imagine a "future version of you" that feels possible to achieve, and they'll regularly challenge the limiting beliefs and stories you have in your head to help you reach that place. This is me.

P.S. The word "coach" is the least regulated of all of these, so please be especially careful with researching a coach's training, style, and experience. In my case, I completed the Co-Active Coaching training program at the Co-Active Training Institute in San Francisco, commonly considered to be the most rigorous and respected program in the industry (and the one most trusted by Fortune 500 executives).

My unique offering: a blend of counseling and coaching

Given my training in both executive/life coaching and counseling, I'm able to provide a combination of both (which is uncommon).

I'll use whichever type of technique I think will best serve you in the moment based on the specific issue we're dealing with in that session, what types of feelings are coming up for you around it, and what I know about your unique background.

To be clear though, I'm not offering clinical psychotherapy here. While I do have years of comprehensive training in counseling, it's outside my scope of practice to diagnose and treat mental illness.

Bottom line: In my experience, it's helpful to most of my clients when I bring in techniques from all the various modalities I've studied. But, if you're clear that you want pure coaching, we can make our sessions more analytical and focused on specific tactical advice for your work or life (or, if you're clear that you want pure counseling, we can focus more on helping you feel resourced and grounded, exploring feelings that come up, and tracing them back to past experiences).

Transitioning from counseling to coaching

Have you been in counseling for a while but feel like you might be ready to transition to coaching?

Maybe it's felt like you've been trying to just stay afloat for a while, but now you feel ready to take more proactive steps toward thriving. With my knowledge of both worlds, I've been able to act as a bridge and support several clients through that transition.

What about mentoring?

Many coaches believe in a very "pure" form of coaching—completely focused on helping the client find their own answers.

The coach asks powerful questions to help the client see their issue from different angles. But ultimately, the coach rarely offers their personal opinion. They're more like a mirror.

In contrast, a mentor is more like a role model who has lived experience that you want. They've gone through similar challenges themselves, and they can advise you based on what worked and didn't work for them.

Many people who work with me tend to be similar to how I was before my big life transformation.

For example, prior to that transformation seven years ago, I was:

• Working in tech in Agile, project management, product management, and UX;
• Dealing with nihilism from being a strong atheist (but dabbling in Buddhism and curious about psychedelics);
• Struggling with making decisions since I was stuck in my head and overthinking everything;
• Feeling lonely and desperately wanting to skip small-talk, go deeper with people, and find belonging;
• Having so many interests that it was hard to pick one and choose a career or design a life purpose.
• Beginning to dabble in ethical non-monogamy (polyamory), but not really knowing how to do it properly.

If any of that applies to you, I can offer more than just coaching. I can act as a mentor too and give you specific advice based on my own journey and my experience working with others on similar paths.

The ideal cadence

I typically work with people weekly (but some clients prefer twice weekly or once every other week).

I find that a more frequent cadence allows us to stay better connected, and it helps the client stay better on track toward their goals. But, it all depends on how passionate you feel about making changes in your life right now, what other commitments you have, and your financial situation.

The key to transformation

If you're looking for deep transformation, it is possible to rewire your brain to shift how you relate to the world around you and prioritize new habits. However, the key to building new neural networks is repetition. The more often we're able to identify specific thought patterns that aren't serving you and shift them, the more likely your brain will be to make those new pathways the default. 

Bottom line: I'm open to finding the right cadence that works for you, and I only ask that you commit to fully showing up and being open to new perspectives.

You’ve had decades of life to develop mindsets and habits that are now holding you back. It’s only logical that those decades of conditioning won’t be reversed overnight.

How real change works

A lot of people hope for some “a-ha” moment that will change everything in their first or second session. In my experience, lasting change comes more from a series of smaller "a-ha's" over time rather than one big one.

Yes, you will most likely leave our first few sessions with tangible, actionable advice that helps you take some real steps toward change. 

And ultimately, it will depend on how far you want to go at this point in your life. If you're looking for help with something tactical like developing a time management system that works for you, we'll likely make progress quickly. If you're looking for deep transformation like creating a life purpose or learning how to feel your feelings more, the truth is that it will take longer (and it will be worth it!).

Here are some specific examples on both ends of the spectrum:

• I had an INTJ client who'd been struggling to find her type and understand what she needed to take action on her goals. In two sessions, I was able to help her feel confident in her true type and better understand what she needed to feel energized more regularly.
• I had an INTP client who had been struggling with creating stronger habits. He had trouble with work/life balance, and he was torn between all the different ideas he wanted to pursue at once; so, it was hard for him to concentrate on the new habit. In five sessions, I was able to help him begin to focus, and we transformed his approach to language-learning.
• I had another INTP client who was facing a lot of challenges at work, especially office politics. Over eleven months, I helped him better understand his needs, assert himself more strongly, and get a promotion. Then, we went on to design a life purpose that inspired him, and he realized he needed to make a more dramatic shift in his life, which culminated in excitedly moving to another country.
• In my case (ENTP), it took around nine months of work with a coach (meeting 3-4 times a month) to go from depression, low motivation, and existential void to finding my people, making authentic friendships, quitting my job, starting an intentional community house surrounded by like-minded people, creating my life purpose, re-orienting my life around that, and feeling more alive than ever before.

Let's figure out together what you need to feel fulfilled and deeply alive.

Great, let's get those answered!

Please email me at michael@michaelcaloz.com.