Who this is for
This guide is for managers, executives and senior staff in Midland who feel worn down by their work and want to try coaching. It is about non-clinical coaching on workload and recovery. If your health is worrying you, start with your own doctor.
Step 1: Write down your actual week
For one ordinary week, note the hours you work, the meetings you attend, the calls you take after dinner and the nights you are away. Many Midland leaders work for, or alongside, the large employers the city lists on its fast-facts page: Chevron, Diamondback Energy, Midland ISD, Midland Health, the City of Midland and H-E-B, plus the headquarters and regional campuses of ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, EOG Resources, Oxy and AST SpaceMobile. Whatever your employer, the written record is more useful than a general sense of being tired.
Step 2: Name what has changed
Burnout often follows a shift: a promotion, a merger, a new field program, a hiring freeze, a parent who needs more help. Write one or two sentences about what changed in the past year. This will be the first thing a coach asks about.
Step 3: Count your travel
If you fly regularly, add it up. The City of Midland describes Midland International Air & Space Port as the first commercial spaceport co-located with a major airport in the United States, with service from American, Delta, Southwest and United. Note how many trips you took in the past quarter, and how many early departures and late returns came with them. Travel load matters when you plan sessions.
Step 4: Decide what you want from coaching
Pick two or three goals you could recognize in six months. Examples: leaving the office by a set time most days, handing off a recurring task, taking a full weekend off each month, or protecting one morning a week for thinking. Keep the goals about behavior you control.
Step 5: Build a shortlist of coaches
Use this directory to find independent coaches who serve Midland. The directory does not check credentials, so for each name note the coach's stated background, the sectors they have worked in, and whether they offer video sessions for travel weeks.
Step 6: Hold short exploratory calls
Talk to two or three coaches. Ask how they structure an engagement, what they expect between sessions, and how they handle confidentiality if your company is paying. Ask how they would adapt if a field problem or a board meeting wipes out a scheduled session. Choose the coach whose questions about your week felt most practical.
Step 7: Set the ground rules
Before the first session, agree in writing on the number of sessions, the fee, the cancellation terms and how you will communicate between meetings. If your employer is paying, agree on what, if anything, the coach will report back.
Step 8: Put recovery time on the calendar
Plan one specific break in the first month. Big Spring State Park is roughly 45 minutes' drive east of Midland; all drive times here are approximate. Texas Parks and Wildlife describes a day-use park on a 200-foot bluff with a view across Texas, a paved three-mile loop road for walkers, joggers and bikers, a five-mile hike-and-bike trail and a shorter nature trail. Go early in the warm months, leave work email closed, and tell your coach afterward what that morning was like.
Step 9: Review after six weeks
Look back at the week you recorded in Step 1. Compare it with a recent week. Has anything moved? Talk with your coach about what helped and what did not, and adjust the plan. If a goal has turned out to be the wrong one, replace it rather than forcing it; a goal that fit your old role may not fit a reorganized team or a new reporting line.
Step 10: Decide what comes next
At the end of the agreed sessions, decide whether to continue, taper to monthly check-ins, or stop. Keep the habits that worked written down where you will see them, especially before the next busy season.
A word on timing
Many Midland leaders wait for a quiet quarter before starting anything new. In a city tied to energy prices and drilling schedules, that quarter may not arrive. Starting during a busy stretch can be useful, because it shows you and your coach where the pressure really sits.