Step 1: Write down what a normal week costs you
Before you contact anyone, spend one week keeping a plain log. Note when you start and stop work, how many meetings you sit through, how often you check messages after dinner and how you feel on Sunday night. Leaders on large Shreveport campuses, such as LSU Health Shreveport on Kings Highway, which its about page says is made up of three professional schools with 1,160 students listed for 2026-2027, often find that the log shows teaching, committee work and staff questions crowding the same hours. Owners of smaller firms tend to find the opposite problem: every decision lands on them.
The log is not a test. It gives you and a coach something concrete to look at.
Step 2: Decide what you want help with
Pick two or three goals. Examples include taking real evenings off, handing off a recurring task, cutting the number of standing meetings or planning a proper break. Clear goals make it easier to tell coaches apart.
Remember that coaching is non-clinical. If you are worried about your health or how you are feeling, see your own doctor alongside, or before, any coaching.
Step 3: Make a shortlist
Use the listings on this site to choose three coaches. This directory does not run sessions or check anyone's background; it simply connects you with independent coaches. For each one, note:
- Whether they meet in person in Shreveport or Bossier City, by video, or both.
- Who they say they usually work with.
- How long an engagement usually lasts.
- How they set fees and cancellation terms.
Step 4: Hold introductory calls
Ask each coach the same questions:
- What would our first month look like?
- How do you measure whether the sessions are useful to me?
- How do you keep things confidential if my organization is paying?
- Can some sessions happen outdoors?
Notice who listens to your log and who simply describes a package.
Step 5: Choose a setting for recovery time
Part of a reset is time away from your inbox. Two public places near the city lend themselves to it.
The Red River National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters Unit is in Bossier City, just minutes from I-20, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with over 5 miles of trails. It is about 20 minutes from downtown Shreveport, short enough for a walking session or a quiet hour on a weekday.
For a full day, Lake Bistineau State Park in Doyline offers nearly 10 miles of woodland trails and an 11-mile canoe trail along the lake's western shore, per Louisiana State Parks. Plan on roughly 40 minutes each way. Between August and November the lake is drawn down and the boat launch and rentals close, so a fall visit may mean trails only.
Drive times here are approximate. Check the official park and refuge pages for hours and closures before you go.
Step 6: Set a schedule you can keep
Agree with your coach on a rhythm, such as every other week for three months. Put the sessions on your calendar as fixed appointments. If your work crosses the river, choose a time and place that avoids the worst traffic for you.
Step 7: Try one change at a time
After each session, pick a single change to test before the next one. It might be a meeting-free morning, a firm end to the workday or a weekend with no email. Note in your log what happened.
Small tests are easier to defend to a team than a sudden overhaul. If you lead people, tell them what you are trying, for example that you will answer non-urgent messages the next morning. Most staff adjust quickly once they know the rule, and some will start doing the same. Bring what you learned, including the weeks that went badly, to your next session.
Step 8: Review at the halfway mark
Midway through, compare your current log with the first one. Ask yourself whether your evenings, sleep and focus feel different, and tell your coach honestly. Adjust the goals if they no longer fit.
Step 9: Plan what happens next
Near the end of the engagement, decide whether to continue, pause or stop. Write down the habits you want to keep and the warning signs that tell you the workload is creeping back. Schedule a quiet day at the refuge or the lake for a few months out as a check-in with yourself.