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Hi! My name is Jay Baur.
I’m Jay Baur. I am 41 and live near Annapolis, Maryland. I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology and was trained as a life coach through an ICF accredited school. I have been coaching for the past three years. Confident Robot is a place for me to share my writing, philosophy on life, and approach towards coaching.
My journey towards coaching started in 2015. It was then that my wife and I got married, left our jobs, put our stuff in storage, and embarked on our honeymoon: what we thought would be a three-month backpacking trip across Central America. Despite our intentions, once we pulled up the anchor, we did not stop. Three months turned into two years. We traveled to 30 countries over six continents, concentrating on developing and off-the-grid places so that our dollars would take us far. We visited seven middle eastern countries, stayed with primitive tribes and on uninhabited islands in New Guinea, swam in the Ganges and the Amazon. We let the wind take us, rarely planned ahead, and did it all on a shoestring budget. This trip made me push my comfort zone many times over and was one of the most impactful and rewarding experiences of my life.
The travel taught us many things, and we returned to the United States with a clearer sense of life priorities. It was then that I decided to not return to my previous career as a television production manager and instead go after something that I was truly passionate about. I love evolutionary psychology and eastern philosophy. I am fascinated by human nature and enjoy helping others. Coaching seemed like the perfect fit.
Though I now work with people on the full range of coaching areas, I got my start in this line of work by helping people build social confidence and overcome shyness. I chose this specialty because I myself suffered from social anxiety for many years. Growing up, I was pretty good in a small group of people I knew well, but once I got around a larger group, I would completely shut down. I found social interaction exhausting. The very prospect of having to interact with people would shake me; I would get a jolt of panic every time my phone would begin to ring. I went through my entire high school and college careers almost never raising my hand, preferring my questions go unanswered rather than have to speak in front of a group.
As time passed, I became more and more aware that the level of nervousness I experienced in social situations held me back. I was quite competent in my profession as a television production manager; however, interacting with other people made the work much more difficult than it should have been. I decided to hit the problem head-on. Through several years of research and experimentation, I developed a system of comfort zone expanding exercises that allowed me to overcome what was holding me back. It was the most significant accomplishment of my life. I now take great pride in helping others do the same. To learn more about my approach to building confidence, visit my page on Social Anxiety.
As my coaching career matured, I began expanding my offerings and helping people on a wide variety of other topics. Though I still have a special place in my heart for the nervous types who overthink things, I also take great joy in working with the hard-charging extroverts who have a tendency to trip themselves up. And of course, all those in between. Regardless of your personality type, where you feel stuck, or what you want to achieve, our approach will be pragmatic and goal-oriented. We will look at where you are, talk about where you want to be, and strategize on how to get you there. Reach out and we’ll talk about how coaching might be beneficial to you.
