Working with a Life Coach helps you become more successful in those areas of your personal and professional life that are most important to you.
It is essential to have a coach if you want to get to the top in sport. And if you've ever tried to get fit by going to the gym, you'll know how difficult it can be to get the results you want purely on your own. Often the people who succeed in this are those who use a personal trainer, who sets them goals and challenges to maintain their commitment and motivation. A Life Coach works in a similar way.
Coaching is something that helps you get the best out of your life. It contains elements of goal-setting, counselling, business and career advice, relationship work and motivation. It is very much results-oriented, and the focus is on where you want to go, rather than on what might have gone wrong in the past.
It's having someone who encourages you to get the best for yourself and who helps you stay on track while you make changes; someone who holds you to account when you sell yourself short; someone to remind you to keep believing in yourself; and who helps you remember that while you may have setbacks on the road to success, the only true failure is to give up.
Like learning to ride a bike...
Coaching is often confused with consultancy, counselling/therapy and even parenting! While it may contain elements of these, its focus is different and more importantly, the coach has no agenda. Here is an illustration of how the ‘coach approach' to a specific activity, in this case riding a bike, differs from the methods of the consultant, therapist, parent - or Army drill sergeant!
A consultant will show you a range of different bikes, and explain to you why one bike is superior to the others. He’ll tell you the basics of mechanics. He’ll give you his opinion on the best way to ride a bike and if necessary may demonstrate riding it for you. Then he’ll leave you to ride the bike yourself, and whether you ride it safely or fall off is down to you.
A counsellor/therapist will explore your fears and concerns about cycling. He’ll ask you to talk about things that have happened in your past that might explain your reluctance to ride. He might want to know if your parents rode. If your bike is faulty he can help you fix it, but you might still not really enjoy riding it.
Parents will look at a range of bikes and choose one for you – usually not exactly the one you want! They will put the bike together for you and then arrange for it to be stored securely. Occasionally they might come out with you and hold the bike while you learn how to pedal, steer and maintain your balance – but often they will have to break off to do ‘more important’ things. To make it easier for you to ride unaided they might provide training wheels so you can learn without them. Your inability to master the art as quickly as your peers might be a source of irritation to them.
A drill sergeant will haul you out of bed at 0600 for an hour of cycling instruction before breakfast. Further sessions are scheduled during the day at non-negotiable times. You are expected to show up 15 minutes before the start of each session, and wait quietly till he appears. Teaching follows the method laid down in the Instruction Manual, Cycling (Army), revised 1958, and takes the form of the individual skills of cycling broken down into parts, each part being numbered. Correct technique is demonstrated by the instructor, then you are pushed through the process of learning by repetition and shouted commands. Poor performance, meaning failing to ride 100% in accordance with the standards expected, is remedied through the imposition of chores as a punishment.
A coach on the other hand will help you to understand not only how to ride a bike, but also what it is about cycling that you really enjoy. He’ll help you identify the places you want to go on your bike, which route might be best suited to your abilities as a cyclist, and to determine what might be holding you back from going there. He will keep reassuring you that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way of going about this, just to keep doing what feels best and what works for you. When you’re ready, your coach will encourage you just to get on and enjoy the experience of riding - and will even ride alongside you, helping you to keep focused on where you are going and reminding you to pause once in a while to admire the view.
