Why Would You Need a Coach?

I often hear the comment, you need a life coach, in a way that indicates "you have a problem." I find myself saying, I'm not a therapist, I'm not here to solve your problem. In order to make more clear just why someone would WANT or NEED a coach I'd like to address that very question. "Why would you want or need a coach?"

Many people are self-directed and self-managaing. They take intuitive, they know what they want and they have strategies and discipline to go after it. Yet, these very people are often the first to line up for a coach. They know that a coach can see things that they can not. Every great baseball coach has other coaches on his staff...because he can't see everything. We as individuals can't see past our own beliefs and assumptions. Thus, a second pair of eyes is better than one!

For the people that are not self-directed and self-managing coaching is a powerful resource. Coaching allows the individual to get clear as to where they are in life (like it or not), where they want to be (or perhaps figure out where they want to be) and then create a plan to get there. Coaching for these people offers guidance, support and accountability. Accountability is sometimes the biggest benefit. Where else in your life do you have someone holding you to what you say you want? Figuring out who you are and where you want to be is an empowering experience. One that a life coach will enable you to discover.

A third party that benefits from life coaching is the person that feels run by life. Coaching helps individuals learning to take back their life and be the driver instead of the passenger! Discovering our strengths, changing perspectives and realizing we can create what we want is the power of coaching.

I'm sure anyone who reads this would relate to some part of the descriptions above. Coaching is not about me having the right answers...rather it's about me asking you the right questions.

As a coaching friend of mine says, "Therapists use couches...coaches use stairs."

Coaching is about moving forward and creating.

Hope this helps.

Life Balance

I'm often asked to speak about life balance. With the holidays around the corner, balancing life with all the other demands is challenging. Our to-do lists grow longer and our stress levels increase. Leaving us with little time or energy. With all the focus on our "to-do" lists we become out of balance with our "doing selves" and our "being selves".

As one of my clients recently told me,"When the "doing" takes over, it feels like being in a tunnel and all the stuff we have to do has a frantic quality to it. The stuff makes me feel trapped in the tunnel with the frantic feeling of trying to get out."

In addition, when we're over focused on what we need to do, we forget about how we want to be. Most of us don't want to be stressed, frantic, or overwhelmed. We want to be relaxed, present, and calm.

In order to find balance during the holiday season, therefore, think about how you want to be. How do you want to be, for example, on Christmas day? Do you want to be calm, relaxed, excited, playful??

Create your TO BE list. Then, create your to-do list. What do you need to do to be?

Balance the doing with your being.

Remember, too, that it's not what we do that creates memories, it's how we are. How do you want to remember this holiday season? Be present in the moment. BE calm, relaxed and available.

Words and Their Power

Words

DID is a word of ACHIEVEMENT
WON'T is a word of REBELLION
MIGHT is a word of MEDIOCRITY
CAN'T is a word of DEFEAT & FEAR
SHOULD is a word of DUTY
COULD is a word of POSSIBILITIES
WANT TO are words of CHOICE
TRY is a word of LITTLE FAITH
MAYBE is a word of PROCRASTINATION
WILL is a word of COURAGE
CAN is a word of POWER & SELF-DETERMINATION
DOING is a word of PROGRESS & FULFILLMENT
DONE is a word of SUCCESS.

What words do you use in your "self-talk?"
Do they empower you?