What A Life Coach Can Do For You

As the New Year begins people all over the world are committing themselves to all sorts of resolutions to lead better lives. Every year millions of people (friends and family of mine included) commit themselves to such things as: quitting smoking, getting in shape, making more money, and spending more time with our family and friends, which are just a few of the resolutions we hear today. While some of us do join the gym, throw away cigarettes, start saving money, how long does it last? A month? Two months? Three, if we’re lucky? When the excitement of the New Year wears off and the old routine and demands of life set in, the same old patterns come back up and we tell ourselves “well maybe next year”, or “promises were made to be broken”. It doesn’t have to be that way this year. There are many people out there, besides personal trainers, whose job it is to ensure that we continue to reach our goals. They are called Life Coaches. A life coach is someone who works with you to create the goals and outcomes we want for our life. Some areas they work with clients on are: creating a better balance between our personal and professional lives, improving our ability to communicate our ideas and thoughts in public, and developing strategies for us to earn more money. After attending a self-development seminar by Tony Robbins late last year, I decided to hire my own life coach. You see, for many years I‘d read numerous books on how to be a better person and leader. I watched DVDs and listened to CDs on spirituality and finding the inner wisdom, so that I could find my true purpose. I will admit that a lot of what I read stuck with me and I was happy to share that knowledge; I just found that I didn’t apply much of it consistently. I don’t think I am alone on this. I believe we all want to have a great life with financial security, time with our family and friends, and a career where we’re making a positive difference that provides us with a level of deep satisfaction. Yet we never have someone committed to working with us to achieve those goals. While you may have family, friends and colleagues interested in seeing live a better life, they aren’t necessarily going to put their time and energy into helping. Why? Because they are just as focused on their goals and outcomes for their life. I can tell you that I have already seen results in two of three outcomes I have set to achieve over the next three months, and it is empowering. The final outcome will be realized within the next two weeks. When I am finished achieving these outcomes I will work with my coach to push my self into new adventures, opportunities and areas of life that will create more passion and zest for life.

A life coach steps in to provide many levels of support; acts as a sounding board, works to create action-oriented techniques, and provides thought provoking questions. Growing in popularity and use all over the world, in 2004, according to MarketData Enterprise, there were 25,000 life coaches in the U.S, and in 2005 the amount of coaches grew to 40,000. Canada, Japan, the U.K, and Australia are also growing markets for coaching.

Some of the most successful athletes, CEOs, musical artists in the world have their own life coaches. These coaches are not counselors, therapists, mentors, or consultants. Counselors and therapists focus on your past, mentors and consultants give you their opinion and how you should proceed and offer solutions. A personal coach will bring the solution out of you, and that is a very empowering tool for clients. The ability to talk out the process that will create the desired result or the optimal solution to the challenge their facing will propel them forward at an exciting rate.

Many people who hire a personal trainer are often the most successful at losing weight, staying in shape and eating healthy. When the commitment is made to pay a personal trainer, show up at a specific time to train, and complete the amount of work they require you do you get results. Why? Well for one thing you have vested financial interest in the sessions. Secondly, you are now accountable to another person; you told them you would show up at a particular time to train and you don’t want to disappoint them. Finally, as strange as this may seem, the vast majority of us will do more for others than we will do for ourselves. So when the trainer tells you that you’re going to do fifteen sit-ups and as you get to the fifteenth they tell you, “ok now ten more”, and you push yourself. If you were training alone you would have stopped at ten. Make sense? Now is the time to hire a life coach to push you to your “10” in life, and the help create a “15” to reach for.