Do I Need a Life Coach?

  “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”  -- Vince Lombardi

Here is a quick quiz for you:

·        Are you without goals or plan for achieving your purpose?

·        Are you unsure just what your purpose is?

·        Are you unsure what your strengths and talents are?

·        Do you hate your current career and need to find one that fits you?

·        Do you know you need a change in your life but are uncertain how to go about it?

·        Do you need someone to come along side of you for encouragement and support?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you need a Life Coach.  Stop trying to go it alone and get busy living life and not just living.

The old saying is, “If you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting what you always got.”  Recognizing that you need a change is easy; doing something about it is hard.  For most people it is a case of not knowing what to do.  This is where a Life Coach can help.  A Life Coach can help you discover what is holding you back and how you can overcome it to succeed.  They will not do the work for you, but they can help you know what work has to be done.

“Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat.”  -- Napoleon Hill

Let’s look at the areas that a Life Coach can help you in and see just how that would look for you. 

1)     Career Coaching.

Coach Bill McCartney said, “All coaching is, is taking a player where he can’t take himself.”  Getting stuck in the ruts of careers that we do not like and that we do not think we can get out of is hard.  Some people get into a career because they are good at something.  They show talent or skill and others tell them they need to go into that career because they are suited for it.  I have a friend who went into accounting because he was good at math.  He hated accounting.  Skill is not a calling.

A Life Coach will help you find your strengths (different from skills) and develop a career that fits you and you can excel in.  Remember that your career is chosen by you not given to you.  Earl Nightingale had it so right when he wrote, “The biggest mistake you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else.  Job security is gone.  The driving force of a career must come from the individual.  Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career.”

 “The difference between the possible and impossible lies in a person’s determination.”  -- Tommy Lasorda

2)     Professional Development.

You may be one of the many people who do like your job and want to grow where you are at.  You may work for a company or yourself, but you are in your strengths and feel good about what you do.  That is a great place to be and the perfect time for a Life Coach.

A Life Coach can help you to develop your talents and skills, set clear definite goals and an action plan to achieve them.  Do not believe that if you have talent and like what you do you do not have to aim for higher achievement.  Look at people who are excellent at what they do and you will see people who work hard, practice basic principals every day, have strong goals and a plan to achieve them, and have a coach to help them get there.

 “If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.”  -- Brian Tracy

3)     Personal Development.

Benjamin Franklin was a man who believed in personal development.  He had set up for himself 13 Values that he consistently worked on to improve himself.  They are:

1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself.  Waste nothing.
6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes, or habitation.
11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity. Rarely use venery (sexual indulgence) but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

           

You may not wish to adopt the same 13 values as Franklin, however they are good things to follow, but to succeed in life, and you must focus on your development as a person.  The habits you have in life will make you or break you.  John Dryden said, “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”  A Life Coach is there to help you see where you are weakest and support you and where you are strong and develop you.  When it comes to ourselves, having an outside view can be very helpful.

“Today’s actions become tomorrow’s habits.” – Old Saying

4)     Spiritual Development.

There is something inside of us that longs to be in relationship with God.  An inner need that humans have that is never satisfied until we have come to know God for ourselves.  Some cover it up with habits and religions, but it is still there.  Once we come to know God, through His Son Jesus Christ, we then begin a journey that lasts for the rest of our life.

When believers come to me for coaching one of the first things they are concerned about is how to develop their spiritual life.  A Life Coach is someone you can be accountable to, pray with and look into God’s word (the Bible) with.  Therefore it is important that you find a coach who knows Christ and can help you on that journey.  You will not find one who is complete and finished his/her journey (then they would be dead) but you can find one who has strong relationship with God.

“Look at each day as a chance to invest life into life.  A chance to share your experiences and deposit into someone else’s conscience.  Each day is a chance to work miracles in the lives of others.” – Jim Rohn

© Jack Hickey 2010