Coaching might be most easily described as customized self-help books and tapes, brought to life.
Coaching is the equivalent of attending a motivational seminar where the speaker only talks about you and how to make the most of your gifts and talents empowering you to take action. Coaching creates an environment where you stay positive and charged up—not for a day or two—but week after week.
A coach is someone who requires you to return and report on your life's goals.
The answer to the question "why coaching?" could be a simple one. It is our attempt to create a safe environment where we can explore our talents and goals and set sail to achieve happiness in the journey of life.
Fortunate Few
For years, serious athletes, actors, and politicians have all used personal coaches to help maximize their skills and abilities. These professionals are often at the top of their game, yet wouldn't think of 'going it alone.' Many of us are now recognizing the value of this unique relationship and are adapting it to a personal level.
Coaches are more than a friend with whom to share problems. They are a sounding board for solutions to the challenges we face on a daily basis. They are mentors in some cases, cheerleaders in others. Part consultant, part family, coaches unleash the power of partnership.
With a coach, we do more than we would do on our own, go further and faster toward our goals, and take ourselves more seriously. We have an accountability partner who shares our best interest and keeps us moving forward. Personal coaching is about taking action and making things happen.
Taking It Up A Notch
Left to our own devices, we can often justify our average existence with the thought we are coping well, considering all that the world is throwing at us. A coach helps us catch what we need, deflect the unnecessary, and totally disregard the irrelevant.
We don't have to do it alone, but we are challenged to take responsibility for ourselves and to take action on our own behalf. Former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry sums it up this way, "A coach is someone who gets you to do what you don't want to do, so you can be who you want to be."
The time for coaching is now. The reasons are the ones bouncing around in your head at this very moment. The question now becomes, "are you ready for the rewards that come with taking the game of life to the next level?"