The Joy of Coaching
I have just returned from Chicago where I attended the 6th Annual Conference of the International Coach Federation. I can barely contain my excitement after this wonderful experience. I believe more than ever that coaching is the best thing that ever happened since whole grain bread. Coaching is good for you. Is coaching easy? Not necessarily. Change is not easy. It takes time. Coaching can change the world, one person at a time. I was fortunate to attend coach extraordinaire Cheryl Richardson's workshop, Suze Orman's l0,000 watts presentation on financial freedom and Laura Berman Fortgang's lively conference, as well as meeting Marcia Reynolds who just wrote Capture the Rapture.
Coaching is not for everybody. Coaching is not for the l0 to 20% of the population who needs therapy to heal the past. Coaching is not for people who have such a wonderful life that they would not trade place, either at home or at work, with anyone else. Coaching is not for people who are totally satisfied with their life. Coaching is not for people who although dissatisfied, don’t want to put energy into their well being, either personally or professionally. Coaching is for the other 70 to 80% of the population. Coaching is for anyone who wants to take their personal or their professional life to the next level, even by one notch. For anyone who has made "new year's resolution", be it to change jobs, to get on an exercise program, to go back to school, to write that book, to take better care of themselves, to have more nurturing relationships, to better manage their money and finds out the following year, that they are making the same "resolution", again, because they have not gotten around to implementing it. Coaching is for the business owner or professional who feels overwhelmed and realizes that life may be passing by, fast. Coaching helps people have better lives. I learned in University that 80% of the population was not happy with their work. Divorce statistics show us that at least 50% of people are not happy with their relationships. Coaching is specifically designed for those folks. Coaching can help.
Coaching used to be reserved for a small minority of the population. CEO's and other V.I.P.'s retained their coach to help them do even better. Coaching is not just for those few. Coaching is one of the most effective measure against burnout. Coaching will effectively insulate people from reaching burnout. Coaching will show people to zap the stress in their life. Coaching grows people. Coaching gets people to strengthen their personal foundation so that they take extreme good care of themselves. People who take care of themselves don’t abuse alcohol or drugs and they don’t engage in other compulsive habits. They also have better relationships. They miss less work. Get sick less often.
Finally, the great majority of the population, those who did not need therapy but feel that there must be more to life, have an avenue for them. Coaching, unlike workshops, is a hand-in-hand process. Most people go to workshops and don't know how to implement the changes. So they go to more workshops and conferences, hoping for the magic to operate. Coaching is not magic. It requires work. Coaching unlike consulting gets people to come up with the solutions. That’s why coaching’s effects last, instead of ending in file l3. A coach stays with you all the way. Weekly, and more often if necessary, your coach is there for you, with you. Coaching is affordable. Six months of coaching is not much more than a trip down south. Unlike the trip, however, coaching is an investment that will stay with you all your life. Coaching will help you turn your life around, from the inside out.
If you are not ready to invest in six months of coaching, do yourself a favor. Buy Cheryl Richardson's books: Take time for your life and Life Makeovers. Read Suze Orman's book on financial freedom or Laura Berman Fortgang's Take yourself to the top. Do the exercises. Really work at it. Have a wonderful life.
