Coaching can be exactly what you need, and there are things you can do to make sure that happens
First you need to find a coach that you’ll be comfortable working with. Once you’ve found that, there are things you can do to help make your experience so helpful that you will likely want to work with coaches in the future to achieve other goals you may have. Working with a great coach should be a collaborative experience rather than one in which you are given a roadmap.
1. Find a great coach
Spend time reading anything a prospective coach has written (website material, articles, etc.) that might have some relevance to you and your situation. It will help you get to know the coach and their general approach a bit better. If the coach has done any social media appearances or podcasts, check out a couple of those as well. Be wary of:
– promises of fast and easy change.
– the use of terms like “abundance”, “enlightenment”, “financial freedom” and “fulfillment”
– unrealistic claims – if it feels sketchy, it probably is.
Look for coaches who offer free consultation sessions (most coaches do). That consultation gives both you and the prospective coach a better idea of how (and how well) you might work together. Not every coach will be a great fit for you, and some coaches may feel that you aren’t a good fit for what they do. Have some questions written out for use during the consultation. That way you’re less likely to forget to ask about anything that’s important to you.
When you decide to hire a coach, be sure that you understand and are comfortable with provisions laid out in any coaching contract. If something doesn’t feel right, ask if it can be modified.
2. Adopt a growth mindset.
Coaching necessarily involves growth, but growth isn’t usually comfortable. A great coach will be curious and ask lots of questions that you may never have thought to ask yourself or even actively avoided asking yourself. The more you can accept and expect that in your work with your coach, the better your experience will be and the faster you will progress towards meeting set goals.
Strive to keep an open mind. That means being willing to explore possibilities that you ordinarily might not consider. Just because you explore something with your coach doesn’t mean that you have to pursue it, and going through the process of discussing possibilities can teach us things about ourselves and our situations that we hadn’t previously realized.
Expect your ideas and assumptions to be challenged occasionally. We all need this sometimes because we don’t always have full pictures of ourselves or our situations. Being challenged makes us examine things more closely, and verbalizing (or writing out) what we’re thinking can cause us to see inconsistencies and contradictions where we previously couldn’t. It isn’t fun sometimes, but wow, it can be helpful.
Learn to recognize when your inner critic is talking. If you aren’t familiar with the term “inner critic”, it’s simply that voice in the back of our minds that tells us that we aren’t good enough, they’re going to think our idea is stupid, the crowd is going to hate us, and all other sorts of pessimistic, negative things about us and our situations. It’s a voice that seeks to protect us but instead causes us to fear much more than we rationally should fear, and it keeps us from living to our fullest. Recognizing that voice is the first – and arguably most important – step towards neutralizing it when it speaks up.
My struggles with chronic pain, tinnitus, and weight management challenges were often lonely experiences in that empathy and practical solutions were scarce from those closest to me, as well as from some healthcare professionals. As someone who understands not just the surface problems but the deep-seated battles that come with these issues and others, I now coach to offer the support I once desperately needed. These battles can be won, and sustainable change is possible. While I can’t guarantee success because that depends primarily on the work that you do in and beyond coaching sessions, you can expect that for the duration of our working relationship, I will be personally committed to helping you achieve sustainable goals that are important to you. Get in touch for a free consultation to discuss how we can work together!
