Take Advantage Of Life Coaching - Read These 5 Tips
So you’ve decided you want to be coached – by a life coach in reference to your personal development. What do you do to prepare? What will your new life coach expect from you? How will you know if the life coaching process will benefit you?
You’ve heard horror stories from others who have had very uncomfortable experiences: one of your neighbors related how the life coach he worked with told him he needed to leave his family and start his life over again; another friend told you how her life coach was very rough in helping her through her difficult career transition situation.
As Dorothy opined in The Wizard of Oz: “Lions, and Tigers, and Bears – Oh my!” And yet, if you are properly prepared – it doesn’t have to be that way. 
Relax, you are venturing into an exciting opportunity to experience positive and productive growth – and you can have a lot of fun doing it, as long as you embrace these five tips.
What’s Really Going On Here?
One of the first tasks you will be handed by a life coach (or any other coach for that matter) is this question. So, get prepared for it. Think about the reason(s) why you are seeking assistance. Try to clarify your need in a comfortable, explainable manner. That will help the life coach in developing a program to assist you.
Can You Remember When You Were Successful?
Usually that need develops from a breakdown of something that you used to be successful at, so this question is very appropriate. Think about a time and place where you might have experienced a similar situation where the need was successfully resolved. I am sure you can identify a place and time – you have not been unsuccessful your whole life.
How Did You Do It?
That’s right. Have you ever thought about your success patterns? You have certain methods, practices, processes – conscious or subconscious – that have assisted you to be successful previously. In the particular area(s) where you are seeking assistance, you will be challenged by your life coaching process to reconstruct scenarios you have previously experienced in order to identify commonality with your current situations.
How Can You Apply What You Did To The Present Situation?
Your ability to associate past system success to your present situation is critical to helping you to resolve your needs. You know how you did it before. Your life coach will assist you in understanding how you can begin to reconstruct those past successes to your present situation(s). Life coaching is a continuous process that centers around you.
What Specific Actions Will You Take?
Yes, a lot will be expected of you – but it will be you who will be setting the expectations. The life coach will be helping to guide you and to hold you accountable for the actions you agreed to take by reviewing these actions at each session. In my coaching sessions I will always ask my client to list the specific actions she will commit to take over a certain time frame to work on resolving her issues. There is accountability to everything we do in life and in work. It’s no different when you work with a life coach in helping you grow.
Summary
Understand that a life coach is not able to tell you – or anyone else – what to do effectively over time. Perhaps you will spend an hour weekly with your life coach. You will be given assignments to work on and exercises to perform. But at the end of the session – you have most of the week on your own. Acknowledge responsibility for your own actions and take control of your life again.
As you consider your needs for a life coach take heart in understanding that the coaching process is focused on helping you – yes, for my highly determined, focused clients – it is all about you. Have fun with the process, life coaches want to help you shine with the sun again. If you need more consistency and stability in your life, your life coach will help you with that, and if you want to become more systematic and orderly again, let your life coach know. After all – we are here to help you help yourself.
