While most traditional corporations are not using coaches yet, the concept is catching on with more and more companies and many individuals. People who are stressed, confused by the rapid changes taking place in every area of life, people who are looking for advice from reliable sources -- and who do not feel the need for therapy -- are turning to personal coaches to help them solve problems, deal with challenges and move forward to achieve their goals.

So, What's a Coach?

What exactly IS a coach? Here's a few definitions from the New World Dictionary: a private tutor who prepares someone in a subject or for an examination; an instructor or trainer, as of athletes, actors, singers, etc.; the person who is in overall charge of a team and the strategy of games.

Fortune magazine (February, 2000), noting the trend towards coaching, had this to say about executive coaches "A coach is part consultant, part sounding board, part manager. Yes manager. Remember him? That person whose job used to be to advise, motivate and train but whose nose is now mostly stuck in e-mail!" (Isn't that the truth!)

In another part of this extensive article, Fortune said: "Coaches are everywhere these days. Companies hire them to shore up executives division heads hire them as change agents. Workers on all levels of the corporate ladder, fed up with a lack of advice from inside the company, are taking matters into their own hands and enlisting coaches for guidance on how to improve their performance, boost their profits and make better decisions about everything from personnel to strategy."

Perhaps the biggest advantage to having a coach is that you are accountable to someone (someone you are paying!) to get your life on the track YOU want to be on. Your coach helps you discover what you want and works with you to devise strategies for getting it. You, the person being coached, of course, are responsible for putting the strategies into action. The best coach in the world cannot "make" anyone do anything.

That's why accountability is so important. People who work with a coach are usually highly motivated to bring about changes in some area or areas of their life career, marriage, other relationships, finances, self-confidence, health, social life. I even have clients who hire me to help them become motivated!

Other Advantages Of Having A Coach.

Your coach is a non-judgmental support person, someone who will encourage you, put you back on the right track if you falter, and will not criticize you. (How many non-judgmental support people do you have in your life?) Your unique relationship is based on mutual respect.

During your coaching sessions, whether by phone or in person, you are totally focused on YOUR concerns and priorities each week or each month. (How many of us would set that precious time aside without guilt or distractions?). That clarity of focus stays with you between sessions. Most people find they are able to get more done in less time with fewer interferences.

Having a coach challenges you to pay attention to what is important to you. Working together, you clarify your goals and see reasons to believe that you can go for your dream. You can leave a dead end job or relationship. You can start the business you've always wanted. You can be true to yourself and your desires.

Regardless of what you want to change, achieve or attain, one of the benefits of working with a coach is that you become more efficient, more productive, more effective and more results-oriented. With this new sense of yourself, your confidence grows by leaps and bounds. One of my clients reported, after only a few sessions, that her work experience was completely different, her colleagues were treating her with new respect, and she was on her way to a promotion!

Having a coach forces you to use that incredible tool most people forget about the conscious, thinking mind. Because of the thoughtful self-examination that is part of the coaching process, you make discoveries about yourself and your goals that often reveal that what you really want is not what you thought you wanted.

With your coach helping you to recognize and utilize your positive qualities and strengths, you gain the courage to make changes you never thought would be possible. One of my clients stayed in a job he disliked for years because he was afraid to take the leap of faith and leave, fearing loss of income and benefits. In just a few months he saw for himself that he had all the skills and credentials to do what he truly loved in an entirely different field and be successful doing it.

You'll have less clutter in your life. Knowing what you want and having a strategy to get there helps you eliminate distractions and the irrelevant details that disturb your peace. As a result you have fewer frustrations and your stress level is greatly diminished.

You'll relate to people differently. Relationships that no longer serve you may end without you having to do anything. (Because you have a different "energy", certain people are no longer attracted or attractive to you.) On the other hand, people you have wanted to establish or improve your relationship with, gravitate towards you. You speak with more clarity and confidence, so that the people you admire want to be around you.

You'll feel empowered as you set higher goals and take positive steps to making them a reality in your life. With each win, you feel better and better about yourself, and life becomes fun again. Watch out because you'll probably experience a level of joy and enthusiasm you may have lost, if in fact you ever had it.

Your Coach's "Job"

A coach's "job" is to bring out the best in YOU. He or she is on your team. Every coach has their own style and uses certain strategies, always personalized for the client. For every session I have with a client I come prepared to be surprised. There is no way for me to know in advance what we will be doing during those 60 minutes, and I always marvel at how perfectly everything falls into place.

The first thing I do with my clients is introduce them to techniques that "release" or "peel away" erroneous beliefs and limiting patterns that they usually are not aware of. By identifying and releasing subconscious blocks and then focusing on their goals and strengths, we move steadily towards success, success being whatever the client wants.

Sometimes what the client wants changes with self-discovery. For instance, one client hired me with a particular purpose in mind, and on our third session, after doing processes I taught her, she realized the issue that seemed important to her, was not. She became aware of the underlying source of her dissatisfaction, and as we worked on that, she emerged with a totally different concept about herself. Nothing is more gratifying to a coach than a client having an "ah ha" and seeing measurable results because of that insight.

Once you choose a coach and are comfortable with him or her, you are creating more than a relationship, you are bringing together the powerful energy of two minds and spirits in rapport, focused on the same thing for the same purpose YOUR SUCCESS.

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Contact Beverly at 203-373-1943 or click here