The first contact I had with Emma, a bright, focused, and ambitious young woman, was when I opened her email to me which read as follows…
“Hi Andy, I am currently looking for a life coach to help with a mental blockage that I have and to help me become a better person and change the way I view my life. I also want to pick up more positive habits to help me feel more content, happy, and successful within myself. I am very ambitious and passionate about my career but recently have been experiencing limiting beliefs that I am worried are going to ruin future opportunities for me both in my work and personal life. I have researched your website and googled you and feel that your experience and skills are exactly what I am looking for, could we please arrange a call to discuss how you could help me?”
In its simplest form that is exactly what I do when engaged by clients as a “Life Coach.”
The word “Coach” is believed to have originated in fifteenth-century Hungary where the little village of “Kocs”, to the west of Budapest, revolutionized the speed of travel between villages by making a new, more sophisticated, lighter, and faster type of carriage.
This horse-powered carriage “Coach” (the English derivative of the middle age German “Kotsche“ and French middle age “Coche”) this “carriage from Kocs” would uplift people and carry them easily and efficiently from one point on their journey, over difficult terrain to their desired destination. And so, the name of this little village in Hungary became directly associated with helping people reach their goals.
A true life-coach uses their skills (learned and developed through professional training), their experience, knowledge, and wisdom to help their clients transition from where they are in their life to where they want to be.
As a proven successful life coach, I first work with my client to understand and define their vision. What would they like their future to look like and become?
What truly drives them. What are their goals and aspirations?
I then like to work alongside them to understand their perceived barriers and limiting beliefs. What stories are they telling themselves? What negative thought patterns are repeatedly holding them back, acting like a handbrake slowing their progress down along their journey to make their future vision a reality?
Once I have the answers to those questions and many others, I agree a strategy to help my client achieve their vision. I establish agreed short-term, medium, and long-term goals along with a detailed process for achieving them.
The process is the vital fuel that drives the engine of success.
Many clients have a “Hero” a person who they admire and who’s results and success in life they would like to aspire to emulate.
... And here is the thing I share with clients... never to put the Hero on a pedestal and say, “I could never be like them.”
Because you can’t, you can only be a more excellent version of yourself.
The only thing you need to understand is the successful process that the “Hero” followed to earn them their success.
There are no secrets to success, only successful processes, successful processes of thought and mindset, successful processes and levels of discipline, and a strong focused, and highly motivated process of commitment to improve. One day at a time. Be better today than you were yesterday in all areas of measurement as you move forwards towards your desired vision.
Once my client and I have mapped out a course through the terrain, the journey is so much easier.
Following this process, the client and life coach can enjoy the journey reflect on each new success and have fun along the way to achieving their vision.
“The key factor in delivering your peak personal performance in every arena of life is the ability to control your internal dialogue.”
“Success = Your Potential Delivered minus Internal Interference”
To Your Success!