Why do I need a coach?

“Coaches are just people who feed you hype and charge an arm and leg to do it!” I am sure you have heard someone say this or perhaps you have thought this yourself.

Regardless of the perceptions around professional or personal coaching, if you desire to go further, accomplish more, succeed faster, etc., then coaching could be the step you’re missing in your development strategy. Here are six reasons everyone needs a coach to unleash limitless potential, and the practical things a coach provides:

1. Accountability

When working with a good coach, they will ultimately push you to set, then develop, a plan to achieve goals after each session. At your following meeting, your coach will hold you accountable to those goals and steps. Did you do what we previously discussed? Why or why not? Coaches help you delve into the reasons why you failed and succeeded. They hold you accountable by not letting you hide behind easy excuses like: “It was a busy week,” “I was exhausted,” “I ran out of time,” etc. Coaches encourage you to confront where you have ignored your responsibilities, where you don’t prioritize well, where you wasted time. A great coach will spend time pushing you forward in all areas of life, sometimes painfully so, but you should be able to see where you started and how far you have come as a result of your coaching.

2. Creation of Ideas

Knowing you are going to face someone who is going to hold you accountable is a great creativity generator! The accountability and process of coaching meetings can kick your creative juices into overdrive. Sometimes before my sessions, I am not able to keep up with the many ideas flowing into my brain! Along with your creativity increasing, you’ll find your coach can draw more creativity out of you. Rather than prescribing any set solution, your coach will require you to train your brain to be solution-focused. You’ll find the ideas you have are not just for what’s next in your life or business, but answers to what you’re currently facing.

3. Developing Purpose

A coach will spend time helping you find common threads in your thoughts, problems, passions, relationships, etc. These patterns, when mapped, begin to show the purposeful threads running through your life. What motivates you and why? Why did you act that way with this person and not that one? What changed from last week to this week? As you continue to meet with a coach, your purpose will become more apparent, clear, and focused over time.

4. Working With Someone

You are not alone! It is entirely different to face an enemy alone versus facing an enemy with the help of someone else. It could be two against 100, but it is better than one against 100! You are already two times stronger with the help of your coach! Facing our failures, shortcomings, faults, and the obstacles we feel stand in our way alone are scary, but knowing we are not alone and we have someone rooting for us and working with us (even in potentially frightening places) changes our outlook and makes the result more attainable.

5. Different Perspective

By definition, our perspective is limited. We only see what we can see because of where we come from and our personal life experiences; It is so valuable having access to an entirely different set of life experiences! Coaching enables you to view your questions and obstacles from a different perspective. When we have additional perspectives, it is as if we have been able to experience different lives to come to a solution, but without spending the time living many lives (thank goodness). We only have to spend time with another person and gain the benefit of their perspective.

6. Exponential Potential

We all have potential, but I don’t believe we can do anything. We are all different, and most people don’t have the make-up to be an Olympic gymnast, astronaut, or even a professional athlete, but we can always improve our potential at any given moment. Our potential increases when we are held accountable. When we begin to create new ideas, our potential increases. When we move from a position of passivity to a place of purpose, our potential increases. When we work together, our potential increases. When we have the benefit of different perspectives, our potential increases. With the single action of hiring a coach, we exponentially increase our potential! It is not easy being held accountable, but this is where the journey begins. Coaching allows us to partner with someone else and confronting our fears while overcoming preconceived ideas about our abilities and ourselves. Don’t go it alone. Ask for help and exponentially increase your potential!