Published in Straits Times Saturday 17 January 2009
One person who inspired and set me on the journey of being a professional coach is Fiona Harrold, bestselling author of Be Your Own Life Coach. When I first read her book several years ago, I thought to myself, “Wow, what could be more fulfilling than to help others live a more worthwhile, meaningful, satisfying life!”
The first question many would ask is, “Why do I need a coach?” That’s easy to answer… let me put it this way – your coach is just your “conscience”. It is your life, your goals, your aspirations that you want to work towards. The job of your coach is to “coax, cajole, persuade and sometimes push you to the best you can be.” But some of you will protest, “My life is fine as it is. I’m happy with what I am, I don’t need a coach!”
If you were tempted to say that, pinch yourself now! Wake up, for goodness’ sake, and ask yourself, “Am I making the most of my life, of every moment?” As Harrold says, “There doesn’t have to be anything wrong with you to want to run a check and make changes if you have to.” Even Plato – over 2000 years ago – knew that an unexamined life is an unlived life. Your coach can do wonders just by being your sounding board, to help you discover hidden passions, put form and structure into mere aspirations or simply be your cheerleader.
The most successful and wealthy people know the value of a coach. Tiger Woods may be the best golfer in the world but he knows he needs his coach. Even Presidents and top corporate and political leaders work with coaches.
There are many different type of coaches - started with sports coaching, and now one of the hottest and fastest growing professions is the executive or business coach. There are also the life coaches and of course content coaches, who specialize in different fields – like a financial coach, property investment coach, or like myself, an image coach as well as an infopreneur coach. I call myself an evangelist for success – out to inspire people to Be more, Do more and Have more in life. I believe in head-to-toe transformation, starts with the mind, all the way to the feet taking those I coach where they want to go.
In general there are two schools of thought as to the roles of coaches:
1. Transference, where one person who has prior knowledge or experience can impart this wisdom to others with a goal to optimize performance.
2. Discovery, where the coach’s role is to help others release untapped capability and potential, to help them achieve peak performance.
As you can see, one is more directive in nature while the other is more supportive and empathetic in style.
Discovering Your Passion
As renowned British filmmaker John Boorman once said, “What is passion? It is surely the becoming of a person. Are we not, for most of our lives, marking time? Most of our being is at rest, unlived. In passion, the body and the spirit seek expression outside of self.”
The sad fact is 90% of the people out there are not living their passion – some simply because they don’t even know what their passion is and others because they don’t know how they can do that.
The coach’s role is to help you unearth and discover your passion – what you would love to do even if you don’t get paid for it! It has been said that “our passions are the winds that propel our vessel. Our reason is the pilot that steers her. Without winds the vessel would not move and without a pilot she would be lost.”
If we want to live a happy and fulfilled life, we must take time to discover from where “our winds” blow and have a great pilot to guide us!
Unleash Your Potential
So what’s stopping you from living the life of your dreams? Fear of failure? Fear of being laughed at by our friends and family? Fear that you are not good enough?
I’ve met so many people who gave up on their dreams even before they got started because they judge themselves purely on their current state. They forget that everyone has the capacity to grow. As Zig Ziglar says, “Go as far as you can see and when you get there, you will always be able to see farther.”
Whatever you feel you lack, understand that you can only get better at it otherwise there’s always the option to leverage on others who have what you don’t have.
It makes me feel sad to see so many people who are what I call “living dead” – they are not really living; they are just existing, what I call, occupying space. If you look at the life of someone who is just existing, it’s very much like watching a soap opera. You may not have watched it for some time, and when you tune in again after a few weeks or even months, much of the same stuff is still going on. Same old, same old.
Finding Your Purpose
What is your purpose? What is your dream? If you don’t know yet, or are struggling to rise above the winds, it may be time to reflect and work with a coach who can help you develop a clearer vision and a sharper focus to propel you towards the life you want. You’ll be surprised – it’ll probably cost you no more that a massage or a night out at the pub… but what you will benefit may be a life well lived!
Article is contributed by Jessica See, a coach with the Institute of Business Coaches, which conducts the Certified Professional Coach programme. To register for a free introductory seminar on coaching as a profession, email ibc@masteryasia.com. Website: http://www.institutebusinesscoaches.com
