Should I Get A Coach?

Why should or would someone hire a life coach? Well, why would anyone purchase the services of a personal trainer, and interior designer or a sports coach - any professional "assistant" for that matter? After all, we all know how to exercise, how to hang a curtain and how to play our own game. But we hire a professional because we know that they will hold us accountable on our goals and objectives - and since we're paying good money for them to be there, often whether we show up or not, we have an added incentive to do so ourselves. We also understand that even though our knowledge of what we're doing may be strong, a professional always has tips, tools and tricks at their disposal which can save us time, aggravation and money. And we get that even the best of best can't "see themselves" from the outside and don't have the objective standpoint about their skills and abilities that a trained and experienced professional can bring to bear on any given situation.

Just as a even a top-notch athlete can benefit from the instruction and observations from an outside source (even a source whose skill does not match that of the athlete's), so can many individuals benefit from an objective, trained and focused viewpoint to help with the issues in their lives. Most people are "too close to the forest to see the trees" in their own life to make these sorts of changes or improvements themselves, or even realize that such change is possible.

Factors such as inertia, pre-programmed or biased thinking about our options and potential, unfamiliarity with opportunities or alternatives outside our normal scope of experience, etc., also make even the smallest changes difficult, if not impossible. How much harder then is it to make drastic, sweeping changes such as reorienting our life purpose, turning a business around or chasing after a long-held dream?

A coach does not have the same limited views about the client's life that the client does, and so can offer insight, ideas, frameworks, paradigms and resources that the client simply doesn't have access to. Coaches create a safe zone within which the client can explore new ideas, try out new directions, and discuss problems and concerns without fear of judgment or criticism, while at the same time providing support systems that enable the client to move forward at whatever pace the client desires.

Life and personal coaching is for anyone who wants: change, joy, a new outlook on life, a better version of the old outlook on life, skill improvement, access to life-improvement resources and tools, a new career, a new life, renewed enthusiasm for their current life, adventure, energy, a sense of freedom, help finding a new direction, help dealing with their current direction, more fun, help setting up systems to support their goals and dreams and many other such quality of life improvements. If that describes you, then why not give it a try? The worst you could do is nothing at all.

By Soni Pitts