Many folks are on the fence about hiring a coach. Reasons for the hesitation are wide ranging. Is it worth the money? Does anyone really need a coach? What are the guaranteed benefits of hiring a coach? And the big question any hard-nosed, self-reliant, enterprising individual asks about coaching is this: “What can a coach do for me or my business that I can’t do myself?”
The essence of coaching is to help clients push past plateaus, navigate the weeds of everyday life and work, and guide them towards greater levels of performance. Whether you’re being coached in business, sales, writing, finance, spirituality, relationship, wellness, career, leadership or fitness; the basic premise of coaching is the same.
Of course, there are few guarantees when it comes to the results you can expect as a coaching client. But I can pinpoint 5 ways in which hiring a coach can significantly boost your progress.
#1 You’re paying for it, which changes the game.
How many times have you said, “I’m going to make $2,000 more dollars this month” or “I’m going to lose 5 pounds this month” or “I’m going to launch the website this week” or (insert your proclamation here). Shortly thereafter, however, your grandiose plan fizzles out because some other project or task grabs your attention—derailing your plans—(probably not for the first time—or the last).
It goes without saying that identifying a goal and stating it out loud (or writing it down) is the first step towards achieving it, but taking action is key. Most people, left to their own devices, can procrastinate indefinitely when it comes to getting started with those first few crucial steps. When you shell out the cash to hire a coach, however, you are putting your money where your mouth is, making the scary transition from just talking about a big plan to seeing it through to fruition.
#2 Thankfully, the coach is NOT you.
We are creatures of habit and often fall victim to our blind spots, doing something over and over again that impedes our progress. For example, you might repeatedly use the same ineffective language in your sales calls, unwittingly putting off your prospects right from the start. Perhaps, you habitually approach relationship problems in the same manner with the best intentions, only to find it keeps making your partner mad. Left to your own devices, you might never identify the problem. A good coach can detect a blind spot in your process, and when appropriate, offer alternative ways for you to proceed.
Perspective is another powerful advantage a coach brings to the table by keeping the bigger picture of your pursuits in mind. This comes in handy when you get bogged down with distractions and setbacks, and your progress comes to a grinding halt. The coach also has the advantage of having worked with hundreds of other people and can draw on a wide range of scenarios when offering advice for your particular situation. Additionally, they are emotionally detached from hard decisions you might be facing at a given moment (such as confronting or dismissing a family member, or leaving a job you’ve held for many years). A good coach can provide insights that are otherwise eluding you due to a lack of objectivity on your part.
#3 Systems – Systems – Systems
Most people say goal setting is the key to the universe. Goal setting and action planning are worthless without a system for seeing it through. An effective system includes a series of routines, habits and actions that, when executed, bring you closer to your desired outcome. A proven process, method, or system is one that grants you predictable and incremental improvements even if you haven’t specifically identified a goal.
Whether it’s a sales system, a writing system, a life coaching method or a fitness training model; this is the one tool all great coaches employ to get you from Point A to Point B.
#4 More than a professional nagging service
A coach is not a person you hired to nag you about whether you did something or not. It’s a professional whom you asked (and they agreed) to meet with you on a periodic basis. Although you may cover a litany of topics during these scheduled encounters, one action is always required of you—a personal report of your progress since the last encounter. This simple act goes by another name—accountability.
By its very nature, empowering someone else to hold you to task generates some urgency around whatever you set out to do but projects can be overwhelming at times. Systematically scheduling these meetings has the added benefit of chopping a huge undertaking into doable pieces in the form of milestones and check-points. This is especially valuable when attempting to take on a herculean task such as: expanding into a new territory, training for your first ironman or launching a new business.
And even if you fall short every once in a while and don’t have good news to share during these particular sessions, it generates an opportunity to identify your pitfalls, rethink your approach and keep moving forward. The end result—deadlines get met and progress lurches forward!
#5 They will hang in there longer than you.
In most cases, achieving desired outcomes is not the result of pushing harder; it’s about employing new actions which move you out of your comfort zone for sustained periods of time, such as: adopting a different mindset, using different words and phrases, sometimes taking no action is a “new” action for you. Most of us are open to approaching our activities differently, but it’s all too easy to slip back into our comfortable routines and habitual ways of proceeding.
A good coach keeps your feet to the fire, cheers you on, and pulls you out of your comfort zone long enough for the new thinking and behaviors to take hold. The final result is ultimately changing those old habits and mindsets which stand between you and that which you desire.
In a nut shell, a coach gets a commitment from you, has greater perspectives to draw upon, offer systems of operations you wouldn’t come up with yourself, holds you accountable to your stated goals, and has the expertise and wisdom to push you past your comfort zone—to get you to move faster and farther than you’d get on your own.
Navigating the world of coaches can be difficult. Ask around and do your research to find a coach who is a good fit for your personality, your budget, and for what you want to accomplish.
