Get a Coach and Make Your Resolutions Happen This Year

How's your list of New Year's resolutions coming? Studies show that most people have already failed by the 15th of January. Has this happened to you? If so, you may have
left out the prime ingredient for your success - a coach!

Coaching is a new field. Until you've talked to someone who's had a coach, or seen the results happen in someone who's had a coach, or been coached yourself, it's hard to
figure out just what "coaching" is.

A NEED THAT WASN'T BEING MET

Coaching developed to meet a need that wasn't being met. We've all wished at one time or another we had a coach, like Tiger Woods, for instance. Someone who could help
us be all we could be.

Where could you go if you didn't need "fixing" but could use some suggestions?

Therapy exists because it, too, is needed, but coaching isn't therapy. Some people enjoy the benefits of both therapy and coaching, which demonstrates the two are not
the same thing. Coaching supplies something therapy can't, and vice versa.

In coaching, we focus on strengths and move forward. It's rapid and effective.

A FRIEND

So it's like having a friend? No, not in the least. Here's why:

· Coaching is work. Done properly it takes energy and focus and a completely different mindset.
· Friends have agendas of their own. They aren't objective.
· Friends aren't experienced.
· Friends are usually unidimensional in their relationship to you. Most of us have a strong network of friends and we know whom to go to for what we want. We know what "answer" they're
going to give us. There are no surprises.
· A coach puts your interests before theirs and keeps the focus totally on you.
· Coaches are trained to clear their minds for a coaching session and remove all their own issues.

A coach is someone you can go to who is trained to give you what is needed, not necessarily what you want, and if they're a good coach. They have a full repertoire of tools to use to orient
to the situation. They can change their tact depending upon what they sense you need at the time.

QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERS

A turning point in my life was when my own coach listened to me heading in a wrong direction and said, "Why would you want to do something you don't like with the kind of people you
don't like?"

Coaches are trained to listen, and to ask the hard questions that tap into your own wisdom.

There are times in our lives when we're asking the wrong question, or seeking to solve the wrong problem, and lack the objectivity to see beyond it. We "can't see the forest for the trees." A coach lays down the bread crumb trail!

In my case, I was trying to figure out how to be happy doing something I hated. The obvious question to ask me was why was I continuing to beat my head against a brick wall. If you keep doing what you've been doing, you're going to keep getting what you've been getting ? even if, especially if, you do it harder and better, which we tend to do.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Someone to be accountable to who's on your side, and pulling for you is a gift you give yourself. Coaching clients are high-functioning and successful. They've "proved" they can self-start and self-motivate. Having someone to touch base with, brainstorm with, and celebrate success with is a treat. It's an extension of your social support network that will greatly increase your well-being. It's a step up the ladder from "needs" to "wants."

WHY STAND AT THE CROSSROADS ALONE?

Most coaching clients are in a transition-or they will be by the time coaching is over! Coaching moves you ahead in your life. The questions isn't "Why would you want a coach?" it's "Why wouldn't you want a coach?"

Coaches bring clarity. We're all on the inside of our own lives looking out. The coach has the big picture that you can't have.

GETTING ORGANIZED

Hiring a coach will get your organized. Most coaches have a program for organization. I use the Gooding Accountability System(tm). Once you have clarity and know how to get organized, things falls into place.

IDEAS & IMPLEMENTATION

A good coach can feed you ideas, push you farther than you might yourself, and also give resources for implementation.

One of the advantages of being a coach is that I talk to people all day long in different walks of life who give me information. I have clients who are web designers, intellectual property
attorneys, therapists, social workers, IS specialists, marketers, animal communicators, paralegals, telemarketers, engineers ... the list goes on and on. I have a "feed" to a huge resource of great minds.

USER FRIENDLY

Coaching is conducted over the phone and by email. There are many obvious advantages to this.

· No static. It's tremendously helpful not to see or be with a client. It removes all sorts of preconceptions and allows great focus.

· Time-effective. Neither the client nor the coach has to worry about what we have on, how we look, what the office looks like, transportation or waiting time.

· Confidentiality. Other professionals you use are in your home town and the smaller the town, the more confidentiality problems. My clients are all over the world; at this time I don't even have one in my home state.

· No insurance, no managed care.

Managed care is not dictating the terms of the contract and no one is reporting on what goes on in sessions. More and more people are becoming concerned about confidentiality issues
with insurance, and rightly so.

HOW TO FIND YOUR COACH

All coaches offer a complimentary coaching session. This is because the "fit" is important. You can find coaches on a search engine, or by going to www.coachfederation.org or www.coachville.com . Check out their website, give them a call and sample the wares.

About the Author

Susan helps clients succeed and get organized w/ Don't Die at 50 Weekly Organizational Calendar, Gooding Accountability System, coaching, Internet courses. www.susandunn.cc and mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine.