What is it?

Finally, technology and brain science are at a place in time where it is possible to coach yourself.  It isn’t like it used to be.  The possibility to use one of the greatest success tools known, life coaching, all by yourself exists because of these advances in technology and research into how the brain learns.

Coaching is a process where you begin to uncover what you truly want.  It reveals what motivates you.  It shows your pre-loaded programs operating in the background (much like a computer).

The coaching process highlights the conflicts among these things.  Coaching digs out of you your best self and assesses what you truly value in life. Really good coaching discovers what you value, not your values.  Often these aren’t the same thing.

For example, what if you want to quit your current job and venture out and start a new business.  Hypothetically, let’s say you completed a values assessment during a coaching session.  As it turned out one of your highest values was financial security. 

Well, can you imagine the conflict between the high risk of starting a new business and wanting financial security?

Which one wins?

Firstly, coaching unearths these conflicts between what you really want and what you really value.  It isn’t that you can’t have both, you can!  It is more a matter of how you approach the journey.

Secondly, the coaching process supports you to develop plans and processes appropriate to your basic values.

Thirdly, coaching facilitates getting you through tough places along the journey where you are going to hit roadblocks and have a little more trouble overcoming the conflicts.

Historical Self-Help Programs

If you are anything like me, you own several self-help books, CD’s/Tapes, and products all geared towards getting you something you don’t have; you try to develop some personal characteristics like patience or public speaking or learning a language; you train to climb mountains, run marathons, or lose weight.  Are your self-improvement products in the same format as mine?  I would read something, listen to audio, or watch a DVD.  Then fill out worksheets and answer questions in writing.  I boosted my knowledge, but not my productivity, success, or my life.

For the longest time, I thought it was me, that I just was lazy, or it wasn’t meant to be or I wasn’t doing it right.  It wasn’t until I was certified as a coach that I discovered all the knowledge and written worksheets in the world wouldn’t change behavior.  Nor would it bring limiting beliefs into awareness.