Achieve Your Goals with a Personal Coach

If you look observe many successful people today, you may see that there is usually someone helping them behind the scenes.

For big businessmen, there is often an executive assistant on hand to help them with their schedules and remind them of their priorities. In the world of sports, an entire team of coaches, assistants, and even nutritionists are there to ensure that their bodies and minds are ready for each game.

But such help is not solely for the rich and famous. Even an ordinary person can receive guidance to help direct them in life. And this is through the help of a personal coach.

Why Seek Help from a Personal Coach?

Life is often much better when there is a sense of purpose and a plan; something which many adults do not have. Most people were not blessed to have a real mentor growing up, someone who purposefully guided them in their formative years.

For them, parents were too busy earning a living or managing the household; and teachers had too many students to handle. While advice may have been given, it was only for the issue at hand and not for life direction.

A personal coach, however, is able to focus on a person’s needs. Concrete goals, practical advice, and encouragement are given so that there is guided direction in life. This allows a person to focus their energy on activities that contribute to their overall goal so that time and resources are not wasted.

Defining the Objectives

Clear-cut objectives are needed for a person to concentrate on the right activities. Too often, people become sidetracked with seemingly good offers, yet ones that take them away from their true objectives. Though the opportunity may have been fun, in the end, they realize that they are nowhere near where they would like to be.

A lot of young adults today fall into this category. As they are still unsure about the work they really want, they grab the first opportunity that comes (especially if the pay, place, and people are okay). Several months or even years later, they realize that they have not found their true calling and regret the lost time.

The personal coach works with the individual to define both short term and long term goals so that they know where they are headed. These are not just career-related; they may also include hobbies and relationships. In this way, time, money, and effort are focused on the right objectives bringing them closer to that well-balanced life they desire.

When defining goals, personal dreams will be differentiated. More often than not, most people have not seriously considered what is truly achievable and what is just wishful thinking. The personal coach helps to define each dream so that the person knows what to prioritize.

For example, many people want to have their own home with many dreaming of a huge five-bedroom home in some upscale area. The personal coach will discuss the actual need based on the current and future life vision. Are they getting married? Will they have many kids? Is access to the malls and other amenities important to them? In the end, a person might just realize that a two-bedroom condo in the city might be what they are actually looking for. Their goal is now clear and achievable.

Identifying the Big Steps

When objectives have been defined, the next move is to figure out the steps needed to achieve them. Again, this is something not everybody is able to do as they are too engrossed in their daily work and family tasks. Thus, even if the objective is very achievable, it is never actually attained.

The personal coach sits down with the individual and helps them come up with the necessary steps. Sometimes their current circumstances already allow them to reach their goal. But other times, there may be a need to do something extra or even shift directions.

For example, for the earlier mentioned 2-bedroom condo, if the income is already enough, the plan may be to open up a separate account and then siphon off a percentage of the earnings. However, this may require cutting down on unnecessary expenses (e.g. fewer cinema nights, scrapping the high-priced morning coffee, commuting once in a while to save on gas and parking fees). But if the current income is not enough, then there may be a need to find additional income (e.g. online jobs, work weekends), ask for a raise, or find a better job.

Whatever the choice, what matters is that there is now a concrete achievable plan that can help the person realize their dreams. Again, such planning with the personal coach is not just for one’s career. It may be applied to other goals as well such as weight loss, further education, or even relationship management.

Getting into the Details

Aside from identifying the big steps, the personal coach helps with the small details. This is particularly tricky if there are multiple goals that run concurrently.

Some people, for example, would like to get that new home, earn an MBA, learn how to cook, and lose weight all within a year’s time.

Planning together and listing things with one’s coach goes a long way towards making things actually happen.

Considering the Opportunity Costs

While discussing the big steps and the details, the personal coach will help a person go over the opportunity costs. Every choice that is made entails a commitment of time, effort, and resources. Job “A” and job “B” both have their pros and cons and the same goes for hobby “A” and hobby “B”. A person cannot do everything so they have to choose what is best.

Because of the experience gained from helping others, a personal coach may provide insight into the things that might not have been considered before, helping with that final choice. The good thing here is that big regrets will be minimized as two heads have gone over every possible angle together, rather than just one.

Dealing with Oneself

Other than not having a plan, the biggest reason why people feel that their life is a failure is that they held themselves back. It was not their parents, teachers, friends, or even the boss; it was themselves. Self-doubt is something almost everyone deals with. It is often easier to pray for the good of someone else, but it can be hard to pray and hope for oneself.

Just like an athletic coach, the personal coach is there to lift the person up and encourage them that it can be done. This is not blind, wishful encouragement, mind you, such as what many parents do for their kids. After several in-depth discussions, the personal coach knows the person’s strengths and weaknesses. So when he or she says it can be done, then it really can.

Procrastination is also another internal issue. Sometimes people tell themselves that they will get around to it tomorrow as right now they are dealing with problems at work and at home.

Tomorrow then becomes next week, next month, next year, and then never. The personal coach checks in with the individual regularly to see how things are going. If there have been unreasonable delays, then the coach pushes them back on track.

Additional Assistance

Some personal coaches have other skills that may prove to be helpful. A personal coach who is also a licensed mental health counselor can assist the person emotionally, especially if they were affected by past trauma. Despite the best of plans, if something is holding a person back internally, that barrier must be overcome in order to move forward in life.

There are also mental health counselors that are Christian personal coaches as well. The advantage here is that enhancement of the spiritual life is taken into consideration. Prayer, Scripture reading, and meditation on God’s word can really help make plans clearer and spur a person on to achieve them.

A well-balanced and fruitful life is not an impossible dream. It can be achieved if a person lives with purpose and direction. If things seem too difficult, one should not go about it alone. There is professional help out there to get a person started.

If you or a friend need direction and planning, especially one that is God-centered, then seek help from a professional Christian personal coach. You will be amazed about how much can be accomplished once concrete plans have been defined and put into action.