Coaching
 

These forums are a great idea; I have been reading Steve Pavlina for probably 7 months and I have made several improvements to my life as a direct result of his articles. I think the ability to interact on this site will help alot of people reach higher levels of achievement and consciousness.

I want to solicit feedback from everyone on here on lifestyle coaches. Is hiring a coach worth the money? I find myself more motivated with someone pushing me. (One of my primary immediate goals is to learn to motivate myself).

Could anyone with who has used a coach relate their experience?

Is it just as effective to find someone already in your life and ask them to be your "coach"?

Shaun

I hired a personal coach several years ago for a period of about six months when I was going through an expansion phase with my games business.

We had an hour-long coaching call once a week, and I paid $70 per call, so it came to about $300 per month. I really liked the coaching situation and still remember many of the ideas we exchanged.

I shopped around and selected a relaxed, insightful coach rather than a hard-nosed business type. My coach was into meditation and taught me some visualization techniques to consult my intuition. I still apply those techniques today on occasion.

After six months I terminated the coaching relationship, since I didn't feel I needed it anymore.

I think coaching is great, but it really depends on the coach. Many coaches will offer a free session, so I highly recommend taking advantage of it. If you feel hesistant after the free session, try someone else.

Free coaching network
 

Coaching is something that i have also thought about. I got the idea from steve's site, but i am very hesitant to pay someone for that. Something i think this forum can support is a network of coaches. I think most people visiting this forum will be more than happy to help eachother, and i have found that everyone has something positive to contribute. If anyone is interested in exchanging ideas, I'm currently trying to further develop many aspects of my life including finances, education, motivation, emotional control, fitness, relationships, etc. Pretty much any aspect of my life is up for revision. Im often online, and i almost always have my AIM up and running, and can just as easily run my Yahoo messenger for anyone who wants to exchange ideas. Im looking forward to making new friends and associates, so please dont be shy. :)

My AIM name is "krazytoasty" and my yahoo messenger name is "toasterwater"

I have tried some telephone coaching in the past for the purpose of working on my time management and some other business issues but I agree the success of this largely depends on finding the right coach. I'm not sure I found the right coach for me and I didn't get a lot out of it, however I think this was also due to the fact that I was trying to focus on too many things at once.

I would say that you need to be very clear about what you intend to get out of the coaching relationship. With only an hour or so for each session (whether face to face or by phone), you don't have a great deal of time to cover a lot of different issues so it certainly helps to focus on one or two things at a time otherwise the effort of both you and the coach can become diluted.

Its a different type of coaching, but one area where I have found coaching to be very effective and certainly worth the investment is with my fitness goals. I have been working with my current personal trainer for about 3 months now - and in the realm of fitness (specifically weight training for me) I have found this to be of tremendous value. I would say the biggest benefit I've found is that my trainer knows exactly what my goals are, and he reminds me of them in the moments when I'm just about to give up or I'm not putting 100% into it.

I see my fitness training as a big aspect of my personal development and I know that the money I spend on personal training will benefit me both in and outside of the gym.

Hi Shuan,

I agree with Chris. It's important to know from the start what you want to get out of the coaching relationship.

As to being coached by a friend, it'd depend on who the friend is :) I've been coached by friends and have also coached friends to coach each other where nobody gets paid, and the results really depend on the dynamics between each other.

For example, one of my friends is a really driven nice guy, and we click well and so had fun pushing each other. But I've also had free coaching relationships that didn't work out because the 'buy in' wasn't there, people tend to put more in if they have to pay for it :)

I think getting a coach is a superb idea...and I'm not just saying that become I'm a life coach! :p

I too have a life coach and I chose one who was more business orientated. I don't really need any help when it comes to my PersDev but I needed help with expanding my business and getting to a point where I can quit my job and be self employed.

No matter who you are, anyone can benefit and will benefit from getting a coach but you do need one that you have a great rapport with and someone who you can respond to easily.

Whatever you choose, good luck! :)

I'd like to take this thread a bit further and claim that _anyone_ can benefit from coaching. There are, of course, some terms. The most important of them is that you are actually willing to be coached. Do not underestimate that one. Another one is that the coach is good enough to be called a coach and you and him/her are able to establish a relationship based on trust.

So many people could be happier, richer, more productive or whatever they want to be when they see a coach sometimes.

I see that some people are quite shy about coaches because they cost money. Well, not all coaches cost money. You can also be coached by a colleague or a friend. The downside of that is that you actually have another kind of relationship with that person which can disturb the coaching process. How honest are you willing to be to a colleague? You should be able to trust a coach. That is why independant coaches cost money. They invest their time to help you.

So if you can, go see a coach. At least try it. You may learn a lot from websites like Steve's but there's nothing that compares to true interaction with a real coach.

Hi Shaun,

As others have said, finding the right coach is extremely important. One other thing that's very important is to decide how serious you are about making changes in your life. If you're not serious don't waste your money.

A couple of more options to consider are joining a group coaching session, getting an accountability partner (a friend might work here), or even establishing a mastermind group.

As Steve mentioned, many coaches offer a free sampler session. Think of it as a two way interview with a little coaching. It's also a good idea to interview about 3 coaches.

Good luck to you!

Napoleon Hill's Student was my life coach
 

WOW...what an experience!

Obviously, this guy is quite old now. He's mid to late 70's. When I had him coach me, nearly 17 years ago, he was obviously younger.

Worth the investment....what an understatement!

This guy learned so much from Napoleon Hill. But Napoleon Hill died before he felt he completed his work and so he turned it over to his student L.W. (I'm uncomfortable about sharing his name until I get his permission). Napoleon Hill told him that he knew the benefits of having a Definite Major Purpose...all 500 of the most successful men in America had one...but he wasn't sure exactly how to come up with one...there wasn't step by step instructions! But L.W. decided to create these step-by-step instructions. He taught me exactly how to write my Definite Major Purpose in the form of a LifeVision which included in minute detail all the different aspects of life...spiritual, financial/professional, relationships, emotional/personal development, physical. With this information my coach gave me, I began writing my "ideal life", first person, present tense, as if it had already happened. The kicker was that I then recorded it and listened to it daily. (with Baroque/super learning music in the background). I have updated it every few months and continued the 17 year habit. This one idea alone has made me well over 3 million dollars (and I'm a stay at home mother for the most part with a knack for enterpreneurship!)

Are coaches worth it?????.........if you get the right one! :)