Photo courtesy: Stuart Miles at Freedigitalphotos.net

This is a question I’m confronted with again and again, by people who have never worked with a coach and sometimes it can be hard to explain as I justify my existence.  The best explanation I’ve ever come up with goes something like this:

“Do you have a car?”

“Yes”

“When your car has a problem do you fix it yourself?”

“No, I take it to a mechanic.”

“What about tune-ups, oil changes, tire rotations….?”

“I go to the mechanic.”

“So, think of me as your mechanic: I’ll help you pinpoint the areas that need a tune-up and together we’ll work towards some solutions.”

Friends and/or relatives often have too much at stake in their relationship with you to give honest and open feedback, that doesn’t apply to a coach we don’t start with as much invested in you and can be more objective.  That doesn’t mean to say that I’ll be brutal, or disrespectful of your feelings, or ideas, that’s definitely not how I work.

As a coach I will not try to fix your past, nor will I try to figure out why you got to where you are.  I start with where you are now and try to help you open doors to your future. The relationship between me (your coach) and you is all about you.  Being the center of the universe for a while is not something many of us are used to or find easy to accept, particularly since all we may have heard since childhood is “the world doesn’t revolve around you, you know”.  But maybe it’s time for a little you time, until you figure out how to spend time on everyone else.

Confused? You’re not alone.  Working with a coach could be just what you need to see through the fog.

TTFN

Amanda