The following article was published Cascade Business News, March 2004.

COACHING, WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

You know where you are today—what is excellent and fulfilling in your world and what needs improvement. You have an idea of where you want to go. The question is how do you get from point ‘A’ to ‘Z’ when you are already overcommitted?

People in your life say that you ‘have it all’ yet you alone know the dreams that remain unfulfilled. There are days when they seem further and further away.

You may have attended seminars, read books and listened to motivational tapes, all of which moved you forward and gave you that initial jolt of excitement. However the weeks and months of inactivity that followed were at the very least discouraging.

You may envision a life that offers more simplicity, peace, prosperity, challenge or intimacy. It is filled with higher levels of fulfillment and luscious expansive free time to explore life on a different level.

At some point in all of our lives it is necessary to let go of the security of the side of the pool and take a leap of faith in ourselves. Whether we just inch out into the water or head to the high dive is up to us. The key is for us to move away from our safety zone in order to experience what we’ve yet to experience.

When I first became involved in the coaching profession eight years ago I was holding on so tightly to the side of the pool that a crowbar could not have broken me free. I too ‘had it all’, or so others thought. But I knew something was missing.

I hired a coach to help me bring my vague inklings of a more intriguing life into focus. What did I have to lose? I had tried the tapes, books and seminars. The larger question for me at the time was "what is there for me to gain?" I had no idea how much growth was in store for me at the time.

Back in 1996 the field of coaching was just beginning to gain popularity, though not credibility yet. People still considered it to be a ‘New Age’ fluke that would soon die out. Those very same people now rave about the joy of having their own personal coach.

In the last three years, membership in the International Coach Federation has grown from 1,500 coaches to in excess of 7,000 and now spans 33 countries. The reason for this growth is that coaching produces results, period.

Why would this one tool work when so many others have merely nudged you a step or two closer to where you want to be? There are a lot of reasons, perhaps the most poignant being ‘accountability and consistency’.

When you hire your own personal coach you learn to hold yourself accountable for actually following through on what you say you want to create in your life. We have all become experts at ‘talking about’ what we want, yet without active follow-through there are no results.

When you meet with your coach week after week you elevate your self knowledge by leaps and bounds. You take responsibility for your mode of thinking, acting and how you interpret the world around you.You stop blaming others.

Through specific proven techniques and endless powerful questions, your coach will help you explore who you are today and who you want to be tomorrow. This is most likely on a much deeper level than you have ever experienced. You learn to let go of behaviors that no longer serve you.

You learn what inspires you; what holds you back; what you value most in life; what lies you have taken on as fact and what archaic beliefs you still allow to rule your decisions.

You learn what new rules you want to create for yourself and what new boundaries you want to establish for those around you.

Perhaps most importantly, you break your dreams and goals down into little bite size pieces that you can master week by week rather than putting larger elements off for yet one more month or year.

This is the number one reason that most of us do not make the changes that we so desire in life—they seem too big! We don’t know where to begin. We don’t know have a strategy or specific process to follow.

In completing just one element of your focus each week, no matter how tiny it may be, you begin to build a solid foundation on which to stand. Week after week this foundation becomes stronger and a more powerful force to move you forward.

The specific results are different for each client. As indicated above, some are ready for the high dive and some want to just get their toes wet and ease into change. Either way is fine! The choice is yours.

Coaching, what’s in it for you?I challenge you to begin thinking of what it would feel like for you to let go of the side of the pool and venture out into the unknown waters to discover for yourself.

Ann Golden Eglé, CPCC, PCC, owner of Golden Visions Success Coaching, LLC, coaches highly successful individuals who are ready to explore higher levels of their own success! She can be reached at 541-385-8887 or www.GoldenVisionsCoaching.com.




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