Ten reasons to hire a clarity coach - part one

Every so often when I tell people what I do, I get the question, what would I need a coach for?

That is a completely legitimate and sensible question. Even though coaching is becoming a lot more popular these days, many still misunderstand what a coach does.

This post is not going to define coaching. I’ll do that in another post. This article will cover five of the ten reasons displayed on the homepage as to why hiring a coach can help you make significant changes in your life.

1. Help you fulfil your potential

Potential is defined as “having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future.” Coaching is about unlocking that potential. Helping to discover, then remove the blocks that stop you from reaching your potential.

It is not a quick fix. There may be life limiting beliefs you have had for most of your life. It’s rare that these are removed overnight. A good coach will use powerful questions to discover what these blocks are and to help you achieve your goals.

2. Gain clarity and direction in your business or life

Sometimes in life, we just need a bit of clarity. You could be going through a transition in life, say you’ve just got married and moved to a new city, this is a time of much fuzziness as you’re working out new routines.

Or perhaps your business isn’t quite going how you’d like it to and thoughts are going through your mind as to whether you should even be running it.

I know what it’s like to have this confusion when all you want is to know the next step. A coach can help discover what you really want, then break it down in to small manageable steps so you know what to do next.

3. To stop procrastinating and start that dream project

Most of us have time when we just keep putting things off. There are so many reasons for this as we are all different. We can procrastinate due to things like fear of failure. What if you start that project but it’s not a success? How does that reflect on you? What if it is a success? How would you cope with that? It’s amazing the fears we have which seem to force us to do nothing.

We can also force ourselves to think that wonderfully creative idea we have is Ok for someone else, but not for us. So we bury the idea and do not even try. We find everything we can to distract us from having to think about it. Netflix, box sets, the gym. Anything.  

If we don’t do it, then we can never fail right? It doesn’t have to be this way.

4. Turn your overwhelm into laser focused clarity

The good thing is, in our modern society we have access to more information that ever before. The bad thing is that we have access to more information than ever before. Yes, the good is the bad. The concept of ‘Just Google it’ means that we acquire this information on a surface level. We don’t always have the true understanding behind it which is garnered by researching the topic over months, years or decades, not mere seconds.

The problem with this is symptomatic of our age. We are overwhelmed by information overload.

When I design websites one of the things I tell clients is not to have many more than seven navigation menu options. This is because the brain can’t cope with too many choices.

A good coach can work with you to discover all the options, but rather than leave you there in a state of more overwhelm, they will help you to prioritise and work through which idea you will take forward and focus on. Sometimes we just need to be able to talk it through and be guided to look at one option we can take action on rather than multiple which leads to procrastination and inaction.

5. Investigate leaving a job you hate

If I had a penny for everyone I spoke to that hated their job, I’d have a lot of pennies! We spend most of our lives working, usually for other people. If we dislike what we do it makes it all the harder. Many people moan about leaving, but don’t have the confidence to investigate this as an option.

Now, I must state very clearly here, that the answer to hating your job is not necessarily to leave. That can sometimes be an easy route out that means you don’t face up to the issues which make you hate the job in the first place.

Sometimes, you just need to look at some options which may well be that your job is very uncreative and you have a desire to use your creative gifts. Taking up a hobby can be all you need to transform how you think about your job.

It can also be to do with relationships–whether with your boss, your team or colleagues. There can also be a values mismatch. You actually like what you do but perhaps the company is a little unethical in their approach which jars with your own values.

A coach can help you discover the reasons why you dislike your job but more than that help you investigate different options with specific steps of what to do next. They will then keep you accountable, checking up whether you have taken the actions you agreed so you don’t end up back to square one in terms of moaning about it whilst taking no actions.

Conclusion

To benefit from coaching you need to be ready, willing and able to take action. Coaching is not a silver bullet, a quick fix to all your problems. But what it will do is provide the regular space for you to get some clarity and direction on the issue and provide the accountability to keep you moving forwards.

In a future post I will provide another five reasons why you may need a coach. If you have any comments, let me know. Or if you relate to one of the reasons and want to take action, book an introductory call via the big button below.