How Can a Coach Help You in 2017?

In many ways, the annual calendar is an artificial construct but it has been with us long enough that we adopt certain attitudes and emotions around it. We think in terms of endings and beginnings. We think about what is past and what is in the future. This is ingrained in us. I worked on a college campus long enough that I still think of the year in academic terms. Of course, continuing to teach at a seminary and having grandchildren in school reinforces that practice.

As we follow the calendar, we practice certain rhythms in life. When we come to the “end” of a year, we reflect on the past twelve months. At the “beginning” of a new year, we plan and think about the future. For many, this is the time of making New Year’s resolutions (many of which don’t last past January 15).

What if you really wanted change in your life in the coming year. What would you do? Whatever your challenges or opportunities are in 2017, a coach can help you to embrace them and make the progress you desire.

Here are some ways that a coach can work with you.

First, a coach can help you as you make decisions about the future. Please note the word “help.” The decisions and choices are yours, but your coach can provide you with a sounding board, helping you to articulate and clarify your growing edge and to live into it.

Second, a coach can walk with you as you address growth areas in your life—personal, physical, vocational, relational, and spiritual. You are the expert when it comes to knowing about yourself and your life. Your coach may have limited knowledge in any of these areas, but you are the best person to identify not only what you need to do but how you can do it. The coach will help you to develop the structures and practices that will assure success.

Third, a coach can help you to develop self-leadership skills that will continue beyond the coaching relationship. Some colleagues may disagree, but I think one of my tasks as a coach is to work myself out of a job. As I work with my clients, I help them to acquire and practice ways of thinking that they can use long after the coaching relationship is concluded.

Think about it. What will you do with this new year ahead? How can a coach help you in the coming year? If you want to talk about this, contact me at ircelh@pinnlead.com.

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