Do You Have a Coach in Your Life?

Who is a coach, exactly? There aren’t any rigid guidelines on what it means to help coach someone. In general it means helping people maximize their potential, to whatever standard that may be.

Most people have been led by a coach at one point or another. From sports to general mentorship, coaches can provide a sense of guidance through nearly any endeavor. Though coaches are available at any stage of life they usually assist children and serve through adolescence as well.

Over the years the sense of coaching and being coached gets lost with age. As mentors fade in and out of a person’s life, so does their encouragement and positive motivation. This can lead to stagnant career growth, inadequate mental health and sometimes even depression.

Recognizing the value of having a coach in your life is one way to start coaching others and yourself. Life coaching can be used to help people reach goals and advance their lives in a new or desirable direction.

Long story short: coaches can be valuable for life, love, health and everything in between. Here are some more specific benefits they can provide:

They affirm your self-worth- Coaches can typically recognize your strengths and weaknesses as a person. They not only suggest ways to remedy weaker aspects of life, but also build up your talents and abilities. This often includes identifying your best qualities as a person too.
They help make productive changes- A good coach is close enough to be your friend, yet distant enough to tell you when you may be headed in the wrong direction. If you can sense a bad habit or kink in your routine, ask a trusted coach for ways you can improve. A great coach will notice the weakness beforehand and already be prepared with an answer.
They guide you toward answers- Rather than just giving solutions to your problems, coaches provide a path toward answers. This process helps you learn and be guided for next time.
They can sense your limits- If it’s time to slow down or eliminate a negative aspect from your life, a coach provides perspective. Good coaches can tell when you’re at your best, can tell you when to slow down, and know when enough is enough.

It always feels good to know that someone is in your corner. Support is perhaps the most helpful service a coach can provide. So the next time you see someone you know having a hard time, be a coach to them. You never know when they could turn around and be a coach to you right back. What does being a coach mean to you?