"Top 8 Benefits of Having a Personal Coach"

In this week's blog I list 8 reasons why you might want to try Coaching. There are a lot more than this, but these are just some, and can be applied to your work life or home life.

• You feel stuck or unfulfilled It is really easy to stay put in a job, position, relationship or place because life is busy and the routine can be helpful at times in your life. There comes a time though, when you might feel that you need more. But what is your more? What do you need to be able to do to change your circumstances and get you feeling more satisfied again? How can you facilitate this? These are some of the questions we can explore in coaching conversations. You will know the answers, and a good coach can help you find them and implement them

• You struggle with setting or achieving your goals Sometimes we know where we want to be but we don't know how we can get there. Goal setting can help provide the structure and process you might need to progress towards where you want to be. You have a leadership position in mind, but are unsure of how to reach it? Coaching can help you mark out the steps you need to take to make your aspiration a reality. There may be a barrier preventing you from achieving your goal, and sometimes we know this about ourselves. For me, I may become full of self-doubt and talk myself out of something for example. Confidence is often a barrier, but there are loads more. Through coaching, we can try strategies to help you break cycles and achieve your much coveted goals.

• You're facing a major life transition For some this may be something as big as moving jobs, cities, countries, relationships or even approaching mid-life and reflecting on where you have developed and what might be ahead for you. Times like this can be unsettling, and can throw up questions you don't have immediate answers to. A previous client of mine was all set to take on a new business venture with a friend. There was a fair bit of stalling on actions because my clients life was so full and busy, and it was only when I started to notice this hesitancy and asked my client directly why this was, that she realised that this venture was not what she needed right now. We ended up looking at work-life balance and she started striving on how she can improve her relaxation, and preserve her energy rather than take on something she was not ready to do. Taking time to explore these options with a compassionate coach can help you get the answers you need.

• You want to improve your relationships Whether this is working on your confidence to improve your networking ability, or you recognise that you feel burdened at times by the relationships in your life at home or work, coaching can really help you identify ways you can improve relationships. One of my recent clients found she was having some conflicts in her work environment. Through coaching conversations she started to recognise that she was not always being clear with how she communicated with her colleagues, choosing to be avoidant rather than assertive. She looked at boundaries throughout her life and realised that she was seldom clear with her feelings and seldom allowed people to know her expectations. This allowed some to take advantage of her and others to find her unclear, causing conflicts. She worked on this tirelessly, with my support and found that people started responding better to her, reducing conflicts and improving communication.

• You're dealing with stress or burnout As a coach who has worked in the NHS for many years, I have seen a lot of very stressed people who are overworked and at times feel undervalued. There are times when counselling or CBT might be the right fit for you, but coaching can work brilliantly, especially when looking at ways to improve your current situation. That might mean exploring ways to change your job or career, or find time (sometimes the assertiveness) to prioritise yourself and your downtime. I offer free consultations to all my clients, so if I feel the coaching route would not be beneficial for you I would refer you to alternative therapists.

• You need to boost your confidence I have touched on this through some of the themes already, but really do find confidence is often at the route of many of the reasons people might benefit from coaching. You hear a lot of the term "imposter syndrome" these days, and I have coached several clients who have felt in this place before. Good coaching conversations explore the roots of these doubts as well as finding ways to break free from them. For those who prefer more structure, there are lots of tricks you can try to help you improve your confidence, self-belief and how you appear to others.

• You seek clarity Well you are in the right place with Clarity Coaching! 😊 Joking aside, a lot of people exist these days in a constant rush of business and have little time for reflection and thought. It is one of the reasons many feel they don't know how to proceed with a problem or even that they can't think straight. Not only does coaching challenge your thoughts and help ignite that creative thinking in you again, but taking the physical time to pause in your day and invest in yourself helps you activate your default mode again, so that you can start to see the solutions.

• You want to maximise your potential There is a reason that top CEOs and board members invest in coaching throughout their career. They know that it helps them improve and develop and they know that they become more confident and self-aware leaders as a result. The coaching culture is starting to filter down in organisations and businesses now, with more people choosing coaching to improve their performance. You might thing that coaching sounds like something that is inaccessible or corporate, but it doesn't have to be that at all. Anyone at all can benefit from coaching, it is really for all. If you are thinking that you might benefit but feel intimidated by what it may entail or put off by high costs you have seen online, please feel free to contact me and we can chat further, for free about my affordable coaching services and how I can help you thrive.