The short answer is, only if you want to be the absolute best version of you. Allow me to explain.

Coaching can often get confused with things like mentoring, therapy, or sports coaching. By definition, coaching is a dynamic relationship in which the coach serves as a thought partner to help the client identify what action plans the client would like to implement as a direct result of creative processes/conversation designed to maximize their personal and professional potential*. It is based on the idea that each client has an infinite source of wisdom, or an “inner knowing,” if you will, that allows them to know what makes sense for uniquely for them as individuals, and that the access to that inner knowing is occluded by fear-based thoughts and unconscious biases. The goal is to uncover those thoughts and biases, to allow the client to break free of them, so that they can tap into that inner knowing to take inspired action, resulting in the client’s highest successes and joys. The coach also serves as an accountability partner in many instances.

So how does a person know whether they would benefit from having a coach? My answer is, if you feel like you’re stuck in life, or if you feel you’re at the top of your game with seemingly nowhere else to go, and yet you feel there is a next level waiting for you, get a coach.** The greatest investment is the one you make in yourself. As a coach, I have had the honor of seeing my clients create unforeseeable and unimaginable new realities for themselves as a direct result of the inner work and investment they have made–everything from improving their marriages, to better relationships with their kids, to getting new roles within their existing jobs that align with their own sense of values and dreams–and even new jobs with even more possibilities at their doorstep.

You may be wondering how to pick “the right coach”. Stay tuned for next month’s blog post, where we take a deeper dive into how to select the coach that’s best for YOU.

*as defined by the International Coaching Federation

**I do not advocate coaching for people who would be better suited for therapy, as coaching can often confuse and complicate things. To be clear, it isn’t that therapy patients cannot benefit from coaching, but rather it is more appropriate once any clinical diagnoses have been properly managed or resolved. One of the goals in the discovery calls that most coaches offer prospective clients is to determine just this; with the coach’s assistance, therapy may be identified as the better-suited option for the client at that point in time.