Growth Hacks
Making the decision to hire a life coach is one that many consider, but since it’s become one of the fastest growing industries, how do you know who to work with? Here are 5 questions you should ask any life coach you’re considering working with:
What experience do you have working with people who are trying to achieve my outcome?
Coaching of any type is very personal and should be tailored to meet your objectives and goals. Knowing your life coach has had experience helping people achieve goals and outcomes similar to the ones you desire is important. This doesn’t mean that he or she can’t help you if your outcome is different, but just like visiting New York is very different than reading about it, coaching people in various situations in a real-life environment is different than watching a YouTube video about it.
Have they done what you’re trying to achieve?
Now, some of the best coaches in the world of sports haven’t been as great as the people they coach, but knowing the road ahead can help you avoid roadblocks and costly mistakes. If you’re looking for help in your business, then has your coach run their own business other than life coaching? If you’re looking to repair a marriage, then it’s worth knowing the status and history of your coach’s relationships. They don’t have to be perfect, in fact, most learning experiences come from mistakes, but transparency and real world experience trump theory any day.
Where did they get their education and experience?
Yes, it’s true that to be a great coach you don’t need a fancy degree, but having some base level of education in the area you’re practicing certainly does help. This can come from a variety of sources and doesn’t have to be formalized, but if your potential life coach’s only education was watching the Secret, you may want to consider looking elsewhere.
Do they have testimonials or reviews you can see?
Life coaching can be extremely private and higher-end life coaches that work with celebrities and people in the public eye often sign an NDA, but any good life coach should be able to point you to at least 1 reference that you can check in with. In my experience working with high-profile clients, they are happy to sing your praises if you’ve helped them change their lives. You don’t need a lot of references: 1-3 should serve you well.
Why did they get into coaching?
Inevitably your coaching should ask you your “why”, so you should ask theirs. Look for a reason that comes with a sense of purpose or calling. All the great coaches I know have been coaching people in one way or another the majority of their lives. It may not have looked like life coaching at the time, but it was coaching. This is one reason so many fitness professionals find themselves becoming life coaches – it’s a calling.
Having just got back from vacation I have something to tell you.
Travel. Get away, have fun and relax. If for whatever reason you can’t travel far then don’t. Do a short trip. If you can’t do that the find someplace locally where you can just escape to. Find a spot that helps you clear your head relaxed.
If you can take a long fancy trip awesome. If you only have the means for a short or day trip no worries, but you need to make time for yourself.
I hear this from client’s a lot when they return from vacation: “I really indulged, ate and drank a lot but didn’t put on weight.” My response is the same: “You were relaxed, not stressed out about work or other things, and getting a good amount of sleep. That’s why.”
By the way, if you’ve never been to Barcelona, I highly recommend it.
Awhile ago, I wrote about not trying to change too much at once. It can be a daunting task and people get too worked up trying to change too much and give up.
The flip side of that coin is not changing at all. that is even deadlier and often more common. Most people hate change. We get comfortable and complacent and like things the way they are. Even if there is something better on the other side of that change.
People stay in jobs, cities, relationships, and more where they are unhappy. But they don’t change because it is familiar, and that is less scary than the unknown of change.
People would rather fail than change. They would rather do the same old thing than doing things differently. That is literally the definition of insanity.
A mentor of mine once said one of the most dangerous phrases he’s ever heard. He said, “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
I could not agree more. Don’t try to change too much at once, but, we as people, need to embrace change. You don’t have to embrace it, but change anyways!
– Victor Reyes
I had a lab professor in college who said the 3 most important steps in completing a lab were:
- preparation
- preparation
- preparation
He mentioned it so much, it got annoying. I was 20 years old and considered him an asshole, so I did not pay attention or give his talks much merit.
Yeah, my bad, professor.
Now, I see how right he was, and how this applies to EVERYTHING. Not just in labs, but in life.
Preparing an exercise or workout plan is a big one for me. Planning a career change, a move, a vacation, how to save income, etc. works so much better when planned out and prepared for.
I’m not saying “Don’t be spontaneous at times.” It’s fun to do things on a whim, and see where life takes you. However, if you’re looking to grow and improve, you need to ask yourself, why? Like author Simon Sinek says in his book “Start With Why.”
Why are you trying to grow? To help yourself.
How are you going to grow? Take time to figure that out. Plan and prepare. It may take awhile but it’ll make your growth that much better.
-Victor Reyes
We all have goals. We want to better ourselves and accomplish things. Short term, long term, big, small, overreaching, and more.
When thinking about your goals, make sure you’re doing something you want to do, and not what others want you to do.
There can be tremendous pressure to make sure we get the approval of family, peers, and others. Sometimes, we even pursue something they think is acceptable for us, but it is something we don’t want to do.
Don’t get me wrong, go seek out good advice. If you have a great network of family and friends, listen to them, and know that they want you to succeed. They just don’t know what exactly is best for you.
Years ago, I was a test engineer. I realized that I didn’t want to do that anymore and decided to pursue other career options. I became a personal trainer and coach, and haven’t looked back. I love it. I had the opportunity to go into other fields or even the opportunity to go back into engineering, but I didn’t because I knew it would not make me happy. It definitely wasn’t something i wanted.
There was some pressure (especially from family) to go back into the nice stable office job. They meant well, although, I am glad I didn’t listen to those who wanted me to stay in the stable office job because it wasn’t the route that would ultimately make me happy.
Your goals are yours and yours alone. No one can decide them and attain them but you.
For more info, please read this article: https://www.10acreranch.org/2017/02/16/4-tips-setting-greatest-goals/
The simplest solutions are often cliche but it doesn’t make them any less true. This one is about being consistent.
Consistency is one of (if not the most important) factor in any growth hack and improvement. If you want to develop good habits do them consistently. Every. Day!
Whether it be for the mind, body, soul, or any other area in your life, performing positive habits over and over again is the best way to make sure they become a regular part of your life.
The power of habit and consistency is a common trait amongst most people’s success.
It takes 21 days first to develop a habit and 90 days to turn that habit into a lifestyle, some researchers say.
Focus on the 21 days first. Develop good habits until you consistently do them to the point that not doing them feels abnormal.
From on the 21 days first. Develop good habits until you consistently do them to the point that not doing them is abnormal.
From there, transform your habit into a lifestyle. Once you do, it’ll be hard to go back.
The best way to start transforming a habit is to prepare in advance for it. More on that next time.
For more info, please check out this article:
How to Develop the Habit of Consistency
Change is hard. Don’t get me wrong, change is great and necessary to grow but its really touch.
Trying to change too much by changing multiple habits simultaneously is extremely hard. Unless you don’t have any bad habits which is absolutely no one.
Said no one ever!
If you’re ready to make a change that’s awesome but beware. Trying to change too much at once can do more harm than good. A strategy I’ve used is to write down some bad habits that you want to change. Pick one and just focus on changing that for a month. Once those bad habits have been replaced with a good one then focus on another bad habit.
I recently spoke with a friend who was trying to quit smoking, lose weight and gets in better shape. He was given a prescription to help quit smoking. I told him to just focus on quitting smoking for now. Don’t worry about anything else and just work on that. After a month or so if he feels like he’s in control of and not smoking is an automatic habit then start focusing on some other habits to change like nutrition or exercise.
Don’t try to change too much at once. Take things on one thing at a time.
For more information please read:
https://psychcentral.com/lib/7-steps-to-changing-a-bad-habit/
Setbacks happen. They are a part of life. What’s worse than the actual setback is the guilt and quitting on a goal that can follow.
Instead of thinking: “I messed up, time to move on, and get back at it!” We think: “I screwed everything up and what’s the point of even trying anymore. I quit.”
A setback doesn’t mean that life is over and you should give up no matter what you’re trying to accomplish. Whether is be personal, business, or any other type of goal, do not give up because you hit a rough patch.
I’ve had a lot of setbacks, beat myself up over them, and then quit things that I shouldn’t have. The biggest lesson I learned is you cannot stop setbacks from happening. Life is unpredictable and they happen. You can control how it effects you with the actions you take once it happens.
For more info, please read this article:
http://bookboon.com/blog/2014/02/dont-let-mistkaes-setbacks-stop/
– Victor Reyes
What would you say to your younger self if given the opportunity? If you could go back in time, what pieces of wisdom would your present self-instill to ease your younger self’s mind when it came to life’s many obstacles?
Challenge yourself now to sit in a calm space in front of your preferred computer and type the conversation on what you might have learned from a conversation that your present self-had with your younger self. What were the anxieties and doubts that your younger self-had in regards to love, family, career, and money? Were these fears just merely fears that your present self-learned or do these topics still haunt you daily? If you are still in fear, then what is this fear? Do your best to be as logical as possible with little emotion to understand your fear. You can be your greatest teacher!
Imagine you are fighting for your life…you just got hit in the face hard by one of life’s many punches. So far, you’re not winning this fight and it’s not looking at all like you are capable of defending yourself. Suddenly, your face hits the cold and firm canvas floor. Your eyes: closed, your body: in pain, and your soul: defeated. You are knocked out.
How are you supposed to get up and fight back at life?
What is your motivation at this moment?
Where is your inner will?
What is the fear that holds you back from getting up from that canvas floor and back into this “fight?”
Remember it’s you against YOU in this life. YOU are your biggest opponent. Work with yourself and you can achieve legendary greatness – work against yourself and you will never get back on your feet.
So, I ask you – What’s your comeback?
– Shaun Zetlin