Should you hire a life coach? Maybe. Maybe not.
A life coach can certainly help you in many areas of life. But there are also a lot of areas where working with one isn’t a good fit or decision. If you’re struggling with mental health, a life coach isn’t a good fit. If you’ve got a highly specialized problem you’re looking to solve like personal finance or nutrition, a life coach isn’t the right choice either.
If you’re feeling stuck, that you’re not living up to your potential, or there’s just something missing, working with a life coach could be exactly what you need.
A coach can help you clarify your vision for the future. They can work with you to create a plan for getting there. They can help you identify and work through any limiting beliefs you may have, and they can be another set of eyes to identify any blind spots you may have.
I know I’ve benefited greatly from working with coaches throughout my life. Odds are, you have as well. Did you have coaches when you were a kid? Which was your favorite? What did they help you with? What impact did they have on your life?
When you think about it like that, it’s kind of odd that we stop working with coaches as grownups. A great coach can make all the difference.
Going through the following steps will help you know if working with a coach is a good idea.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
As you’re going through this, answer as honestly as you can. Let’s get started.
What’s the biggest thing you’re struggling with?
What problem do you find yourself constantly running up against? How is that problem manifesting or showing up in your life? I know when I’m struggling with something, it seems to pop up in more than one area of my life. Write down when and how your problem shows up.
How have you tried to solve the problem in the past?
Have you already tried to solve, or get around, the problem? Sometimes, we can be aware there’s a problem, but not do anything about it. I know I’ve been guilty of hoping a problem will simply go away.
How did you go about it (be as specific as possible)?
If you have tried to solve it, what did you do? Think about the actions and or conversations you’ve had in an effort to fix it. Write down anything and everything you’ve done to solve your problem.
How long have you been feeling like you need to make a change?
It’s amazing how long I let some problems go on for before I finally decided to do anything about it. Sometimes it seems like there’s no limit to the things we’ll put up with.
How long have you been dealing with this specific problem? Think about and write down the first time you recognized it.
Have you tried anything that worked?
Of all the ways you’ve tried to solve your problem, did anything work? Even if it was a temporary fix, did you make any progress with it? Think about and write down any of your efforts that seemed to alleviate the problem.
How has the problem impacted you (monetarily, psychologically, physiologically)?
When you’re in the thick of it, it’s hard to quantify what the total costs of our problems are. Once we’re past them, it can be painful to look back and recognize just how much our problems impacted us.
Many problems cost us money, time, headspace and energy. Those are some of our most valuable resources. When you think about your problem, how much has it cost you?
How frustrated are you right now?
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest level of frustration, where are you right now?
If you’re a 6 or less, it could make sense to keep trying to solve it on your own. If you’re a 7 or greater, working with a life coach could help you get past your problem once and for all.
Conclusion
As you’re working through your problem, I want to encourage you to get crystal clear about how you want your future to be. One of my favorite human superpowers is our ability to create the futures we desire. Think about it; we can sit down, plan for what our next three, 10 and 20 years are going to look like, put plans together, and then work to bring those plans to life. It’s amazing.
That being said, I procrastinated on goal setting for years. It took me until I was 35 to finally go through a proper goal-setting process. In service of helping you in your process, you can take our Goals course for free.
The second part of creating the future we desire is clarifying your personal values. Our values are the lens through which we see the world, and an integral criteria for how we make decisions and allocate our resources. To help you clarify yours, you can access our Values course for free as well.
If, after going through this exercise, you’d like to continue exploring hiring a life coach, you can connect with one of our Certified Coaches for a no-cost call. We’d love to help you move past your problem and onto the brighter future you deserve.
Even if you don’t end up hiring a life coach, there’s a benefit in having a conversation to see if a coach thinks your problem is something they’ll be able to help you solve.
Good luck and here’s to your success!
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