Okay, that’s a trick question. I never seek someone’s coaching when it looks like it is merely about advice.
If we take more than a perfunctory look, we’ll notice that we humans almost never seek advice. Sure, we ask for advice, but we mostly seek the agreement we hope is in there somewhere for our already-formed opinions. Or is it only me who does that?
I have been asked on more than a few occasions whether I have or ever had a life coach. Well, ‘yes’ and ‘yes’. “How come?”, you ask? My flippant response could be ‘why not?’ However…..
I have heard it said that a manager can be a reasonably good manager by ‘flying by the seat of his pants’….however, to be an extra-ordinary manager might require something else, possibly a good coach. Both types of style probably have all the information needed, so advice is not the missing ingredient.
Let’s say I am trying to manage my life. How is it going, or how has it been going up ’til now?
If I were to put my life under a microscope, I would have to report that the most exhausting parts of it were the times when I was being insincere. ‘Not living my life like it was intended for me to live.’ That’s what I mean. I am talking about the status quo here. How about you? Can you relate?
We can become so embedded in the ‘same old’ status quo that we short-change ourselves. That would be okay if we could see clearly that this was happening. Since it often escapes my own attention, and I forget that it was me that arranged for my life to be shaped this way, it is a good idea for me to use a coach. A different perspective matters a lot if it is an informed one, and I really do want my life to matter. Don’t you?
Emerson said about our lives, “Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.”
When I am stuck in that dilemma is when my Coach really matters!
Rich