Hire a Personal Coach

Recognize the need for coaching.
A personal coach can help us clarify our life purpose, set goals, support us as we overcome fears, keep us on track, change outdated behaviors, validate our successes, and expect the best from us. There are many types of coaches available to us, including business coaches, writing coaches, marketing coaches, and personal coaches.

Coaches are great encouragers.
If we have experienced long-term abuse, we can rediscover our strength through people who have the gift of encouragement. My purpose statement stems from Hebrews 3:13: But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today... Throughout my life, I have been encouraged by mature women who understood my need for support and direction.

Make a careful search for a coach.
Jack provides information about The Strategic Coach Program, one which helps entrepreneurs to double their free time while earning more money. Another one he likes is Mike Foster of Tech Coach, a technology and computer coach (www.ceotechcoach.com).

Coaching can be done privately or in small groups. We can expect a coach to help us develop goals, strategies, and a plan of action to help us succeed. The frequency of meetings with coaches varies from once a week to once a month.

We can find coaches by searching the Internet, looking in the phone book, or asking around. Organizations such as Coach U and the International Coach Federation can help us locate a coach.

As a survivor of abuse, I have found excellent encouragement (coaching) through: my minister, my high school guidance counselor, Al-Anon for Adult Children of Alcoholics, psychologists, Stephen Ministers, and Healing Touch practitioners. All of these kind souls have helped me to set boundaries, to develop goals to improve myself, to encourage me to stick with my action plan, and to sort out the harmful effects of abuse.

If we have been blessed with excellent coaching, it's not something we can easily keep to ourselves. I have passed on this gift of encouragement by coaching people for years.

My career as a coach began when my students started approaching me for help. I taught them how to cope within their abusive families and how to respond to their parents who were alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, and inmates.

Over time, students from other classrooms sought me out, as did their teachers. Eventually, I was hired by my school district to serve as a consultant to other teachers who were dealing with abused kids in their classrooms.

When my own children became adults, I offered them assistance with money and time management techniques. I have coached friends who needed to improve their organizational and household management skills, and I have emotionally supported women as they fought their way out of abusive marriages.

Today, I write about coaching, teach classes, and meet with individuals to encourage them to thrive, in spite of life's unexpected hurts. If you would like my help, you may contact me by email at cheryldenton@rocketmail.com.

Today's Challenge
We all need a coach at some point in our lives. Can you recognize the people who have supported you in the past? In what area of your life do you need encouragement now? Take time today to search for a coach to help you achieve your dreams in the new year. Make 2011 your best year ever!

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com