Category: Coaching

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The College Lifestyle: Coaching Your Student to Success

As a parent, you may find it difficult when your child goes off to college. There is nothing wrong with that. Many parents find themselves in this situation. College is a big step for everyone in life and it’s great that you recognize the issue. Going off to college is a similar feeling to the first day of kindergarten or even high school. It’s just on a bigger scale.

College is a new way of life for both sides, parents and students. It’s a big change for students and there’s a lot of emphasis placed on the student adjusting to the college lifestyle. We overlook that parents need to adjust as well. It’s not always easy for the parent to send their child off to college. How the parent responds can be a huge impact on how the student adapts to their new lifestyle.

The biggest change is the students living on their own. They won’t have mom or dad to remind them to do their homework or clean their room or make the student’s food. All that lies within the responsibilities of the student. Now, the parent can choose to help influence the student’s lifestyle once he/she is away. You can act like a sideline coach to help push them in the right direction.

In sports, the coach is always on the sidelines directing players to the ultimate goal: to win. The coach can’t play for them, that lies with the players. Your role as college parent will be similar to this. You need to be able to “coach” the student to adjust, just as a coach wills his players to victory. The most important thing for a parent is to trust their student. They need to believe that their student can make the commitments to adapt to college life.

The coach’s role is not on the field but his present is essential on the sidelines. The coach acts as a guide, telling players what to do and to make any adjustments when something is wrong. They encourage when the players succeeds and teach them a lesson when they fall short.

Coaches play a huge role in every athlete. Even the professional athletes need their coaches to help guide them along the way. Coaches don’t have a physical presence during games, but they can influence the outcome in many ways. This role of a coach is important in the student/parent relationship during college. Your student may or may not have problems adjusting to college. As long as they have their “coach” to guide them, it can go a long way.

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How to Choose a Life Coach

If you are serious about achieving a balanced life, it is important for you to know how to choose a life coach. It is easy to teach others, but when it comes to implementing the same lessons in your own life, it usually sounds very difficult. There are times when you tell your friend or colleague to have a positive attitude in life, but when you yourself are caught in an adverse situation, you forget everything and feel depressed.

That is the reason why, availing the services of a coach is important – especially in this ‘dog eat dog’ world where everything is moving at the speed of light – whether it is about career, relationships, business, or any other area. Besides, you just can’t hire any coach.

Who Is The Best Coach For You?

Before you start learning the secrets of a balanced life, you should first learn how to choose a life coach. The best coach for you is obviously the one whose coaching style allows you to connect with him/her. If you are not feeling comfortable with the coach’s coaching style, you will not be able to achieve the best results. Coaching is like a partnership between you and the coach. Therefore, instead of focusing on the experience and qualification of the coach, you are recommended to focus on his/her coaching style. You should go ahead only if you are convinced and impressed with the style. Always remember that no matter how qualified or experienced a life coach is, if your comfort level does not match, you will not be able to achieve the desired success.

Qualification

While you are learning how to choose a coach, it is important for you to understand that there are no specific legal standard for degrees or certification within the field of life coaching. Depending upon an array of factors, the qualification of a life coach varies. Always remember that not all coaches have professional qualifications like degrees in business, psychology, or counseling. Some of them do have, but most of them do not. That is the reason why the style of life coaching also varies a lot. In fact, the qualifications and experience of a coach should not be an indicator of his/her abilities.

Overall, while you are exploring the different options to choose a coach, you should note that the best approach is to choose the one that you are the most comfortable with.

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Coaching Certification – It’s Not Important, But What Is?

In the coaching profession it is not necessary to get a coaching certification. In other words just about anyone can begin coaching without prior certification from any school or institution. Although there are some places that are making moves to regulate the profession, getting a coaching certification is not a requirement to be great at what you do.

What makes a great coach?

Having a coaching certification is not the basis for one to be considered an amazing coach. If you have prior experience in your field of expertise and you have the zeal and passion to support others then you may have what it takes to be a successful professional coach. You know the ins and outs of the business because you’ve been there done it. Anyone can start their own coaching business with virtually zero training or certifications.

However there is one “training” activity all successful coaches partake in consistently. They are always being coached themselves by a coach who is ahead of where they want to be. It makes sense right? If a coach wants to help their clients grow they must be growing themselves. This is where the true learning comes from. Being coached regularly is the best way to improve as a coach and a mentor.

But in case you’re wondering why there are people who want to get certified, they were indoctrinated by coaching organizations and schools. They believe it’s essential and that’s why these institutions exist to certify them.

Many people want to get certified because they want a validation that they are good coaches. But the truth is, it is highly possible to be certified even if you are not that good of a coach. In the same way that there are many great coaches that exist out there without coaching certification.

There is nothing wrong with getting a coaching certification, but then again there is no guarantee that a certified coach can deliver better results than an uncertified one. In fact, anyone with a printer can claim that they are certified coach-and I mean anyone who may not even have experience in business or in other fields. Who knows right?

If a coaching certification doesn’t matter then, what does?

Experience, ability, a great system-these are just few of the elements that matter when it comes to choosing a business coach. Clients want to invest in people who can help them; a person whom they believe in. And coaches must have a solid background in business or in other fields in order for them to gain the respect and trust of their clients.

Experience in their field can speak for itself. Bill Gates, for example, does not need to be certified in order for him to become a successful business coach. Ask yourself, does he need a certification?

What’s also important is whether or not the he or she was able to deliver desirable results for her or his previous clients. Was she or he able to improve a business, achieve goals or improve relationships? This is an effective way to measure whether or not a coach has a system that works for their clients.

The most important reasons why certain coaches succeed in their field is their irreversible passion for what they do. Coaches can make a great difference in people’s lives only when they have a heart for coaching. And having a coaching certification cannot replace passion, experience, real and raw skills.