Deciding to hire a coach is a big commitment in terms of time and money, and you want to ensure that you get value for the time, effort and cost you invest.
If you find the right coach for you, and you work in collaboration and put the work in, there can be tremendous benefits.
Here are some of the benefits you can receive through coaching.
- Self-Awareness
Through coaching, you can gain additional skills in self-awareness. Through coaching conversations, you can learn that you are not your thoughts. You can learn to recognise thoughts and separate from them more quickly to then be able to make decisions and act how you want, not based on others’ expectations or what other people feel you should do or be. When I went to a coach, I went there to increase confidence in the role I had at work, but through self-awareness work, I discovered that I felt that I was lacking in confidence because I didn’t want to do the job anymore; I didn’t want to be in that particular environment, that it was no longer in line with my values. I had all the skills and knowledge I needed, but my confidence was lacking because I thought it was an excellent respectable job; I believed in what the role delivered, so I thought I had to stay there. I thought I should stay there because of what other people thought about the type of job that I should do. What I discovered through self-awareness was the self-confidence to move towards what I wanted.
Self-awareness work with a coach can bring out what’s truly important to you, your values, and your strengths and lesser strengths. You can use these insights to maximise the results you want to achieve.
- Focus and Accountability
Coaching is a dedicated, safe, non-judgemental space just for you. There are no distractions, nobody vying for your time and attention. It’s a valuable space for you to share your dreams and have somebody believe in you and support you in reaching your goals. Coaching provides this focus and helps you break down any larger goals and challenges into actionable steps to help you achieve what you want. Coaching also includes accountability. It’s been proven that when you have someone to check in with, you are more likely to do what you say you will do.
- Improved mindset
Coaching conversations can help you identify faulty thinking and cognitive distortions holding you back. These are all the negative thoughts and comments your inner critic is making. Your coach will have the tools and strategies to help you recognise these thoughts and reframe them into something that will serve you better and increase your confidence. How we talk to ourselves and the language we use is critical and contributes to a more positive sense of self, and your coach can help you to achieve that.
- Increased Resilience
We all have complex challenges and situations that we face in life. They can range from everyday life situations and pressure with family and work to substantial life events that can change the dynamics of our whole world. Both can be difficult to navigate when there is so much to deal with. Through coaching, you can learn the tools you need to manage difficulties and adapt to change. Coaching can help us respond to events and situations constructively and can help us to do one of the following; return to exactly what the status quo was before the problem, transform the experience and move forwards with more wisdom and knowledge, learn to live with uncontrollable situations the best we can. Resilience doesn’t mean we won’t experience hard times, but coaching tools can help us to manage them better and make them easier to handle.
- Increased Self Esteem
Self-esteem refers to the attitude you have towards yourself. It encompasses what we think, feel and believe about ourselves. Ultimately, not only does self-esteem help us to recognise our positive and worthy qualities, but it’s also about accepting ourselves as we are in a non-judgemental way.
Self-esteem can be situational, where we are confident in some areas but beat ourselves up in others, doubting our worth and abilities, or sometimes it can be more widespread. Coaching can help give you techniques and strategies to improve the view of yourself, create a more positive identity, and be compassionate towards yourself.
I am a Self-esteem and resilience coach based in North Norfolk, working online.
If you would like to explore the benefits of coaching, please do get in touch – breanne@thepiedwagtail.co.uk