Coach to the rescue

Intro

I didn’t think it was possible for someone to go about life without a clear definite vision, but sadly, it seems that many people do not have any set goals for their life, family, business, and community. It is not a good thing to live without direction. I repeat, it is not good to live your life, run your family, business or ministry without clearly set out goals.

Game plan

For everything you do, you must have a plan. It is like a soccer game, you have to know who/what you are up against and work out a strategy to win. Without a game plan you sure are going to lose. Even if you win a game of soccer without a game plan, you cannot win in life without a plan. You need to have a clear vision and a plan of how you want to achieve that vision. Where are you heading and how do you want to get there? You cannot wake up everyday, go to work (if you have one), get back home, eat, play with your phone/Ipad/Tab/, sleep, wake up the next day and continue the cycle. When you’re asked “where are you heading?” You answer “to work”. No! You should know what you came to do on earth and how you want to achieve it. Your job should be a means of achieving your vision and not the vision itself (unless you run your own company).

Vacancy: Leaders wanted

There are those who have a vision but do not know how to navigate their “ship” to the “expected end”. Many folks occupying positions and having titles lack leadership skills. How do I know? By their fruits we know them. We see how you have run down your life, business, church or company. I mean you and I know how some people have tricked the public and got into government and because they are not good leaders they have messed up their country by the bad decisions they make. Have you not seen how many people occupy the office of a pastor but struggle in relating with their members and cannot move the church forward? Do I need to tell you about yourself and how you have messed up your beautiful “temple” that even you do not like your naked body when you look in the mirror? You may show the world what you want them to see, but you know the real “you”. You might pretend about many things in life but you cannot pretend to be a good leader. If you are a good leader, it shows in your life and everything you are involved in. It is either you are a leader or you are not. You and I are leaders of our own lives and many others occupy leadership positions; so what it means is that we have to learn how to be better leaders. Read on to learn how.

Go to your mentor

Mentor- a trusted counselor or guide; -Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Everybody needs a mentor. Every leader needs a mentor. There comes a time when you run out of ideas, get frustrated and your life/work/project/vision comes to a “plateau”; that is when you need your mentor. If your project is not growing, it is obvious that you need someone to help you move forward. Do not tell me God is your leader and you need no other; yes He is your leader, however He uses people to mentor, guide, instruct and help you reach your Goal. When people say they have been instructed not to submit to anyone, then trust me, pride has enveloped them. In many cases if you look at such people’s project/vision, it is stagnant, stunted or dead. If you find yourself experiencing any of the above in your business/project/ministry then humble yourself and go to your mentor. You need someone who is not afraid to tell you the truth, experienced enough to help you avoid too many scars, bold enough to give you the needed “push” and strong enough to carry you when you are feeble. He must be someone who loves God, shows he has faith in you, has been where you are, successful in his chosen field, and not self-centered,    

NB: Your mentor must be versed in the area you need mentoring

Question: Can I have more than one mentor?

Answer: Yes you can have more than one mentor as it were. Let us assume that you are a guitarist in your local church/band, you work in an IT firm, you are the area coordinator for a charity organization where you volunteer, you are the captain of your neighborhood soccer team and to keep a balanced lifestyle you work out daily at a nearby gym; you might have different people who influence you on the different aspects of your busy life. Your guitar tutor may not be your gym instructor so you may have a couple of people who mentor you on specific areas. However you might need one major figure in your life, a strong personality who has greater grace than you and your mentor has and who can influence you to do what is required to move you up. You need a coach.

Coach to the rescue

A life coach performs almost the same role as a mentor, but while you can have various mentors who help you in different aspects of your life, you need only one life coach who helps you in every aspect of life. He/she is like your manager. Life coaches are trained either in contemporary schools or school of “life”; they are more knowledgeable, more experienced and their power and influence over people is stronger. When you relate with one, it doesn’t take you ages to experience improvement in every area of your life. Someone has described his life coach as “God sent”. They may be a little more persuasive in dealing with you but as the first law of motion states “every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion, in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it” it seems that most of us will not do certain things unless it is impressed upon us. That is what life coaches do, they press us to grow, improve and achieve God’s purpose for our lives.

To avoid consulting several people who are experienced in different areas, most people choose to have one person to play such a role in their life. If you are like most 21^st century upward mobile professionals; versatile, busy and growing in various vocations they are involved in- then you need a life coach. Or maybe you are yet to find your footing in life, still struggling to understand how to build your vision and pursue your goals; you need someone to help you with step-by-step guide to rise to greatness’ you need a life coach.

NB: For the avoidance of doubt, the use of the words “Life coach” and “mentor” is a matter of semantics. I think mentor and life coach can be used interchangeably. To make it easier, we can say that a life coach is a mentor of mentors; a leader of leaders; a teacher of teachers.

Too critical to grow

After reading this article, some will ask constructive questions to help them learn more, run with what they have learnt, apply them and grow beyond their present condition; but some others will sit back, criticize and make nonsense of everything said here. It is up to you. You either make a move that will take you higher or stay where you have always been and listen to people who have “parked their cars”  yet do not want others to overtake them. Choose what you will do with this information.  

#Quote

“What I've found about it is that there are some folks you can talk to until you're blue in the face--they're never going to get it and they're never going to change. But every once in a while, you'll run into someone who is eager to listen, eager to learn, and willing to try new things. Those are the people we need to reach. We have a responsibility as parents, older people, teachers, people in the neighborhood to recognize that”-Tyler Perry