When I started my high school teaching career 16 years ago, I didn’t know what life coaching was, nor did I dream of heading in that direction. As I mentioned in a previous article, purpose found me and I have been blessed to coach many teenagers and adults over the past 7 years. Watching people transform and live life more fully is an incredibly rewarding experience for me. I also learn from the people I coach, more than they realise.
You might have heard the term Life Coaching before and like many people have probably wondered what exactly that means. It is a broad field so I won’t attempt to define how others approach it but will give you a clear overview of how I go about life coaching teens and adults.
My life coaching involves guiding people to be In Flow. Over years of being frustrated by not being able to get the best out of each student I was tutoring, I eventually realised that there were 3 pillars to being In Flow. Peace, purpose and performance. Without a sense of inner peace, typically purpose will be foggy. Without purpose, there is not a strong enough desire to perform at high levels over a sustained period of time.
There are 5 habits when practised, will have you feeling inner peace and it why my peace coaching program is typically 5-6 sessions. It is much easier to know your purpose or have purpose find you when your head is no longer noisy and you see life as enjoyable rather than something to be feared. I also guide my clients on simple ways to get clearer about what they want to do and the internal and external drives they usually weren’t aware of before.
If you feel your child might not be at peace, here is a quick way to find out where they are. Ask them to score themselves honestly (from the heart not the head) out of 10 for the following 5 statements (10 meaning they strongly agree with the statement):
- I love and accept myself unconditionally and don’t want to be anyone else
- What others say to me or about me or think of me, has no effect on me. I bounce back from disappointment quickly
- I don’t have many negative thoughts and they come and go quickly
- I live for the moment more often than not (higher score) or I spend most of my day waiting for the future to come or thinking about the past (lower score)
- I see that everything that has happened in my life has happened for a reason, there is good and bad to every moment.
If they are scoring below 35 out of 50, typically they will lack consistent motivation and focus for study and tutoring may not be the best option. If they are scoring over 35, it may just be purpose and performance training (4-session workshop) or tutoring that will take them to the next level with their academic performance.
If you are considering life coaching for your teenager or even for yourself, you can meet with me for a free, no-obligation meeting at our Five Dock office or over the phone.
Life will always have challenges but it doesn’t have to be a stressful. Lea