Are you a candidate for a personal coach?
By TOM JACKSON
Tribune Staff Writer
TAMPA - Personal coaching is not just for corporate bigwigs, professionals with six-figure incomes or high-priced celebrities. In short, say those in the business, personal coaching is not just for your boss.
Have a job? Personal coaching may be for you, whether you feel like your career is stuck in neutral or you just can't wait to own the keys to the corner office.
Bewildered by people or simply intrigued? Personal coaching may help, whether your personal relationships are dismal or uninspiring or incomplete.
Do you manage events or do events manage you? Clients of coaches often report progress toward controlling outcomes of circumstances that used to roll right over them.
Often, coaching involves homework designed to help the coach and client identify trouble areas, winnow out distractions and focus attention on the client's core values. If you think you might be a candidate for coaching, try the following exercises.
-- What's your toleration quotient?
List 20 things you tolerate - a broken lace on a favorite shoe, a missing button from a pair of shorts, a car overdue for an oil change, unfiled tax receipts, unread magazines collecting in a corner, gifts unacknowledged, a festering problem or a relationship at work. Each item on your toleration list claims a piece of your creative, psychic or physical energy, says personal coach Bob Moore, ``and you can't be your best with those things rattling around in your brain.''
Identify how much time and energy would be required to mark off each item from your list, then have at it.
-- What do people think of you?
Our perceptions of other's perceptions of us are often unfounded, says attorney-coach Steve Riley. To prove it, ask 10 colleagues to name your one unique quality, characteristic or ability. You may be surprised by the outcome.
-- Accountability index: Examine your New Year's resolutions from the past three years. Is there more than one constant? More than two? More than three? Consider what stands between you and keeping those resolutions.
-- Dream index: Identify a dream or dreams that you would pursue, if all obstacles were removed.
-- Frustration index: Is there an area of your life that is a constant, recurring headache? What would be required to settle that aggravation once and for all?
If shoring up any or all of these areas sounds good, and your Dale Carnegie books and ``Seven Habits of Highly Effective People'' cassettes are gathering dust under the coffee table, you may want to investigate personal coaching.
Free information about becoming a coach, or hiring a coach, is available through Coach University at 1-800-48-COACH (1-800-482-6224). Or check out:
http://www.coachu.com
for the Coach U home page.
