The Top 10 Most Important Things That A Coach Can Help a Client To Do

Originally Submitted on 11/18/96.

There are many things that a coach and client can work on. This list below contains those that *I* would work on with a client.

1. Greatly Simplify Their Life

This means to reduce the number of roles, commitments, goals, projects and obligations, thus reducing stress of all types. It's not easy to simplify, and a coach who gone through this process is the perfect partner. Start with the Clean Sweep Program and progress to the TimePeace Program and keep simplifying from there. When you've simplified what you already have, you'll have the room (and RAM) to both enjoy life and people TODAY, but also to get to know yourself better.

2. Think Differently and Bigger

Over the years, we've all collected a series of assumptions, beliefs, expectations, morals and opinions about how life works/should work, who we are/should be, how to choose/make decisions, etc. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), we've outgrown many of these truths and formulas, but don't know that we have, or don't better ones to replace the old ones. So we grow in circles, making only incremental progress. This is common. Usually, it takes an external event or a change agent like a coach, to offer fresh concepts and suggestions that cause us to shift, leap, change, alter paradigms and purge some of the old stuff. This is essential to do because we humans needs to keep up with the most current thinking and approaches to life if success is to find us. It's hard to find gold with a shovel these days; more advanced tools are required.

3. Acquire Far More Than Is Needed

This is crucial, because humans ARE animals and subject to the same instinctual reactions and fears and physical limitations. Your clients' lives will NOT the be same when they have deliberately added/substantially increased their time, money, skills, energy and community. And, as personal needs get satisfied/met, people become far more effective and can grow intellectually, spiritually and emotionally at a far faster rate, without stress. The Personal Foundation/Reserve Index is the program to use with clients in this area.

4. Become Web Savvy

The Web isn't just an interesting electronic tool anymore than a book is an interesting stack of paper. The Web, just like the telephone was, is a unifying force among those smart enough to connect. If you think the Berlin Wall was a big divider, then you'll understand that the Web will separate the haves from the have nots, within 10 years. It's THAT significant. Don't let your clients be shut out.

5. Become a Fabulous Communicator

Communication (between people, networks, systems, computer chips) has made possible much of progress of the past century. The telegraph, telephone, television, fax, email and the Internet are the newer electronic tools of communication. Unfortunately, the human tools of communication (listening, vocabulary/articulation, awareness/sensitivity, relatedness) have not kept up (at all!). Can you image a world where humans communicate as well as machines/systems do? Awesome. Enter the coach -- a communication specialist. You can help your clients with their languaging, phrasing, and the other humans tools of communication so that they become FAR more effective and able to financially/personally benefit from both the electronic and human tools of communication. It's as simple as this: The better you communicate, the more money you'll make. Communication skills training is a highly profitable investment and an under leveraged skill set.

6. Become Very, Very Sensitized

This is an interesting one. A case could be made that most humans are fairly numb (aka not-sensitized) due to conditioning, addictions, the rearing process, lack of awareness, survival-based goals/lifestyles, emotional damage, overwhelm, etc. Hey, it happens! When you ARE sensitized, you pick up on things/changes quickly, respond immediately to problems and opportunities, solutions/innovative ideas occur to you often and you're able to benefit from all 5 (well, 6) of your senses. A coach can help to sensitize a client in many ways: The Personal Foundation Program/process, discussing the notion of becoming sensitized, setting goals in this area and getting on/advancing on a spiritual path. There are few professions, if any, other than coaching, which offer this unique, healthy and sustainable approach to success and personal development.

7. Become Highly, Highly Effective

A highly effective person is someone who gets the smart thing done in hours, not months. And a "magically" effective person can get the same thing done in seconds. Is effectiveness at this level a worthwhile focus for a client? Of course. Why? Because time is money and the less time it takes to produce the right outcome, the more money is made/saved. Do clients often come to a coach and say, "I'd like to become magically effective?" No, they don't. But imagine what would happen over the client's life if YOU made that a focus of their coaching. Talk about an investment of time/money that keeps on rewarding the client!

8. Become Very Selfish

Yes, I really do mean selfish, but not in the take-take-take or needy-needy way. When your client understands that their being truly selfish (doing what they most want to do just because they want to, etc.) is good, they'll be on their way to REALLY making a contribution. It's my view that service, adding value and altruism/contribution occur as a RESULT of the 'giver' being highly selfish. This is not a common view, but when I see all of the people 'giving selflessly' out there -- and how their giving is either an extension of their ego, a power trip, a way to get needs met or some other psych-dynamic, I start believing more in the selfish-as-a-gift theory.

9. Become THAT GOOD At Something

There are many, many competent professionals. There are many incompetent professionals. And there are even a good number of experts. The trick is to encourage your clients to become THAT GOOD at something. One of the best ways to become THAT GOOD is to specialize or adapt what is already known to serve a new or narrow market. I also say that, when the other 9 areas of this list are being worked on, your client will become THAT GOOD at something far sooner, thanks to your coaching. One of the tricks to becoming THAT GOOD at something involves being yourself, trusting/investing in your intuition, being around creative people and a heck of a lot of experimenting. If a person's life is to busy/full, their needs aren't met, etc., they won't be able to devote the energy/time that it takes to become THAT GOOD at something. You may want to discuss/create a vision with them -- this often gets the client thinking beyond themselves/reality and catalyzes creativity.

10. Understand Themselves and Life

We humans are amazing creatures and we are JUST beginning to understand how we work, how genes/memes affect our thinking/behavior and how we can retain our humanness, yet still use the many electronic tools of our age. Distinctions, advanced phrasing, attainments and awareness are all available to help us understand and make the most of who we are and what we have. Very few clients have had a class called Humans 101; you can provide this -- it may be a client's missing link to success. When you know yourself, everything else makes sense.

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