Sometimes people ask me why I’m a coach. What would drive someone to devote their life to helping other people accomplish their goals? Wouldn’t you just rather be a barber or something?
And I say no, imaginary human that I just made up as an example for this post, I would not rather be a barber. Thank you for asking (because there’s no reason not to be polite).
I am doing exactly what I want.
I don’t see it as helping other people accomplish their goals, though goals do tend to get accomplished in my client’s lives. It’s not about solving problems, although client’s notice that they experience fewer problems.
What I am doing; what I am really doing is helping the very gods of creation to make the world out of pure imagination. Coaching is merely the context within which that process occurs.
Clients come to the coaching conversation because they want to experience some Shift. They want to meet that special someone. They want to start a successful business. Find their calling. Save their marriage.
These might sound like goals to you. But they are so much more than that. Each goal that you have, each burning desire, each impossible mission; they all have one thing in common. Each one of them is just a starting point– the hero’s call to adventure.
Within each is the seed of transformation.
As the coach, my job is to present a context of playful curiosity and accountability. Within that context you get to experiment, learn, fuck up, fail, and above all keep moving forward. Together we fertilize that little seed of transformation.
And as the seed of transformation grows, clients become the people who effortlessly reach those goals and solve those problems. Coaching catalyzes evolution.
I coach because that is the highest and best way that I have found to use my skills, talents, and interests. Connection, Curiosity, Challenge, Clarity, Creativity, and Play. I get to bring my values to each and every conversation, so that each day I feel utilized to my full capacity.
I coach to change the world.
In that world, people have all that they need to feel safe, secure, and sustainable. People do what fills them with absolute joy. People connect easily and safely. The very air seems permeated with a sense of abundance.
In that world, renewable resources power everything, schools develop masters not scholars, and entrepreneurs roam the land solving all of life’s challenges, big and small.
Each conversation that I have brings me closer to that world.
Every life I touch and every hero I help becomes a brighter beacon for others. Optimism is contagious, and energy has momentum. That momentum has the power to alter the entire world as we know it for good.
I coach because I’m selfish.
