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Being The Best You Can Be
Lavanya Gupta, Instructional Designer, The Business Workshop

Have you ever been for a short workshop or seminar on personal success? Many times we have the opportunity of listening to an inspirational speaker talk about achieving personal goals. The speaker is usually a successful individual who lists out a few key points related to goal-setting and changing attitudes. He or she might tell some wonderful stories to illustrate their points and you may leave the room feeling extremely positive and charged up!

Most of us have been to some such seminar and walked out promising ourselves to take up the challenges and goals we really want to. Now think about how many times you have actually achieved the goals you set out to achieve? Perhaps a few times, but mostly such goals and promises are forgotten because of our crazy schedules and busy lives.

Is there an alternative strategy where you can actually become responsible for your own growth? Is there a way in which you can create both internal as well as external checks so that you can keep track of where you are in terms of a goal?

Coaching is the answer to these questions. Today there are over 3000 personal coach web sites on the Internet! Large corporations are fast realising the value they can add to their organisation by providing executives with a personal coach. Personal coaches help individuals to clear their clutter and navigate through their own lives with confidence. Surprisingly, much coaching is done over the phone, via email or even faxes! Of course there is the option of meeting for lunch or just one-on-one on a regular basis.

A few key techniques that coaches commonly use to assist their clients in making life-choices are:

• Creating a vision- A coach assists clients in coming up with a vision statement that will pull them towards it and constantly inspire them.
• Setting goals- A coach help you set up short term and long term goals that will help you achieve your vision. He assists you in breaking things down into smaller goals that seem easily achievable.
• Identifying barriers- A coach helps you identify barriers that will keep you from achieving your goals. He will also help you identify new resources to remove barriers such as skills, manpower, emotional control etc.
• Making it happen- Lastly, a coach will help you make it happen. This requires a commitment from the coach and the client to the client's personal goals as well as a constant reality check to assess where you are.

For example, Linda a practicing physician had been feeling very dissatisfied with her work for a couple of years. She decided to hire a coach who would help her clarify her goals and move forward with her career. When they worked together, she realised that although she loved the competitive field of medicine and enjoyed keeping herself up to date with new research and development, over the years she had lost an interest in dealing with patients on an everyday basis. Her coach helped her create a vision where she could continue in the field of medicine and do exactly what she loved doing. Linda was able to identify thought barriers that she had formed such as the thought that a doctor could only have a certain kind of job profile. Linda found that over the years her interest had shifted to research rather than internal medicine. She thus was able to find an exciting position as a researcher in the same hospital that she was working at. This meant that she had to make very few adjustments, but was able to find work that she was passionate about!

Although this may not seem like a situation where coaching would be helpful, the truth is that until Linda began coaching, she was a prisoner of her own thought barriers. It was only when she threw ideas back and forth with someone who could help her channelise her thoughts that she could gain focus. Coaching is definitely a 21st century answer to the craziness of an unmanageable schedule and lifestyle. As some coaches say, coaching is all about helping you be the best you can be!

Graphic done by Himani