Man is a social being by nature and therefore tends to share and talk about his struggles, goals, projects, and problems. It is important to have the right person to share those ideas with and to find objective and proactive solutions. That's where a coach comes in!
Coaching can impact people in several different ways. Firstly, with time. One of the big challenges nowadays is managing time and goals. It is a challenge to balance "your watch with your compass". We often know where we want to go but do not know how. We do not see the "how" because we do not take the necessary time to discover it. When we stop and think in order to organize our ideas, the “how” begins to be apparent and make sense. The practice of stopping and thinking also has the potential to create a more positive view of life. When we are immersed in our circumstances and do not stop to think, it is easy to see just the complications in life and be blind to what is positive. We can change our attitude towards those difficulties by breaking paradigms and opening new perspectives of the same situation. A coach can help a client accomplish this.
The coach can also see the client’s situation with an objective eye. Not only that, but coaching also provides the clients with tools for being more objective themselves. This is another impact that coaching has on people. Clients often need to "get out of the forest to see the trees" and it is great if you have a coach beside you to guide your vision. Someone who can help you regulate emotions and put objectivity into your vision is a great asset.
A coach also provides a plan or a map where the path to reaching goals is somewhat traced. The coach reminds clients to keep the big picture in mind and explains that the map with the marked path to follow is not the whole territory... It's just one part of the bigger picture. It’s a matter of keeping the big picture in mind while trying to accomplish the goals set on that “map”. Sometimes it is hard to follow goals, but having them is still worth it. If we don’t follow them completely at all times, there is still room for improvement because the traced map is not everything. Franklin Covey says that when you have a plan or a map, you probably will be 90% of the time out of track but you will always know where to go back to.
Coaching holds the client accountable. In order to break a bad habit or to develop a new good one, you need 30 days of practice and at least 45 days of accountability. A coach is helpful in making this happen.
Lastly, motivation and happiness are basic needs in every human being and everyone is looking for them. But as Robert Biswas-Diener said: "It's not my mission to make you happy. Instead, it is my job to help you with the issues you care about, and it is possible that happiness will be a natural by-product of any progress we make".