a b o u t c o a c h i n g

One of the good things the last decade has brought us through exploding technology, corporate downsizing and blurred vision, is the valuable addition of the life coach.

Coaching has been around for a long time in different forms.

Until recently, coaching was associated only with sports and the arts. The job of the coach has always been to bring out the best, to work toward excellence and make sure all the necessary elements are in place to assure success.

When those elements are put in the context of LIFE coaching, it’s easy to see the powerful alliance that exists in the client/coach relationship and why more and more people are recognizing the value.

Coaching encompasses a broad range - from building a more profitable business, career development, adjusting to change, learning how to communicate more effectively or handle transitions smoothly, to name a few.

What coaching can do for you

Working with a coach who is trained and skilled will support you in identifying what is important to you and work with you to achieve what you want.

	Working with a coach provides an alliance that accelerates your progress along with accountability and focus to help you stay on track.
	Working with a coach provides new insights and objective perspective that will help you to build on your strengths and use your potential more fully.
	A good coach will challenge you to be your best while being true to yourself.
	Your coach is someone who really listens and often acts as a sounding board.
	Working with a coach gives you’re the opportunity to find the solutions you already have, that are often blocked by the “stuff” of life.
	When you have a coach, you are on center stage. Coaching is all about you.
	All decisions are yours.
	What coaching won't do for you
	Coaching won't do anything for you if you aren't ready to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
	Coaching won't be a benefit if you are not open to new ideas and/or ways of doing things that will facilitate positive change.
	Coaching is not a reasonable option if you are not financially able to invest in it, and make room in your life to commit to the process.
	Coaching won't work for you if what you really need is the help of a therapist or counselor. People suffering from severe depression or finding that deeply rooted problems are interfering with life are encouraged to seek therapy.
	Coaching won’t work for you unless you are ready, willing and able to take action.
	Coaching won't work for you if you expect the coach to do what you need to do.

Recent Quotes from the Media about Coaching:

FAMILY THERAPY NEWS - April/May, 2000
--" Many people are hiring coaches for all areas of their lives, including career, personal, sports, business, skill enhancement, and life balance."

AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN - April 14, 2000
"...often the coach is a sounding board for a lonely executive struggling to find success or happiness in a profession that, more than any other, can demand instant results and serve up crushing defeat. It's rare to have think time, and coaching gives you the opportunity one or two hours a week to hear yourself think. ...Companies are increasingly adding employee perks such as legal services, free lunches, employee-assistance programs, and now coaching."

FAST COMPANY - March, 2000
--"Even world-class athletes can't reach peak performance without a great coach."

FORTUNE MAGAZINE - February 21, 2000
--"...in the past five years coaching has gone mass-market. In the age of Every Man for Himself, every man can have a coach--and, in an ever more commonly held view, needs one."

AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL - February 14, 2000
--"People from all walks of life -- especially professionals -- are working with life coaches to help them develop a game plan for their lives and to show them how to stick with it to achieve greater professional and personal satisfaction."

PC WEEK - December 20, 1999
--"For years there have been career coaches and executive coaches. Now there's a new category, called "life coach." The life coach combines personal, professional and career coaching and, it seems, is filling a need that is not quite being addressed by any other source."

BUSINESS WEEK - October 11, 1999
--"As for coaching, having someone listen to you and encourage you, and break everything down into easy, concrete steps, is rather nice. …It's not just helping them with hard-core business issues but also helping them with their personal issues..."

ORLANDO SENTINEL - July 18, 1999
"Coaching clearly suits an age of pressurized ambition, when more and more people have less and less time to make the most of lives and livelihood."

FAMILY THERAPY NETWORKER - May/June, 1999
"...in this period of rapid social and economic change, when career shifts, family disintegration and sensory bombardment are the norm, a perceptive coach can provide a steadying presence in dizzying moments of change."

INFOWORLD - May 24, 1999
--"Anybody who actively wants to move up in a company, make their job easier, have more fun, have more personal time, and still excel in their job needs a coach.”

FORTUNE MAGAZINE - September 28, 1998
--"Today's managers, professionals, and entrepreneurs are hiring coaches to help them with time management, a change in career, or balancing their work and personal lives."