Monthly Archives: June 2016

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I Teach…

coachIn this latest post about life coaching, I would like to cover some of the ways a life coach can help you. We often hear people talking about life coaches, and we have a vague idea about their job—but what can they actually help you with?

Becoming Motivated

Sometimes, when we least expect it, life throws a punch at us that hits us square in the jaw. We lose our jobs, our houses, our pets, we lose a loved one, we fall into old, bad habits, we sink into depression, and so on. And if left alone, it could take years – if ever – to get back to our old, awesome selves again. That’s where your life coach can help. They’re your #1 fan and will jump in to motivate you out of your depression and bring you back to the world of the living.

Everyone Needs a Purpose

Life coaches know that finding one’s purpose isn’t something that requires meditating for endless years. Rather, they know that an individual’s true purpose comes from a special combination of their hidden talents and passions. A life coach can help you uncover those talents and passions that will then reveal to you your true purpose in life. That true purpose will bring you happiness by the bushel.

Planning Your Life

Sometimes, we see or hear about other people’s success stories, and we can’t help but become jealous. Other times, we see our friends on social media posting pictures of their exotic vacation, and we get depressed. And yet at other times, we yearn to simply be ourselves. What a mess.

Your life coach will help you to cut through all that noise and concentrate on what you really want in life. They’ll help you identify those unnecessary wants and desires in your life, and you’ll be able to concentrate on the goals and dreams that will make you happy!

C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E

Whatever it is you do, or want to do, with your life, you’ll do it better and with more enjoyment when you’re feeling confident. The opposite is also true – even the simplest tasks can be outright terrifying when you don’t have the confidence in your skills that you need. Life coaches understand this better than anyone else. Your life coach will be able to help you solve any self-esteem issues that you may have. They will help guide you, and just as importantly, they will be helping you acknowledge and celebrate the successes you have as you travel along your journey. These little successes will give you the confidence to conquer even the greatest obstacles in your path.

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I Write…

once uponThis week’s “I Write” blog article is all about writing fiction. We are doing a series of articles examining the way fiction writers, well, write! We will look at how to start your book, how to create your characters, how to work your chapters and how to give your character’s obstacles that can be either devastating or overcome. This week will all be about the building blocks of a book.

Keep Tense

Time and time again you’ll hear fiction writers and instructors telling you that you have to start with action! I think it’s better to start with a nice big healthy dose of tension, like a character falling short on a goal that causes the story to continue— a character who can’t save his father from falling off the side of the cliff. A character who can’t walk but tries desperately to do so. Add tension—add excitement.

Know Your Characters

Interesting stories come from characters who want something. Lovers want each other. Writing a fiction book requires that you have interesting characters, and characters who have strong wants and desires are the most compelling kind there are.

Chapters Ending on a Cliff

End each chapter with a question that needs to be answered. You don’t have to tie up the book with each question answered, and even if you do, there’s nothing stopping you from asking more questions. Fiction is built on the interest of the reader. If you don’t get them interested early on—why should they bother finishing the book? Why would they read a possible sequel?

Obstacles to Overcome

The obstacles can be as difficult as you want (and should be pretty darn difficult to help spice up the story). But the key here is that they have to be able to overcome the obstacle no matter what it is—drug addiction, in love with a person who’s on the antagonist’s side, etc. Fictional writing is strongest when characters face tough odds and still come through in the end.

The Audience and Your Understanding

What are you writing? A fantasy novel? Erotica? What is this book you seek to write? All of them are written in different ways. Each audience has a different expectation. If you’re writing crime fiction you have to give readers a crime and then give them a story where they are solving the crime, see? You have to give the audience what they want.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

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More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

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The Coach Series: Signs of a Great Life Coach: Part 2

once uponPeople spend much of their time wondering whether or not they need help. At some point in all of our lives, we need to take a step back and ask others for help. I believe we all have a purpose—but to achieve our purpose we need help.

Moving Forward

Time is the scarcest resource that exists.  You can always make more money, but you can’t get more time.  Yet, when we attempt to do things on our own, we’re taking the long route and wasting that time.  This is simply because we don’t know the path ahead and what to expect. With a coach, you can take a journey and know that you aren’t taking it alone. You will have the support to make the journey and achieve what you thought was impossible. If we do things alone, we stand a chance of getting lost, becoming frustrated. But with a coach, you will find that those things are less likely to happen.

Save Yourself the Stress

I’ve already somewhat mentioned above how having a life coach will save you stress and frustration.  Why try to re-invent the wheel?  It’s already been invented, and it’ll be so much easier to just learn from someone who knows what they’re doing.  The stress, pain and frustration that you’ll go through trying to figure things out on your own isn’t worth it.  Trust me.

Being Accountable for Your Actions

All of a sudden, YOU become more accountable to follow through on whatever you’re procrastinating, and stopping yourself from doing.  We all place limits on ourselves.  We all have limiting beliefs and patterns that are holding us back, preventing us from fulfilling our true potential.  When you have a life coach who is there to push you beyond your limits and what you thought was possible, a breakthrough happens.  Your entire belief system changes, and you take your life to another level.

Know Thyself

One of the most valuable parts of coaching are the lessons and insights you will get about yourself.  You’re always getting feedback and discovering more about yourself in the process.  A coach is able to point out all kinds of things and help you become aware of them, so that you can change them.  Often it is just the little things that make a massive difference.  I’ve seen incredible transformations within people just by making small changes to their way of thinking. Most people you’re around on a daily basis won’t point out these things to you or give you feedback, but a coach will.

Belief, Purpose and Confidence

There are so many ways that we limit and hold ourselves back.  There’s things that we WANT to do but often aren’t doing, simply because we don’t have the belief or confidence in ourselves.  When a coach proposes something, you might be hesitant. You might believe you can’t do it. You might believe that it takes a different kind of person to achieve—what seems to be—the impossible. The truth is that normally you are just afraid, and that fear takes over. A coach can recognize this, and help you get past it. Give yourself a pat on the back, and know that sometimes we need someone else to help us achieve our dreams.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

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More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

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The Coach Series: Seven Signs of a Great Life Coach: Part 1

coachKnowledge and Know-how

Look for a coach who has experience and who has been working within the industry that you want to be part of, or achieving the results you desire. Ask yourself if he has worked with anyone like you and helped them succeed. Make sure that the coach has the right skillset to help you achieve your goals. Don’t assume that a successful businessman makes a great coach. Your coach should have a proven track record working within the industry, but should also have a track record of being able to help others.

Communicate

The coach should have an open-door policy. The coach should be accessible. You should be able to ask questions via email and get responses that are not only timely but also detailed enough to answer your questions. Emails should be returned within a business day.

Interact

How does the coach interact with her/his clients? Is this person accessible to each client? Is this coach positive and a great role model and mentor? How does this coach motivate his/her clients? Make sure you ask for referrals and ask their current clients how the coach interacts with them. Some coaches are hands off – sends tasks to do and then they are done. Some are extremely involved with their clients on a daily basis. You may lean more towards one of those options. It’s important that you get the right match for your skills.

Goal Setting

Make sure your coach asks you what your goals are and what you want to accomplish, both short- and long-term. The coach should be able to set up a day-to-day plan for you, but also be able to see the big picture, set up a macro-plan and be able to explain to you why the exercises and challenges are structured like they are to help you achieve your goals.

Feedback

Ask the coach how they will provide feedback to you on your exercises and challenges you are working toward. Progress is the name of the game. For example, if an athlete does not feel they’re making progress, they should be able to ask the coach for feedback on how to change things up. Also, the coach should be able to provide feedback on your progress, and tell you how to adapt things for your particular circumstances. They should also be able to give you specific feedback such as how to improve your skills, for example. Some ways that a coach can provide feedback is in person, via Skype, via email, or via social mediums like Twitter and Facebook.

Honesty

This is a tricky one, but one that I find is absolutely vital to success. It’s also one of the harder issues to address between coach and client. When looking for a coach, spend some time asking this coach how they can explain to you how realistic your goals are and what you need to do to improve. Honesty sometimes hurts, but it is critical to improvement and setting realistic goals.

Balance

A good coach understands life. They realize that down time is a must for most people and it is absolutely critical to maintain balance with work, family, social life and business. Find a coach that emulates this in their life and leads a similar lifestyle to yours. If you are a full-time working parent with four kids, hiring someone who has similar life experiences or works with clients like you will help in their understanding of the schedule you need. A good coach will help you sort through these life-business balance issues daily.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

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More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here