The Purpose of Life Coaching: Taking Control

Posted on August 28, 2014 by William Theodosi, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

If I could sum up in one word what the main point of professional coaching is it would be: control. More often than not, the choice to hire a professional coach is a result of one’s decision to take more control of their life. As I often say to my clients there are two kinds of people in the world: there are those that work to create the lives of their choosing, and there are those that are victims of circumstance – living a ‘reactionary’ life, responding to whatever comes along.

It’s simple: in order to create the outcomes that you want for yourself you must first be in control of yourself. Every human being is complex in nature, and a lack of control over the self can result in unconscious, impulsive actions and ultimately lead to less than desirable results for you and others around you. A lifetime in an unfulfilling career, for example, can cause a person to become resentful to the point that it begins to poison other areas of their life such as their relationships or ability to be creative. A person who maintains a greater degree of control, however, is much better equipped to create a more balanced, fulfilling life for themselves.

This leads to the simple principle that I refer to as: Awareness→Understanding→Control.

As mentioned, in order to create the life you want you must first be in control, however in order to control something you have to understand it, but to understand it you must first of course be aware of it.

A basic example: for most of us in this day and age operating a computer is second nature, but for the uninitiated it can be daunting and may take considerable time and effort to become accustomed to. In the early days of the internet older generations in particular were faced with a steep learning curve. In fact many of us have at least one amusing story of trying to help our parents or grandparents operate a PC which, while seemingly simple to the initiated, can be for some as frustrating as trying to teach astrophysics to a penguin.

Essentially, a person can only use a PC once they have a sufficient understanding of it, and the better they understand it’s technology and it’s software, the more they are ultimately able to accomplish with it.

Your body is (at the very least) a bio-mechanical supercomputer. It is a highly complex, multifaceted open system of organs and sensors made up of trillions of independent cells, all harmonically regulated by sophisticated physiological and psychological mechanisms and processes that have evolved over millions of years – how then can you expect to be able to create the outcomes you want for yourself if you don’t have at least a basic awareness and understanding of how it all works?

Now I’m not saying that everyone needs a PHD in molecular biology to be able to be in control of their lives, rather what I am saying is that having a fundamental knowledge of the essential mental and physical mechanisms and processes that drive you as a complex human being is invaluable to your ability to perform at your optimal level and, in so doing, create the outcomes you desire for yourself.

For this reason, among others, professional coaches work closely with clients to help them gain a better awareness and understanding of what makes them tick. Coaches employ key personal development skills and techniques to put clients in more control over their mental patterns, beliefs, and physiology so that they are empowered to go on to create new levels of performance, success, and balance throughout their professional and personal lives.