Posted on September 25, 2012 by Cynthia Gunsinger

“It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.”  ~ The Hours

I concur but digress. How you start often determines your end and where you start is the bigger question: that is why life coaching is so important for children.

Yes, I said children.

If life coaching can help adults clearly establish goals and specific steps to reach those goals, why not children? Establishing a firm base of achieving excellence, through life coaching at a young age, encourages that in their teenage and adult years, excellence is not a goal but a habit.

Consider a seven-year old, who is usually the life of the party. We will call him Mr. Popular. All the children, even some a few years older, wanted to listen to what he had to say. They wanted to play what he wanted to play. They just loved him because his personality was so big, and if it was happening, it was where he was.

This child’s charismatic personality naturally pulled him into a role of leadership.
One day, as usual, the children were listening to Mr. Popular and playing his games, but one child spoke up and said she wanted to play something different. Mr. Popular was upset. Why couldn’t they do what they had always done?

Adults: we have seen this in the work place.

This little girl was adamant. She really wanted to do something different. Mr. Popular was even more upset. He refused to play another game or communicate with the other children. They were upset. He wanted the children to follow him and play his game.

Even the greatest leader has to learn how to be a good follower. Coaching with this child meant helping him understand that: if you want people to follow, you must listen to the needs of the people. That little girl was not trying to usurp his authority; she only wanted to have fun in a different way.Understanding that the issue was not with the other children, but his leadership style, Mr. Popular wanted to be a better leader.

Life coaches help individuals reach their goals by providing constructive guidance and effective tools to reach their goals. Through coaching, Mr. Popular made three choices to become a better leader. First,  to listen to his followers. Second, to implement others’ ideas or at least be open to possible implementation of new ideas. Third, he had to work as hard, if not harder, than his followers to gain the respect he wanted.

He listened that the little girl wanted to play a different game. He added his own rules to her game, but he played as hard at the game as the other children did.

By providing Mr. Popular with a leadership model, he became a better and more effective leader at age seven. Where will he be in ten, twenty, or thirty years? Make excellence your child’s choice and hire a children’s life coach today.

Writer Jacqui Wilson Nashville Christian, Family, and Life Coach on Noomii.com