I have been asked a lot of questions about what I do and how I do it? I have listed as many of those questions and answers as I can, and I keep on adding to this page each time a new one comes up.
I am hoping that this will cover most question. However, if it doesn’t answer yours, you are welcome to message me and let me know what question you would like answered.
Do I need a life coach?
This is a question people often ask me when they have realised that they probably do. Having goals are wonderful, but the question to ask yourself is ‘can I make change’ and ‘am I able to make the improvements I want by myself?’ Unless the answer is a resounding yes, read on through the next set of Frequently asked questions.
What does a life coach do and why work with one?
Do you know what I think? Everyone could do with a life coach, certainly at the very least at certain points in their life. But perhaps I am biased. Even I have a coach to make sure I stay on track with where I am heading. Not only do I share the benefits of coaching, but I receive them as well. So let me share a few thoughts and questions with you. Here is what I am sure of; you will at the very least find this a useful Q&A session to decide whether to find someone who can help you.
What is a life coach?
A life coach is a person that works in partnership with an individual to help them reach their potential across all facets of life.
Just as a professional sports player has a coach to work on the technical and psychological aspects of their performance, everyday people should take a structured and disciplined approach to personal development and improvement.
What does a life coach do?
A life coach works with a client to help them make improvements in their lives and move out of their ‘stuck’ states. A life coach assumes that the client has the knowledge within themselves to make the improvements and the coach works more as a facilitator than as a counsellor. Life coaching is for the mind what personal training is for the body.
What are the benefits of life coaching?
Don’t take it from me, all of these benefits have been experienced by my clients.
· Improved self-confidence -People who work with a life coach report an improvement in their self-confidence.
· Different perspective -We are often consumed by our own opinions, life experiences, and way of thinking. A life coach can provide a new and often helpful perspective on things.
· Heightened self-awareness -Being fully aware of your impact on others and recognizing your flaws, strengths, and unique personality attributes is an extremely challenging adventure.
· Self-awareness requires a strong capacity for introspection and reflection, something which a life coach can help you work towards.
· Create a balanced life- The concept of life balance is different for everyone, but it often refers to a happy, peaceful, and harmonious relationship between your physical and cognitive being, as well as the major areas of life. One of the benefits of a life coach is to identify what balance looks like for you and define action steps to achieve more balance in your life.
· Build better relationships -The glue that combines individuals with society and provides shared fulfilment in life. From marriages to friendships and beyond, strong relationships are a critical contributor to happiness.
· Achieve your goals - We all have dreams in life, but very few people set these aspirations into tangible goals to accomplish one by one. A major benefit of life coaching is being able to define your life goals and create a concrete, doable plan to achieve them.
· Find happiness -True happiness is somewhat of a mystical experience and for most people, it’s hard to imagine. Happiness is a feeling that is unique to the way you feel inside. By defining life goals, creating balance, and committing to a better version of yourself with the aid of a life coach, you open up the prospect of finding happiness. Helping others find happiness is one of the main reasons I became a life coach.
· Discover clarity of purpose -Are you clear on what your purpose in life is? Again, this is a very individual and internal fire that burns within. It’s your passion, dreams, skills, and weaknesses all bundled into one.
· It’s your direction in life. Clarity of purpose is vital if you want to pursue your dreams, a life coach can assist you in creating this focus.
· Do what you love -Finding that one thing you love more than anything else and doing it every day is a large contributor to happiness and satisfaction. Having clarity of purpose unlocks insights into what this may be. This is another one of the many benefits of a life coach in your corner.
· Follow through on commitments -Follow through on commitments. A life coach is about more than just getting guidance, it also creates accountability. You will have an ally that holds you to your word and ensures those goals get pursued and projects are completed.
How do I Determine my strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement?
A life coach will take an impartial view of your strengths and weaknesses, helping you understand your areas of greatest opportunity.
How do I become more open-minded?
To be open-minded you need to appreciate that there are different ways of doing things and varying perspectives on life other than your own. A life coach can provide the perspective and thinking process required to adopt this mindset.
How do I understand and unlock my potential?
Many of us have latent potential that is hidden by prejudice or closed-mindedness. Life coaches unlock this potential by opening you up to alternate ways of thinking and creating clarity for your direction in life.
How can I improve how I manage my time and productivity?
Everyone has the same amount of time in the day, but some people use those 24 hours more efficiently than others. Working with a life coach can help you better manage your time, set priorities, and get more done.
How do I remove negative thoughts?
As well as looking at the positive aspects of life, such as your purpose, goals, and potential, life coaches are armed with a series of techniques that can help you eliminate or reduce negative thoughts that hold you back.
How do I overcome my fears?
By minimizing negative thoughts and embracing your strengths you can start to overcome fears that have been restricting your ability to achieve your dreams.
How can I get a different outlook on my life?
Being open-minded, self-aware, and considering a new perspective on life will give you a more positive and well-rounded outlook.
How can I produce and earn a higher income?
The skills you develop while working with a life coach will focus your resources while pursuing career goals or growing your business to new heights. This is one of the key benefits of coaching in a business environment.
How do I stay motivated?
This is one of the most sought-after benefits of life coaching. Setbacks and roadblocks can derail the best of us. Life coaching will sustain the discipline and maximum effort during challenging times. You will discover pockets of inspiration and hunger that you never knew existed.
How do I get to be happy?
This is a different proposition for everyone. But one thing is for sure, if you are clear on your purpose, eliminate negativity from your life, and have the tools and techniques to build meaningful relationships, happiness and fulfilment are achievable.
In fact, they are more than achievable – all you need is a framework for determining your direction in life and someone to help you get there. This is your life coach.
Is it worth the investment of time and money?
Absolutely, 100% for sure and Yes! But here is the thing to remember. Working with any coach is a journey, you will see and feel change, you will see and feel improvement. They will work with you to help you achieve your goals, but a coach is there to aid your success, not to do it for you. You will receive guidance and support to making sure you stay on track. What you get will be a direct representation of the work and time you are ready to put in.
What is Hypnotherapy?
Many people are curious, but don’t take the next step because they have seen or experienced hypnosis on television or on stage . But here is the thing, hypnosis is a very normal and natural state that we experience several times each day.
Have you ever missed your turn for a frequently visited destination because you zoned out? Been overcome with emotion while watching a film? It is that twilight state right before you fall asleep at night. If you answered yes to any of these then you’ve already experienced a hypnotic state.
People generally come to see me for assistance with personal development goals like increasing confidence, focus, breaking a habit, improving health, wellness, weight loss, stress relief and stopping smoking etc. Whatever the goal, hypnotherapy is an incredibly effective tool to assist with reprogramming the subconscious mind.
Why is it so hard to break a habit when you know that it’s not good for you?
Chances are, you're experiencing a battle between the conscious and subconscious mind. The conscious part of our mind houses logic, rational decision-making and willpower. But that part of our mind makes up only about 12% of our total brainpower, the remaining 88% is ALL happening at a subconscious level.
Behaviour or habit change can be difficult because on some level there is a subconscious motivation to keep it often called a secondary gain.
For example - You want to lose weight, but before you go to bed you eat a bar of chocolate. You may consciously understand that this habit isn’t supporting your weight loss goal. However, your subconscious mind (whose job is to keep you safe at all times) says in essence: ‘this makes me feel comfort, safety and pleasure.’
How do I Change a habit that does not serve your goal?
In order to change an unhealthy habit, we have to build positive associations to a new behaviour at the subconscious level first. Make sense?
Using relaxation techniques, imagery and the power of suggestion, hypnotherapy can be used to reprogram our subconscious.
What do I need to know about Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is safe, effective, and can work quickly. However, hypnotherapy is not a magic wand and results won’t happen overnight.
As we all know, it takes around 21 days to create a new habit. Usually between 3-6 weekly consecutive sessions are required to really make results stick.
What is it important to know about Hypnotherapy?
It’s important to remember hypnosis is a willing state.
You cannot be hypnotised against your will and working with a hypnotherapist is a team effort, which is why it is so important to have an in-depth conversation so that the hypnotherapist can really understand your needs, what triggers a behaviour and really importantly why you want to start and make a change. If you are only 50% ready to start, you will be lucky to get 50% of a result.
Is Hypnosis the same as sleeping?
This is a heightened learning state where the body is deeply relaxed yet the mind remains alert. On occasion, a person may drift into sleep (yes it does happen, and I am not offended when people snore. Although the mind may drift, you will still be able to hear everything that is being said to you during the session.
What is Emotional Freedom Technique / What is tapping?
EFT, or tapping, is a mind and body tool that clears physical and emotional blocks from your energy system using nothing more than your fingers and intention.
A simple, fast and effective way to heal any kind of trauma be it 50 years ago or yesterday.
Although sessions are taken to guide people through tapping points it is a self-help tool which is why it can be referred to as the people’s technique.
What is EFT/Tapping effective for:
· Health
· Happiness
· Wellbeing
· Relationships
· Motivation
Many who take part in this activity enjoy 5 Key Benefits:
1. Reduce short- and long-term stress and depression
2. Works not only on the mind coping with the emotional issues, helps reduce joint pain and muscular tension as well.
3. People link their life with mental and physical fatigue because of hectic and hassled life. EFT can help decrease the fatigue and boosts the energy levels.
4. Tapping can be an excellent remedy to cure insomnia.
5. Enhanced mental, physical focus and coordination.
What is Motivational Mapping?
Many people don’t truly understand what their motivations are. So, if as an individual you are not sure what motivates you then the chances are your manager will be in the dark as well. So how do you get the best from people?
Understanding how everybody works best and what they need to get the best from each other, helps create harmonious working relationships, and importantly making sure that the team and the organisation see the benefits.
Being able to truly understand what motivates individuals, how motivated they are and how to interpret those needs and coach and nurture them successfully to enable them to perform at their best consistently, while being happy at work.
It is also interesting to note that people with-in a team or organisation may have differing motivations. Some work well together while others have the potential to cause conflict. Imagine having the same goal but having a different view on how to get there are not really understanding why.
Knowing what motivates people can allow you not only to get the best from them, but how to communicate, develop and manage them.
When you look at different motivations with-in a team it allows you to see what makes a successful team, work or where there is potential for tension. Imagine being able to run meetings, share plans and enable each member of the team to see how they fit in and ensure nobody feels left out or demotivated.
In terms of recruitment, Motivational Mapping builds understanding of new starters motivations from day 1. Not only will allow you to know how best to motivate a new starter, but you will also be able to understand how they will fit into your existing team.
So how does it all work?
Initially, each individual is invited to carry out an online survey which takes around 10-12 minutes. From this I build up a summary report on my findings including, key motivations, how motivated individuals are and what would work best for them in terms of communication, being managed and supported. This allows for an action plan to be developed to help people maintain or improve in certain areas of their motivational make up and really understand what it means to them in terms of career development.
If there are a team pf participants involved in this process a team Map is then put together showing how the team blend, positives and indeed perhaps areas to be aware of where there is the potential for tension.
The feedback is usually shared with team leaders and then shared with each individual through a coaching session. If required a plan of action is put in place and coaching organised to ensure the results are recognised and acted upon.
Once this first stage is completed, we then carry out a meeting with the team that participated to review how Motivated the team is, how their Motivations blend and where potential tension across those Motivations can be resolved. This process usually takes around 2 hours and ensures the team have a greater understanding and respect for each other. The team will then be able to get the best from those Motivational and working relationships.
A new Motivational Map is then conducted three months later to review improvements and look at a strategy to continue ongoing improvement and maintenance. Updated Maps are then recommended every 6 months to ensure personal development and support is continued.