It can be difficult to assess your own needs for personal development; it can be almost impossible to gauge your own progress, as your emotional side can interfere with an objective analysis of your own situation. This is why personal coaches are so valuable: they have received the training they need to help you find ways to improve your life. Because your coaches are not personally invested in your outcomes or your interpersonal relationships, they can analyze the way that you live more clinically, working more as a neutral partner than an invested family member or friend might do.
Your personal coach will take the time to get to know you as a person, at first. The two of you will sit down and go through a complete personality inventory. He will want to know all about you, but he will focus on your perceived strengths and weaknesses, as well as your goals. His job is to take you and transform you into the person who will meet and exceed those goals, so expect him to spend a considerable amount of time analyzing you. Part of this analysis includes making recommendations for changes in the way you live. If you take those recommendations personally, you will miss out on the benefits of his assistance. Instead, take his recommendations to heart so that you can get as much as possible from the process.
Initially, you can expect your coaching sesison to consist of a personal inventory. This may take place in the form of a written assessment that you fill out and leave for the coach to analyze. It could also take the form of a conversation between the two of you, where the coach gleans information not just from your written answers but the way in which you handle yourself in that conversation. Then, you two will put together a personalized plan that will help you meet your goals. Subsequent sessions will consist of evaluating your progress to date, identifying obstacles to progress, and then coming up with ways to get around those obstacles. Each meeting should provide an update on meeting goals.
The most common benefit of a personal coaching relationship is that you have someone looking at your life from an objective, analytical viewpoint. That might seem intimidating and, in some cases, unfair. At first, the advice will hurt, because it will require you to make changes to your own life, often in areas in which you do not have a lot of comfort. However, just as with physical progress, emotional and mental progress can bring pain as well. The good news is that the pain is a sign of growth, as you leave your comfort zone behind and begin to move toward personal and professional success.
The journey of personal development can be hard and long — depending on what it is that you want to develop and change. Choosing the right personal coach can help you maintain focus and spend your time wisely in gaining the results that you want.