If you’re looking for ways to improve your ability to navigate life and achieve your goals, finding a life mentor can be incredibly beneficial. Unfortunately, life doesn’t come with an instruction manual. We all have to find our way, but that doesn’t mean we must go it alone.
Some of the most successful people in the world had mentors backing them up along the way.
Chuck Liddell
Liddell is known as one of the best fighters in the MMA, and both his physical and mental prowess are often credited to working with a life coach
Andre Agassi
During his career, Agassi moved from the 126th-ranked tennis player to the number-one player in the world. He accredits most of this to his life coach.
Metallica
What does a band need with a life coach? Between feuds within the group and many personal and professional issues, life coaching was put to work in earnest in helping the band harmonize again and work together peacefully.
Serena Williams
From overcoming injuries to dealing with the racial bias inherent to her sport, Serena Williams has had much to face in her career. Her life coach has helped her all along the way.
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman specifically sought out a renowned life coach that many other celebrities had great success with, and has since called his coach a guiding light in his life.
So, what can a life coach do for you? Here are 10 of the top benefits of having one in your life:
1. They Use Their Experience to Guide You
By dealing with the ups and downs of life, a life mentor has accrued valuable experience that they can pass on to you, allowing you to avoid many pitfalls and otherwise navigate the world more effectively. From their experienced vantage point, they can explain how they handled a situation when they were in your shoes. In a sense, having a mentor lets you skip ahead, broadening your narrow experience and vantage point to gain the clarity you need to make effective, strategic decisions.
2. They Are a Role Model for How to Navigate Life
When you have a life coach, you have a role model who demonstrates what was possible for them – and how they went about achieving it. Since you can interact with them directly, you learn that they are just as human and fallible as you are, but they still managed to achieve their objectives. By extension, that means great things are possible for you too.
Through life coaching, you have someone you can model yourself after as you work toward your goals. In a way, mentors serve as blueprints for navigating the world to get what you want. Best of all, having a great role model will inspire you to become a mentor for someone else in the future, allowing you to pay it forward in a big way.
3. They Show You the Way
Self-help books, motivational speakers and instructional videos can be amazing and really helpful, but wiith a life mentor by your side, you gain a powerful ally who understands you and your situation. Since they’ve done it themselves, they can help show you the path to take to achieve even your most ambitious goals. All you have to do is trust them. After all, they’ve been there and done that!
4. They Are Your Biggest Cheerleader
All too often, we fail to put ourselves out there because of that nagging, negative little voice in our heads telling us we’re going to fail. With a life coach in your corner, you can see your situation from an outsider’s perspective – an outsider who has achieved the things you’d like to achieve. Your mentor will know what’s possible for you even if you don’t. In fact, they believe in you more than you believe in yourself, and they provide a safe space for you to explore all of life’s possibilities.
5. They Arm You With the Tools You Need to Achieve Your Goals
A life mentor has been where you are now, and they’ve gotten to where you’d like to be. Therefore, they know personally what’s required to get there, and they provide you with valuable tools to achieve your goals more quickly and efficiently. Through life coaching, you can ride your mentor’s coattails in a way, acquiring the knowledge, coping mechanisms, skills and tools needed to shine in your personal and professional life.
6. They Give You Clarity
When you’re in a rut and unsure about how to proceed, a life coach can help you back up and see the big picture. Through life coaching, you are able to see the situation through your mentor’s eyes to understand where you are now, where you’d like to be and how to get there. Through interactions with your mentor, you’ll be able to get outside of your head and perceive all of the possibilities.
7. They Light a Fire Under You When You Need It
It’s normal to find yourself unable to act when facing a complicated or overwhelming situation, but your mentor won’t let you rest on your laurels. When they hear you making excuses for not doing what needs to be done, they aren’t afraid to help you realize it. Since they’ve been there themselves, their encouragement is highly motivational. Knowing they’re in your corner gives you the courage you need to push past even your worst fears.
8. They Aren’t Afraid to Ask the Big Questions
Friends are essential, but they are often more concerned with having friendly interactions with you than with pushing you into less comfortable territory. We all need that, though, and a life coach is a beautiful addition to your life because they aren’t afraid to confront you with big, difficult questions – ones that only you can answer yourself. By sitting with these tough questions, you’re apt to have an a-ha moment that illuminates everything, which helps you learn to trust and follow your intuition.
9. They Provide Honest Feedback
A mentor always acts in your best interests so that you can rely on them for raw, honest feedback. In a way, a life coach acts as a mirror that reflects yourself as you truly are. From there, you can see, acknowledge and work on your weaknesses, becoming stronger and more capable along the way.
10. They Are There for You After Setbacks
When facing a significant setback involving failure, rejection or defeat, it’s easy to want to throw in the towel. With a life mentor by your side, though, you have someone to vent your frustrations to honestly and openly. In turn, your mentor will truly hear what you’re saying while reminding you of everything you’ve already achieved – and of all the things you have yet to achieve.
As you can see, having a life coach in your corner is priceless. With their help, you can get where you’d like to be. Someday, you may even be able to repay the favor by providing life coaching to someone else. What could be more beautiful than that?
