A Life Coach and a Baseball Coach Bring Out the Best

How do you learn to hit a baseball but through effort, missing, coaching, adjustment, practice and success? Isn't that process similar to live the big life you desire? Life coaches are to a fulfilled and successful person what a baseball coach is to a fulfilled and successful ball player. Coaching no longer just lives in the gym and the ball fields. It is a burgeoning profession that lives in homes, schools, and corporations. So, what is Life Coaching? Let's compare what a baseball coach does with what a life coach does to answer that question. Imagine that you're standing a few paces from me tightly clutching a bat, in the batter's box, your legs rather straight and your eyes darting all over the place. I am your baseball coach. Again and again you miss the pitches. What do I tell you? Perhaps it's something like this:

Loosen your grip and swing a few before I pitch. Lower your body. Keep your eyes on the ball.

Keep it up! You are going to get this. I know you can do it!

Good! Your stance is more relaxed. You are watching the ball. That's great focus!

You got a hit! You stuck it out!

This week I want you to do at least 20 push-ups every day. And for 5 minutes a day picture yourself swinging and hitting the ball just where you want it to go. Imagine the feeling in your hands and arms as you hit the ball.

I just coached you into hitting the ball. Here's what I'm doing:

I notice what needs to change to bring out the baseball player.

I champion you.

I ｂelieve in you when you don't.

I celebrate your success.

I acknowledge your effort and who you were being.

I give you action to take to keep growing.

I will hold you accountable.

Life coaches use all these techniques and many more. The life coach watches and listens for words, action and energy that reflect their client's dreams and values. We encourage, champion and believe in our clients. We know them to be resourceful and capable of being in the big life they seek. We guide the client to learn from and celebrate failure. We celebrate and learn from success. We acknowledge the effort, attitude and values our clients demonstrate while on their journey. And we co-create action plans with our clients, because the change is accomplished in life between coaching sessions. Clients put into practice the insights and learning gained from coaching. They experiment in life new attitudes, behaviors, and actions. They take the actions that bring them closer to the life they want. Like a baseball coach, the life coach sticks it out, stays in the trenches and goes to the hard places with the client.

There are two differences between baseball coaching and life coaching in this example. The life coach is not an expert in someone's life as a baseball coach is an expert in baseball. However, the life coach spends time throughout the coaching relationship to become an expert in their client's dreams, values, needs, goals, and self-sabotaging techniques. The coach then uses all of his / her skills to help the client transform to be the person that matches those goals and dreams. The second difference is that the client co-creates actions they'll do between coaching sessions while a baseball player doesn't have a choice about those push-ups. What would happen if you hired a coach to know and hold your dreams and coach you to bring them to reality? Baseball season is short, and so is life! Is it time to give birth to the dreams that still want out?!