BRAVE Learning

1. Help in setting precise goals. A good coach will not stop until your goals are precise, valid and ready to rock.
2. A constant source of good questions. This is how you learn to find your own answers, and trust your own decisions. A good question is worth 10 mediocre pieces of advice.
3. Help in finding the best resources. Expert coaches know where else to look for help – and they will enable you to find all the tools, time and people you need.
4. A long-term, supportive conversation. Perspective is the ultimate difference: working with a good life coach means that more things get noticed, discussed and used.
5. Lessons to help you after coaching. There is a difference between “losing a client” and “leaving a client with the skills they will need.” Good coaches know the difference and will work to teach you how to cope without them.

(BONUS: 5 Things You Probably Won’t)

1. Medical assistance or treatment. Good coaches won’t claim to cure you. If you have a medical condition, doctors are the experts you need.
2. Quick fixes. Sure, lots of coaches will claim to solve all problems with a quick miracle session. But good coaches know exactly when to use these methods – and they know it because they take their time.
3. Advice. What good is another person telling you what to do?
4. Keys to the minds of others. Life coaching is not manipulation. And life coaches are not propaganda wizards.
5. Freedom from responsibility. Ultimately, your life is your job. A good life coach will make you do the work, and be there when support or reckoning is needed. Did you ever see Muhammad Ali’s coach enter the ring to fight for him?

There is a photograph which scares the hell out of me – and inspires me at the same time. Recently, I got to read the story behind the photo – and it’s even more interesting! So what do surfing, photography and life coaching have in common?

Best place is hard to find

This is Brian Bielmann’s key point: he was in a pretty bad place. At the end of the last row of boats, and up a wave that just seemed to big. That is the only reason why he got the angle just right.

Is it easy for you to always determine which place is the right place? And how about changing your position – making the most of it – adapting it? Where are you now – where do you want to be?

“I didn’t do anything creative.”

This was what struck me. The photograph we’re talking about didn’t just happen – but the photographer insists that the process was not creative at all. A bad place became a perfect place. A dangerous situation became just the right one. And what looked like a pretty bad trip turned into a photo op of a lifetime.

So: what do you have to do before you do your creative work?

Those things you slag off – the things you hate so much, or the tasks that drag: how are they helping your best work appear?

Look for the connections, and let others find them for you as well. Chances are, you’re better primed for creativity than you think.

(The photo above is not the one I’m describing: click here to see it and to read the story.)