The Problems of Business & Life Coaching
Online: What to Do About It

& How to get Unstuck (or Help Someone Else Who Is...)

There are problems with business and life coaching online.

It sounds so easy. Just get online, take a few classes and then you'll be a better leader. You'll have new habits. And, if you're stuck, you can learn how to get unstuck.

Bam! You're done. You can check coaching and training off your list. You're like new. Right?

Ah, mostly wrong.

This article will expose the problems in business and life online coaching tools and provide four concrete actions you can take to make it better. I'll also share my favorite business and life coaching online tools.

This is from a fitness and life coaching online group where I'm a member.

“FitnessNut” (that’s her online name) is an active participant who has had over 3,500 conversations in this forum. She's getting coached on fitness A LOT, and is taking full advantage of the coaching help offered.

I could feel her anguish as she desperately begged for help online:

I felt bad for her. I know how hard it can be to move forward when you're stuck.

Then, I kind of chuckled to myself.

She doesn’t need more fitness advice - she's received hundreds of hours of advice from this fitness & life coaching online group, she’s drowning it in it.

But, she IS stuck and something IS holding her back. She needs something, but what?

Harry's a leader in the technology industry. He's has been struggling with how to lead his team. He knows the business. He knows technology. He doesn't know how to manage people.

Two key members of his team just quit. In their exit interviews they blame Harry.

Harry's panicked. He doesn't want to lose the rest of the team, and most importantly he does not want to lose his job!

There's limited money in the budget for a leadership coach or for a training class, so he joined a business and life coaching online program.

Harry jumped right in. Being the good student that he is - he has a written development plan, he's read the recommended leadership articles and books and he's "chatting" with other leaders and coaches online.

He's learned so much that he can even quote key passages from all the latest leadership best sellers.

After six months his team believes there's been no improvement and two more key players leave.

Not unlike "FitnessNut" - Harry's neck-deep in information.

The biggest problems with business and life online coaching are:

• Talking, reading and knowing about new skills or habits is a start, but it is not enough to make permanent changes.
• There's a huge difference between knowing what to do, and actually doing it.
• It's deceptive, because talking and reading about what we want to improve seems like we're doing something, but in fact we're just busy.

Changing life-long habits, especially those things we’ve been doing our entire life like eating, exercise, communication and interacting with others is not easy.

Do-able, yes. Easy - no.

Use these tips to make your use of business and life online coaching programs more successful:

Life Saver #1: Tips for Picking a Program

• Assessments to help you measure, focus on leveraging your greatest strengths and closing gaps on your development opportunities.
• The ability to create your own coaching network of people who know you, are committed to your success and are willing to provide ongoing, online feedback and accountability.
• Diverse delivery methods of training materials: Audio, Video and Written - that include practical how-to's, and real-life scenarios delivered in a motivating and upbeat manner.
• A definite focus on leveraging your strength. Keeps you focused by encouraging you to focus on one development opportunity at a time.
• Self reflection tools, worksheets and assignments that help you practice and apply the skills and habits to your world so that the changes take hold.

Life Saver#2: Convince Yourself

No matter what kind of self-improvement plan you're interested in, you must first: Convince Yourself

• This involves making a deep personal connection with whatever you’re planning to change. The importance of convincing yourself is very powerful and often gets overlooked.
• Here’s how you convince yourself - it's the difference between business and life coaching online success or failure:

  Convince Yourself Exercise:
  
  First, answer this question out loud:
  
  “When I get better at (insert and state your goal here - examples: leading my team,exercising every day) I will…” (insert and state how will you or others will benefit – example: Gain more respect from my team or feel better in my body.)"
  
  Answer this question out loud AND in writing 15+ times, coming up with different answers each time.

  If you keep answering the question, like peeling an onion, you’ll eventually ‘get to’ the real benefit of the goal to you.

  This very simple exercise will help you convince yourself of the value of what you want, at a much deeper, more meaningful level.

  "Recognize that willpower has to be nurtured. You can rev up your engine of commitment, you can!"
  ---90+ year old, Exercise Legend Jack Lalane

  Keep your list with you and re-read your list of benefits, and add to it, every day. Don’t stop reading it. Use this to rev up, shore up and keep your focus and commitment strong.

  When you convince yourself you won’t need more advice or pushing from others. You’ll decide for yourself and you’ll take ownership of your goal. That’s powerful.

Life Saver #3: Pick One Area and Attack It

High achievers have a glaring tendency to over commit. They want to improve EVERYTHING.

• Then they get overwhelmed, frustrated and either give up or post a desperate message in a forum.
• That's why I recommend that you pick ONE development opportunity and attack it.
• Work with how your brain learns and changes habits. If you want to reach your goals, focus on ONE area at time. If you truly are ATTACKING this area – you’ll meet that goal and be ready for the next one, making fast and furious progress.
• Remember, pick ONE area and ATTACK it.

Life Saver#4: Be Bold and Advertise

Tell everyone what you are working, share with anyone who will listen.

• We view each other through our own lens of expectation. If Harry's always been a poor listener, his co-workers will tend to interpret everything he does through that expectation, even when he’s working hard to do things differently.
• Lack of support from others can defeat even the strongest of wills and make you want to go give up. People just aren’t paying as much attention to us as we think they are! (How dare they have their own lives!)
• The work you’re doing and the changes you’re making may be obvious to you – but most people just won’t see the new you unless you share what you’re doing.
• Be bold. Advertise, let people know what you’re doing – so they can support you and start to look for the new you.

Use these tips to get up and get exactly what you want.

YOU can be do and have everything that you want.

• Leadership: I'm using this resource and I liked it so much I've become an affiliate for it: The Most Complete and Robust Business and Life Coaching Online Resource
• Motivation: Neat tool for uplifting messages and to promote more Motivation and Inspiration My review of This Online Workplace Motivation Coaching Tool
• Wake Up Eager Mini-Workshops: Online Mini-Training Sessions developed by Me. More are being created every month...
• Fitness: Tons of free measurement tools, a supportive forum and great (really hard, but really good workout DVDs) Cathe

• Fitness and Sleep: I use this. Gets me moving and helps me look at sleep patterns.A Remembering to Take Care of Me and My Phyisical Nature Tool

• My Favorite Books for Building and Keeping a Wake Up Eager, Strong Leader and Communicator Life:

  Short Book Reviews for Managing My Body and Career

  Short Book Reviews for Managing My Mind and Spirit

  Short Book Reviews for Managing My Team

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