Coaching is a professional service designed to increase your success and reduce your stress

Interacting with a personal coach on a regular basis can improve your overall success through positive, encouraging and candid feedback

Obtain structure, insight and accountability from the coach

Identify personal/professional goals and the means to achieve them

Identify current and potential obstacles to success so as to remove or circumvent them

Improve your overall personal and professional effectiveness to get the most out of life without taking the life out of you

Do not confuse coaching with psycho-therapy or counseling

See it as investing in yourself and your future, not just another obligation among many

You will do most of the talking (this is after-all your session and it's all about you)

Be willing to make changes (your coach should offer plenty of feedback… not just “uh-huh!?”)

While focus is important, DO NOT fixate on one area (e.g. a job change, or time management)

Do not expect the coach to do the work

Be prepared for each session. The coach will do his/her work, so must you.

Strive for some fast successes as well as the long term goal of achieving more success with less

Start with the common sense you would apply to hiring any professional service

Find a coach w/ a good balance of training, education and life experience (ask for their Bio.)

Call and talk with him/her (a complimentary first session is common)

Ensure their worldview is not in conflict with your own (the goal is neutrality, but human nature is the reality)

A professional coach should have a client bill of rights or code of ethics written out

Expect and receive confidentiality and candor

Expect a solid balance of formal instruments/assessments/tools, and well developed soft-skills

Look for a natural encourager/educator/mentor type of personality (drill sergeants are for the Army)

Multi-dimensionality is critical – the coach should be able to balance empathy, encouragement and 'tough love' discipline

You should always feel that you're in charge, that the coach is working for you, not the other way around… even when you're being challenged!! (don't accept a 'soft' coach, however either)

You should always feel respected as an individual!!

You should not feel judged, criticized or put down.

You should feel respected through attentiveness, preparedness, and timeliness on the coach's part. (The coach has a right to this too)

A coach should be accessible, dependable, and effective… with references to that effect

Your coach should invest time in preparing for and following-up on your sessions

After a few sessions you should feel that your perspective is expanding, your personality is growing, that you are shedding encumbrances and that you are adding momentum to your life