About Purpose is about your purpose.
Aim: Identify and articulate your purpose.
Arm: Shape yourself around your purpose.
Act: Achieve your purpose.
Listen to the article
Coaching for Fitness
Bob Ryan, About Purpose, Inc. ©2006
I’ve been using a fitness coach for the last few weeks! Yeah, me!
Maybe that’s no big deal for you, but I’ve never set foot inside a gym before, much less a place specifically outfitted for fitness training. And yet, this has been quite a learning experience.
You know what’s coming – I’m going to apply this to using a business coach.
Why use a coach at all? Now you have to understand, I’m already a pretty disciplined kind of guy. I work out on my own five days a week. I’m pretty good about a healthy diet. And I maintain a good balance between work and family. My coach helps me take a more realistic and balanced view on fitness. I was accustomed to doing the same sets of exercises the same way every day – missing the opportunity to vary the muscle groups, to build endurance, to stretch myself.
In business, we tend to get into a comfortable pattern – doing what we’ve done before. We miss opportunities to build new approaches, to stretch our capacities and develop new skills. A good business coach will challenge you to expand your comfort zone.
What’s unique about a coach? My fitness coach knows me – what my goals are, what my needs are, what I’m capable of, what I tend to avoid – and he doesn’t let me forget them.
In business, it’s too easy for us to allow the business to take over our personal and professional goals. We work for the business rather than have a business that works for us. A business coach helps you clearly articulate your goals – your life vision, your future – and continues to question how the business serves those goals. No friend or family member, not even any other professional has that focus.
What does a coach do that I couldn’t do myself? One of the things I’m not too sure I like about my fitness coach is that he holds me accountable (just kidding). He questions what I ate since the last session and how much I worked out. He weighs, measures, pinches and examines those things I’m not too sure I want him to know about.
In business, especially small to medium size business, we often get so wrapped up in the technical, in the day-to-day, that we fail to make progress on the big picture things. A business coach examines our activities and measures them against our goals – what we say we want to accomplish.
The Case for Business Coaching. So, here it is – if you want to stay ahead of the curve, focused on your vision, and accountable for making a measurable difference, you need a business coach. Of course, I’m biased, but that doesn’t make the facts any less true. Having a personal coach keeps you fit.
And I believe that the best combination of business coaching is a program like The Alternative Board® which uses both individual and peer coaching. But, you be the judge. Try it out for a few months and see if it doesn’t change your business.
PS. Here’s a shameless plug for Fitness Together, a well-run franchised program found in virtually every city. For Minneapolis/St. Paul, call 612-378-8898.