Why is Your Life Direction Important?
To a large extent,
traditional life coaching focuses on improving your skills or
supporting your transition towards a more successful application
of your abilities towards your goals, career or relationship.
Depending on the background of the life coach, there may be an
assessment of these skills using established psychological tests
such as the Myerss-Briggs, and various other career assessments
that are based on a series of questionnaires.
Although these tests can be helpful, they have one inherent
flaw:
They have a lot to say about your potential career choices, what
you may be good at or what may interest you, but, they do not
tell you what directions to take to become more successful not
only in your career choices, but in the quality of your life.
You might ask: “But am I not going to become more successful if
I choose a career where my talents lie, where I have the most
skills to offer?” The answer is yes and no and it depends. In
fact, if you do not know what your life direction is, than
simply pursuing your talents can work against you and may in
fact get you stuck.
Each of us has a set of tendencies; patterns of behavior, likes
and dislikes, what we enjoy or dislike, what pulls us and what
we tend to avoid. Beyond these tendencies we are greater than
the sum of our parts.
One aspect of our greatness lies in what we resonate with.
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Let’s look at a simple example
Imagine a singer that has signed a contract with a record
company. The producer insists that the singer dramatically
change their style and performance in order to fill a gap in the
record company’s portfolio.
The singer has skill and talent, and
most batteries of personality and career tests will indicate
that this is a good career choice. All the usual indicators say that they should be happy
and successful, and that the next stage is to coach them towards
improving their skill and performance. They simply need to adapt to the real world
and hone their skills, right?
The problem occurs if their heart does not support this change –
if what the record company wants does not resonate with what
works most naturally and effectively for the artist. When that
is the case, then they are likely to sing from a contracted and
superficial place, and that will not bring success or happiness.
It may in fact ruin their career and reputation. People usually
buy recordings because they are pulled by the heart of the
performance.
What would have made a difference for this performer, was to
know what supported their life direction and what worked against
their success. This is an intrinsic part of knowing yourself:
what works for you and what to avoid. If you are armed with this
knowledge, then you are much less likely to be pulled into
adapting to the needs of others, and more likely to act for your
own success.
It is most important to find out what resonates the most for
you, not only in your career choices and relationships, but in
your life. It is most important that you align yourself with
were your greatness lies, not just with your talents and
abilities, but with what supports and reveals that greatness.
At Life Coaching Miami, we can help you discover your life
direction, what choices are optimal for you and what choices
tend to work against you. We can help you achieve the success
that really matters.
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