How to choose the right support for your goals

So, you are looking for someone to work with to help you achieve success in your life?

How can you make sure that whatever funds you invest will give you the maximum return in the shortest possible space of time? Read on.

Investing in yourself, whether with time, money, energy or all of the above, is something we should all take seriously. Indeed, in my experience, it is much easier to make recommendations to others about what they should or could do, rather than looking at ourselves.

Sometimes, the difficulty is that we don’t know exactly what we want or need to help us, so having a starting point is crucial.

Questions to ask yourself

• Do I really know what I specifically want to be different, improve on or feel better about? Write it down.
• Where am I with that right now? Use a scale of 0-10 to measure your current satisfaction, where 0 is unsatisfied, and 10 is totally satisfied.
• Using the scale above, where do I want to be and what does it mean to me? For example, 8/10, which means that I will still have nerves, but I will have ways of managing them.
  How to find the right support

Once you’ve established what you want to work on, it’s about knowing where to find the right intervention, so consider the following ideas:

• Use friends, family or colleagues to throw some ideas around.
• Take your time to make an informed decision. Don’t rush into something without doing your research.
• See what online resources you can find. There are so many free personal development resources out there.
• Ask for recommendations or suggestions.

If you think that working one-to-one with someone is the right thing, you need to make sure that you find a good match. It’s a little bit like dating - you need to make sure that you will be compatible and be able to be honest and open right from the start.

Some tips:

• Read plenty of profiles. Does a coach seem like someone you can open up with?
• Are their fees within your budget? Sometimes there might be room for negotiation, but it’s unlikely that they will cut their fees in half for you.
• Look at what you get for your money. Some coaches only offer the time of the session, whereas others offer support in between and additional resources.
• Select a shortlist of three to six people to make contact with. Many coaches offer an informal chat up front at no cost, as it is in everyone’s interests to make sure you can work together.
• Be clear about what you want from coaching and how you expect your coach to help you move forward.

All of the above also applies if you are considering booking on a course. Even a free course needs to be researched. Just because it doesn’t cost you any money, it still needs to meet your needs.

So, these are just a few ideas to help you. Most importantly, consider yourself worth investing in.