What is the Benefit of Having a Mentor?

Mentors and Coaches

Over the past year, world events have caused many challenges and obstacles for most people, whether it is with their overall well-being, health, or financial situation. It certainly hasn’t been easy, and that goes for me as well. We have to keep up with changing times and pivot if necessary depending on our personal situation. A change could mean developing new skills and upgrading your knowledge in areas of life that are meaningful to you. A lot of the ‘how to’ is available, and it’s a matter of being resourceful and setting out to look for it. You can find a lot of this free content on youtube or find people who inspire you and follow them on social media. Once you understand what drives you with passion, you want to go deeper and beyond the free ‘surface’ knowledge widely available online.

What is the benefit of having a mentor and then transitioning to a coach? This is the purpose of this post. Have you ever thought about finding a mentor that resonates with you? It could be fitness, health, nutrition, mindset or even a business mentor depending on your need. Mentors are a great start to an informal process based on mutual respect and trust over time. Once that trust is instilled you could consider a more formal and structured coaching relationship.

The primary purpose of having a coach is to get that edge and support to rise above your challenges and sidestep your obstacles. Doing this requires both a shift in mindset (the inner game) and the practical ‘how-to’ with skills and knowledge (the outer game). So let’s drill down a little deeper, and I’ll explain the benefits of having a coach in more detail.

Coaching Benefits

A coach will listen to your needs and where you are currently at with a challenge or pain point. Once there is clarity they help you set ambitious goals that will stretch you a little beyond your current comfort zone and ensure that you are not overwhelmed by them. (See my previous post on Vision). They are your partner as you go through your growth journey and help you see a bigger, better version of yourself.

They will guide you towards the vision and goal you set by working on the knowledge and skills required to get on the right track so that your self-image is aligned with your goal. If you lack the knowledge or skill as you set out to achieve anything in life, you will naturally activate the doubt, fear, and anxiety part of your brain, which will cause you to procrastinate.

A coach acts as an accountability partner to help you get unstuck and lift you as you climb toward your destination. Their role is to remind you of your reasons for starting the journey when you are down, discouraged, and deflated. These feelings will occur when making changes and getting uncomfortable. This is the price to pay for growth. You can be certain that you will feel resistance and have difficulty taking consistent action. Lack of motivation and excuses will show up along the way that will stop you from taking action.

Our brains are wired to avoid pain and remain within our current comfort zone while conserving energy. You can leverage your partnership with a coach and get that critical support, reminders, and encouragement to lift you out of your doubt and keep moving forward with inspired action. When you take consistent action, you will see more results, and when you feel and sense your accomplishment, you elevate your self-confidence.

Beliefs

Your current reality was created based on your past experiences. It was the environment that you grew up in that created many of your beliefs between the ages of 0-12 years. Let’s face it, some of your beliefs and habits in your reality can be limiting and holding you back from making progress. Sometimes it is difficult for you to see this on your own without perspective from someone else. A coach’s role is to help you dream and strive towards more significant results beyond your current reality. To get past this and grow, you need to break the existing barriers and get uncomfortable, and a coach will be there to push you and hold you accountable for your desired growth.

Habits

Working with a coach will help you identify and change some of the disempowering habits you may have that hold you back. Habits are repeated automatically and have gotten you to where you are today. When you decide to go further and beyond your current comfort zone, it isn’t easy to break the old patterns if you keep repeating the same habit. You cannot expect a different outcome carrying on this way. A coach will help you break old habits and instill new empowering ones to accelerate your desired growth. It requires persistent determination and 100 days of repetition to lay the foundation for a new habit to begin feeling automatic with less effort and willpower.

Growth, Purpose, and Passion

So I touched on the benefits of having a coach and how your beliefs and habits play a significant role in reaching your desired goals. They can also introduce you to other mentors and coaches that specialize in different areas that may be of interest to you. They can direct you toward the right environment to sustain your growth efforts over the long haul. We all have the exact amount of time available to us each day to spend on an activity that drives us toward our purpose in life. The question to ask yourself is, are you trading your time for what you love? As you plan out your days, think about investing some of your time in learning and growing in areas that are of interest to you. Focus on your passions, and goals, and decide to cut off all other activities that don’t inspire you.

I coach people who ask for support in the areas of fitness, mindset, and well-being. If they happen to be focus areas for you, I invite you to access a FREE guide, “3 Pillars to Upgrade your Health,” by subscribing to my readers’ list for posts and tip updates. You can also follow along on social media for more content in these areas. Live well.

www.facebook.com/mindbodyvibrance

www.instagram.com/mindbodyvibrance

www.tiktok.com/@mindbodyvibrance