6 Secrets of Successful Coaches

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After being in practice as a healer, counselor, coach, teacher, mentor and facilitator for over 30 years, I’ve made enough mistakes and stumbled upon enough insights to finally feel qualified to say that I’ve learned some important lessons that I’d love to share with you. My hope is that you’ll be the kind of helping professional who is truly effective, serves others in a brilliant way, and experiences the inner and outer rewards of being gifted at your craft.

So here’s how I’d like to be your mentor for today: I’ve come up with 6 principles of counseling in the nutritional and eating psychology realm that I have found to be very powerful guidelines in helping practitioners to accelerate their personal growth and professional effectiveness. Please note the word “growth.”

As long as we are growing in our own personal universe, in our professional skill-set, and in relation to our own challenges  – we can expect that the universal law of “inner richness reflecting outer richness” to graciously operate in our lives.

With that said, please consider the following 6 secrets of successful coaches:

 1.    You don’t need to know “everything” in order to help people

Many practitioners have a core belief that they need to know every single bit of arcane and rare nutritional information in order to be qualified to help others. This is a trap, and it’s simply a version of “perfectionism.” If someone comes to you with a problem you can’t solve, then send them on their way or refer them to someone better. Doctors do this all the time. Trust that the wisdom of life has sent you every client for a reason. Stop filling the airwaves with doubt and let your practice teach you as you go along. Yes, knowledge is vitally important. But so is wisdom. Be confident about the things you DO know.

2.    You don’t need to have the perfect body and perfect health to serve others and make a powerful difference in their lives

Are you familiar with this one? Far too many healers and coaches are caught in the trap of believing that they need the perfect body, perfect weight or perfect health as a prerequisite to help clients. Ouch. The point is, none of us are perfect, and perfectionism itself IS the dis-ease we are looking to help others heal from. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself, do your best to get over it, love what is, embrace what you have, and relax into the fact that we are all a work in progress. Can you be big enough to be kind to yourself in this way?

3.    See the beautiful opportunity in our challenges around weight, body image and health

Far too many practitioners and an even greater percentage of clients hold the false belief that our unwanted symptoms and habits and ailments are “problems.” We see our health challenges or eating issues as the enemy that must be attacked and defeated. This is an insane strategy that seldom works. How can attacking oneself possibly lead to healing. Has war ever led to peace? Has self-hate ever been a useful road to self-love? We cannot fight our health challenges and food issues. It’s about loving them. It’s about seeing these as amazing opportunities for growth and healing and personal evolution. That’s why those challenges are there in the first place. To help us grow and unfold in ways we could not have imagined.

4.    Stop fixing, and start deepening and relating and listening

This is a big one. Most practitioners believe that it’s their job to “fix” people. You can fix a car, or a computer, or any widget in the mechanical universe. But you can’t fix a human because none of us are truly “broken.” We are spiritually whole beings who may have food issues, health issues, or life threatening diseases. But we are still not broken. When people believe they are broken, they become victims – disempowered, helpless, and without their true creative potential ever reached. Don’t fix you clients. Love them, coach them, cheerlead them, educate them, and see them as whole human beings who are learning deeper soul lessons on planet earth.

 5.    Stop trying to “get clients” and focus on giving your gift

So many practitioners are concerned and stressed about building their business and “getting” clients. Of course, this makes perfect sense. The problem is, clients are not “things” that one acquires. When we focus our energy on getting clients from a place of lack or fear, our life becomes more uptight and it’s easy to attract clients who simply aren’t a good match for us. Yes, we need to market ourselves and do some great PR or advertising. But do it from a place where you are looking to give your gift to the world, not from a place of  “ I need more clients, I need more money.” As you can tell, when we “need” clients, we often show up as “needy.” And who wants to be the client of a needy practitioner? Attract your clients from a place of abundance, confidence, humility, and patience. Neediness won’t build your practice.

 6.    Redefine “Success” with clients – help them in their largest goal, not just their smaller ones

One of the greatest mistakes practitioners make is that they aren’t clear and conscious around how they measure success with their clients. Most health professionals measure success in terms of the client having no more symptoms, no more disease, no more overeating, and they’ve lost every single pound they wanted to lose.

This all sounds nice and sweet, but it’s seldom the case. Our ailments and unwanted habits are here to teach us. They aren’t merely an enemy that we are trying to get rid of. Redefine success with clients to mean that ultimately, success is about your client expressing their fullest potential and creativity in their life.

The more you can help them be who they are truly meant to be in their relationships, in their career, with family, and in their inner world – the more their body and metabolism can express it’s fullest potential.
I hope you can see the beauty in making your professional practice not just a business, but as a vehicle to learn about yourself, to grow, to evolve, and to serve others by giving the gifts you are here to give.

What better way to build a business and a career? If this approach intrigues you, you may wish to learn more about our work and our programs at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating by contacting us at info@psychologyofeating.com

Details About IPE’s Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training

Our Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training is a powerful, information rich, 250 hour program that certifies you as an Eating Psychology Coach and provides an unprecedented professional training that will leave you with a strong skill-set and the confidence to work with the most commonly seen eating concerns – weight, body image, overeating, binge eating, digestion, fatigue, immunity, mood and much more. We now offer this training in a distance learning format that you can take from anywhere in the world.

Key highlights of the Training:
  • Convenient distance learning format
  • A powerful blend of videos, audio, voice-over slide shows, handouts, and notes.
  • Maps, tools, skills, and protocols that will help you navigate the challenge of eating issues
  • A unique combination of nutritional science and psychology
  • Enjoy a style of teaching that’s inspiring, grounded, and results oriented
  • Grow a new career – Become a Certified Eating Psychology Coach
  • Learn to help others by transforming your own relationship with food
  • Develop confidence to work with clients
  • Create a community of support with fellow students
  • Be part of a new movement in Health and Transformation
  • Enjoy a Training and Career that fits your lifestyle – that you can launch anywhere in the world

Some exciting additional features include:

  • Live teleclasses each month with Marc David and our on-staff coaches
  • Free admission to the special live in-person event
  • A Bonus Nutrition Module
  • A Bonus Business Coaching Module to help you launch your practice

Find more information about our Training here!
Find the complete schedule here:
https://psychologyofeating.com/nutritionist-certification/schedule/
If you are interested in learning more about our Curriculum please visit:
https://psychologyofeating.com/nutritionist-certification/holistic-psychology-curriculum/
The regular tuition for our Professional Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training is $6950.
Find our payment plans at: https://psychologyofeating.com/nutritionist-certification/tuition/
Please note that this Training is by application only. If you are ready to apply, click here!

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