I’m A Coach That Spent $4,100 on Coaching — Why It Matters

I’ve spent thousands of dollars to become a Professional Certified Coach by the International Coaching Federation and hold numerous credentials in business and fitness, in addition to graduate degrees in leadership and higher education.

For the most part, I understand how to produce behavior change, set and achieve goals, and optimize the lifestyle factors related to success. I help my clients do it all the time. So, what is the point of paying $4,100 for online coaching? It is the same reason the best in the world in every industry hire coaches. It is why Kobe Bryant reached out to an athletic trainer at 4 a.m. to take him through a workout. It is why presidents, world leaders, and business moguls also do the exact same thing.

Coaching matters because anyone who is trying to get to the next level encounters roadblocks and obstacles that require external support. Coaching is simply the most powerful way to produce change, regardless of who you are or what you do. You can hire someone to consult, to tell you what to do. You can seek out a mentor to help show you what they did. However, a coach is different because they will partner with you to co-create an outcome in a way that produces buy-in and provides accountability.

The International Coaching Federation, the gold-standard certifying body for coaches, defines coaching with this partnership in mind:

“ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.”

It’s a simple definition of an elegant and powerful process. A coach gets you to take action, partly because they cultivate the creative process within you and then inspire you to get moving. The ICF follows their definition with this message:

“We all have goals we want to reach, challenges we’re striving to overcome and times when we feel stuck. Partnering with a coach can change your life, setting you on a path to greater personal and professional fulfillment.”

That’s what I need the most at the moment. I don’t need a system or a method (I have those). I need someone to help me uncover what is holding me back while pushing me forward to reach a new level in my personal and professional life.

Ben Newman’s Uncommon Coaching Program

I decided to sign up for Ben Newman’s Uncommon Coaching program for a few reasons:

1. I like that Ben motivates me to pursue the notion of being uncommon. He has a story that is built around the process, daily effort, and connecting your “burn” every day. He also gets after it, which is what I like the most.
2. There are opportunities to learn and practice mental skills. I love the idea of using mental skills to overcome problems in pursuit of getting better and reaching new levels. The question for me is how do I keep getting better and advancing to levels completely outside of what I thought I could ever do.
3. There is a community of like-minded individuals. A community of others in pursuit of doing more is invaluable in a world where so many people are telling you to do less. Comfort is the enemy, yet it is everywhere. To fight it, you need a tribe of others who are also doing the same.

Like Ben says, “Trusting the process is not good enough, we have to attack the process.” I like to say that you have to “learn to love the process.” Both mindsets require action, the genesis of change and progress.

I also like to say that you have to “train yourself to outwork everyone.” Because everyone knows that we need to do more to make progress, but knowing means little in the world of high performance. You have to learn, work, adjust, learn, work, adjust. The cycle is continuous because every day, every single waking hour presents an opportunity to get just a little better.

It is the slight edge. It is the 1% that author James Clear speaks of. The path to high-performance and lifelong self-improvement.

“If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done.” — James Clear in Atomic Habits

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I started the High-Performance Lifestyle Publication to help build skills in fitness, business, and psychology. Check it out here. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, sign up for my mailing list, or visit my coaching website at trainoutwork.com for more. This story contains affiliate links, which means I get a portion of what you pay at no extra cost to you.