Why Should Anyone Hire Me as a Coach?

Being a Life Coach comes with a two-tier challenge. First, you have to learn to explain what life coaching is to basically anyone. Then you have to figure out how to explain what makes you stand out in the ever-growing pool of certified and uncertified coaches. In other words, why should anyone hire YOU as their coach? While I pretty quickly embraced the former task, as my previous posts on life coaching confirm, it wasn’t until recently that I learned to define my own niche. To my own surprise, I did that by drawing on my interest in languages.

Coaching is a lot to do with helping the client reach their goals. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, goal is ‘the end towards which effort is directed.’ In the Polish language, the word for ‘goal’ is cel [tsehl]. But the same word can also mean intention. Naturally, 'intention' is a synonym of the word 'goal,' but I found it curious that, in my native language, you cover both meanings with one short word. In other words, when you are talking about a goal in Polish, not only do you think about your objective, but also about its intention.

And this is how I want to lead my clients towards their goals: through the lens of intention. If you think it is just semantics and splitting hairs, let me walk you through the nuance.

Even though 'goal' and 'intention' might be synonymous, we use them in different contexts. When we talk about goals, we often think about ourselves: our plans and passions. At the same time, when we speak about the intention, our perspective shifts towards others. We consider how our actions affect them and what broader purpose they serve. While both goals and intentions are valid and worth pursuing, I believe that focusing on our goals can only go so far. Let me illustrate that with another linguistic example.

Ever since my kids were little I wanted them to speak Polish. My GOAL was to teach them Polish. I had many reasons why I wanted to do it and I focused a lot of my energy on reaching my goal. I spoke Polish to my kids, spent money on books and tutors, and ensured various bilingual engagements as well as annual trips to Poland. Now my boys are ten and fifteen, and… they barely speak any Polish and have no interest in learning the language.

After I gave myself some time to write off my losses, I decided to reflect on my failure to reach my GOAL. And that’s what I found out.

Focusing on my goal made me focus on ME and MY performance as my sons’ teacher. As a result, I put myself under a lot of pressure to perform and deliver the results. When things got tough, I broke under pressure. Things could have been way different if my focus was on the intention of my effort. Who was I doing it for? What was I doing it for? The very thinking about it fills me with joy, patience, empathy and many other powerful feelings that could truly carry me through the moments of doubt.

In a nutshell, that’s my niche: bringing intention to my clients’ goals. Instead of asking WHAT? I like to ask WHAT IS IT FOR? That's the power of purpose-driven goals.

And that’s when you start seeing the results and talking about results versus outcomes. But that’s a pair of synonyms for another story.