​If you’re not growing, you’re dying.

That’s one of the most popular concepts in business. While it is a partially true maxim in business, it holds even truer in your personal development.

When we are young, our brains are exploding with new growth. Literally everything a baby does is a growth challenge. Whether they are trying to walk, crawl, make their first sounds with their mouth, it is all an immense challenge.

As an adult, we become much more stagnant. After we get the basics of life, too many of us just simply stop moving forward. We get enamored with our routines. We slog through weeks to get through to the weekends where we just kill time. We coast through jobs that often become too easy for us.
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In the pandemic, I’ve fallen victim to this, and I’ve talked to many clients where this is becoming a problem. 

The truth is, making huge changes in your life comes down to one relatively easy concept: raising your standards.

Everything else, all the tips and tricks, exercises, and strategies are only useful if you’ve set the appropriately high standards for yourself.

When people hear this for the first time, they often get defensive. They’ll say something like “if that’s all it takes, everyone would have whatever they wanted.” To some extent – that’s true. And that’s true because most people here in the United States do have whatever they truly want.

This can be kind of tricky because part of you is reading this saying “well I want a Porsche and I don’t have that.” Or “I have 20 thousand dollars in credit card debt and I want it to be 0 dollars.”

It’s true, you may want those things, but you also want to only work 40 hours a week and to go shopping and out to the bars every weekend with your friends. The Porsche and paying off the credit card take a level of discipline and sacrifice that you absolutely do not want.  

​Important Note:
 
A coach is not a licensed mental health professional and any advice or commentary here should not in any way be considered medical advice. Depression can be a serious, medical issue. If you are experiencing depression, please seek out a qualified mental health counselor and do not use this discussion, or any other article, blog, or material on the internet as a substitute for a qualified mental health professional. If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide call one of the suicide hotlines: 800-SUICIDE (888-487-0468) and 800-273-TALK (866-699-0189). If you have a plan for suicide then go to the closest emergency room immediately for medical treatment.
 
 
As a life coach, I’m frequently compared to therapists. I suppose I get it. We have some similarities. Our core mission is to help clients be happier and function better in their world – more or less.

There are major differences though and there are a lot of aspects of therapy that I think can actually get in the way of people thriving in their lives.

Often, I work with clients who have either done therapy or that do therapy alongside their coaching. From their experience, and from the knowledge of those who have taught me (therapist Cloe Madanes, the Peyshas, and Tony Robbins), I can see a lot of ways that therapists can get in the way of their clients’ success.
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Here are a few examples:

​A global pandemic has broken out and it’s changing all our lives – maybe forever.

Not only are many getting sick and fighting for their lives, the rest of us are living in isolation while the stock market crashes and some of us aren’t sure if our jobs will still be our jobs in a week or a month.

This type of drastic, rapid change is unsettling to say the least.

Difficult times are one of life’s guarantees. For some, it will create despair and helplessness. For others, it’s a time to invest in themselves, their families, and their relationships to come out of the dark time a great deal stronger than they were when it started.
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Here are 4 tips on what you can do to thrive during uncertain times:

89 percent of employees who work at companies that support well-being initiatives are likely to recommend their companies as a good place to work.

The American Psychological Association estimates that the American economy loses 500 billion dollars and 550 million workdays every year due to stress.

Over the last decade, in large part due to newer, younger, companies like Google and the rest of the tech sector, employers have started to understand that company culture and employee happiness aren’t only important as a moral issue, but as an issue that drastically affects their bottom lines.
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“Goofy” ideas like nap pods, meditation, and life coaching have gone from flavors of the month to proven benefits in an amazingly short amount of time.
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One of the major areas of life that Americans struggle with is achieving optimal health, their body, and their body image. While there are new businesses, trends, and fads sprouting up every day to help people achieve better health, the basics are incredibly well known - eat less, move more, and sleep enough. 

Yet every day, people give up on their fitness goals whether that be running a marathon or just fitting into the next pant size down. 

So what’s going wrong in a relatively simple and well-understood process? Is a life coach the missing key to weight loss?

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