They say the first step is always the hardest. That goes for anything in life. Exercising, eating healthy, making a career change. To get the ball rolling, to create that initial momentum—it’s always the most difficult part of the process.
But what if there was something you could do to make all “first steps” in life that much easier? For those who work with a coach, many would say, “Hey, that already exists!”
In this post, we explore why coaching is one of the best actions you can take to unlock future growth and success in all areas of your life. To that end, even just being here and reading this post is a big deal. You’re onto something big!
Coaching Is the Ultimate First Step
Any first step in a positive direction is a big deal. But consider that some first steps will compound in particularly powerful ways. Coaching is the perfect example.
Right now, think of your life, career, relationships, and goals as a multi-story building. Each floor of that building represents new progress towards whatever it is you want to achieve. As long as the building can support itself, there is no limit to how high you can build.
Coaching is the foundational layer of that building. With coaching, building upwards becomes more sustainable because you have the tools, support, and accountability to make sure everything is structurally sound. Without coaching, the building is much more prone to wobbling and weakness.
This is why coaching is the ultimate first step. It unlocks a cascading effect through which every future “first step” becomes easier. Hoping to improve your relationships? Your health? Your career? It’s all possible, but not without taking action and adopting new habits. So it follows that the best investment you can make in yourself is one that trains you on how to take action and adopt new habits.
What Makes Coaching So Effective?
We can only speak to our approach here at a)plan, which is heavily influenced by top research in behavioral science, neuroscience, and habit creation studies. What we understand best is that the key drivers of personal and professional growth are simple yet complex to implement and sustain.
Although complex, a miles-long journey begins with a simple plan and a single step. Those early steps often revolve around habits. When habits trend in the right direction, we see positive growth and deeper fulfillment. It’s our job to help clients restructure habits via micro-steps that serve the greater coaching goals at stake.
We also focus all of our engagements on what’s working, as opposed to what isn’t. The idea here is that no matter your situation, there are positives on which to build — positives worth celebrating. This also helps make progress sustainable. Trying to “fix” everything that isn’t going well is a recipe for frustration, and it only serves to create a habit of focusing on the negative!
It’s a bit meta, but even just reading this post is a micro-step. Learning about a tool like coaching, which can help bring huge improvements to your life, is worthy of celebration. At a)plan, all of our coaching sessions begin with reflecting on recent wins and reasons for celebration. Every new client gets a built-in reason: Starting!
The Immediate Effects of Working with a Coach
Finally, let’s not forget the near-term effects of starting your coaching journey. The common thread among our new clients is an immediate mood lift and shift in outlook. Committing to coaching is committing to big life improvement on the horizon. It’s hard not to be happy and excited by that.
For many new coaching clients, coaching is the positive side of a binary situation. It’s between “I’m feeling stuck,” or “Hey, coaching is a solution.” The former can be one of the most difficult places — knowing you want a change but not necessarily knowing what the change is or how to get it. But starting with a coach is like flipping a lightswitch. You immediately make the shift to, “This might be just what I needed.”
Closing Thoughts on Coaching as a First Step
Have you ever been asked what you’d do if you got one wish? Maybe you remember discussing this question with friends as a kid—inevitably, someone always says “3 more wishes.”
It might be a silly parallel, but the same logic explains why starting with a coach is such a great decision. You’re leveraging one decision in order to open a bunch of new doors and multiply your resources. That’s the power of compounding. And when it comes to building your ideal future, nothing unlocks that power quite like coaching.
For those wondering how to find a life coach that truly understands their own needs and preferences, try out our coach matching tool. There’s no better time to start searching for a great coach. With our coach matching tool, you can find your perfect coach in minutes.