Coaching for peak performers has been around for years. The most successful athletes, for many decades, have been coached to win the big event. Tiger Woods would not be the golfer he is today without his golf coaches. Michael Jordan, John Elway, and Michael Johnson have all had coaches. Leaders in the business world, with some of the most successful companies, have coaches. Behind each great milestone, or accomplishment, stands two people — the one who executes the task or carries out the game plan and the one who helps to create the game plan and teaches the executor to improve his skills. Maybe it is time to evaluate and consider the benefits of a coach.

A good coach has five basic traits. When these traits are used to help you move forward in your life, the results are amazing. A coach can help you increase your production and enjoyment in life and help you craft a life of long-term success.

The first trait of a great coach is the ability to listen and help you clarify your goals and vision in all areas of your life. Earl Nightingale, the famous speaker, stated we are goal-seeking organisms. Our purpose is to set and achieve goals in life. The difficulty for people is not in achieving their goals, but setting them in the first place. We can truly accomplish anything in life provided we truly decide to do it.

The second trait of a successful coach is guiding you to understand that all goals must have deadlines. Deadlines get one’s juices and thoughts flowing to create the desired result. Have you ever planned to go away for vacation and two days before you are to go you get a flurry of activity in your business? It is because of the deadline that the activity increases and things begin to happen. How would you like to have that kind of production ongoing? Determine effective deadlines for all areas of your business.

A great coach will take the goals and vision you set for yourself and teach you to achieve them. He will help you create the step-by-step game plan to achieve the envisioned future. Even the big projects that seem like mountains can be broken down into bite size pieces, which are called daily disciplines.

For example, I had a client in 1998 that wanted to earn over $250,000 for the year, when the year before he had only earned $130,000. We worked diligently to break down into bite-size pieces what he needed to accomplish in order to achieve his goal. Once the bite-size pieces were determined, we were able to determine the daily disciplines for him to undertake. Because he had to just focus on his daily disciplines, the task was not paralyzing. When he got behind in achieving his goal, it was always caused by his not doing his daily disciplines. As his coach I helped him create the game plan and target him to execute it daily. He achieved and broke his goal by earning over $265,000 for 1998, which was over a 100% increase in his business. Coaching really works in real estate sales, as in other fields.

A great coach will show clients the consequences of not following through on their goals and commitments. The coach will provide ongoing motivation and inspiration during the storms of life. The storms of life will come. We will experience all the storms in this world. We cannot avoid them. Since we cannot avoid them, we must prepare for them. It is not the storm that causes the problem; it is how we react to the storm. A great coach will help you brace for the storm that otherwise might overwhelm you. Coaching provides the motivation and inspiration for our lives to overcome those storms.

Lastly, a great coach provides accountability and is available for you. A great coach will help you evaluate your progress against your goals and vision. He will hold you to the standard that you have set for yourself.

The truth is everyone needs a coach. Hiring a coach is making an investment in yourself. The benefits of coaching pay years of dividends. Where would Michael Jordan be without his coaches? Great coache