Why Do You Have A Personal Trainer — But No Business Coach?

There are professionals and programs available to help people achieve all types of goals — people hire coaches to help them lose weight, get fit, get sober, improve their finances and their relationships.

This is because while setting goals is easy and fun, finding motivation for achieving them can be a challenge. It is no different when it comes to our professional goals. If anything, desire is one attribute executives and entrepreneurs have in excess. You can make goals, and even make plans to reach those goals, but will you force yourself to keep those plans if no one is there to make sure that you do? Are you accountable to yourself? Most of us, sadly, are not.

The Power of Accountability

One of the most significant reasons successful people meet or exceed their goals — both personal and professional — is accountability. Accountability can mean the difference of staying on track and making progress towards a goal.

The most effective form of accountability is external accountability — someone to answer to and someone who motivates you. Someone to help you design a plan you won’t be able to duck out of without pulling a “no show.” Accountability is the number one reason people hire personal trainers, and the second reason is expertise. Having a personal trainer means having someone to actually watch you do the thing you know you need to do.

You should think of a business coach or leadership program as a personal trainer for your professional “fitness.”

Taking Professional “Me Time”

Utilizing a business coach or professional network is a great way to focus on your own professional development. It is easy for executives to get caught up in the success of their business and employees — allowing their own professional development to take a back seat. A business coach will not allow you to get away with bad habits, like not scheduling “professional me time.”

Leadership is a process, not an end goal or status that can be achieved; leadership requires continual nurturing and learning. This is why a business coach provides eager executives an advantage: Long-term programs and relationships create history, which allows a coach to see patterns, or point out opportunities that may have been overlooked or forgotten. A coach is there to encourage, but is also there to have the tough conversations. It is only when we become privy to our own blind spots that we can leap into a new opportunity.

Designing Your Own Motivation

A good source of external accountability will also guarantee that you will focus on your goals more often. Setting a routine of professional development — checking in on your own progress, setting and meeting smaller, benchmark goals — is essential to building momentum.

Finding the right business coach or program will provide a long-term structure of accountability and support to help you develop a sustainable commitment towards your goals. The idea is to make accountability as convenient as possible for yourself so that you can stick to your goals. For better or worse, it is much easier to disappoint ourselves than it is for us to disappoint others. When you develop a positive relationship with your business coach, you won’t want to let them down. The type of motivation you set up for yourself through a business coach only benefits you, as you have two people (you and your coach) invested in your success.

We all set professional goals. But ask yourself this: What active steps am I taking to achieve them

Consider joining our Executive Circle Leadership Program – Class of 2018. It has a monthly personal coaching session on top of great business icon sessions and a graduation event at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The John Maxwell Podcast