I remember a Girlfriend of mine who used to go to this one Nail Salon regularly and it was not because the technician’s nail work were sensational, in fact she used to tell me the salon down the road does them better. Then,  when I asked why she continued to go there, she told me it was for what she called ‘her time.’ I later realised that the technician was completely wasted in her role and:

She could have made millions being a life coach.

One afternoon whilst completely bored I went to meet this Girlfriend in town and she was still in the Nail Salon so in I went and sat down and waited, it was then that I got to actually listen to this technician’s desk side manner, in fact, during the 30 odd minutes I sat there; the technician agreed 20 odd times, sympathised 50 odd times, and only three times she spoke to offer a question to keep the conversation on the boil.

My G/F didn’t even look at her nails when complete, she just paid and sauntered off with a big grin. When the next woman was ready almost immediately the technician was in sympathy mode and agreement nods had started the second the next customer had sat down.

Getting your nails done was a small bonus offered by this unbeknownst life coach.

I later asked my girlfriend whether the technician was married or had kids, and quite shocked my Girlfriend told me she had no idea about the technician’s personal life, and knew so little about her and only then realised what her real skill was!

She was a master in getting people to get stuff of their chest and getting them to talk, what amazed me is her power of getting the most intimate details freely off her paying clients.

We are so busy being busy that we forget that our universe is made up of other people and the skill of really listening to people is quickly becoming a lost art. As Carnegie said

“Show genuine interest in people and you will receive genuine interest”

That sounds easy but in effect is very difficult to take ‘yourself’ out of the equation and immerse all your energy in another person’s world for a short time, but that’s what it really means.

To me Life Coaches are just people who are good listeners.

There are now accredited associations of life coaches that will add weight to any C.V.  This again is something that means little to me.  Remember any accredited association is made up of all the people to whom it benefits!

Buddha said: “Accept no truth unless it’s your own truth”

In other words try to remember all information is either exaggerated or passed down like Chinese whispers, and until you have first-hand information and witnessed yourself, and evaluated all odds then it’s true, well to you anyway!

So when someone tells me they are a PHD and accredited Life Coach I always think of the nail technician, and I wonder if she would have got accreditation, and did she go home each night with every one of her client’s issues on her mind and stressed all night about it? Or could she even remember one of the clients she was with all day?

Everything you could ever want to learn about self-improvement and bettering yourself as a person can be found in any self-help book stand, and now even Tony Robbins Videos are all over You tube for free (or you can pay like $2,000 to sycophantically be in the same room as him and that will make you more successful …NOT!!) There are millions of people who write about empowerment and are not wealthy till someone buys that book, which is a bit of a conundrum in itself.

Remember fake it till you make it!

So I have been told I’d be a great life coach, all because my Mum taught me to give people respect and listen and digest  what they have to say, she never told me I could make $100 an hour doing it though!

If you have $100 burning a hole in your pocket and no one to talk to don’t bother me go and give it to charity, I have no time to listen to your problems I’ve enough of my own,…. oh no wait come back,… what was it you were telling me? oh that must be awful for you, now sit down here and tell me all about it!