So You Don’t Have a Life Coach Yet?

By Special Advertiser, 1-14-08

New Year’s Resolutions: Why is it hard to stay motivated and what can we do to stick to our goals once the initial motivation has dissipated?

iPods, palm pilots, cell phones, text messages, emails…personal stationary, letters, landlines? Remember back in high school when we wanted to talk on the phone for hours or we wanted to write (yes, with a pen) our friends, relatives or weekly crush letters with colors, stickers, pictures, perfume, dried flower petals, etc.?  And mixed tapes…or even mixed CDs. Creative expression, right? Where did that come from and where has it gone?

You might have noticed that this culture we live in is growing increasingly more encouraged to reside primarily in the Left Brain.  This is where logic, analysis and reason take place.  Things make sense there. Life seems structured, fast, efficient, to the point, no time commitment, no frills, as few steps and thoughts as possible is the best route, definitely no dried flower petals attached.  Thus, it seems that it would make sense that all we would need to do to loose weight is eat better (by following the very structured guidelines of one of those amazing weight loss books or on-line tracking systems). And, of course, start exercising more (by paying a bunch of money to join a gym and hire a personal trainer, buy new clothes and gear, maybe even a dog), right?

Wrong.  What we don’t often pay attention to is our subconscious and the role it plays in changing deep patterns and habits that we have developed.  The subconscious resides in the Right Brain. This is where we find creativity, innovation and intuition.  This is where your mixed tapes are and your ability to chat it up on the phone for hours just because.  But we have created roadblocks.  It is so much more difficult for us now to get into that creative subconscious.  I mean, why would we?  Wouldn’t it just slow us down?  No.  In fact, if we can better access our Right Brain we can more effectively and efficiently find innovative solutions to obstacles in our lives and work.  You don’t need to dig up traumatic events from your childhood in order to clear out subconscious roadblocks.  You don’t need to go into your past at all!  You just simply need to open some parts of the brain that have been closed for awhile. Dig out the mental colored pencils.

Thus, the key to permanent change physically, intellectually and spiritually is to become a more bi-lateral thinker, or someone who can easily shift thinking between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.  This is where your genius lives…and guess what?  With some instruction and practice it becomes really easy and your life will change.

Why is it hard to stay motivated once the New Year gets rolling?  Simply because we’ve made our goals in the left brain and we often times don’t know how to anchor that desire for change in our subconscious.  That is what I do.  I assist clients in anchoring permanent positive change in there conscious and subconscious to create their ideal lives!

It is very fast and very effective (which should be good news for your Left Brain!). 

So you don’t have a Life Coach yet?  What can you do to better stick to your goals?

Here are a few suggestions:

1. What you think you become. Believe in yourself. Know that you already have all the skills within you to achieve your dreams and find the key to unlock those skills.

2. Decide what you want out of life.  Write out your personal goals every year.  Decided on an action plan to achieve them.  Make SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-based).

3. Have courage! Don’t let your fears hold you back.  Discover your fears and get rid of them!

4. Be positive.  When that little negative voice inside of you creeps in, tell it to take a hike!

5. Have faith that others are on your side and want you to be successful.

6. Manage your life.  Find a balance within the 7 Areas of your life (Spiritual, Intellectual, Health, Social, Family, Career, and Financial).  Create a vision of what you want to become.

7. Develop your innovative brain. Train your brain to switch easily between the left and right hemispheres.  Learn how to visualize and meditate.

8. Control your future.  Learn to ask for opportunities to grow.

9. Trust yourself.

10. Ask people in your life to help you be accountable to yourself.  Let your spouse, children, friends and life coach know what your goals and desires are and before you know it you will have an abundance of support and encouragement.
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Erika Rauthe was born and raised in Kalispell, MT.  She lived and traveled in Western Europe a number of times throughout her teens and twenties.  Erika received a B.A. in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication Studies from the University of Montana in 2001.  She then went on to work as a grassroots organizer for a Missoula based public affairs consulting firm. Being happily invested in the Missoula community since 1998, Erika was searching for meaningful work that would afford her the opportunity to stay in Montana and make a significant impact on others’ lives.  Thus, in November of 2007 she attended an international coaching certification program in Victoria, British Columbia.  Today Erika is an internationally certified, results oriented Life Coach helping Montana clients over the phone or from her office in downtown Missoula.

Reach Erika at 406-546-5770 or visit her Web site: http://authenticitylifecoach.com/ErikaRauthe.htm