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Are you really tired of living a 9-5 work life and would love to strike out on your own and be your own boss? Well, there never was a better time than the present one. The advances in information technology have lowered the entry barriers to new lows, and whether you want to bootstrap or raise venture capital for your business, the options for raising funds are wider than ever before.

Being an entrepreneur is one of the most difficult jobs ever as few career paths require the kind of work, skill, sacrifice and commitment it warrants. It is hard, no doubt, but is also really rewarding. But before you decide to take the plunge, it is important to understand some common mistakes that plague so many entrepreneurs today, no matter which field or business you are in.

Many wanna-be entrepreneurs fail to anticipate or realize that their path is paved with bumps and humps that can make even the most seasoned entrepreneur fall, if they do not exercise enough care on the way. How do you ensure that you get to succeed in a hyper-competitive, crowded marketplace? One thing you can certainly do is: avoiding the most common mistakes entrepreneurs commit by learning from the experience of others. Even the most seasoned entrepreneurs commit many mistakes, which they don’t wish to talk about openly. But sharing such experiences with others can help them avoid committing the same mistakes in their journey to success.

10 Most Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

As part of my life coaching experience, I often get to talk to many people looking for corporate counselling. Well, here are my two cents on the Top 10 Commonest Entrepreneurial Mistakes, many of them based on what I have learnt from my entrepreneurial journey so far:

1. Lack of focus

Experts involved in corporate counselling often point out that a clear business focus makes it easier for you to communicate about your product and who it’s meant for. In contrast, by trying to appeal to all by adding all sorts of features, you dilute your marketing message and end up with a complex product. Take some serious inspo from Dropbox and Instagram to focus on doing just one thing really well.

Any business coach worth their salt can tell you that it’s not easy, given the multiple kinds of pressures coming from customers, investors or team members. But learning to say no is something you need to cultivate if you want a usable product. Getting the core right makes your life much easier. A good technique to achieve it is to make a list of things you WON’T do by adding some constraints to the development process – so everyone knows what the product ISN’T. This way, you can hope to make better product decisions and learn a valuable trait common to all successful entrepreneurs.

This one ought to be the starting point of any enterprise, but it often gets overlooked. Quite often, entrepreneurs plunge straight into their ideas without thinking of why they’re doing what they’re doing or thinking about the change they wish to bring about in the world.

Let’s face it: In the absence of a clear purpose, no enterprise can move along with much momentum. And when things get tough (which they are going to), there isn’t much to pull your team through. A clear purpose adds real meaning to one’s work something that people can rally around. It gives your brand real weight as it has got a reason for its being. Therefore, it’s worth spending time giving shape to this idea and articulating it. Notice carefully that the following taglines don’t mention any product anywhere:

“Connecting People” – Nokia

“To be the earth’s most customer-centric company” – Amazon

The fact is, as an entrepreneur, you need to awaken an emotion among your early customers so that they feel something special, return for more and tell their friends about it. Consumer research reveals that most buying decisions are based on emotions, rather than on any logic as people don’t buy what you do; rather, they buy why you do it. If your customers believe your mission – i.e. what you believe and where you’re going, they’ll listen to you and how you do it. So, by focusing on the question of ‘why?’ in business, you can forge a deeper connection with your target audience and give your business a better shot at success.

Without any focus, you will harm not only your business but also your relationships with clients and partners, too. But the lack of ability to find focus is very real in many cases. Instead of feeling bad about the lack of focus, you can try turning it into an advantage. Just think of Richard Branson and the diverse products he offers. Now, if someone were to judge Branson negatively for a lack of focus, they could be excused by just looking at Branson and his diversified product portfolio. So, if you have a hard time finding your niche, try to adopt a diversified business model.

2. Building a product no one wants

Life’s too short to build something nobody wants.

Any business coach’s first piece of wisdom for you is to ask to build something that people really need and are ready to pay for. Mostly, the “right” product is simple, compelling, and aligned with your business model. But often, you see websites/apps that look nice and seemingly offer a good experience, but upon deeper study, you find there’s no obvious value offered to the user. Either the problem being solved isn’t big enough or the proposed solution doesn’t hit the right note to gain significant traction.

Therefore, first of all, try to ensure that you build the right product before you perfect the experience. Besides, before building the product, you may have a discovery phase to explore the market, test your risky assumptions and discover potentially more lucrative opportunities. Most business ideas are based on its founders’ assumptions, which are yet untested. Many business disasters could have been avoided very simply by talking to customers. So, it’s your responsibility as an entrepreneur to find a valuable and desirable product. It makes no business sense to build something unless there is evidence that you have found the right product.

3. Not enough listening

‘Make things people want, not make people want things’.

Those involved in corporate counselling never fail to highlight this point. You DO need a sales pitch, but you also need to listen. Funding is so important to early-stage startups that they get pro at perfecting their sales pitch pretty soon. It’s great news if you’re looking for funding, but not so good if you’re searching for a product-market fit. Without a proven business model, you run the risk of missing opportunities that could come from just listening to people.

Developing entrepreneurship skills also includes, besides developing the art of speaking, cultivating the art of good listening, too. While exploring a new product idea, we often conduct customer interviews without ever mentioning a solution. This exercise aims at a better understanding of potential customers to see if the problems we’re trying to address are a real pain for them. So, proposing a solution early on can take the conversation away from many missed but potential opportunities. The key is understanding your customers’ problems before selling solutions.

3. Launching too late (or too early)

Too many startups spend months or years in a ‘stealth mode’, away from the public eye, and  never come to the point of releasing their product. Lack of planning is a formula for failure, but too much of it can also cause a disaster. Too much planning can weigh you down. In fact, a good plan always leads to a decision. Focus on a few key themes instead of addressing all potential problems at once and strengthen the revenue-generating areas before moving to minor issues.

On the other extreme are those businesses, which launch a poor early version in the true lean startup style. But it would be a blunder to release it if it’s not ‘bare minimum awesome’. Ensure a base level of design and usability, else you will not get the results you’re hoping for. Of course, getting the balance right between launching early and creating the perfect product is not easy but perfecting it could pay rich dividends.

Keep in mind that your first release is just the beginning, not the end of the process. Try to learn from customer experience, revise and improve as you go along, but avoid overloading features on it. Instead, try to focus on optimizing your core product before adding more.

4. Design can make-or-break

Many entrepreneurs often see little value in investing in design. In many cases, it can be a missed opportunity. Especially in the startup world, the culture of solution or technology first has prevailed, whereas they need to take a people-centred approach to developing products and services.

Unless the product you make delivers real value to customers, it’s just a vanity trip, regardless of  the technology. Entrepreneurs need to learn about the competitive advantages coming from well-designed products and services. Just look at what Xiaomi, Nokia, Apple do in terms of designing and you’ll get the idea. It’s worth every penny you spend on it.

5. Hiring wrong people

Many well-funded startups hire people too soon, before they really know about the sort of person they need. Meeting your future spouse in a nightclub is as unlikely as meeting your long-term business partner at a local gala. Thus, it all boils down to pinning down your organizational DNA. With a strong vision and set of values driving you, you’ll know the sort of person who will be the right fit. No talented person would like to work unless they have a real bond with you and believe in your organizational purpose.

6. Expecting success too soon

Expecting success right away is setting oneself up for disappointment. Undoubtedly, it’s a great idea to be armed with the confidence and the drive to succeed fast, but don’t expect it to happen  right away. While it takes a long time to grow a business, it takes even longer to make money from it.

Therefore, you need to have realistic expectations and show patience. Why so many businesses fail early on is because entrepreneurs expect to make money too soon. Many a time, businesses have to shut as the entrepreneur can’t pay the rent anymore as they had expected to earn money right away to meet business expenses. That’s why having a cushion to fall back on and being realistic is so crucial for the success of a business.

7. Getting the wrong investor/partner

Those looking for corporate counselling on setting up a new venture need to bear in mind that find the right investor is as crucial to business as finding the right partner. Simply because someone has the moolah or someone is your friend or a family member doesn’t mean they are necessarily the right partners / investors for you. It’s quite tricky to pick the investor who can be a good fit for your business.

The foremost thing to remember while choosing the right business investor/partner is it is akin to a marriage, which obviously means that there will be misunderstandings and conflicts. However, it’s important to realize that such misunderstandings need to be addressed logically. Therefore, it is essential to set the right expectations on Day 1, so that you know what to do and expect in future.

You can start finding the right partner by understanding the investment options available. Study them before choosing one and don’t be afraid to ask what the investors can provide. It will also give you an idea as to how much involvement the investor will have in the business- just financial or operational or strategic. And finally, make sure that your investment pitch clearly articulates your vision and business plan.

8. Chasing investors, forgetting customers

Having a great business idea doesn’t mean that you’ll definitely get funding. One of the surest ways to ensure survival is to design a business model that lets the product pay for itself. These days, you can find so many businesses too much focused on building a pitch rather than a business. So forget about funding for a moment and try to find a customer to pay for your product. Getting some more customers and investment becomes a lot easier that way.

Besides, while scouting for investment, focus more on the product vision and the story and less on the (manufactured) numbers. Like a true entrepreneur, worry about the things under your control (a great product and customers delight) rather than things beyond your control (getting VCs, angel investors).

9. Foster customer loyalty

Let’s admit: There’s a direct correlation between a positive user experience and user loyalty. It has repeatedly been proved that a happy customer tends to spend more money, more often. But more startlingly, a happy customer tells only 4-5 friends on average about their positive experience while an unhappy one tells many his friends more times this figure.

Customers are savvier now and don’t put up with a poor product/ service if there’s a better alternative available. For you, your customers’ experience is the main contact with your brand. So, it’s the key to finding ways to ensure customer delight. In case of a negative emotion, they will likely never come back (or even worse harm your brand with bad reviews).

10. Trying to do everything yourself

There is enough evidence to show that multitasking can harm your brain and affect your productivity. Multitasking doesn’t make your company grow quickly or enhance your profits. In fact, it can do just the opposite as you may wear yourself down by wearing too many hats at the same time. 

So, good entrepreneurs always delegate – plain and simple. If you are trying to do everything by yourself, you are planning to fail. Therefore, it’s important to know when and how to outsource. Hiring others to take care of some tasks that you cannot handle on your own is a sensible idea.

Different entrepreneurs have different tasks that they want to outsource. Regardless, it is important to understand that you delegate to them certain tasks so that you can make better use of your time and put yourself in the best position possible. Doing everything yourself will only burn you out or draw your focus away from the tasks that need your attention.

Read: How to Increase Productivity At Work?

11. Hiring/ spending too quickly

While it is not advisable to do everything by yourself, hiring people too soon can also mean disaster for business. A good way to determine a good time for hiring is to look at the growth of your business. Just because you see a sudden growth rush doesn’t imply that you go hire right away. Try to make sure that the increased workload sustains itself for a good enough period before you start hiring.

Business and finance go hand in hand. No sensible businessman, be they  small or big, in their right mind ignores this factor. Having a regular tab on your financial statements will help you know where it really stands. You can evaluate which areas are guzzling up a major chunk of your cash outgo and where you need to cut down your spending.

12. Ignoring social media

Many conventional-minded industrialists believe that they don’t need the Internet. But the hard fact i : whether you are a small enterprise or a gaint one, you need the Internet. Simply because your customers are there and any business that aspires to be successful needs to be where its customers are and meet them there face-to-face.

Entrepreneurs need to harness the current tech revolution right now. In fact, the Internet and social media are very economical tools to use, and more importantly, they work very fast and are damn effective. Besides, they have the power to spared the good (or the bad) word really fast.

Summing Up

1. Don’t be afraid to fail/ commit mistakes
2. Make a business plan
3. Get yourself organized                    
4. Understand the market and your target audience
5. Don’t do everything by yourself            
6. Find the right partners / investors with due diligence
7. Don’t hire too soon                                
8. Be ready to experiment/ revise your product offering
9. Don’t launch your product too quickly/ late     
10. Don’t expand your business too quickly
11. Create a proper marketing plan  
12. Don’t hire the wrong people
13. Don’t over-promise or under-deliver    
14. Harness the power of the Internet/ social media

Life coaches are gaining more and more popularity these days. That’s because, what they do actually works!  Their work has changed millions of lives around the world and the fact is everyone needs a life coach. In reality, it could be the best possible decision of your life and you may thank yourself later that you took it!  

Successful people grab opportunities by the horns. Having a life coach is a good example of how those seeking personal and professional enhancement can take charge of their life. In fact, the iconic TV chat show host Oprah Winfrey and the billionaire businessman Bill Gates have publicly vouched for the efficacy of their experiences with life coaching. The truth is everyone needs a life coach because they can reflect back on what you say, open up your mind, identify the blind spots, encourage self-discovery and support you in creating action. Finding a life coach in India these days isn’t difficult as the awareness about their role is rising day by day.

It goes beyond setting goals and reporting progress; it also encompasses major life shifts, transformations, and paradigm changes. By collaborating, you and your life coach will create actions and practices that can transform your life from stagnant to stellar.

How life coaching works ?

Being human, we often try to evade doing what we fear. Ironically, it is these dreaded acts only that lead to the realization of our goals and our dreams becoming a reality.  A life coach is a helpful guide who works with you to help you overcome those barriers, thereby enabling you to succeed and achieve your life goals. Most great athletes work with a coach or mentor who guides them, works with them to strategize.

The coach sees them strive, fail and eventually succeed in their chosen domain. Ditto a good life coach, who can unlock your potential and collaborate with you to evolve a plan to enable you to achieve your goals. Life coaches play multiple roles in our lives. They unlock our dormant potential, allow us to find our best selves and work as a motivator, partner and strategist.

The way a life coach in India works is similar to elsewhere. The engage you in powerful conversations by asking you the right questions to enable breakthroughs to create a paradigm shift in your life. They aren’t authoritative and therefore, don’t tell you what to do. Instead, they work as motivators and partners in your success and work out a plan with your active and complete involvement and nudge you to work towards the agreed upon goals.

How life coaching works – The Process

Whether ascending the professional ladder or breaking out as an entrepreneur, the truth remains: We all need a little support, self-reflection and continual personal development. However, even in the best scenario, we suffer from blind spots that keep us from seeing the whole picture and our thoughts, habits and behaviors hinder our growth. Ditto for friends and family. While our loved ones may have the best intentions, they often cannot properly analyze and give actionable advice. Enter the life coach, who works with you to enrich your life:

1. Identifying, prioritizing goals

For many people, the problem is not a lack of ambition but of clarity. Going through the motions every day, we find ourselves caught in the rat race, chasing a vision of success handed down to us, instead of one created intentionally. Therefore, it’s no surprise that so many people keep on doing “the right things,” i.e. attending college, landing a job and marrying, only to realize one day that they are unhappy.

But when you work with a life coach, you connect to yourself fully, letting yourself create the life based on your own standards. That might mean your becoming an entrepreneur, starting a side business or embarking on a passion in your free time. A life coach helps you connect to yourself to identify and prioritize these new goals.

2. Transitioning to new identity

Life coaches are a wonderful help in times of great transition e.g. career shifts, divorce. A life coach can help you remain grounded in the middle of such huge changes. A reason why change is so difficult is that it challenges the stories we have created for ourselves. Questions like Who am I without this marriage or relationship? can be scary to face alone, but a life coach can help reframe the narrative so as to set you up for an empowering experience.

3. Support and partnership

Life coaches offer support and comfort by challenging you with care to fix your goals courageously and with conviction and accountability. Coaching is an open partnership between client and coach where authenticity, connection and intimacy are the key to its success for which both partners must pull their weight.

A coach doesn’t serve as a yes man or healer. Rather, a coach reflects back to the client their potential to express inner brilliance in reality. By their regular interactions, the two create an ongoing relationship that the client may lean on for support.

Skeptical? Worry not, read on to find out!

Reasons for seeking a life coach

1. Clarity in life

If you believe that everyone knows what they want from life, you are mistaken. A great many people have too many opportunities right before but they often take decisions that do not help them move towards their goals. A life coach helps you choose your priorities and inspires you to contemplate about your life so that you can decide on the most important things you should bring about. Gaining clarity can enable you to execute the tasks speedily as focus is the key to achieving life goals. 

2. Peace of Mind

Our life is replete with many bitter experiences and unpleasant events and when we can’t share it with others, frustration, anger and tension begin festering in our mind. Though a supportive family and friends can be helpful, you may not feel comfortable sharing certain feelings with them. That’s when a coach comes in handy and works with you to create a new focus and a positive strategy to get you to your goals.

A life coach is always willing to listen to and understand you. Besides, they never judge you; rather, they encourage you to confide in them so that you share and bare all to help them work through your blocks and achieve your goals.

3. Maximizing accomplishments

Accomplishing a goal provides a sense of fulfillment and motivates us further to improve our performance. But, many people often experience a void when they are unable to accomplish their goals, which demotivates them from trying further. Life coaches are keen to know about your passions and work with you towards actualizing them.  They push you to celebrate small successes, which are helpful in achieving bigger goals.

4. Time savings

Time is everything; something you can’t borrow, buy or loan!  In retrospect, people often wish they had some more time but the bitter truth is: nobody gets more time. People tend to think that they can achieve things on their own and in fact, they can. But how quickly do you want to achieve your goal? Doing it all alone, you burden yourself with extra responsibility and things tend to get out of control sometimes and you lose focus.

As a navigator, a life coach assesses your present situation and work with you to help you get the desired results. The coach works like an accountability partner in your efforts and you can see a collective effort geared towards your goals.

5. Money savings

Acting on misguided financial decisions can land you in a big soup, personally and professionally. Many overambitious people often fail to analyze their financial situation and make unprofitable investments. Such repeated financial failures can make a person irritated, aimless and apprehensive about the next move.

A good life coach knows well that life is a glorious end result of good planning. Life coaches provide you with an action plan with a step-wise approach to follow and align your financial objectives with your life goals. It can greatly enhance your affordability level and prosperity in life.

6. Follow your dreams

We all are dreamers and this capacity to visualize a better future lets us live our life more fully and motivates us to bear hardships to achieve our goals. But, quite often, these dreams are ambitious, which makes us skeptical about their achievability. Getting validation and encouragement for our dreams is one of the most enriching benefits of having a life coach. A life coaches can separate your professional and personal lives and understand your aspirations from a neutral viewpoint. It can put you on the right path in life so that you go ahead confidently and make the first big move.

7. Overcome obstacles

The hurdles in our path often limit our progress and often, we become detached from our goals altogether. And in this process, action – only way to overcome obstacles – suffers a lot. A life coach stimulates positive changes and encourages you to be courageous in confronting life. A life coach helps you recognize those hurdles and by acknowledging them, you can develop a different attitude towards these challenges. It lets you focus your energy and on an effective plan of action to move forward.

8. Different attitude

We all experience joy, sorrow, hardship, challenges and accomplishments. Developing a different approach to these emotions can help us see them with wisdom. You can reap the true benefits of having a life coach by developing the attitude of looking at hardships as challenges. This change in approach can bring about seminal consequences.

Challenges change you and lead to personal growth. Consequently, you begin to love challenges as a means of to gaining greater freedom, wealth and happiness. It keeps you focused and when you combine it with action, you are bound to get amazing results.

9. Freedom from Anxiety

We often get caught up in stress and anxiety, which are major obstacles in our life journey. They can cause poor self-esteem, lack of confidence and nervousness etc. Having a life coach helps you accept that you need to live your life rather than waste energy on getting stressed and anxious. Good life coaches know that stress is inevitable in life and work with you to find ways to control the stress in your life so that you feel rejuvenated for life.

10. Support in tough times

While tackling challenges, we always seek the support of others as it makes us feel better. Confronting problems single-handedly for a long time increases the chances of committing more mistakes. Life coaches make you realize that challenges are important for you to learn wisdom.

A life coach probes deeper and evaluates the problematic areas for you and with constant support, helps you get rid of the problems. At times, you may not be looking for a solution; rather, you may want to know whether you are headed in the right direction. A life coach pinpoints your limitations so that you can enjoy peace of mind and gain the strength and confidence to look ahead.

11. Innovative Ideas

Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come!

Whatever grand achievements mankind has made were once just an idea in someone’s mind. Ideas are the building blocks of inventions, development and careers and can transform the world. A life coach can help you achieve life-transformation by giving you the right questions to discover your key ideas.

A life coach can help you find out the ideas, which match your needs and individual characteristics. Life coaching can foster innovation and creativity and generate good ideas, which can open up multiple opportunities in life.

12. Balanced life

Many areas of our life like career, family, social circle and health need constant attention. So we have multiple roles and start facing problems when a particular area consumes most of our energies. As a result, we begin seeking balance in life so that we can give equal focus to all the roles.

A life coach understands that the imbalance among these key areas may be causing complications. Therefore, they guide us on how to acknowledge our priority areas like career, finances, health, entertainment and ensure that we evolver a  balance to ensure positivity and satisfaction.

13. Accountability

A great benefit of having a life coach is that they inspire you to believe in getting the right result by using the right techniques. Our behavioural patterns may hold us back from living our life fully but a life coach provides you with opportunities to discover yourself and make you realize that the only way to make progress is action. Thus, you can easily quit the habit of making excuses for procrastination and become accountable for your own doings. Such personal growth is made much easier with a life coach.

14. Purpose of Life

We can be distracted easily in the absence of a clear idea about what we want from life. Life coaches always ask you the most significant questions – “What’s the purpose of your life? What is significant to you and why?” The answers to these questions can be life-changing.

A life coach can change our behavioral patterns to bring positivity and inspiration in our life to seek more from it. It can motivate people to believe in themselves and live a life of well-being and happiness. We often tend to forget that every person on the earth is a significant part of this universe and, if they contribute positively, the world would be a better place to live in. Life coaches can enable you to see your true self and make you realize the purpose of your life.

15. Confidence booster

We would love to excel professionally but often, we lack the confidence and the vigour to step up and make a change. Many of us have limiting self-beliefs which restrict our opportunity to explore and follow the examples set by others. That way, we ignore the unique beauty and opportunities of our own life journey.

Life coaches remind us of our uniqueness and emphasize that our aim is to set examples through successes and trials. They encourage us to be self-sufficient so that we follow our own path rather than others’ onions let guide us. With self-reliance, we can approach life confidently and achieve success on our own terms.

16. Feel Revitalized

Have you observed a child closely, how freely and energetically they approach everything? But over time, adults lose this adventurous streak. Life coaches can bring about a big change in our approach as their probing questions act as a stimulus, which creates excitement to make us feel renewed.

Life coaches are pros at asking meaningful questions, which motivate us to have a different outlook towards life and awaken our creative impulses lying dormant. As a result, you begin to feel as though your life were an adventure again.

You’ll need good leadership and organizational skills at every stage of your career, from working on a project with your coworkers to engaging with a client. Good leadership skills are necessary to get the best out of any workplace encounter. Communication, problem-solving, teamwork, mentoring, and other soft skills are also used with interpersonal skills. However, not everyone is born with outstanding interpersonal ability. Any person must gauge and brush up on their skills. Here are several tried-and-true methods for honing this ability.

Interpersonal skills are more than a catchphrase in the workplace. They are what distinguish you as a good communicator, coworker, manager, and mate.
They’ve been around since the dawn of civilization. And, however you like to name them – cognitive skills, emotional intelligence, organizational skills, interpersonal interaction – these are the characteristics and strategies with which you can become a trustworthy and social individual, as well as a successful colleague, team player, and leader. Interpersonal skills, as the name means, are the abilities that help one to communicate with others.

Can Interpersonal Skills Be Taught?

Yes, we will teach them to our children by our actions, thoughts, and values. It is preferable to begin teaching them at a young age. It isn’t very easy to alter one’s attitude after one’s been trained. You all know Hrithik Roshan, the heart-throb of the nation, but do you know that he had stage fear and used to stammer. Surprised? Yes, Hrithik suffered from stammering problems and had to practice his speech for hours to make them come out in a flow. But with his dedication and hard work, he made it possible to overcome the problem. Today, you cannot believe that he was scared to talk to people because of his issues.
Instead of making yourself suffer, the best thing is to work it out, and things can get better.

How Can One Develop Interpersonal Skills?

We must engage in practices that emphasize the value of cooperation, relationships, and unity. To improve interpersonal skills, we must first learn to love, respect, and trust one another, regardless of race, creed, faith, age, education, or history.

• Practice Active Listening

Be aware of what your coworkers are doing, whether it’s a friendly chat or a work-related educational one. You will improve your interaction with your coworkers by practising active listening. Rahul Gandhi is known to be an aspiring leader of the country but is never taken seriously. People troll him and make jokes about him. Why? Because he lacks the skills that can make him look serious. He takes everything lightly, and thus even his party members do not consider him a good leader.

• Monitor Feelings

It is common for humans to be emotional from time to time. The office, on the other hand, is not the place to voice your complaints. Reduce the feelings, whether you’re annoyed, sad, frustrated, or upset. This client of mine was going through emotional turmoil. She was depressed in her personal life and could not make a balance between her professional and personal life. She used to cry on small things at her workplace that was affecting her performance and image.
One day her friend brought her to me, and I listened to all her issues. I told her to take counselling, in which I helped her monitor her feelings. Not only did the sessions make her keep things balanced, but they also made her confident. Now, she is happy in her job and is also coming out of her depressed state.

• Master The Art Of Saying No

At work, disagreements are inevitable. There’s nothing wrong with sharing your frustration with your coworkers, but how you do so has a significant effect on your friendship. Unresolved conflicts negatively influence growth but resolve the dispute quickly and easily to foster stronger mutual interest and a more productive partnership.

I had this friend of mine who used to work in an MNC and was a fresher. She used to work a lot and meet her targets well on time. Still, her team leader used to bombard her with work and pinpoint her single mistakes. Slowly a time came when she had so much workload that it became impossible for her to meet the targets and deadlines. Finally, she was chucked out of a job.

The other day she met me, and I told her that all she needs is the art of learning to say no. If she had said no earlier, then her mates must have understood the scenario. It is the best thing to say no rather than be sweet. I counselled her, and today she has a new job and leads a team of her own.

• Become A Part Of Educational Programmes

If you lack leadership skills and don’t know where to begin, you can enrol in personalized training classes such as anger management, stress management, professional ethics, and so on. You can take classes and be an active participant to learn new things to boost confidence and come out with the best.
I recall a case in which an employee was offended at a meeting with one of his supervisors.

The employee’s resignation was handed to me, and I was deeply saddened by his decision. I wanted to meet with him to figure out why he took such drastic action. As we spoke, I heard that the employee’s resignation was due to his superior’s actions, which had such a bad effect on him that he was willing to quit his employment. As a business mentor, I encourage learning and assisting people in making good decisions. So I wanted to assist him by referring to him as a mentor or a counsellor. ‘What would you do if your father scolds you the same way your senior did?’ I asked the employee. ‘Are you about to leave the house?’

The response to the query was a resounding ‘NO.’ The employee, on the other hand, could not grasp what I was trying to say. So I came up with the idea of describing some corporate ethics and adjustment tips. I explained to him how we sometimes judge all about ourselves based on what we learn from others. Agency politics does not exist; it resides only in the imagination of an employee. Building relationships between juniors and seniors is an important aspect of working in an office.

‘A wall is made up of bricks, just like an office is made up of bricks, and having a place in the office wall, being the strong brick, depends on an employee,’ I said.
Leaving the case is never a viable option; combating it is. Many people go through this process of resigning their jobs every day for a number of reasons. Workplace tension, rigid supervisor problems, work disputes, time management, and other factors may all play a role. I still use the expression,
It is preferable to be chastised by intelligent people than to be congratulated by fools. You should help your juniors learn from you at work, and you should also be open to learning from your seniors.

The employee realized that he had made a mistake by responding too quickly. It is in this sense that workplace therapy will be helpful.
Workplace therapy is a short-term nature management service that supports all of an organization’s divisions equally. This is where interpersonal skills can help you.

• Maintain A Healthy Body Language

Body language is crucial for good communication. Nonverbal communication is powerful. When engaging with others, practice posing in a friendly manner and smiling. I met this lady at a kitty party. We were all sitting there and chatting, but this one used to smirk a little and did not talk much. Being in her 20’s, she was beautiful, but the lack of confidence in speaking with others made her sit alone. I went to her and had a word, and there she was in my office the next day.

I began helping her in her skills which grew her confidence, and now she is a successful and well-known face in the media. This makes me feel happy that just by talking to others and understanding their problems, you can work wonders in their lives.

• Show Sincere Interest In Your Employees

You spend eight hours a day with them, so it makes sense to care about them outside of work. Knowing a little about their personal lives will strengthen your bond with them.

• Communication Skills

While organizational skills are critical, communication skills significantly affect your employment and work satisfaction. There are a few things you can do to boost your ability in this area. For example, Barack Obama is known to be the most humble President of the United Nations. He made a mark in his citizens’ hearts because of the skills with which he used to interact with them. He never showed that he is the President but was very sober with everyone. On the other hand, Trump is said to be the leader who was not loved at all. Why? It is not that he was bad but because he portrayed himself in front of everyone. He was reserved and self-centred.

Must Read:: How A Life Coach Can Help You With Effective Communication Skills For Growth?

How Can Life Coaching Help You Develop Interpersonal Skills?

With validated coaching tips, you can start making great first impressions right away. You won’t have to try to set up a conversation. There are simple steps you should take to begin interacting with more people right away. Coaching will help you grow the gift of gab. Soft skills or social skills are other terms for people skills. Whatever you want to call them, they’re important for getting something out of existence.

Coaching can motivate you to develop your leadership skills so that you can:

• Overcome negative self-perceptions.
• Benefit from stronger bonds.
• Make progress with your career.
• Increase your sales.
• More people to meet
• Get much more fun.

Conclusion
At a personal level, being able to connect efficiently would help you as an individual. Imagine having a chat with someone but not having the curiosity, patience, or expertise to pay attention to what they’re doing. This really does happen.
Listening is a capability that cannot be underestimated. {Read here>> Importance of Listening Skill in Personality Development} Accepting feedback, ideas, and recommendations is critical to one’s personal growth and progress. Other people also have insightful things to discuss, and being able to hear from them can be very beneficial to you. To advise my staff and create a supportive climate, I use a number of strategies and methodologies.
Interpersonal skills can help you develop your personality. You can get to indulge in activities and be the star performer at your workplace. If you are facing issues in your workplace or want to spill your heart out with some serious issues, then I, Life Coach Ritu Singal, can be your path shower.

How often do you find that while navigating a certain road in life, at a certain juncture, you are looking at a dead end, a tunnel of total darkness, without even a speckle of hope to light up your path? Now if your answer is NEVER, you are possibly a superhuman or maybe an incarnation of God, but lesser mortals face such situations quite often. In fact, quite routinely.  How direly we all wish for a godsend to drive away the darkness to make our journey easier!  The reality is that we all hold so much power, lying dormant within us, which needs to be actualized. The only thing we need is a little nudge, a hint of direction, some support and a little coaching to make the greatest things happen right before our eyes.

Life, with its multiple pressures and obligations, often makes us overwhelmed and anxious. The continuing pressures often mount, burdening our shoulders so much that we are unable to carry another extra ounce. Yet, we reconcile to move on non-stop, hoping for a better tomorrow.  In the process, we have to face all the googlies thrown at us by life. We often fail, the quality of our life suffers and we again return to embrace the comfort of the status quo.

Exploring the uncharted possibilities, while we’re so accustomed to being in a “safe” zone and unwilling to venture out of it, is difficult. That’s when a life coach enters the scenario to hold our hand, show us the path and help us walk the first step on it.

Life coach

A life coach works in partnership with an individual to help them achieve their potential in all facets of life. We all have heard of sports coaches who, by dint of their mentorship and hard work, make champions out of ordinary sportspersons over time. Just like a professional sports player needs a coach to work on the technical and psychological aspects of their performance, we also need someone to help us evolve a structured and disciplined approach to personal development.

Regardless of the sport, no athlete would be where they are today without their all-important coaches. In fact, we in India have the venerable ancient tradition of the guru–shishya (master-pupil) relationship in almost all domains. Remember Eklavya, who coveted archery training under Guru Dronacharya but was denied the chance since he came from a “lowly” background?  And then Eklavya erected a statue of the revered guru and began practicing at its feet.

Whatever be the field of activity, profession, business or even life, we always need and seek guidance from an experienced mentor. Guru bin gyan nahin (There’s no learning without a master) is a popular saying in this context. A mentor helps us focus on our goals, learn the craft, clarify doubts, and holds our hand in tumultuous times to let us focus on our dreams.

Similarly, a life coach guides us through the most challenging times in life by helping us see things differently, refine our approach and achieve our dreams. Owing to our inherent personal biases and tendencies, we often have a blinkered viewpoint and unless a neutral third-party shows us, we fail to notice the things that hold us back from achieving our fullest potential – personally and professionally.

People need support to thrive in life. A life coach can encourage you, without passing judgment and help you perform to your fullest potential professionally, personally, and financially by helping you with your relationships, career, health goals, communication skills, debt, and spirituality. A life coach can help us improve our business, health or inter-personal relationships, depending on our specific needs. Very frequently, a life coach may have to address multiple facets of our life as they are all connected to our overall well-being.

Though being happy is a different proposition for everyone, one thing is for sure. If you are clear about your purpose, can eliminate negativity and can build meaningful relationships, happiness and fulfillment are very much within your reach. All that you need to reach there is a framework for determining your direction in life and an ally to help you get there. That ally is your life coach, who is essentially non-judgmental and asks questions to help you find solutions to the challenges you confront.

 For whom?

Life coaching isn’t meant for only under-achievers, problem-ridden and in-crisis people. It can be equally useful for those running successful businesses, enjoying good health and good relationships. Life coaches understand well that there is always a room for more and better in their clients’ lives and thus, work with all types of clients to bring about improvement in their personal, social and professional lives.

In nutshell, anyone who wants a better tomorrow needs a life coach and can benefit from life coaching. That’s why life coaching clients are ambitious people looking to enhance output and growth quickly. Thus, we find business leaders, creative types, artists, entrepreneurs, managers, homemakers, professionals, and others benefiting from the services of a life coach.

 Benefits of Life Coaching

A life coach can help you develop an actionable plan to achieve life goals by inspiring you. They do so by helping you identify your unique personal strengths and weaknesses and also by encouraging you to harness your strengths so that you can address your concerns to enjoy a healthier, fuller, more meaningful and empowering life.

A New Year isn’t the only time to think of resolutions, goals, and intentions for a better life. If you are not aware of where to start while setting and achieving goals -professional, personal, or financial – or don’t have a good record achieving them, you may consider hiring a life coach to support you in – plotting your future, overcoming personal challenges, and keeping you on track.

The following are some of the benefits of Life Coaching:

1. Getting a new, helpful perspective on things.
2. Becoming self-aware and aware of your impact on others and recognizing personal flaws, strengths, and unique attributes
3. Strong, meaningful relationships -marriage to friendships and beyond
4. Ability to define life goals and create a concrete, doable plan to achieve them.
5. A sense of purpose and direction in life. Clarity of purpose is vital to achieve your dreams.
6. Ensuring accountability so that you pursue your goals and complete your projects.
7. Discovering your best version. A life coach can help you understand your areas of greatest opportunity.
8. Unlocking latent potential hidden by prejudice or closed-mindedness. Life coaches can expose you to alternative ways of thinking and create clarity of direction in life.
9. Improved communication skills. Good life coaches are accredited NLP practitioners i.e. are armed with the most advanced communication skills.
10. Better time management by setting priorities and getting more done.
11. Eliminate/ reduce negative thoughts that hold you back. Overcome fears that limit your ability to achieve your dreams.
12. Unlocking the creativity lying dormant in you
13. Becoming open-minded, self-aware, positive with a well-rounded outlook.
14. Getting rid of bad habits
15. Handling setbacks and roadblocks to find inspiration that you never knew existed.
16. Better decision-making
17. Learning to accept criticism
18. Showing appreciation and gratitude to make people feel good.
19. Learning ways of stress control
20. Dealing with depression and anxiety
21. Improved self-confidence
22. Identifying goals and developing a vision of success
23. Evolving plans for professional and personal growth
24. Identifying beliefs that prevent you from achieving your full potential
25. Working towards achieving financial independence
26. Achieving work-life balance
27. Developing more powerful professional and personal connections
28. Professional growth/ promotion
29. Weight management / fitness
30. Setting up a new business / taking forward an existing one
31. Tackling important life/business transitions

Life Coaching and You

Life coaching is significant because you and your dreams are important. Chasing dreams or laying the foundations of a new venture or growing it or overcoming personal insecurities — all of them being   seminal tasks with their unique challenges. Life coaching can help us cushion every hit and fall, elevate us and motivate us to keep going forward.

Life coaching can change “I want” to “I have” and “I should” to “I am”.

When?

You can explore the idea of seeking the services of a life coach if

1. You don’t have a clarity of vision

Quite frequently, we may feel that we are living our life according to others’ wishes. Our goals aren’t our choice, which leads to a hazy vision. This hazy vision prevents us from gaining a clear life vision.

In such a situation, a life coach can be greatly helpful as they can help you get clarity about what you desire. The practice of vowing things from a hackneyed perspective for long can make your thinking quite predictable. But a life coach can help you look at the things from a fresh perspective and gain an entirely new understanding.

2. You are clueless about where and how to start

Each of us faces times when we find ourselves clueless as to where to begin. Undoubtedly, we would love to achieve a goal but we may be too helpless to begin somewhere. Big goals have the potential to overwhelm and deter us from taking any concrete action.  Gaining a clarity of vision in the middle of such helplessness can be daunting. It is precisely in such cases that the person concerned requires a life coach to assess the situation and help us take action towards the realization of our dreams.

3. Your limiting self-beliefs hold you back

Our limiting self-beliefs can often become roadblocks as they prevent us from pursuing things in life by holding us back. A life coach can identify such restraining beliefs and help us go forward.

To consider a common example, if you’ve heard throughout life that slimming down isn’t your thing, which you have begun believing in as true, how can you ever hope to do so? So much so that this belief has the potential to override your ability to actually do it. In such situations, a life coach can work with you to single out and overcome such limiting beliefs.

4. You feel gone and out

If you are feeling completely lost or hopeless, you need a life coach to help you. You certainly need someone to rescue you out of it, who can help you get back the lost confidence and push you towards your dreams.

5. You believe the spark is gone

It’s quite possible that life may have delivered you a big blow in personal or professional life, which could take away all your passion for life. In such cases, with all the passion gone, you certainly need someone to elevate you and help move on. You need help with identifying the current issues and the past events that have caused it. Unless it is done, regaining the old passion can be a difficult proposition.

6. You have trouble with goals

Let’s admit – achieving goals is often difficult for most of us. Not just that setting goals is difficult, pursuing them is even more difficult. In such cases, a life coach can help you define your goals and look for powerful reasons for you to achieve them.

In addition, a life coach can offer a brand new perspective on the reasons behind your inability to achieve big goals in the past. They can reorganize your life so as to empower you and make you accountable by being with you so that you see things through.

7. You’re too anxious and stressed

Admittedly, we all learn a lot from our failures. But having them as a frequent theme in life is no joke. Given our responsibilities in terms of work, family and social life, we often become too stressed. Certainly not a good feeling! In such situations, a life coach can offer the right perspective and help us get over such negative emotions.

8. Your life is in a total mess

A troubled marriage, bad health, a shattered career or finances – all have the potential to make it hard for us to navigate tough times. Whether it’s finances, health, relationships, career or business, we often have a hard time seeing through the dense fog of complexities. So, if you have a feeling that your life is a complete mess, you may need a life coach to help you through such difficult times. A life coach can help you cross such rivers of sorrow to help you reach the shores of hope.

9. You are defeated by time-wasters

Getting sidetracked in life is easy as we all have bad habits. These bad habits are hard to quit, making it difficult to manage time to make progress. These time-wasters can debilitate us totally from within and prevent us from achieving anything in life.

A life coach can help you improve your life at so many levels includes your habits. Considering the fact that that habits guide most of our behavior, good habits can create a path to discipline and achievement.

10. You lack support for your dreams

Without the support of those surrounding you, it can be difficult to focus on our goals. With your social support system i.e. friends and family not by your side, losing sight of the bigger picture can be easy. It’s very much expected as dealing with negativity from all around us stops our forward movement.

In such situations, a life coach can be your support system and their experience and knowledge can be invaluable in helping you achieve your goals.

Limitations

Despite there being many benefits of life coaching in terms of substantial, positive results, it does have its own limitations. We must have an understanding of what a life coach can’t do. Here are some situations in which life coaching may not be helpful:

1. Instant results

If you desire instant life transformation, sorry, you are barking up the wrong tree. Just like building a business, it needs time and commitment to produce results.

2. Mental health

Life coaches are not therapists or psychologists. No doubt, they are duly trained to ask you questions and help you examine your mindset and tide over obstacles, but they can’t treat problems like depression or anxiety, which may be the cause of / a precipitating factor behind your problems. In all such cases, it’s much better to seek out a psychotherapist/psychologist.

On the zig-zag paths of life, we often find ourselves surrounded by total darkness, with there being no lamp post to guide our path. If only we had a flicker of light to illuminate our path, our journey would become much easier.  In fact, each of us holds so much dormant power within that needs to be let out. All that we need is just a little nudge, a bit of direction, some support, a little coaching, and we can expect the greatest things to happen right before us.

With multiple pressures and obligations, we often feel overwhelmed and anxious. The pressures mount, putting more burden on shoulders that can’t bear another ounce. Yet, we soldier on unrelentingly in the hope of a better tomorrow.  We move on and face all the curveballs that life throws at us. Consequently, our life suffers, its quality declines, we fail and again embrace the comfort of the status quo.

That’s why we all need a good life coach at some point in time. It’s difficult to explore the unexplored possibilities when we’re so used to working in a “safe” zone and aren’t ready to venture out of it.

Who’s a life coach?

We all know about sports coaches who mould sportspeople into champions. Our favourite athletes wouldn’t be where they are today without their exceptional sports coaches. In fact, India has had a rather highly revered ancient guru–shishya (master-pupil) relationship in many domains. Remember Eklavya, who coveted archery training under Guru Dronacharya? But it’s not only sports, in our profession or business or even life, but we also seek guidance from some experienced mentors. Such mentors help us navigate tumultuous times to let us focus on our goals and dreams. But not everyone is lucky enough to have access to such a mentor. That’s where a life coach enters the picture.

A life coach guides you through life’s most difficult times to help you – see things differently, refine your approach and achieve your dreams. Often, we suffer from a blinkered vision and unless an objective third-party points them to us, we fail to notice the things that hold us back, personally and professionally.

Depending on your needs, you may seek a life coach to help improve your business, health or relationships. Frequently, such a coach may work on multiple facets of your life as they are all connected to your well-being.

In order to become a Certified Professional Life Coach, one needs to undergo extensive training in asking the right questions, communicating effectively and getting to the heart of your needs and desires.

For whom?

Life coaching isn’t restricted to under-achievers or crisis-ridden people. It can equally well help those running a successful business, who are healthy and have good relationships. Life coaches know there is always room for more in their clients’ lives and thus, they work with all types of clients.

Anyone who wants more tomorrow than they have today Needs a Life Coach and should consider life coaching. Typically, life coaching clients are ambitious people wanting to improve output and growth and to do them quickly. Therefore, we have business leaders, creative types, actors, entrepreneurs, executives, homemakers, managers, professionals, small business owners and others using the services of a life coach.

What do Life Coaches do?

Life coaches help you create an actionable plan to attain life goals by inspiring and guiding you. They help you identify your personal strengths and weaknesses and also encourage you to leverage your strengths to address your concerns, thereby helping you enjoy a fuller, meaningful and empowering life.

Life coaches’ work domain includes:

1. Identifying goals and creating a successful vision
2. Formulating plans for professional and personal growth
3. Identifying beliefs that hold you back
4. Working towards financial independence
5. Achieving work-life balance
6. Effective communication
7. Forging a more powerful professional and personal connection
8. Improving relationships
9. Professional advancement/ promotion
10. Weight loss / fitness
11. Setting up a new business /  or growing an old one
12. Handling  important life/business transition

The coach-client relationship is more of a creative partnership than being a one-way street. After your first meeting with a life coach, you will be able to:

1. Create a vision for what you want
2. Use your coach’s expertise to modify goals as per needs
3. Facilitate your self-discovery and growth
4. Nurture strategies as per your goals, personality and vision
5. Foster accountability for higher productivity

 A life coach has the essential ability to be non-judgmental and can ask questions to help you find solutions to the challenges you face. A Certified Professional Life Coach is duly trained to enable this process.

Click here to read:: Life-Changing Benefits of Life Coaching!

Life Coaching and You

Life coaching is important because you and your dreams are important. Chasing your dreams, building the foundations of a new venture growing it or motivating yourself to overcome insecurities — each one is a monumental task with its own challenges. Life coaching helps us cushion every fall, elevate us and motivate us to keep going on.

Life coaching changes “I want” to “I have” and “I should” to “I am”.

When?

You need to have a life coach if you’re serious about success but

1. You don’t know where and how to start

There are times when we are clueless as to where to begin. Of course, we would like to achieve something, but we are too helpless to start. Big goals can often overwhelm us.  Getting clarity about things amidst this helplessness is difficult. In such cases, the person concerned needs a life coach to assess the personal situation and help take action towards dream fulfilment.

2. You lack a clear vision

Often, we feel we are living our lives according to others’ wishes. We do have goals, but they’re not our choice, which leads to a lack of clarity in vision. Being confused, we are unable to have a clear vision of life.

A life coach can be of great help in such a situation. He/she can help you become clear about what you want. Looking at things from a worn-out perspective for years makes your thinking quite predictable, making you think on the same old lines. But a life coach can help you develop a fresh, new perspective of looking at things.

3. You feel hopeless and gone

If you feel totally lost or hopeless, you may seek out a life coach. In such a case, it becomes a necessity to have someone to elevate you. The life coach can help you regain the lost confidence and push you closer to your dreams.

4. Limiting self-beliefs hold you back

Our limiting self-beliefs often prevent us from following through with things in life because such beliefs hold us back. A life coach can be instrumental in identifying such limiting beliefs, thereby helping you go forward.

For instance, if you’ve been told all your life that you can’t have a chiselled body, and you also believe it to be true, how can you ever develop such a body in reality? This belief will override your ability to actually do it. In such situations, a life coach can help you identify and overcome such limiting beliefs.

5. The passion is gone

God forbid, you may have seen a big setback in your personal or professional life, which took away all your passion for life. With all the passion and spark gone, you certainly need someone to help move you along. That someone can help identify the issues you face today and the past events that have led to it. Unless it is done, getting the passion back can be difficult.

6. You have trouble achieving goals

Achieving goals is hard for most of us. Not only is goal setting difficult, but following through with them is even more difficult. A life coach can help you define your goals and find powerful reasons for you to achieve them.

Besides, a life coach can give you a fresh perspective on the reasons behind your failure to achieve big goals in the past. He/she can reorganize your life to empower you and make you accountable by being with you to ensure you see things through.

7. You’re overwhelmed with anxiety and stress

Though we all learn a lot from failures, having them as a frequent theme in life is no picnic. Given our responsibilities related to work, family and social life, we often become stressed. Not a good feeling! A life coach can offer the perspective and help to help you get over such disheartening emotions.

8. Everything in life is in a mess

God forbid, if you have a troubled marriage, bad health, a shattered career or finances, it’s hard to make it through tough times. So whether it’s finances, health, relationships, career or business, we often find it hard to see through the fog of complexities.

9. You are sidetracked by time-wasters

Getting sidetracked in life is as easy as we all have bad habits. These bad habits are hard to quit, making it difficult to manage time to make progress. These time-wasters can debilitate us totally from within and prevent us from achieving anything in life.

A life coach can help you improve your life at so many levels including your habits {click here to read our latest blog on “Get All Your Problems Solved with the Best Life Coach“}. Considering the fact that habits guide most of our behaviour, good habits can create a path to discipline and achievement.

10. Lack of support for your dreams

Without the support of those around you, it’s difficult to focus on our goals. With your friends and family not supporting you, losing sight of the bigger picture is common. It’s quite natural as dealing with negativity from all around us stops our progress and forward movement.

Enter a life coach and he/she can be your support system, no matter what. A life coach’s experience and knowledge is invaluable instrument to help you achieve your goals.

Limitations

Though life coaching can get you substantial results, it isn’t for everyone. We must understand what a life coach doesn’t do. Here are a few scenarios in which life coaching may not work:

1. Instantaneous results

If you’re looking for an instant transformation, you are barking the wrong tree. Like building a business and making your masterpiece life, this one needs time and commitment to give results.

2. Mental health

It’s important to remember that life coaches are not therapists or psychologists. They are trained to ask questions and help you examine your mindset and overcome obstacles, but they can’t treat problems like depression or anxiety, which may be the cause/ precipitating factor behind some of your problems. In such cases, it’s better to see a psychotherapist/psychologist.