All of the above...and none of the above. Like other coaches, I help you reach personal goals. But I specialize in teaching skills and giving advice to get you unstuck emotionally, and they don't.

If most personal-growth Coaches were more like the best sports coaches I had in high school, I'd be all for it. However, they appear to be briefly-trained, personal "project leaders" who most often do their work using brief phone calls.

Life Coaches encourage life balance between your work, dating, family, health, spirituality, and more. They also help create and prioritize goals in those categories, they ask you to show them when goals are completed, they give you an "atta-Girl!" when you complete a goal, and so on. Life coaches are friendly, encouraging, and care about your success. But they can also be somewhat detached, asking "Do you want to recommit to the goal or drop it?", without actively giving advice. Finally, some coaches specialize. So, there are Career Coaches, Dating Coaches, Sports-Performance Coaches, Executive Coaches, and so on.

Most coaches focus almost exclusively on the organizational part of reaching goals, and my approach places more emphasis on developing effective emotional approaches to goal completion—for example, decreasing urges to avoid and increasing motivation. As a former manager in a Fortune 500 company, I can either do someone's project leading for them, or I can help them to remove obstacles from being their own, best project leader. I'd rather do the latter.

A second difference is that my experience is broad. In addition to having advanced training in emotion transformation, I have expertise with dating and relationship strategy, Career and Executive Coaching, improving educational performance, helping to plan for retirement, and more: click here for examples the types of coaching I provide.

A third difference is that I'm not shy about offering my opinions and advice. Just like a personal trainer who sees you putting too much weight on the bar or a financial advisor who is concerned about a risky investment, I lobby strongly and sometimes emotionally—you'll always know my honest opinion! After speaking up about my concern for you, I will honor your decision, even if it is different than what I advised: I'll quickly shift my focus and guide you on the path that you've chosen.

I have successfully worked with clients whose Life Coaches blamed them when goal monitoring and cheerleading alone didn't lead to success. Instead, my skill-building approach was quite effective for them. I welcome such clients.

...and I welcome you to come on into the office, have a relaxing cup of coffee or tea, and see for yourself that we're a good fit for working together. Meeting with me on the phone or online works, too! Why not give me a call at 410-949-7888 or email me to schedule an appointment today? You'll be glad you did!