Research Paper By Debra Ross
(Life Coach, BERMUDA)

Introduction

The inspiration to write this research paper comes from the positive impact that self-help literature has had on my life and on my coaching style.

This paper will illustrate how important positive thinking is to coaching and shows how our beliefs influence us as coaches and can affect the coaching outcome.

I will attempt to bring to the reader’s attention, how books, people, beliefs and circumstances influence who we are, who we have become and what we ultimately bring to the world as human beings and how we as coaches can use these influences to make us better coaches.

I believe that reading can help us become more positive and help us become better coaches. The impartial neutral way that the author presents his or her ideas can teach us to explore and cultivate skills which we can then bring to our coaching presence. In this paper I explore the messages contained in several pieces of literature and look at how I think they relate to coaching.

How Reading & Coaching Relate

Reading allows us to hear the message contain within without having to consider anyone else’s comments, or judgments. Our clients expect the same from us, to listen without judging.

When we read we get to examine the ideas contained within the pages and accept or reject the ideas presented. We get to take full ownership and responsibility for the inspirations that we found within. The author seeks to encourage us but does make any judgement regarding how we put their ideas to use. Like the author, our job as a coach is to help our clients find their own inspiration but not get attached to how the client chooses to move forward.