How to Become a Life Coach

1. Teach college, high school, more college, and tutor for thirty years.

2. Understand, recognize, empathize with your clients without judging, enabling or losing your sense of humor.

3. Never give up on anybody. Ever.

4. Listen. Listen.

5. Have your own complicated, frustrating, fabulous child.

6. Pay attention to evolving pedagogy, theories about addiction, depression, and fear of success or failure.

7. Research procrastination.

8. Notice patterns. Good ones encourage. Bad ones identify and suggest ways to change.

9. Give lots of handouts.

10. Expect those handouts to be ignored.

11. Give more handouts.

12. Offer support from every direction: academic, emotional, social, recovery, motherly. Yes, motherly without the history, guilt or secret wish your child will be very successful.

13. Emphasize happiness, freedom and growth.

14. Get excited about art, academics, exercise, and nature.

15. Know your clients – accept who they are now, find ways to discover their unspoken needs, respect their privacy.

16. Be willing to be uncool.

17. Admit when you’re wrong.

18. Lead with love.

19. Establish clear boundaries and expectations.

20. Coach yourself – be healthy, happy, productive, sober-ish, aware, and willing to be honest.