I do a lot of work training and certifying life coaches and this question comes up all the time,
"Dr. Paul, when do I launch my life coaching business?" There's a few things you need to be
aware of. Feeling ready may well be an illusion. I think back over my career when did I truly feel
ready to launch whatever my next project was? This is true as a parent too when do you really feel
ready to have kids. It's kind of a similar thing. When we're doing something new or unprecedented in
our own life, we don't have any psychological data to tell us when we're ready. So, I'm a big fan of
launching just before you feel ready. That's going to strike a little bit of terror, a little bit of
fear and anxiety into your heart. That's okay. That's normal. If you're not feeling stretched,
you're probably not thinking big enough. Because you're still in your comfort zone. I think we're
either in our comfort zone or our growth zone. So, you're going to feel some of the anxieties
that naturally come by not feeling completely ready. That's okay. Acknowledging what we just
talked about how you never really truly feel ready for something that's unprecedented in your life,
there are also reasons and seasons that need to be acknowledged. Let's talk about the seasons first.
We go through different seasons of our life. Have you noticed this?
If you have young children at home, that's a season that has to be acknowledged and honored.
It takes more demand on your time to take care of young kids than if you're at my stage or season
of life where all my kids are grown. So, those seasons will determine some of the timing for you.
Look, if you're in an important season of your life, it's not necessary to stretch out of that
and try to create something that artificially interrupts those seasons. Now, let's talk about
reasons because reasons will come up. In fact, if I were to ask you well "Why haven't you launched
already?" You might give me 5, 6, 12, 50 reasons why you haven't launched. "Well, the hard thing
is..." Or "The problem is..." See, your mind can come up with 15 reasons not to do anything.
Let's not let those reasons become excuses. So, honor the seasons of your life but don't
let the reasons become excuses. I mentioned a word earlier that deserves a little more
attention and the word is stretch. If you've ever gone for a run or done a hard physical workout,
it's good to stretch before you do that. Now, the stretch lengthens out the muscles. It warms things
up, it gets the circulation going and it prevents the injuries that are likely to occur if you
don't stretch first. I think from a psychological standpoint, the stretch is when we get out of that
comfort zone into the growth zone and we will feel stretched. Now, I warned you earlier that
you're not going to feel fully ready. That's totally normal. You will feel some anxiety
kicking in when you don't feel ready. What if we just simply reframe that as the stretch?
Understand that what you're about to do is going to stretch you. If it doesn't,
then probably you need a bigger goal. Feel the stretch and do it anyway.
This is your opportunity to strengthen and get the circulation going and create some flow.
This is going to bless your life in the lives of other people. So, embrace the stretch.
Most of the people that I've coached personally who successfully launch a life coaching practice
feel called to it. Pause and think for a minute where that resonates with you. Do
you feel like there is some greater purpose for you? Like there's something you can contribute
to the human family if you were to get out of your own way and really stretch? One of my
colleagues put it this way, she said, "If God put this in my heart, who am I to deny this?
Or to ignore it?" Well, when you put it in those terms, this is the level I think of importance
and purpose that successful life coaches feel. It's something that they actually are designed
to do. There's one final consideration that I just really want you to pull into your mind
and harp for a minute. This is not about you. Think about it. If you were to actually show up
and do your thing, your superpower that has you feeling called to this and you were to do it well,
whose lives would improve as a result of that? It's about them, not you. It's about the people
whose lives are lifted or elevated or enhanced or enriched because you showed up and you did this.
When you're thinking about "Is it time? When do I actually launch this thing?" Well,
how long do you want to keep them waiting? It's not about you, it's about them. I hope
this video has helped you to hone in on what you need to consider to make this launch.
I'm happy to help you personally with this. Jump on a discovery call and we can talk about exactly
where you are and what might be next for you in your journey. Drpauljenkins.com/breakthroughcall.