What Is Coaching?

People define coaching in many different ways. Some even confuse it with mentoring, counseling, psychotherapy and consulting. Coaching is none of the above. It is a process in which the Coach empowers the Client to gain clarity of mind, find solutions, make realistic plans and move towards specific goals. The coach does that by listening actively to what the client has to say, by asking powerful questions and through holding the client accountable for his or her actions.

Coaching the inner/mental games first started for some tactical sports such as tennis and golf. Then, companies and corporations discovered the value of coaching and started using it for their high potential employees and executives. For individuals, coaching has demonstrated great value in career transitions, business start-ups, changing habits, finding life partners, preparing for auditions and job interviews, making speeches and presentations and many more. In summary, anything that requires creative thinking, strategic planning and seamless execution can benefit from coaching.

Coaching Philosophy

Pejman's coaching philosophy is quite simple: Think, Plan and Execute.

To achieve anything, you need to start by thinking. Thinking about who you are, what your values are and what direction you are headed in life. Also, you need to have strong core life skills. Skills such as perseverance, consistency, reliability, discipline, ability to focus, self-control, being organized and ability to communicate effectively with other people. In essence, thinking is a great tool for generating ideas, evaluating alternatives and analyzing the best route of action.

Pejman is a firm believer in planning; from the big picture to the details. Also, one must have conviction in order to succeed and achieve anything of importance. If you don't believe in what you do and more importantly in your abilities, how can you motivate yourself to work tirelessly for weeks, months and even years towards your goals?

Through working with Pejman, you will develop one or more plans of action. Each plan of action is unique; however, all of them have these three characteristics in common: they are moderate, flexible and balanced. Moderate because if you spend too much time and effort on just one aspect of your life, you are likely to lose sight of other important aspects and miss the bigger picture. Flexible because life is fluid and not everything will happen according to our original plans. If we don't prepare ourselves for changes along the way, we are setting ourselves up for failure. And balanced because there are lots of ups and downs in various aspects of our lives and if we keep a good balance (for example between work, family, hobbies and self), we can use those resources to compensate for temporary setbacks in one or more aspect of our lives. Balance, flexibility and moderation are keys to sustainable success, happiness and peace.

To read more about Pejman's way of thinking, please visit his blog.

Coaching Sessions

People come to coaching with different goals, needs and levels of commitments. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all type of coaching. Individuals typically benefit most from weekly sessions (each 50 minutes) for 3 to 6 months. Corporate clients might prefer biweekly but longer sessions over the same period of time. After the initial session, the goals for the coaching engagement will be determined and you will know how many sessions would be required to achieve your goals. Coaching sessions can be conducted in person, over the phone and via Skype.