If you’ve ever reached the end of the work day only to realise that you haven’t really done anything worthwhile today, here’s what you can do about it.

If you are a stay-at-home mum or dad, loving it but also worried about standing still and stagnating with your working life, here’s what you can do about it.

Do you find yourself saying to yourself:

  • ‘I am so bored with my job’
  • ‘I feel like I am standing still, stagnating’  
  • I am becoming lazy at work and not reaching my potential’

Here’s what you can do about it.

Even if we aren’t saying it out loud, many of us are only going through the motions at work. Another day, another meeting. If employee engagement surveys are anything to go by, then these thoughts are quite common. At the end of the day, there is no ping pong table, espresso coffee machine or workplace yoga that makes up for not having a sense of purpose and achievement in your working life.  Is what you do on a daily basis really making a difference to the world?

While we might be tempted to shrug this off as par for the course, losing your drive and passion, and excitement for your work poses a number of risks for your health and happiness:

  1. Among the barrage of other people’s priorities, you are missing out.
  2. The overwhelm, stress, and frustration of not being fully engaged and excited about your life has a massive impact on your own health long-term.
  3. Short-term decisions, like taking a holiday, shopping and the like, are taken when a long-term solution would be better for you.

“The problem for many of us is not that we have aimed too high and missed, but rather that we have aimed too low and hit”.  – Michelangelo.

Given the immense challenges facing people today in terms of their health and wellbeing, and the confusing and contradictory health messages we are all constantly bombarded with, the world is in desperate need of more health coaches.

Why we need more health coaches

It’s time to get real about preventative medicine – and by that, I don’t mean more screening programs. Let’s go further upstream and look at the root causes of disease in the first place.

I’m a 48-year-old working mum of three and today I squeezed in a mammogram on top of the usual kids, school, work, after-school sport, my own fitness (CrossFit today… look at that halo shining!) and getting dinner sorted for the family (kebabs from the new kebab shop on our street… dimming halo!).

The technician who did my screen was so friendly and nice it was remarkable. As she squeezed and prodded my breasts into the big cold machine she was genuinely so nice about it. Everybody was nice… in the waiting room there was a big basket of chocolates – ‘help yourself’, said the receptionist! 

Ummm, I was a little unsettled by this and the nagging question of ‘Isn’t poor diet a known contributing factor to getting breast cancer?’. Would you give out cigarettes at a lung cancer screen?

But the louder and more persistent thought was how come we are so focused on breast cancer detection as opposed to preventing it in the first place? #Preventioniscure

Another newspaper headline screams, ‘Higher than predicted hospital admissions’ and, no, this is not the annual flu season spike come early. This is about more people getting sicker from the complications of chronic lifestyle disease and needing hospital care.

Are we being lulled into a false sense of security by thinking that having an annual or bi-annual mammogram is enough to protect us from breast cancer? Mammograms don’t prevent breast cancer. Here is what does prevent breast cancer:

  • Not drinking alcohol or only very little.
  • Being a healthy weight.
  • Eating a diet high in whole foods that have been minimally interfered with by humans (a low human interference HI factor).
  • Being fit and physically active.

These are all lifestyle-related factors. As a society, we seem to be well set up with screening programs to detect ill-health but where is the lifestyle medicine? Where are all the health coaches to help people make lasting health behaviour change that is needed?

So, if your body just doesn’t fit into the corporate world anymore, or you are looking for more meaning and purpose, then health coaching could be the change you have been longing for.

Health coaching is the best job on earth – the most needed job.

One of the key roles of a coach is to help clients take the time to reflect, and follow through, on achieving their personal wellbeing goals. A coach doesn’t provide all the answers. Instead, they ask questions that help clarify what needs to be done and then help with accountability.

  • You can work from anywhere.
  • Work your own hours.
  • Grow your confidence by getting in the game on a part-time basis to start with.
  • Health coaching is a business that you can truly be proud of.

Here are 3 of the most common questions we get asked here at PreKure about health coaching:

1. How do I know if I will make a good health coach?

Are you passionate about health and wellbeing? Do you like to help other people and find it easy to build relationships? Are you a good listener? If so, health coaching could be for you! Health coaches believe in people. They believe that people can change, and they bring optimism and efficiency to the change process.

2. As a health coach, who is your typical client?

It really depends on what your niche (as a health coach) is going to be. It is important to understand what unique strengths you have as a potential health coach, and then you must really understand who your ideal target market would be.

Some examples of typical clients are:

  • Middle-aged women going through peri-menopause and struggling with weight, sleep, hormones, etc.
  • Millennial women having a hard time finding balance in their lives.
  • Middle-aged men looking to lose weight and get fit .
  • Retired couples wanting to age well and stay off medication.
  • Cancer survivors wanting to stay in remission and be as healthy as possible.

3. Is setting up my own health coach business achievable?

Absolutely yes! We recommend that you begin by doing this on a part-time basis and then progress from there. Start with just ONE client and a set time-frame of, say, 12 weeks to achieve a specific outcome with them. Share that you are training to become a health coach (and why this interests you) with your social circles so people know what you are doing. Set clear goals. What is the income goal you’d like to meet through health coaching and how much time can you give it? Start with attainable goals that are flexible and will build your confidence. Remember, it is about progress, not perfection, so it doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing when it comes to health coaching. You can do it on the side to begin with until you build your skills and reputation.

So, what’s stopping you?

Many of us suffer from what I call imposter syndrome. ‘I don’t know enough’. ‘My health isn’t perfect enough yet’. ‘I’m not skinny enough!’ This last one makes me furious… people come in all shapes and sizes and we need our health coaches to reflect this as well. If you are someone who is not perfect with their own health and wellbeing, then please do consider being a health coach – so many clients need your real experience and your empathy and #metoo!

Don’t put your happiness on hold. 

 Be wary of putting your happiness on hold… ‘I will just get through another year’, or ‘I am too busy right now’. Sound familiar?

Now’s good. What can you do today to make tomorrow better?

Remember, progress makes for energy. Burnout comes when you are not on purpose.