Do Teenagers These Days Need a Life Coach?

Posted on June 3, 2010 by nigel

Someone recently asked the question: do teenagers these days need a life coach? Interesting question that is actually 3 questions rolled into one. Let’s explore them together.

Teenagers ‘these days‘ As many of you will know, if you use a phrase like ‘when I was your age…‘  it doesn’t matter what you say after that because your teen has already zoned out. They are firmly convinced that most adults have never ever been their age. I explain to them that even their parents were teenagers once – BUT – they weren’t teenagers in 2010. Young people are facing life issues that weren’t heard of when I was their age. Many more of them, for example, are growing up in blended families with one distant parent. Drugs are more available today than back in my time. Pressure to perform at school appears greater too as you almost need a college degree to get any job. There Read More

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Where are you heading?

Posted on May 30, 2010 by nigel

Recently I met with a 16 year old girl who is trying to decide whether to prematurely end her time in high school [she has 1.5 years to go], to finish this year and defer her final year or to continue on and finish year 12 along with her peer group. That’s an easy decision you may say but it is only easy if you know where you want your life to go.

Stephen Covey in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People states that we should begin with the end in mind. The Cheshire Cat informed Alice that she could turn any way she liked at the crossroads because, as she didn’t know where she was going, it didn’t matter. Without a definite destination there is no preferred route. It reminds me of a pre-school activity we used to play entitled ‘taking a pencil for a walk’. To the untrained eye it looked like a scribble but to the bright eyed youngster it was an imaginary journey whose route was permanently recorded by the pencil.

The Read More

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A complex mixture

Posted on May 23, 2010 by nigel

In some ways I am highly similar to every other human being on the planet and yet at the same time I feel unique. Similar in physical characteristics [the standard two arms, two legs, one mouth etc.]; similar emotionally in that I feel happy and content and then anxious and frustrated; similar socially in that [as a male of the species] I have friends but equally can live extended periods without them -and so on.

I am similar too in that I have dreams, aspirations, goals, desires – don’t we all? But I think I am unique in the blend of interests that motivate me to going the extra mile, to serving others to helping people find a better way.

I am heavily committed to young people – giving them opportunities to find themselves, achieve their wildest dreams and to have the best life they could ever have. I understand enough to know that parents are the greatest influence in a young person’s life and therefore I want to support them in their Read More

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