Have you ever wondered what a coach does in an average day? While I haven’t done any research on the subject, I can tell you about a day in my life. I’m not sure if I even consider myself an average coach or not. I do not coach people all day long—not in the traditional sense, anyway. I’ve cultivated multiple streams of income, some where get to help clients while sleeping when they purchase something I’ve written online and in larger groups than one-on-one coaching does. No two days are the same.

I try to sleep at least six-and-a-half hours each night, as clocked by my Fitbit, which translates into about seven hours in bed. I use my first waking hours to read my email—including the Skimm which fills me in on the previous day’s news—and visit my social media channels. When you are a coach and the Internet generates your customers, you need a way to be visible to those who haven’t met you; I maintain social media profiles so my customers can get to know me better. My Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts get updated daily, and I’ll sometimes post to LinkedIn. Do I do this myself? No. I write the content for my social media before sending it to my social media person who adds any finishing touches and posts them for me. However, engagement is my job. When people comment and share, it’s my job, pleasure and honor to respond and not leave them hanging.

After that, I exercise, read and meditate. Then my workday begins. My mission is to help people get along better with the important people in their lives, including themselves, at home and at work. There are several activities I do toward that end. One thing I do is write a blog post each week. Have you noticed? You’re reading one now. It is designed to help people like you find relevant content for the things you are looking for. Consequently, it also drives traffic to my website, which is a positive thing and helps with search engine optimization.

Speaking is my real joy and passion. While I love one-on-one coaching sessions, what I really love is having an impact on an audience, whether that is training in Choice Theory, breakout workshops or keynotes deliveries. It helps me reach larger numbers of people while taking my message to deeper levels. Consequently, I’m maximizing my time toward fulfilling my mission.

What audiences do I speak to? Most of my speaking is training people in Choice Theory. It’s something I truly love; it has helped me through many challenging times and resonates deeply with the people I share it with. It’s work I would do for free and I always love it. It’s so much fun for me to watch light bulbs going off in people’s heads as they realize how much they are steeped in the misery of external control.

I also speak with military members and their families. This is something I began when my son, Kyle, was on his second deployment. There are congressionally mandated Yellow Ribbon Reintegration programs for all deployed service members before, during and after their deployments. It is during these programs that I keynote and present breakout sessions about topics important to them: stress management, reintegration, emotional cycle of deployment, anger management, parenting and others. I enjoy meeting the people in our country who voluntarily sacrifice everything so others can enjoy freedom.

Some other things I do are train counselors and staff at a drug and alcohol rehab, train teachers in school, teach social service workers to deliver the parenting program I created so parents can get along better with their children, provide workshops designed for couples to take their relationship to deeper levels and facilitate Choosing Me Now workshops. In 2020, I plan to provide weekly podcasts and monthly webinars. So, you can see that coaching isn’t something I do every day—or is it? I coach in every aspect of my work. The only thing that changes is the method of delivery and the size of my audience. In fact, I don’t think I could stop coaching even if I wanted to.

I have learned, applied, integrated and expanded the concepts of Choice Theory in my own life. I am a walking, talking, breathing example Choice Theory. Am I perfect at it? Absolutely not, but I work to get better at it every day. I find that as I align every aspect of my life with Choice Theory, those people who need it most are attracted to my work. It helps when people can see what I teach in who I am.

I genuinely love most people. I prioritize relationships above everything in my life. I work hard to avoid trying to control other people. I work hard to avoid being controlled. Do I network? You bet I do, but it never feels like networking—I’m just spending time with my friends. Will they refer to me? I really don’t care. Their value to me is in the friendship; anything else is a bonus.

So, what is an average day in the life of a coach? I don’t really know. But my average day consists of self-care activities and experiencing great joy doing the work I am passionate about with people in my life I genuinely care about. I love my life and I can’t imagine living any other way.

Should you become a coach? I couldn’t tell you. It really depends on what you want and the version of a coach you want to be. I know for me, my personality is definitely well-suited to my work. I have a high need for freedom and have created a lifestyle for myself that is completely free. I have a high need for connection which serves me well in this work because I’m also with people. My low need for safety & security helps me through the time when finances are questionable. If I didn’t have at least a moderate need for significance, I wouldn’t have the drive to stand in front of audiences to share my passion or build a successful business.

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