Shape up with life coaches They’re there to help you find answers –
objectively — By Joan Morris
When Rich Fettke first began his coaching practice, he found most people mistook him for a personal trainer. Now, Fettke says, most people he meets know exactly what he does as a living, and a good portion of them have actually used a personal coach.
Fettke, who lives in Lafayette, is a former bodybuilder and a still-active extreme athlete. He has jumped off cliffs and out of airplanes, scaled mountains and dived off bridges. Few things frighten him, yet he has patience and understanding for those of us whose palms start to sweat at the thought of speaking in public.
Last month, Fettke published "Extreme Success," a book that details a seven-part program for "success without struggle." Based largely on his experience with coaching, the book outlines ways of reaching goals by creating your own luck, developing the courage to change and using partnerships and alliances.
Most people are looking for something, Fettke says: money, personal fulfillment, spirituality. Most people, he says, could use a guide toward finding those things.
"Today we are bombarded with so many tasks, to-dos, e-mail, voice mail, pagers, the kids," Fettke says. "The world is speeded up, and it’s almost like everyone has attention deficit disorder. A coach helps people see what’s important to them. To look at what they are doing that they don’t want to do, and what they want to do more of."
"It’s not a thing where the coach says here, this is what you need to do," Fettke says. "They have to come to it open and ready to make some changes, willing to tell the truth and willing to do what they say they’ll do. They have to do the work."