Being coachable is one of life's most important skills and attitudes, whether or not you're an athlete. If you're any kind of person who wishes to grow, learn, improve, excel or peak perform, you should care about whether or not you're coachable. In other words, being coachable relates to a happy, productive life. It means you're ready to do what it takes to change, transform, improve or excel, whatever that means for you and your situation.
People who benefit from being coachable:
Recreational or competitive athletes
Employee at a job they enjoy
Business owner or entrepreneur
Student (of anything at any age)
Public speaker
Author
Fitness instructor
Coach (Yes, coaches need to be coachable)
Child
Parent
Are you getting that anyone could be on this list?
There're about a million more examples, because being coachable is for everyone. Being coachable means you're open to listening to feedback, able to receive constructive criticism without taking it personally, willing to take a look at your own performance in order to improve it, and generally a super-badass-enthusiastic go getter type of person.
Let's take a look at the alternative attitude just for comparison's sake. Someone who's not being coachable will display many different kinds of behaviors, including but not limited to:
1. Always thinking they're right
2. Not wiling to learn new things
3. Not open to change
4. Negativity
5. Pessimism
6. Eye rolling during constructive criticism (that one's in here for my teenage readers)
7. Inability to self reflect
8. Don't care about improving their life or relationships
9. Disrespectful of others and/or their opinions
10. Generally unwilling to learn, grow or do what it takes to improve
11. Putting other people down
There are so many more...
When you look at the characteristics of someone who's coachable it's easy to see that they're the individuals who'll succeed in life when it comes to health, happiness and attitude. The way that coachable people interact in the world continually helps them when they're striving for growth, learning and success. The attitude of someone who's coachable is easy going, open and receptive, making anything they want to do in their life seem doable. They become an inspiration to those around them because they get results.
I remember my high school soccer coach giving us a lecture one day after practice about this very thing. We sat around him in the grass and listened as he told us the secrets of being coachable. At least some of us listened. He was talking about soccer, but actually what I realize now is he was talking about life. If someone you respect, admire and look up to is trying to help you by pointing out an area of weakness or opportunity for improvement, listen up - it might be the very thing you need to hear to achieve that skill, finish that project, or take action for that grand, new adventure you seek.
There's one thing that being coachable is not, and that's weak or disempowered. Sometimes people relate being open and able to listen to feedback from another person to being a pushover or weak. Some may feel that if they seek out coaching it means they aren't good enough. Being coachable doesn't mean you have surrendered and don't have an opinion of your own. It means you have the awareness, perseverance and determination to seek out someone to help you be better. It means you're willing to have a discussion about something that might help you improve a skill or part of your life you WANT to improve.
Being coachable - even if it makes you feel vulnerable - is the secret to achieving many or most of your dreams.
Being coachable is about awareness and the ability to take the gold nuggets from a situation and use them to your advantage. There's wisdom in being coachable. It means you're paying attention to other people and the experience, wisdom, skills and knowledge they've earned and you're willing to listen close enough to see what might help you on your own journey.
Athletes, hear this, if you're NOT coachable, you'll quickly find your experience with whatever sport you're involved in becomes difficult or just plain boring. If you're reading this, you're not an Olympian yet (most likely) so maybe, just maybe there's something to be gained by taking a look at the way you approach your sport, your coaches, your teammates and/or your attitude in general. Being coachable means you're leaving room for the possibility that there's something you haven't learned yet that could make you even better.
Be open to that possibility.
Be coachable.
To get more information about warrior healing and other topics about peak performance you can join my tribe at www.LauraProbert.com Until then, join me in the comments with questions about your own coachable moments.