I’ve been working with young people in high school for about 18 months now, helping them figure out what comes next. It’s been a privilege.
Many people don’t know what a “life coach” is—we’re still in the phase where an Internet search for a “youth coach” nets mostly job openings for middle school and high school sports coaches, not life coaches. There are similarities; thus the same name for our roles. I’m here to help my young clients maximize their potential, like any coach. I ask questions designed to help them find their own answers, and do some mentoring and advice-giving, too. It’s tough to explain, and a lot of times people don’t quite get it.
Over the past 18 months and 20 or so clients, I’ve realized that it’s a lot easier for me to explain to people what I’m getting as opposed to what I’m giving as a coach, so I wanted to share some of that here. My concentration is in life-after-high-school paths—helping teens apply to college, trade school, create a learning gap year, find employment in a chosen industry, and discover their strengths and maybe some potential career interests. In talking to teens about these things, about who they are and what they want for themselves in the future, these are a few of the gems they’ve left me with so far.
They are whip-smart no matter their GPAs. And funny!
They are INSPIRING. They create beautiful art; love obscure music even a music-lover like me has never heard of; quit sports that everyone else wanted them to play because it no longer gave them “joy”; organize school-wide organizations that have never before existed; have deeper resumes than I do at three times their age, or have no resumes and are excited to explore and build them; and the list goes on.
They are cool people with big hearts. (This is a dead giveaway when I get to meet their pets that want to be with them in our in Zoom meetings!)
They want whatever comes next to be right for them, or at least a good first step toward what the right thing turns out to be.
They work hard. And if they haven’t worked too hard yet, they want to—shown by the fact that they show up here with me and think about and answer hard questions.
Most of them truly know themselves already—their true, authentic selves. Sure, they might not know where they’ll be in a year, but they know what they stand for and what they don’t. They are not afraid to call BS.
It’s that last one that I’ve been most impressed by from the first client I met. It takes a lot of us a very long time to know ourselves well, and these kids are way ahead in that game. It makes me so excited for them as they move into their futures and start their own journeys.
And it makes me even more excited for the time when they’re in charge, and we’re looking to them to coach us.
At least for me, they’re already doing that.