June 9, 2017

Trials of a Starving Life Coach

June 9, 2017

So here I am, sitting in a Starbucks at 10:54am on a Friday, using part of my day to finally brainstorm on how I am going to create a damn Life Coaching business. I so proudly locked in three hours on my schedule today to REALLY figure things out. Three hours. Cute, right? As I usually do, I went to the internet for help.

Enter Google search: "starting my own life coaching business"

This keyword title caught my attention. It was the second link on the first page. It's worth a read: What They Don't Tell You About Starting a Coaching Business.

After you're done reading the article, if that is indeed what you decide to do, come back and read what my experience as a life coach has been like thus far. The correlations between my experience and the article I mentioned are uncanny, but not surprising.

Context Of This Article

As a Life Coach, my intentions are truly to help people breakthrough their blocks, be empowered beyond limitation, achieve every result they can imagine, and experience life filled with grand emotions and fulfillment.
BUT, the journey of becoming or being the coach that can actually produce those results has been daunting
actually getting clients to buy into that shit has been...not a walk in the park
OH, and let's not forget the money aspect...or lack thereof...

Being a Certified Coach Doesn't Guarantee Jack Shit

It took me over 8 months to complete my training program and be a certified professional coach. Although I was proud of that achievement, I knew that just like getting a college degree, earning a certification doesn't guarantee jack shit.

Life Coach training is great for developing the skill of coaching. It does not, however, develop the skill of building a business. At all. Two separate worlds.

"What The F*ck IS 'Life Coaching?'"

The assumption I made was that anyone in their right mind would want a coach if they truly knew the value it has. In my opinion, the space and service that a life coach provides for the client...the HUMAN...is something so profoundly unique and powerful, and cannot easily be found in the world.

The issue...is that it took ME a while to even get what the hell I do as a coach. And to be honest, it's kind of esoteric in its foundation - at least in my opinion. I truly think that life coaching has a divine aspect to it. Really. I digress.

The issue has been making life coaching a relatable service for people in the world, who don't really think the problems they have can be well served by a life coach.

The Life Coaching Industry Brand is Not Sexy

The damn label itself, "life coach", infers some kind of handicap or lack of ability to handle one's own life. "Why the hell would I need a coach for my life?" is something I imagine people with no understanding of what life coaches do would say. I don't blame them.

"Life coach" does not have a very popular, or sexy meaning to it in the general public. I'd argue that the two words, "life coach" don't have much meaning at all. It doesn't have much of a brand. And the brand it does have, is not a desirable one - not to the general public at least.

The TRUTH is that a lot of very successful people have life coaches. And they pay good fucking money to have one. But, in my mind, it's not just CEOs and high performance athletes that can stand to benefit GREATLY from using a life coach to up their game. It's EVERYONE.

How much Money, and How Many Clients has Gabriel Santos the Life Coach had?

Well, let me give you the facts.

Since December 2016, when I was officially certified, I've made about about $500 through coaching. Only $999,500 to go! Laughable.

I had one client pay for three coaching sessions in advance, for a total of $300. Which was amazing. I had one client pay $10 a session. I had another pay $60 a session. So it's been all across the board.

I've had about seven clients (4 of them paid), and about a handful of complimentary coaching clients. The longest coach-client partnership I've had is about 6 sessions. The shortest I've had, not counting the 1-time complimentary clients, is two sessions. As you can see, the idea of having one client for a lifetime, to continually pay you money, has yet been the case.

To be fair, I have not been attacking the creation of my coaching business with full tenacity. I've been dabbling, trying, kind of all in, but not actually. So my results truly do reflect my own growth and action taking (or lack thereof).

SO, WHAT NOW?

Well, what I've come to accept is that creating a coaching business is not going to happen on its own, and I am not entitled to anything, especially my dreams and aspirations of making millions and transforming millions of lives.

And that I can't expect to create my dream results by "trying." I must commit...my life, really...to creating this dream. That's my take at the moment, at least.

A Raw Message From My Heart & Soul

Look, my sincere belief is that people generally live an okay life, slightly above average at best. I'm not just talking material results, I'm talking the quality of experience as well. I'm not just talking about being able to afford vacations. I'm talking about actually enjoying oneself, on vacation or not.

The amount of stress and insecurity that goes on, day to day, moment to moment, is extremely taxing on the human body and spirit. It's a very heavy experience.

Not to mention the power of the mind, both to bring us happiness and be our worst enemy.

My goal is to coach people to live on a higher plane of existence, in all forms. God, that was a fuckin mouth full that didn't really make sense in every day language. Let me translate.

My goal is to coach people to make hella money, eat hella good food, experience the fucking awesomeness of life regardless of what's going on around us (vacation vs work vs a crying baby), and to be people who spread joy and love to those around them.

To really make living life feel like a dream. To enjoy life as we live it. reaching for future goals AND enjoying our lives - NOW. And not enjoying as a verb, like fishing or fucking, but enjoying as a function of how we experience being alive.

To be in touch with what I must freely admit is the most wondrous thing to ever happen to us: being alive and experiencing reality.

We're alive, people. We're ALIVE!

One day we will be gone. Dead.

BUT!! We're ALIVE!!!

WE'RE ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVEEE!!!!!!!

Anyways. Hire me. I need money. LMFAO.

Gabriel Santos

June 6, 2017

I Am Not Tony Robbins

Gabriel Santos

June 6, 2017

I have a confession to make. I am not a world wide leader in self-improvement. Nor self-transformation. Nor psychology. Or any of the topics I write about. I'm just not. What I say is not gold. What I say is not right. I am just but one of millions of sources for you to read from, here on the internet. Just one.

That said, I am highly passionate in sharing pieces of information that may motivate and inspire you. You may not agree with everything I say. You may not buy any products I promote or create. BUT! If just ONE thing can stick with you and help you SOMEDAY down the line, well shoot, I am here for that.

Obviously, I am open to people buying content, loving and agreeing with me, but that is really not the ultimate point - although I am looking forward to it all.

What I enjoy is being real. I love including my natural self in these blog posts. I like editing them too, and making them more professional and clean-cut. But I also like the messy, unedited versions too. More raw. I think people who follow this blog will come to appreciate that as well, if they don't already.

So, yes. Here's to moving forward authentically!

Gabriel Santos

May 30, 2017

100 ways to decrease daily procrastination for students

Gabriel Santos

May 30, 2017

Back in the days when stumbeupon was a huge thing, I stumbled upon this mental exercise called "the list of 100." The purpose of this exercise is to brainstorm ways to solve a problem by listing 100 solutions in one sitting. (Here is a link to the original exercise: "Tackle Any Issue With A List of 100." )

When I was a freshman in college, back in November 2010, I decided to write a list on 100 ways to decrease daily procrastination (for students). As you read the list, you'll get a sense of the kinds of distractions and patterns of behavior that led to my procrastinating. Enjoy!!

100 Ways To Decrease Daily Procrastination For Students

Don’t turn on the laptop unless need be
Don’t go on facebook until the end of the day
Don’t go on facebook at all
Understand that youtube won’t delete videos
Understand that fantasy BB doesn’t need to be checked until the games are done
Finish what’s most important first
Take 10 – 20 minute breaks, not 1 hour
Eat and take breaks at the same time, not separately
Don’t smoke until everything is finished
Know what you want to get done
Don’t linger, just get up and do something
Sleep at an earlier time
Wake up at an earlier time
Go to the library to do hw
Go to the lounge to do hw
Don’t do lengthy hw in room
Use your damn planner
Save emails for later
Save blogging for later
Don’t lurk people on facebook, dear god
Don’t clean the room until night time
Don’t do work at home, therefore no cleaning required
Do things on a schedule, not randomly
If you didn’t plan on smoking, don’t smoke
if you take a break, limit it to 10 – 20 minutes
one game of brawl on a break only
one game of cod on a break only
don’t watch dexter until the end of the day
one episode of office on a break only
write your daily schedule the night before
don’t write the next day’s schedule until you finish the first one
go study with a friend
if you want to do something fun, do it on a break
understand that assignments are easier than they sound
understand that assignments are easier when started earlier
don’t eat TOO much, you get lazy as fuck
no smoking unless hw is finished
don’t sleep late as fuck, 2 am max
when they go smoke, instead, go run
don’t go on stumbleupon, unless it’s the weekend (that shit will kill you)
if you’re not going to do hw, at least do something good
don’t do work at home!!!!! Go to the damn lounge
don’t go immediately home after classes, do work somewhere
only take a break after 1 hour of diligent studying (drink water)
don’t change to sweats until it’s night time (you bum)
take a look at assignments immediately when they’re assigned (note difficult and time)
take advantage of odd hours
actually put some effort into your assignments
log out of facebook each night, and don’t check until hw is finished next day
don’t come home unless hw is finished
go to the library EVERYDAY
the farther away from home the better
stop going to the toilet every 10 minutes, foreal
instead of sweats go with either jeans or shorts with long socks and a hoody
just learn to say no
stick to your agenda, stick to your agenda
understand that school is MOST important
don’t smoke after 12pm if you’ve finished hw
seriously, facebook STILL hasn’t changed so stop looking
don’t check blogger, facebook, youtube, or fantasy basketball until hw is finished
work out in the morning
basketball at night
go the library after the last class of the day (don’t come back)
understand that everyone else is doing hw too
don’t do midterm studying at home
don’t do papers at home
chem hw can be done at home, but not advised
do engineering hw with Adrian
save household chores for the weekend
cleaning can be done after hw
understand that the assignments cant be turned in later
understand that most of the shit you do instead of them CAN be done later…whenever actually
do things that are ESSENTIAL (hw, study, read, workout, eat, sleep, shower)
if you’re going to procrastinate, do it socially
don’t eat sunflower seeds during break, oh god the iodine intake
after math class do the hw
after crd class look at upcoming assignments (write in planner)
after chem. class look at how long hw is
after eng. Graphics, look at how long the assignment is
LIBRARY god damnit
Find other good places to study
Don’t spend more than 2 hours on one assignment if not necessary
Always do brainstorms and outlines for essays
You need at least one day per 2 pages if you want to write a good essay
You need at least a week before a midterm or test to study well
Don’t tell anyone your plans, commit to yourself that’s it
“fuck it” is not acceptable during weekdays, even Thursday
It’s possible to eat and do work
15 minute naps are your friend
Don’t snooze
Go to wellman an hour early and do hw before class
Finish most of the assignment 2 days before it’s due
You’re most efficient when you take your time
Quit the overly excessive schedules and routines, you’re too ambitious in that aspect
Begin with the hardest assignment (but don’t necessarily finish)
Do homework on Friday and Saturday
Commit at least 4 – 5 hours of homework a day, you know that’s right
“I have homework” is a valid excuse if you actually do it
You get the most quality work when you give yourself enough time
The internet is the primary source of procrastination, BY FAR

Reflecting back on this list, 7 years later, it's so clear as to what was really the issue behind my procrastination - taking responsibility and setting priorities. Oh, hindsight. Always 20/20 and packed with more wisdom.