“At some point, everyone needs a coach,” explains James Patrick, “Life happens to us all and sometimes the best tool to have is someone to listen and support. It makes things a little clearer and a little less complicated.”
Seventeen years ago, James stopped at a deli in upstate New York and something curious caught his eye: a SWIHA class calendar! He paged through it and was immediately drawn to Life Coaching. What piqued his interest even more was that he’d already been planning a move to Arizona.
“I came to visit and tour the school, however I didn’t officially sign up until 2007. Per the quote by George Bernard Shaw, I was still busy finding myself in who I thought I was supposed to be versus creating myself into who I chose to be.“
When he finally made the leap and enrolled at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, he found himself confident enough to step in to his power: “Life Coaching is a tool that has enhanced so many aspects of my life both personally and professionally. It has been the catalyst to so many significant shifts in my life from the start of my own practice to the reason I was able to release so much of my past and live my best life.”
James is now a coach and lifestyle trainer, serving as the catalyst for major change in his clients’ lives. He specializes in personal training from the inside out and motivational presenting.
He says: “It is up to us to design a life of our choosing and to empower ourselves to take actions that will bring that design into reality.... I am an accountability coach in all respects empowering the disorganized, unmotivated and undirected individuals to ‘Make SHIFT Happen’ in their own lives.“
James created a tool to use with his clients that he calls the 7 Lifestyle Categories: Financial, Business/Career, Fun/Recreation, Health/Fitness, Contribution, Religion/Spirituality, Relationships/Personal.
“I ask clients to center themselves for each one and when I mention the category, they give me the very first reaction they have to it. Then, once we’ve gone through them all, the client may choose which area of their life they would like to focus on first, knowing they are all connected. It all starts with a single step and this focuses those efforts and that first step into just one area of their life to start and get the ball rolling.“
James says that every single time someone is able to see something in a new perspective, it makes his work worth every moment.
“Those breakthroughs so cleverly disguised as breakdowns create some of the most real, authentic and vulnerable moments that can leave a person changed in all the best ways. It can be painful, but the pain is where the growth happens. Growth happens because we are able to empower ourselves to change.“
He provides this wisdom for someone considering becoming a Life Coach: “If you step into this role, be prepared to be the strength that people turn to as they seek their own within.“
