We are constantly saturated with extremely generic messages from coaches trying to get our attention and grow their leads and sales. "Live the life you deserve!”, "Change your life!", "Follow your dreams!", etc. Their life purpose is helping you find yours. To me, it sounds like an "I-can't-help-myself-so-I-help-others" fraudulent pyramid scheme that offers an unrealistic view of coaching.

What led me to talk about this is coaches who offer their social media life camouflaged as a product. They are everywhere, bombarding us with their flawless, exotic Instagram or Facebook pictures, tagged with #lifeperfect, #liveauthentic, #happylife, #dreamlife, #skyisthelimit. Don't get me wrong, we all want to #liveourdreams, whatever that means for each of us. And I am usually a very open-minded person, but selling the idea of a perfect life, to me, lacks credibility.

The truth is, you don't have to have a "perfect" life to work as a coach. One of the best coaches I have ever met doesn't look transcendent on social media and some of them are not even there. The positive results and highly professional approach are why their clients keep recommending them. They are talented, understand the essence of coaching and refine their coaching skills every single day.

When I am with my clients I am focused on their goals, dreams, their struggles and I am not trying to sell them my life…which is the perfect life for me and does not need to be presented on Facebook. And even if I can post some very beautiful pictures from the places I have visited, this is not my everyday life. Most of the time I work on the computer, run training programs, have video calls with clients, meet executives and managers in their offices. I don't do a four-hour work week; some work weeks are indeed more than fifty hours. In my spare time I participate in trainings myself and never stop learning, because there are always new skills and techniques to improve the quality and support my clients need.

Unrealistic idealisation of others can be harmful and misleading. Let's not forget that every person's life has different shades. And each of us has a unique idea of what #lifeperfect, #liveauthentic" and a #dreamlife look like. We all love to share our wonderful experiences on social media, but anyone who consciously creates the illusion of a perfect life to sell their services discounts the great work of real coaches and misleads others on the purpose of this profession.

The world needs more coaches: those who are honest about the services they are able to offer as well as the ones they aren’t qualified to offer.

Travel to wonderful places if you have the opportunity, enjoy everything that life offers you, but do remember that happiness can't be bought for 399€ or even 40,000€. Success will not bombard you just because you've read a bestselling book or someone has written an article about the fifteen ways to #liveyourdreams. There is no magic pill. Your coach is not a sorcerer. The client and coach are co-creators of progress toward effective strategies to make sure you really do live up to your potential. Through commitment and action steps you discover a life of development and accomplishment, both personally and professionally. Coaching provides a stable framework of awareness of one’s purpose and of welcoming the bigger picture of your OWN unique path.