“No man or woman is an island. To exist just for self is meaningless. You can achieve the most satisfaction when you feel related to a greater purpose in life, something greater than yourself.”

—Denis Waitley

A lighthouse is symbolic as it stands for showing path and direction (essentially light). We evolve, change, and grow (most of the time) – Keeping our lighthouse (purpose or goal) in sight is necessary.

By shifting lighthouse, I mean that we have multiple goals all prioritized which may shift places, disappear, or appear closer.

When a goal is in sight, you’re more motivated to work toward it and can measure progress. So, no matter how far away the goal seems, keep it in sight and keep moving enthusiastically toward it at whichever pace suits you.

Motivate yourself by chalking out the destination and reason. Write it, draw it, or visualize it but don’t lose sight!

It’s not easy staying focused and pursuing your goals, especially when people around you are the ones constantly de-motivating you.  A coach can help you then!

Along my coaching journey, my lighthouse has become a lot more visible to me and I think I am on the right sail. Self-awareness, introspection, and feeding my inner curiosities have helped me (reading books symbolically).

I have diverse interests and multiple passions and my lighthouse has constantly shifted (and still shifting sometimes). I am at peace with this and have been charting my journey accordingly.

A coach is better equipped to help coaches discover and chase their lighthouses as well. The answers are all within us and coaching sessions make one’s vision clearer and unravel the answers.

“If you close your eyes, no lighthouse can help you!”

– Mehmet Murat Ildan

The onus is on the coaches to feed his/her mind with positive thoughts and make the most of the coaching interactions. A coach believes that the coachee is creative, resourceful as a whole – and quite capable of getting to where he/she wants to go. All they need is just a little nudge and some clarity. The answers are all within us.

Thinking further, if we look at the wheel of life – there are various domains in one’s life and we have varying levels of goals and aspirations.  What is important is to know one’s values and life purpose which will lead to better alignment in our actions and thoughts. All domains of our life will then be focussed on the life’s purpose.

But how do we know what our life’s purpose is – The Main Lighthouse? The purpose of life can be defined by the question – What would you like to become? And not by what you would like to achieve?

So one way to approach this can be to have a clear intent – visualize your life’s purpose – align all your life domains towards it.

A coach helps the coachee see his/her lighthouse clearly and work towards it!

Author - Avanti Parulekar