One of the things I often hear as people's marketing pitches is "only trust or hire a life coach who has gone to an accredited life coaching school". If I ran an accredited life-coaching school, I might say something like this as well for financial gain - to get as many clients through my school as possible . . .certainly nothing wrong with this.

There might be the concern that there are some hack-job life coaches with no schooling out there making a bad name for everyone in the profession . . .and there are some for sure. . .there are also some absolutely brilliant life coaches without any accreditation either.

This is true of all professions - there are some terrible university-educated hack-job doctors, teachers, politicians, plumbers, lawyers, etc who give a bad name to the profession. . .and there are some equally brilliant people in all these fields without any post-secondary education or formal training. In fact, some of the most brilliant people in the world in their respective fields, never went to any post-secondary or accreditation institutions at all. . . It's not so much a function of whether they're educated or not - but rather who the person is fundamentally.

The reality is that some people will want to go to post-secondary education or accreditation school and others who won't. It's good that we have schools for this reason and there's "enough" people to run a school if that's what you want to do with your life.

I have taken a lot of post-secondary education / accreditations and I found some valuable and some not valuable at all. I have made great connections through post-secondary schools as well. At other times, I found that my time and energy might have been better directed somewhere else versus going to a post-secondary training. . .

This piece / post I'm writing isn't about whether or not someone should go to a life coaching school or whether or not life coaching should become something that is regulated and people can only do if they have a certificate or license from an "accredited" life coaching school. . .as I mentioned, I think it's good we have schools for this sort of thing (even though I haven't gone to one myself and I have what many / most would consider a successful coaching practice).

Rather, there's something else that "drives" the statement that "you should only trust someone who goes to an accredited life coaching school". . .something deeper behind it that's worth examining . . .

It's an idea that's based in "scarcity-based thinking" or a "scarcity-based mindset". . .the belief that there's not enough to go around for everyone. . .or that someone else will eat my lunch and I won't survive.

This same thinking / mentality is everywhere you look out in the world . . .deeply embedded in the consciousness / psyche of humanity. . .I think it's the same thinking that has humanity bent on getting "mine" first because someone else might take mine - even at the cost of not taking care of others or "mining" the crap out of the planet rather unconsciously to the point where there's really no resources left . . .where the "consumption party" will be completely over and we could very well be left with a "Blade Runner 2048" or "Wall-e" scenario or worse. . . and it really looks that way unless you're completely blind or suspending disbelief. . .I'm just pointing to how things are going right now . . .not good or bad and no judgment. . .there's something to learn from all of it and I find that I have to bless a world like this as well (as hard as it is to do some days I find).

And it's crazy-making in a way - as we live in such an abundant world. . .you really think we'd be celebrating life right now. . .with way more than enough food, enough potential clients and things to go around - yet the fear that "I won't get enough to survive" persists and is the driving factor behind so much scarcity-based thinking, marketing and behaviour.

The world of life coaching, for me at least, is really about helping others who are just looking for someone to listen to them, love them unconditionally, support and get behind their goals, dreams and aspirations. . . I went into it with that intention as a first priority and discovered that there's no shortage of potential clients out there . . absolutely none . . .zippo . . .the shortage only existed in my mind in the beginning. I quickly realized that as I developed more excellence in my craft, that people started hunting me down and really didn't care about credibility, my schooling . . .they were really only interested in the results.

Not for a moment am I suggesting either that people read this and say "well I shouldn't get a post-secondary education" or I shouldn't go to an accredited life coaching school". If you feel you need to go to one of these schools, by all means go. . .for some, going to a school like this sorts out their head by having the accreditation and that's a good thing. As I mentioned - I think it's great we have schools for this sort of thing and by no means am I suggesting we don't have these schools / programs.

There's enough clients who will want "accredited" coaches and there's enough to go around for non-accredited coaches as well. . .this post is about the concept of "enough".

If you're excellent at your craft, people will search you out and want to work with you regardless. If you're not good, people eventually won't want to work with you regardless of how much education you have. Some will only work with someone who has certain letters after their name and certain qualifications and it's all good. There's enough to go around for everyone.

I discovered when I came from the intention of serving others first (even before thinking about the money), I ALWAYS got taken care of financially and ALWAYS got enough not only to survive but to survive well.

There's a real opportunity here this lifetime . . .to bust up the scarcity thinking. . .

Personally, I've found it to be a much nicer way to live - in the knowing that it all works out at the end of the day. Sometimes at the 11th hour but it does work out. I found a lot of my behaviour around marketing was driven around the scarcity thinking, competing with others, judging what they were doing and I'm so so so happy to not have to do that anymore and just bless others for whatever they're doing - knowing that they're getting taken care of as well.

I'm not saying it's easy busting this thought process up, but incredibly valuable - and it's a huge gift to offer up to clients as well - so they know that they're also taken care of also and getting enough . . .that that they can relax and start to celebrate how good life is and how beautiful a world we live in right now. . . even if we're mining the heck out of it. . .maybe that's the real thing to learn at the end of the day.