Life Coaching Articles
March 2005

It has been two years since Thomas Leonard passed away. He was the founder of Life Coaching and since that time many energetic coaches have advanced his teachings. New schools have opened, New programs have been developed and coaching as a profession has matured.

Before we can compare the differences between coaching in the beginning and coaching today, we need to have a reality check. A friend recently sent me this e mail. See how far we have grown as a country in just 100 years.

THE YEAR 1905

Maybe this will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1905, one hundred years ago.

What a difference a century makes!

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1905:

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.

Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education.

Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores.
According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.


And I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to you in a matter of seconds! Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years...it staggers the mind.

So you can see how much we can grow and change in 100 years. Thomas use to say that when he developed coaching as a profession, it was similar to dentistry at the turn of the century. The tools were very crude, but were able to get the job done.

Today, coaching is still in the development stage. Many new coaching programs are being developed, many new skills are being perfected. The basic dynamics are still the same. People need to feel good. Call it happiness, call it feeling healthy. I don't think it matters, we are all trying to find happiness.

One of the greatest tools for coaches was developed a couple of years ago by Tom Stone. He calls it the "core dynamics of common problems." This is a simple diagram of 12 reasons or energies that drive us to act the way we act.

I developed the 12 step Healthy Life Program which is a life altering program which I commonly refer to as the foundation for training at Life Coach College. By exploring these 12 steps, one can dramatically and permanently improve the quality of their life. Many programs offer short term solutions, my Healthy Life Program offers a new way of living.

As we look to the future, I believe coaching will resemble a more focused approach to feeling better. I think it will move away from helping clients set goals and more to the real root cause of why the client is not living life to it's fullest. It will resemble a self-help approach to redesigning your client's life.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact me directly at 800-841-8776 or e mail, Jeff@LifeCoachCollege.org