What a year it has been.
I can feel the end-of-year writer’s cramp setting in, so it’s nearly time to take what I trust you will agree is a well earned break from posting on this Blog!
But before I do let’s put the year, that\’s very nearly behind us, in some context.
“Don’t just count your years. Make your years count.”
– George Meredith
A wild ride
On the socio-political front 2018 has been nothing short of a wild ride.
In the UK right now it’s anyone’s guess as to how BREXIT (deal or no deal) or NO-BREXIT will play out. With the postponement of the crucial Commons vote it seems Brits will have to ponder their fate at least until the new year.
In South Africa, the country is reeling from the unfolding State Capture scandal and the sheer brazenness of those few criminals who brought formerly world class state owned entities to their knees to satisfy their greed. Citizens will make their voices heard in the 2019 general elections.
Touching lives
At New Insights the news is, thankfully, a lot rosier!
Our mission is to bring greater personal freedom, self confidence and growth to people from all walks of life through the efforts of the coaches that graduate successfully from our certification training programme.
At New Insights we feel honoured to have helped launch the careers of nearly 50 new certified life coaches this year. If each one goes on to coach just ten new clients a month in 2019, we will, indirectly, touch the lives of another 6,000 people next year.
Let me take a moment to wish all of the coaches we have trained this year and in past years every success as they change the lives of ordinary people for the better. Thanks for trusting in us with your training.
We’re proud of you and we believe in you!
Securing data
During the course of 2018, the secure handling of data by companies came firmly under the spotlight and in Europe the groundbreaking GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) came into effect in May.
At New Insights we took this to heart and have acted to ensure all interactions with our main websites that process sales or data are encrypted using the https protocol.
Continuous improvement
In October this year we launched a brand new version of our acclaimed certification training programme in South Africa. We’ll follow this up with a launch in the UK early in 2019.
We’re proud to have received consistently good feedback about our programme in the past and many might be tempted to argue: “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
Well, we stand for continuous improvement. So we relished the chance to act on all of the great ideas and suggestions that we have had – or received from trainees and coaches – over the years since the last update.
The new version represents by far the biggest and most ambitious of the five updates we have launched since I took over the reins at New Insights.
It’s still early days but so far it has been very positively received by new trainee coaches.
World class certification training
The life coach training market is becoming increasingly competitive. Thanks to the lack of regulation in this space there are more and more courses on the market, of questionable quality, offering what I call a ‘quick and dirty’ route to becoming a life coach.
At New Insights we are determined not to be sucked into this trend and will continue to promote world class certification training that is comprehensive yet convenient while remaining reasonably priced.
Blog makes Top 100 list
This blog, Life Coaching Insights, continues attract an expanding readership base. We are proud to have recently topped the 12,000 subscriber mark. Our Facebook page, that is still a relative ‘youngster’, now boasts some 5,500 ‘likes’.
Earlier this year we featured at #26 in Feedspot\’s top 100 life coaching blogs for 2018, a nice reward for a site that now boasts over 250 posts, all following a theme about living the life you love.
Pick of the posts
I’d like to close by taking the opportunity to thank you for being one of our loyal subscribers.
I wish you a wonderful year-end festive season and a fabulous start to the beckoning 2019. I’ll be back in the \’writing saddle\’ again in the second week in January. 🙂
Now, to bring down the blogging curtain on 2018, I\’ve picked half a dozen of the most popular posts from the past twelve months.
Here they are (just click on the title to open the post in a new tab or window in your browser):
1. Self Awareness and Why It’s Important
Self-awareness should improve in leaps and bounds with any substantive life coach training programme that has integrity. But what is self-awareness and why is it important?
2. Thriving in Times of Uncertainty
Thriving in times of uncertainty, when we cannot prepare for what we cannot safely predict, is not easy. How can we best adapt to what is the \’new normal\’?
3. Your Gift: Are You Using It?
What is your unique gift? Each and every one of us has one or more unique gifts or talents – but do we recognise it, and are we using it to best effect?
4. Remote Working Really Works
Remote working is undoubtedly the future. Life coaches, in particular, are reaping the rewards of increasing access to high speed Internet around the globe.
5. Happiness – Make it a Habit!
Happiness. Is it the outcome, end result or culmination of some process, activity or event? Or is it something more intrinsic to who we are and something we have a day-to-day choice to experience?
A number of commonly held life coaching myths are exposed in this post that aims to clear some of the confusion that exists about the profession.
Dear Bill, I enjoy reading Insights and wish to thank you for the year 2018.I had a call from the Proctor Gallagher the producers of The Secret last night and spend more than an hour on the phone. It was interesting to listen, as I wanted to be a coach, I have read books like Think and grow rich, The masterkey and many more. I enjoy your program and wish to be part of your team in the near future. May you have a blessed x-mas.
Thank you so much Petrus – and you and yours too 🙂
Wow, what a wrap! Thanks Bill for your inspiration.
Thanks Tembeka!
Dear Bill,
Thank you for your continuous inspiration and support throughout 2018, my first year as a New Insights Certified life Coach.
I love the ‘Mission’ of reaching and touching the lives of 6,000 people in 2019 and happy to be on track to do ‘my part’ 🙂
Glad to hear the new version has launched successfully in SA, wishing you equal success when launching it in the UK and I hope already certified coaches might benefit from some of the improvement you’ve created 😉
Once again, Thank You for continuing to confirm that the choice of training with and becoming a New Insight Certified coach was a very empowering and rewarding one.
BREXIT or not, it’s out of my hands/control and I’m happy to be ‘equipped’ to not let it negatively affect the way I feel. #responsibility
Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy Xmas and only the best for the New Year ahead.
What a wonderful message – thanks Jan – it’s always inspiring to hear from you 🙂
Thank you for your consistently inspiring and effective leadership, Bill. I feel honoured to represent New Insights as I endeavor to make a difference in the lives of others in the years ahead. I am extremely grateful to the person who told me about New Insights and for the fulfilment I have experienced over the last 5 years as a New Insights coach.
And we’re privileged to have you representing us – thank you Karen!
Thank you for all your wonderful and inspiring blogs during 2018 Bill. Enjoy your break, and I for one am
looking forward to 2019 and how we can impact the lives we do.
Many thanks Ian – so good to keep contact after all this time!
Enjoy a well deserved rest from writing Bill! Thank you for the quality of work you produce on a regular basis. As a ‘”word worker”myself I appreciate the effort to maintain your blog. You are an inspiration and example and undertake to write more regular blogs myself in future.
Thanks for the kind words Michelle. We will inspire each other!