Successes coaching with Rabison Shumba

RABISON Shumba (RS) is a success coach, motivational speaker and an author. To his name he has four published books including the Greatness Manual.

RABISON Shumba (RS) is a success coach, motivational speaker and an author. To his name he has four published books including the Greatness Manual.

I (JN) caught up with him in Bulawayo and his experts on coaching swept me off my feet. Below are excerpts of our talk:

JN: What is coaching?

RS: Coaching is where somebody who has gone the road or walked the path longer than yourself, helps you along. When you coach somebody you have a goal that you want to achieve and you help someone along by giving them instructions how to get there and making sure that they have the right tools in their tool box to help them achieve what they have set to achieve.

JN: Great artists, authors and sportspersons have a coach, but there are people who think to be very intelligent enough not to have a coach. What could be the danger?

RS: You can easily think that you have arrived when in real essence you haven’t started. A coach is a person who sees the potential in you and pushes you to make sure that the potential is realised. I

t’s one thing to have potential and another thing to have it used to the maximum. You can say, I can go it alone, but look it’s at the detriment of your own destiny.

A coach is always necessary because they push you even in times when you feel sorry for yourself, they will push you to make sure that goals are achieved.

JN: What is the difference then, between coaching and mentoring?

RS: A mentor is another type of coach, but not every coach is a mentor. A mentor is someone who meets you regularly, who gives you guidance, and who sometimes uses their own resources to make sure that you get to where you are suppose to, whereas a coach focuses on a specific goal to be achieved. A mentor sometimes covers a wider range of things in your life that you may want to achieve.

JN: Life has different facets and it includes the financial, spiritual, mental and the career side of things. Do I need different coaches to take me through all those or I just need one person who has expertise in all of them?

RS: It would be very good to have somebody who is multi-dimensional, but should they not be available, you focus on that thing that they can deliver.

JN: I was challenged by Brian Tracy, whom you have written a book together with, at his old age he still had a coach.

RS: You are never too young to have a coach, you are never too old to have one, because you can go through life and achieve half of what you are supposed to achieve, but if you have a coach they help you throughout.

By the way learning doesn’t stop. Your are suppose to be somebody who is a continual learner. When you stop learning you start dying. If you are not growing you start dying.

JN: Personally I have had more people calling through because of this column. At times these are older people that need my expertise and at times I am not so sure because I feel like I have not seen much of what they have gone through because of my younger age. What does it take to be a successful coach? Is it age, experience or just training?

RS: You don’t necessary have to be old to be a coach. Yes, with age comes wisdom inevitably, but at times there are people who may be young in terms of age, yet they are so advanced in terms of their knowledge and level of experience.

At times I coach 60-year-olds and I ask, Why me? Why me? But they could be seeing something that you don’t see in yourself. You see potential is sometimes like bad breath; it takes another person to notice that you have it. The diamond might not know its value, but it’s a person who is wearing a ring with diamonds who knows the value of a diamond.

JN: Is potential and a coach enough to get someone to their dream destiny?

RS: Well, it’s not enough, at times it takes a lot of effort on your side, especially in increasing the level of exposure. In life you can never go past the level of exposure. Never sit back and say I have achieved it all, always look up and say there is more that I can achieve. Over and above a coach you need to study.

What books are you reading? As you read those books you are increasing your capacity, you are getting things inside you that will be exposed outside you. Attend seminars that are in town or travel to listen to them.

In fact, I am travelling to Namibia this March for a John Maxwell seminar because I look up to him for leadership. Look out for something that you can learn. Never say I have got it all because at that particular time it signals your downfall.

J.N: Some people eat so much from the garbage bin, so to speak. They read depressing news, they watch dreadful movies and they expect to be successful.

Even for marriage, instead of watching positive things they would rather choose something negative, thereby affecting their affairs negatively. What’s the danger of doing the opposite of what you want from life?

RS: You tend to gravitate towards that which you get into your mind. So one has to guard jealousy what they get into their mind. Guess what? What you see over and over again you begin to imitate.

You may do it unconsciously, soon enough you are following the wrong path altogether. It’s always good to have positive affirmations in the inside.

Get stuff on the inside that will make you a different person. What you see you begin to believe, what you believe you begin to promote, what you promote you begin to do, what you do creates habits and your habits are sharing your lifestyle, for bad or good.

JN: What’s your favourite quotation?

RS: I live by one statement which says, start what you plan and finish what you start. A lot of people are good at planning but they never get started. There are people that are excited about starting who never finish. In life you are measured, not by your intellect, but by the results you achieve.

For more tips and advice go to www.successlife.co.zw, call 0772 581 918, e-mail: [email protected]. Jonah Nyoni is an author, success coach and motivational speaker.