Motivational Speaker/Life Coach- Best Degree? (1 Viewer)

[SurferNerd]

I think this would be an interesting career. Obviously, you have to have some success first in a major facet of life: Business, Relationships etc

What degrees do you think would be most important? I'm thinking something along the lines of commerce (marketing or finance) with pyschology/biology/sociology etc

I guess in the end, what matters is how much extra-currcuclar material you read, and what original work you publish. So, you coud argue that a degree isn't necessary. I just think it will initally give you a higher chance of becoming successful.

 

[spence]

Well you'd obviously have to be very successful, and I reckon you'll only be very successful if you're doing something you enjoy and are interested in, so it would really be a matter of what your interests are

 

[spence]

Actually something like adult education might suit. I think UTS has a course

 

[jb_nc]

wat

 

[nandayo]

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

 

[gibbo153]

sort of career that only 1% of people who pursue it do well in.

 

[08er]

probably marketing

 

[gibbo153]

http://www.lcia.com.au/lz/

 

[jb_nc]

Life Coaching is the 2nd fastest growth industry in the world and has been for the last 3-years.

UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIMS

 

[Gavvvvvin]

Yea nothing motivates me more than someone with a degree in marketing.

 

[KFunk]

I think this would be an interesting career. Obviously, you have to have some success first in a major facet of life: Business, Relationships etc

What degrees do you think would be most important? I'm thinking something along the lines of commerce (marketing or finance) with pyschology/biology/sociology etc

I guess in the end, what matters is how much extra-currcuclar material you read, and what original work you publish. So, you coud argue that a degree isn't necessary. I just think it will initally give you a higher chance of becoming successful.

Makes me think about the joke/parable where a young man sits down to write his memoirs only to find himself writing about the act of writing.

 

[nimrod_dookie]

I don't think degree choice is particularly relevant here. I believe that successful motivational speakers/life coaches are those who have a lot of life experience (i.e have experienced adversity and have overcome it). You can't just read a book on psychology or marketing or whatever you want and just develop a skill to motivate people. You need to have experienced something out of the ordinary that made you derive motivation or courage of whatever have you from beyond the normal everyday requirements in order to overcome the situation. People want to hear from the likes of Lance Armstrong if you know what I mean and by that I don;t mean famous but someone who went on to achieve great feats following severe adversity. I know this example isn't the same magnitude as someone who has battled cancer but at my high school graduation, a young man who had gone to a private school and went on to pursue biomedical engineering spoke and no one was interested. He was Mr. Perfect who obviously had a privileged upbringing and had breezed through education straight into honours, not something that a bunch of public school kids in a lower socio-economic area wanted to hear. The following year, an ex-student who had gotten into medicine, failed an entire year of his degree but was now about to complete his neurosurgeon training spoke and he was much more popular because he wasn't perfect, he had made mistakes and overcome them.

I'm not saying that you don't have the qualities to become a speaker/coach as you may have experienced events in your life you may not wish to disclose on an internet forum, I'm just saying that degree choice isn't really the decisive factor here.

 

[SurferNerd]

Yea, cheers to the post above. I expected a lot of posts to be negative, but that is the way of human nature. Obviously, as Kfunk’s parable pointed out- you need life experience first. I’ll complete my Comm/llb degree first and then move into coaching preferably in my early 30’s. :wave:

I’ve always enjoyed marketing, I’m a natural public speaker and I like the feeling of ‘giving back’ eventually, once I’ve had success. I’m sure the success rate is greater then 1%, even by modest measures. Plus, even if it that was an accurate reflection, would you give up before you tried? One thing I see all around me, particularly at Uni is this epicenter of negative mindframes. People, particularly from the low-middle classes (In which I am a part) are socially conditioned to believe that they will go through life as nothing more then AVERAGE. That SUCCESS by their measure (and often this is through fallacious comparisons to celebrity magazines, which is ridiculous anyway) exists in small pockets of luck, and that their only chance of a slice of happiness will come through that rare opportunity to slave within a corporate ladder. They share the same dreams- but to them, it’s all bullshit or elusive.

See the thing is (aside from the occasional ‘life-changing’ event) coaches, successful people etc are really not much different. I know I am not. We are not any more intelligent, better looking etc. The ONLY difference is, I don’t lack the fundamental belief of failure anymore. When you have the BURNING DESIRE backed by FAITH (in yourself, not religion), and your no longer externally referential, the volume in normal day life just gets turned down. You can handle anything. Now I could well and truly set up an unsuccessful business, judged relatively on accounting standards. But does that mean it’s a FAILURE? That’s a hugely subjective term. Did I learn anything? Did I still consider it a better use of my time in comparison to working for a firm until retirement, making somebody else money? You keep at it. You re-formulate a better plan for next time. And most importantly you learn about learning. That’s the master’s journey. This reminds me of the time-old adage in martial art circles, considering the late Jigoro Kano- the founding father of Judo. The story tells us that in his final days, he gathered his students around him and made one last command- to be buried with a white belt. The master laid to rest with the beginner’s emblem. Should I not even take the first step and become a beginner?

Either way, I think I’ll continue along my degree path for the present and just enjoy the plateau. I don’t mean to quote Tiesto, but at the present I’m just happy to “be”. Also, the purpose of this post was not meant to preach or persuade, so disregard it at will. In fact, I’d be foolish not to expect a wave of criticism, as people’s response circuitry (given anonymity) is so inclined. It's your reality after all. Aside this, have a great day. Just remember, the "map is not the territory’’.

-Surfernerd

 

[drewbrow1]

Successful troll is successful.

 

[bubbly89]

I don't know why... but I'm thinking psychology...