Whenever I coach someone I am always amazed of their progress. They grow as persons, develop huge amounts of courage, hope and grit, adjust their self image and expand their horizons. It always impresses me.

But it’s not as common that it impresses them. Most of the time, they don’t even notice their growth an progress.

I often have to remind my clients that they just weeks prior were terrified of even looking at someone they liked and now without hesitation can carry on a full conversation with them. Or that things that were scary to even thing about when we started now seems like nothing.

Of course it’s part of my job to point out these steps and remind my clients of their growth, and it is an important part. Because it can actually be a pretty big disadvantage to not notice your successes. If you make an effort and create a result, but never look back to see how far you’ve come, you might feel like you’re not moving. But you are. But can you see it?

One tricky thing is that we are extremely aware of things that feel bad. If your knee hurts you will think about it all the time that it hurts. But when the pain stops you will not be constantly thinking about not having a bad knee, right? It might be only when someone asks you about it that you remember: “right, I used to have a bad knee!”

This is kind of the same thing. Of course you shouldn’t spend your days thinking about lost pains and aches, but every now and then, it might be a good idea to think about some of the problems you don’t have anymore – to remind yourself of how far you’ve come.

Because you have. And you should give yourself some credit for that.

Most of my clients talk to their friends about their dating lives, and usually their friends want to help, so they give their advice. I hear a lot of “my friend said” from my clients when I coach, and usually I ask them a little bit about said friends love life, and if that is something that feels inspiring or relatable to my client. Usually it is not.

So what I hear, if I exaggerate a little bit, are things like:

“My friend who only dates bad guys who don’t treat her well told me…”

“My friend who’s been with his partner for 10 years said…”

“My friend who’s never had a dating problem in her life said that…”

No matter how much you love these friends, is it wise to take their advice? Can they help you?

The friend who only dates bad guys is obviously an expert in how to get treated badly, is that something that you want to learn? The friend who hasn’t dated in 10 years, how relevant is his advice? And the friend who’s always dating with ease, can she even understand and appreciate your situation? Or is it like giving expert advice to a beginner? If you’re struggling with walking, advanced running techniques are probably not what you need.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t talk or listen to your friends, I’m just making you aware of the fact that you may have very different points of view, and you need to take that into account.

Having an opinion is very easy, but giving helpful advice is something completely different.