This is a guest post contributed by Katheryn Rivas of online universities accredited.

The transition from a college or university setting to the real world can be a jarring one for many graduates. It's not uncommon for young people to suddenly feel plagued with doubts about their professional and personal choices now that those choices will be put to the test in a job market that can seem daunting. But this is when life coaching or career coaching can come in handy. Look at it this way: You've never had more potential than the moment you walked across the stage to get your diploma. Your professional history is free of error, and there's no reason to assume you'll be beaten down by circumstance. Career coaching can help you realize that.

For starters, ask yourself some genuinely probing questions: What do I want to do? Where do I want to go? Don't give the answers you've given throughout school; really consider them. From time to time, I ask myself two questions back to back: What am I pretending not to know, and what am I pretending not to cause? The answers to those questions can be revealing, and a great way to start focusing on the consequences of your actions.

That's what career coaching does: It helps you ask yourself the right questions so that you can begin to maximize your potential and achieve a level of satisfaction you might not have thought was possible. We aren't able to really discover our purpose until we figure out our core values and beliefs, so new college graduates need to do some soul-searching before they can begin to chart a successful course for their professional lives. Here are some of the benefits of career coaching for curious new grads:

Career guidance

Coaching is a wonderful way to focus on your true goals in life and how those goals might manifest themselves in a job. We spend so much of our time at work that it's vital to choose something that satisfies our desires and meets the standards we set for ourselves in terms of long-term goals. Career coaching doesn't just help new grads learn to be satisfied in their jobs; it's a way to redefine the entire approach to satisfaction.

Allowing yourself to succeed

This is a common problem for workers at every level, but it's especially problematic for new graduates because they're the most likely to run into opportunities that seem good but are really dangerously limiting in terms of potential growth. If you're a new graduate, you'll want to tell yourself you don't deserve a certain level of success, or that it's wrong to want it at this point in your career. To which I'd say: If that's the case, when do you think is the right time to want it? You have to allow yourself to succeed if you're ever going to reap the benefits of your education. By realigning your ideas about success and worth through career coaching, you'll be in line to achieve more.

Taking risks

Many new graduates are also uncertain about taking certain chances on their career, and that's another quick path to cheating yourself out of potential successes. Career coaching is a great way to find out what you really want to achieve and what you're willing to risk to get there. The point isn't to be reckless, but there is a value in taking calculated risks that a career coach can help you understand.

I'll say it again: You'll never again have as much potential as you do upon graduating from college, so amplify that potential with wise coaching and forward momentum. You'll look back later and thank yourself for it.

The moment you realize that you are solely responsible for our own life, for every choice and decision you make, you will realize that you can create anything you want. Why not create a masterpiece?

Creating a personal masterpiece means no more blaming others or circumstances, but fully accepting ownership of your life. Yes, you are the only one responsible for your life; your career, your talents, your weaknesses, your relationships, etc.

In order to create a masterpiece, you want to let go of the things that are not authentic. Most importantly the agreements you have made about what you think is possible and believe is true about yourself.

Taking ownership of your own life is ultimately about choosing freedom. Yet we sacrifice our personal freedom and happiness by trying to be good enough for someone else, by trying to please others, by trying to live our lives according to the rules and expectations of others.
We need to become aware about the beliefs we hold about ourselves. Only then can we challenge what we believe is true, and start believing in what we really want. The only way to reach your full potential is by becoming more aware of who we really are and not by becoming someone others want you to become.

Once you take ownership of your own life, once you become fully responsible for your life, ...

• You will experience freedom to see and hear what is really there, instead of what should be, was, or you imagine will be.
• You will have the courage to say what you think, instead of what you feel you should. 
• You will experience the freedom to feel what you really feel, instead of what you think ought to feel.
• You will begin to ask for what you want, instead of waiting for permission or trying to please others.
• You will be able to learn to face your fears, take risks, and take chances in life, instead of choosing the safe, familiar and "secure."

Instead of choosing what other people believe you should do, or living your life trying to live up to the expectations of others, you get to focus on choosing what YOU want … and that’s very liberating. Choosing your life is a freedom and tremendous privilege. Don’t take that lightly!

Dieter Pauwels is a personal life coach, career consultant speaker and author based in St. Louis, MO.
He facilitates personal and organizational transformation and works with both individuals and teams to create new possibilities, navigate change and maximize their productivity and personal effectiveness.

Suppose you went to a store and bought a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle,but it didn't have a picture on the box of what the end result should look like. Would you have a much harder time putting the puzzle together than if you had a clear picture of the end result? Absolutely! You may eventually figure it out but it will take much longer than if you had a clear picture of what the end result will look like.

The same holds true for the goals, dreams and aspirations we have. In life we move towards the images we hold in our minds. When your goal is 'in-sight', things will change dramatically. If you have ever participated in a race, you know the feeling you get when the finish line is in sight. Your pace quickens, you feel the adrenaline flowing through every cell of your body, your mind is focused and you are drawn to the finish line by a force that is nearly unstoppable.

The more precisely you can visualize your goals in life, the things you would like to change, the things you would like to attract, the things you truly desire, the more clearly you will understand how to achieve them. When the goal is in sight, so is the path which will get you there. Clarity is power!

What are the pictures you hold in your mind ? Can you see all the beautiful details? Are those pictures filled with vibrant, bright colors? Are they filled with hope, wonder, love and passion? Can you already experience the excitement, the satisfaction and the feeling of fulfillment?

Picture yourself being the best you can possible be. Hold that image in your mind, day by day, moment by moment, and you will find a way to live the life that will make it real!

"Peak performers develop powerful mental images of the behavior that will lead to the desired results.They see in their mind's eye the result they want, and the actions leading to it." (Charles A. Garfield)

About your life coach:
Dieter Pauwels is professional personal coach and career consultant. His life coaching programs empower personal development to navigate change and create new possibilities in your personal life and career.

Life Coach and career coach Dieter Pauwels talks about the power of purpose in your life. Purpose is what gives your life meaning, direction, a sense of significance and fulfillment. Purpose is that special something that inspires you, excites you, and makes you feel most alive. To live your life on purpose is to experience the joy of being you in every moment, at work and in your personal life. Purpose resonates within you at a deep emotional level. It is your responsibility and your greatest joy to discover it, live it and fulfill it.

William Barcley once said, "There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why."

Most people spend about 60% of their active life in work related activities. Research indicates that more than 50% of them are not fully engaged in their work!  Why are so many people disenchanted with the work they do? What would be the effect in their personal lives? 

Perhaps they haven't found a 'compelling' way to integrate their purpose in what they do each and every day. Maybe their purpose no longer fits with that of the company they work for. Perhaps they are so caught up with the 'busy-ness' and urgency of their lives that they make little time to discover what is really important.

Living your life on purpose gives you clarity of vision, even when fog sets in. Living on purpose demands constant reflection about the choices you make along the road.

How life coaching can help.
A personal life coach helps people better identify and achieve their personal or career goals. Life coaches assist people in navigating change, overcoming obstacles and creating the results they really want. Life coaching creates the capacity for continuous improvement, development and success. A life coach relationship enables and supports you to make the best use of your own knowledge, insight, vision, creativity, awareness, determination, external resources and innate ability to learn and develop.

Some people are looking for a life coach because they want a more rewarding relationship, improve their health or find a more exciting career, while others choose a life coach for more business success or to discover their purpose and find a new sense of fulfillment or happiness in their lives with less stress and more balance.
If you’re looking to find a life coach online because you want to change or create something in your life or if you know someone who needs a coach for life, visit our life coaching website.

Telephone-based life coaching programs and career coaching services are provided but not limited to the following metropolitan areas: Kansas City, Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Denver, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis, San Diego, Tampa, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco, Phoenix, Cincinnati and St. Louis. Find your life coach at dieterpauwels.com

Peter Drucker, widely considered to be "the father of modern management”, was one of the most brilliant and insightful thinkers and writers on management in the history of mankind.

Reading what he said in 1999 about “Managing Oneself” has inspired my current work as professional life coach and career consultant. I wanted to share some of his thoughts.

Peter Drucker, in his own words....

“In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long term perspective, I think it is very probable that the most important event these historians will see is not technology, it is not the Internet, it is not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time, substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And let me say, we are totally unprepared for it.”

We will have to learn where we belong, what our strengths are, what we have to learn so that we get the full benefit from it, where our defects are, what we are not good at, what our values are. For the first time in human history, we will have to learn to take responsibility for managing ourselves. And as I said, this is probably a much greater challenge than any technology – a change in the human condition. Nobody teaches it – no school, no college – and it probably will be another hundred years before they teach it.

In the mean time, the achievers, and I don’t mean millionaires, but rather the ones who want to make a contribution, who want to lead a fulfilling life, and want to feel that there is some purpose in their being on this earth. They will have to learn something which, only a few years ago, a very few super achieves ever knew. They will have to learn to manage themselves, to build on their strengths, to build on their values.”

In this video,St. Louis based life coach and career consultant Dieter Pauwels talks about the importance of understanding and living your core values to attract more of the life experiences you seek.

Life Coaching Core Values from Dieter Pauwels on Vimeo.

In this video, career coach and personal life coach Dieter Pauwels talks with Christine Buck about the importance of maintaining good posture on News at Noon at KPLR11 St. Louis. Your body language is an important part of your communication and a skill that can enhance your personal and professional life.

Posture and Body Language from Dieter Pauwels on Vimeo.

"Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention."
(Sharon Salzberg)

With the New Year getting closer, what choices will you make that will affect the direction of your life? In which area(s) of your life did you experience the most challenge in the past year? -relationships, money, health, personal growth or your career? 

Whatever you believe was missing in 2008, it is yours, waiting to be claimed in 2009!

The first step is to make a conscious choice about the things you would like to attract, create or change and the things you would like to let go off.  Consider all of your relationships, ways of being, beliefs, goals, attitudes, behaviors, perceptions, habits, and even material things. Identify the things in your life that are draining you, as well as the things that are nourishing you.

When we don't challenge ourselves to create or to grow, we get stuck in the present and feel anxious about the future. When we don't make a conscious choice, the past creates the future. That is also a choice!

When you set goals for 2009, the choice of intention is the most fundamental choice you will make. The experiences you attract into your life are determined more by your intentions than your actions.

One person may donate money to a foundation in order to obtain a tax deduction, while another may do so to further help the cause of that foundation. Their actions are the same, while their intentions are quite different.

Let's assume that your goal is to change careers. Possible intentions for this goal could be to make more money, to feel less stress, to make more time for your family or to use more of your creative talents.

It is the conscious decision of your intention that will determine the experiences you have, the results you create and the people you attract into your life. When your intentions are aligned with your core values and principles, you will experience more joy, success, balance and fulfillment in pursuit of your goals!

Take some time to reflect on the outcomes you would like to create for this upcoming year and feel what your real intention is for each of them.

Setting your intent is about directing your focus in the present moment toward a future outcome. Because of the constantly changing environment of your life, setting your intent is an ever renewing process.

Set your intentions deliberately and carefully! To your success in 2009!

During my life coaching conversations, I often hear people say:” I can't wait to get motivated” or “I need someone or something to motivate me.” These statements imply that motivation comes to us from sources outside ourselves.  As in, we are motivated by money, competition, market trends, what other people say and do, the media, etc…

If you buy into this concept of external motivation, you will be plagued with fleeting success.  The level of accomplishment and personal fulfillment you achieve through external sources of motivation is short lived and unsustainable. When things outside of yourself motivate you, you will find yourself continuously reacting to circumstances over which you have little or no control. 

This reactivity takes all the creative energy out of you.  Energy that you could be using to pursue the goals that really matter:  the ones that are motivated by forces deep within yourself.

True and lasting motivation comes from within.  Its champion is your inner voice.  That omnipotent presence that knows you better than you know yourself.  If you look inside yourself, you will find the key to what really motivates you to be the best person you can be, and to live the life you dream of living. 

Motivation from within is inspirational and enduring.  Because it is based on your core values and beliefs, it provides the basis from which to persevere no matter what.  When the assignment at work seems unending, when you feel you have nothing left to learn, when everyone around you is filled with negativity, your inner source of motivation will guide you along the right path. 

"It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision." (Helen Keller)

Key to knowing the right direction to take is a strong and vibrant vision.  In order to get inspired and feel passionate for what you do each and every day, requires having an idea of where you are going.  A clear vision brings with it an inspired perspective that is able to see future possibilities. In fact, the size of your vision determines the size of every aspect in your life.

Just as a business cannot grow larger than the vision of its leaders, neither can you develop yourself beyond the limits you set.  A strong inner voice is what will spearhead your efforts as you work toward a clear and definite vision of yourself in the future.

To develop a powerful inner voice and build your internal motivation you can:

• Clearly define your core values – the stuff that’s really important to you.
  
• Identify the beliefs you hold about yourself. Are those beliefs empowering you or are they holding you back in pursuit of your vision?
  
• Use your values and beliefs to guide your daily decisions.
  
• Develop a robust vision of what you want to accomplish in each area of your life. (career, relationships, health, family and friends, ...)
  
• Decide to make daily steps toward your vision.
  
• When faced with a lack of motivation, look inside yourself to find the lift you need.
  
• Resist the temptation to let external rewards or circumstances influence your decisions.

When it comes to doing the things that will bring you closer to your intended vision for yourself, you can listen to all of the voices around you, or you can listen to the voice inside. Life is a constant balancing act between these voices. The voice you hear is the voice you listen for.

When you listen with your heart, you will find that your inner voice speaks the loudest.

Get inspired! To your success.