Youth Life Coaching
Gulam Akbar, Youth Life Coach
What is youth life coaching?
It’s simple. Youth life coaching is life coaching, but for the youth. Picture a life coach as someone who serves as a companion responsible for providing subtle guidance throughout life as you encounter decisions crucial for your growth and development as a human. The goal of a life coach is to serve as a light to lead you through the darkness and assist you in diffusing your internal and external struggles and shed them in favour of a confident, self-loving lifestyle. A life coach can be described as someone who provides guidance and empowers you to promote a better lifestyle of prosperity.
How does a youth life coach help me?
Youth life coaching can assist greatly in improving your mental well-being and quality of life in a variety of ways: conquering your relationship with anxiety, improving confidence, cultivating relationships, assisting you in forming goals and targets and helping to bring clarity and balance into the life you desire.
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My Story
Hi, my name is Gulam Akbar. I'm a youth life coach, and this is my story.
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It all started with my elder brother. He was the one I looked up to, the one I admired because he was ‘hard as nuts’. Naturally, as a younger sibling I copied everything he did, I wanted to be like him. This included his aggressive and violent ways.
When it came to the beginning of my secondary school days, I remember that he had almost trained me to look at school as a place where you ‘prove yourself’ and ‘you’re not to be messed with’. I was ready to fight from my first day in secondary school. The idea that school was a place of learning and growing was far from my mind. I just wanted to be known as ‘hard’. And sure enough, as I progressed through school, I developed a reputation as a hothead. I was out of control.
Outside of school, I had gotten into trouble with the police a number of times. Mainly because of my violent behaviour.
But as I grew older, my brother and I drifted apart. Me discovering religion and becoming an Islamic fundamentalist, and him adopting a non-believer, atheist position. We were worlds apart.
I stumbled on my religion and was influenced by people close to me. Suffice it to say I spent a long and hard fifteen years trying to be the perfect Muslim, but the only thing I became was a tired old bigot.
I am glad to say that my days of imitating my violent brother, and following religion to its extremes are over. But it took me much of my life of internal struggle to reach where I am now. Now, life is much better, much more calm, planned and directed. Imbued with the richness and happiness, I never thought I would achieve.
Although my marriages did not work out, I have three lovely children whom I adore and cherish, and I have my nieces and nephew to call family. My family is the focus of my attention and love. I will always be there for them. And adoration of my family is one of the branches of the change I experienced from my mid-life crisis. I have discovered who I am as a person: what I value and what I can let go of. I have learned a lot.
The way forward
Lessons learned
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So what have I learned from my life experiences so far? There are many lessons learned, but here are a few.
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Focus on your mental and physical health. There is no better policy than to get into optimal health to live a long and illness-free life. One of the best things I did that really changed my life was to give up smoking. I went cold turkey and just gave up one afternoon, and I haven’t looked back.
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Inculcate good habits. Much of life is habitual. We tend to do the same things day after day. But if they are not good habits, they can work against us. If, of course, they are good habits like eating healthy foods, and exercising regularly, then you will be on an upward path of positive behaviour and habits.
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Take time to think and consider your position in life. Don’t just jump into the next big thing. I jumped from violence into religion without thinking and consideration. Don’t make the same mistake.
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Set your priorities. What do you value in life? What’s the most important thing to you? My priority is my family - my children, my sister, nieces and nephew. I don’t want them ever to make the mistakes I made in life. As such, I have been coaching my niece and nephew to try and make their dreams and wishes come to reality.
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Set your goals and slowly work towards them. I’ve only just recently appreciated the power of setting goals (and I’m still learning). Setting life goals really does give your life direction.
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Commit to excellence in the things you do. Aspiring to high standards in your life will transform it to new heights.
There are so many more lessons I’ve learned over the years (too many to cover here), and I’m still learning because I consider myself to be a lifelong learner and a citizen of the world.
So, can I help you?
I am, first and foremost, a youth life coach. I can pass on what I have learned through my life experiences to you. My aim is to work with adolescents (between the ages of 10-19). So if you are:
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at a crossroads in life,
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unsure about what you stand for in life,
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have problems with authority,
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want to set a direction for your life,
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discover the values that are dear to you, or
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maybe you’re not doing well as you know you could do in school or college, or
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it could be that you have issues with low self-esteem and low self-confidence. I have been there, I know what it’s like and how to break free from them.
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I’m here to help with all of the above and more. We can change things and get you to your full potential. A life where there is hope, excitement and achievement. We can do this together, we can form a partnership where we work together towards a better and brighter tomorrow. I would ask you to consider me as your youth life coach.
I like to believe that I have settled down now and have a much more positive and calmer outlook on life. Violence and aggressive behaviour are truly behind me, thankfully. I have seen the error of my ways. I believe I am now a well-rounded and capable coach. I have named my youth coaching services - Gulam Akbar Services.
Why choose Gulam Akbar Services?
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I aim to help any young client become the best human being they can be.
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Gulam Akbar Services passionately seeks to understand the young client and their individual needs, prioritising the client and using empathy and compassion to provide genuine support to the client.
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Gulam Akbar Services takes pride in its values by looking to continually innovate in ways to provide quality assistance to get the client back on their feet in times of uncertainty and set a direction for their life. In addition to undivided devotion and competitive rates, it is the ultimate duty of Gulam Akbar Services to equip you with the right tools to challenge yourself and seek self-improvement by overcoming the greatest challenges you are faced with.
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Ultimately, Gulam Akbar Services aims to ensure that my services empower the client until the client no longer requires my services. Being able to stand confidently as a glimmering individual with clarity of purpose, looking forward to the future with hope and determination. This is what Gulam Akbar Services deems as a successful transition from your former young self to the best self you can be.
So why not complete the Contact Me section or simply email me at the email address below, expressing your interest in working with me, and we’ll get the ball rolling!
Prices & Packages
1
Platinum
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1 one-to-one Zoom call of 1 hour per week
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2 emails
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1 half-hour telephone call per week
2
Gold
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1 one-to-one Zoom call of 45 mins per week
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1 email
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15 mins telephone call per week
3
Silver
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1 one-to-one Zoom call of 30 mins per week