lesson number one.

i've always wanted to teach.

it was always a closet dream
for me to be able to teach and
mould the mind of kids or youth.

of course, that never happened
and i took a different path from teaching,
plus for those who know me very well,
they might also argue that i SHOULDN'T
be allowed to bully teach kids anyway.

however, in my line of work,
i usually have opportunities to teach
and guide people, so i'm happy with that.
plus nowadays, i am officially a coach
as part of my jobscope, so yeay!

we had this meeting earlier today
amongst us coaches and management,
basically just to give feedback and share
our expectations and experiences so far,
and i enjoyed the technical discussions.
on top of that, i was happy to share a few
of my personal tips on coaching or teaching.

you see, i'm much more interested in the
human aspect of being a guide. sure, the
technical stuff is super vital, specially as
we're in a technical industry,  but i feel
that the human aspect of it is the key.

so here's my key tips if you're coaching;

1. be their friend. or at least get to know them.
- get to know them as people and take an
interest in their lives. this way you build a
positive relationship with them, and more
importantly, it cultivates friendship and trust.
over time, you'll want the best for them.
 
2. communicate, communicate, communicate.
 - always be in touch. from now on, you are
their 'therapist', you are the person that
they know they can talk to about whatever.
once that happens, they'll be comfortable
to share their concerns and ask you questions.

3. be honest.
- the reason for the first two points, is so that
you are able to honest with them, and vice versa.
it's easy to praise and be encouraging, but having
an honest relationship with them means that you
are able to criticize or be stern, for their own good.

4. boost the good, work on the bad.
- i like to build confidence, so once i know
what their interests are, plus their strengths
and weaknesses, i always like to give them tasks
that they are good at, build some confidence,
before giving them harder stuff to improve.

5. be human, be yourself, and have fun.
- nobody knows everything, so it's no harm
to let them know you are human too, and
you also make plenty of mistakes as well.
stay true to your(goofy, weird, funny)self,
and for god sakes, have fun. always!

so those are my top tips, i believe work
is already a serious matter, but that doesn't
mean we can't have fun on a daily basis.
and to me, helping to guide others is one
of the funnest things that you can do.

so teach, you'll find you learn a lot too!