Last year, I spoke on stage at a really big event for coaches, entrepreneurs and business owners where I was endorsing the host and leader of the event who was trying to sell his program that’s designed to help people grow their business, because I went through the program myself and it did good things for me. I endorsed him and talked about the great benefits of using his training.
Afterwards, a young Muslim lady wearing hijab, asked me some questions about the program and then asked me:
“Why are you financially supporting someone who isn’t Muslim, instead of a Muslim business coach?”
My answer was simple.
There are no Muslims who I know of that teach business growth particularly well and have the track record to prove it. (I guess I might be the exception to that, but teaching business growth isn’t my #1 focus – teaching The Psychological Switch is). Off the top of my head I could list a couple dozen people who don’t happen to be Muslim but are extremely good at coaching entrepreneurs – in fact I interviewed 20 of them for my “How Rich Coaches Think” summit.
I firmly believe that in any field, you should go to the number one person – the best person you can find who teaches a subject – and learn from them, not the nearest Muslim equivalent.
If you want a physics teacher, go to the best physics teacher, not the nearest Muslim. If you want a life coach, you should find the best life coach, not the nearest Muslim life coach.
However, upon reflection, there are TWO areas of life where Muslim coaches really do just do it better.
1. Relationships
2. Spirituality
When it comes to relationships, the “mainstream” has all kinds of weird and wacky and counterproductive ideas when it comes to dating, finding love and getting married. From ‘hooking up’ to using apps to falling madly in love way before figuring out if the person is even a good match, to brushing past whether marriage is important at all for a successful long term relationship & family.
A lot of these are fads and trends and almost real-time social-experiments which, if you’re a Muslim, you’re better off avoiding and just working with Muslim marriage coach who knows the keys to turning a potentially great relationship into a marriage that lasts. (There are obviously some exceptions to this – I know a couple of excellent relationship coaches who aren’t Muslim, but are people of faith, who share our family values, but in the ‘dating’ world, they’re the exception, not the rule).
And as for spirituality… Well… Duh!
How about someone who ‘gets’ the value of the Quran and the noble teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him), instead of someone who’s still trying to figure out whether or not God exists.
When it comes to spirituality, if you are a Muslim and if you have any goals related to improving your spiritual life, you probably want to work with a Muslim. I can’t tell you how much precious coaching time I’ve wasted in the past, trying to explain to somebody who isn’t Muslim what the Quran is… Why I want to memorise it… How its structured… in order to simply track and measure and be held accountable to do the process.
If it’s something as simple as football or business growth, then the truth is you probably don’t need a Muslim coach. Just about anyone who’s a real expert in those areas and knows what they’re doing will do the trick. But when it comes to spirituality, relationships and improving your family life, there are Muslim life coaches who are at the top of the game.
In any case, if you want major life changes and are thinking about working with a life coach, then I would also recommend something else…
Whatever field you want to improve in or hire a coach in, aside from their religion, there’s something much more important that I would look at, which is this:
Do they know and understand the power of The Psychological Switch?
They may call it by a different name. But if they haven’t been trained by me or one of my colleagues, then the effectiveness of the coaching will be severely diminished. You may still get some benefit and maybe even become more productive… but the incredible transformation people have reported from Switch Coaching is off the charts. I’ve never seen anything like it over 2 decades exploring personal growth. That’s why I’m a big advocate for it.
If you want to work with a coach on my team, most of whom are Muslim, and all of whom deeply understand The Psychological Switch to a “Black Belt Level”, then go here to apply and turn your biggest goals into reality… and transform your mindset and spiritual connection with Allah along the way:
