A young coach asked me "I am starting #coaching from scratch. What can I / should I do, what should I study to be an outstanding coach?" My response: 1. IT'S ABOUT YOU: Spend a lot of time figuring out why you want to #coach - I mean really dig into this - what's your motivation for coaching - and seek to understand yourself first before trying to understand and coach anyone else. 2. IT'S ABOUT THEM: Once you know your "why" - and you've clearly articulated your motivation/s for coaching - and you know all about you - then switch to making it all about "them". Do everything you can to master the skills of building quality, engaging, respectful relationships with other people so you can better understand them. 3. IT'S ABOUT ACCELERATING YOUR LEARNING: Find a mentor. Even better find several mentors. The most precious commodity - the one non-renewable commodity is time. Mentors can accelerate your rate of learning by sharing their knowledge and experiences to save you the time, pain and resources of finding out things through years of trial and error. As for study - start with the mental side first - particularly child and adolescent developmental psychology. Don't go down the physiology / drills rabbit hole too soon - there's plenty of time for that. Start with learning about people. I'd be interested in your views!