About the Coach...

Hi, my name is Paul Rarick and I am the owner of OptimaLife Coaching. I began my formal training as a professional coach in 1995 when I enrolled in Coach University's training program. However, the truth is that I had been a student of personal development for several years prior to that, reading hundreds of books, attending seminars and listening to several audio programs on the subject since the late 80's. I've been fascinated by this field of study pretty much all of my adult life.

The first phase of my coaching career lasted a little more than 4 years, from 1995 through 1999, at which time I stopped coaching and decided to pursue other opportunities, primarily helping my wife to grow her audio production business (www.debbiegrattan.com).

Although I was successful at helping my coaching clients to achieve many goals, I felt there was something missing. There seemed to be a "wall of resistance" that would often appear when working with clients, and while it was possible to help clients move through this resistance, it was not always a fun process for me, or for my clients. I had the motto that "if I don't enjoy what I'm doing, I'm going to stop doing it," so I decided to quit coaching. Even after being away from it for a couple years, I didn't really miss it, and I honestly felt I would probably never coach again. It felt like I'd "been there and done that" and now there were new challenges and opportunities waiting for me.

A New Approach Emerges

About a year after the birth of my second child, in the fall of 2005, I found myself faced with a couple of personal issues that weren't resolving easily. It occurred to me one day, that hiring a coach might be a good idea. I'd been completely away from the business of coaching for six years.

I had also just finished reading a book by Abraham-Hicks on the Law of Attraction entitled, "Ask And It Is Given." It seemed like a good idea to look for a coach who was experienced with Law of Attraction, and who could help me integrate some of the concepts I'd been reading about. So, I did some searching on the web and ultimately found Drew Rozell.

Working with Drew was great! He has a Ph.d in Psychology, he's really sharp and he is one of the most intuitive people I've ever known. Much of what I do now in my coaching practice came by way of Drew. The powerful tools he shared include the Core Dynamics Model, the Pure Awareness Techniques, the Human Design System, and the WaveMaker. Drew had learned much of what he knew about these tools and techniques from Tom Stone, who is based in San Diego.

As much as I was enjoying working with Drew, (and my wife was also coaching with him at this point), I realized it made a lot of sense for me to learn how to do this myself, so that I could take over the coaching duties for myself and my wife and save some money! And, I wanted to learn from the Tom directly, since he had developed many of these tools and was pioneering the field of Human Software Engineering.

WaveMaker Coach Training Begins

In August of 2006 I began my WaveMaker Coach Training. It's a six month program and it can be pretty challenging due to the accelerated pace and learning requirements. The time commitment included a 90 minute weekly teleclass or webinar, two hours per week of "buddy" coaching practice sessions, a weekly laser coaching session with a skilled WaveMaker Coach, several sessions per week of self-coaching, and listening to over fifty hours of archived audio recordings of previous mastery classes to further integrate my knowledge and understanding.

What I love about this coaching approach is that it seems to be the missing link that I'd been searching for back in the late 90's. The "wall of resistance" that shows up around issues is no longer a problem. In fact, using the techniques and technology I am trained in, I find I can eliminate the resistance pretty easily. The results I get with people today are astounding compared to what I was able to do in the first phase of my coaching career.

So, about five months into my mastery program, I came to the conclusion that I really needed to re-launch my coaching business. I officially started seeing clients again in April 2007 and the experiences and results so far have been excellent. Check out some of the testimonials from people I've worked with so far.

A compelling reason for me to go back into coaching, in addition to the new tools that I have, is that through my study the Human Design System, I have discovered that I am very naturally suited for the coaching profession. My design type and specific "circuitry" is geared toward guiding others. So, coaching is a perfect fit for me and it is where I believe I can share my passion and greatest gifts with the world.

Well, that's my coaching story. In case you'd like to know some more general stuff about me, below are some other highlights of my life.

My Life Story, The 60 Second Version

Born on the East Coast in 1966. Grew up in Niles, Michigan. I have one older sister.

Graduated first in my high school class in 1985 then moved to southern California to join The Young Americans performing group. I performed in hundreds of shows with them over the next 5 years, touring the US, performing in Japan and doing a year long engagement in their Huntington Beach dinner theater (while attending college on the side). Many great experiences and memories!

Spent four months living in Paris, France on a foreign exchange program. I lived with a family who didn't speak English, so my French was pretty good by the time I returned to the States. I was able to visit many other countries during my stay in Paris, and a highlight was being in Berlin, Germany two weeks after the Berlin Wall came down. A very exciting experience!

I worked as a waiter for many years while living in California. I believe everyone should have that job at some point in their life. It taught me a lot about dealing with people and pressure.

I worked for five years in an insurance brokerage in Newport Beach, CA. I could have easily ended up pursuing this as my career, however, it wasn't the perfect fit for me and I knew that. This also taught me a lot about dealing with people and pressure, as well as many solid business skills.

I worked with an interactive murder mystery dinner theater for about eight years. Tons of great experience gained there. I did every job possible in that company except acting in the shows. I worked my way up to basically running the whole business. I ultimately retired from this when my wife's VO career started really taking off and I realized my time was much better spent helping to increase and expand her business.

I enjoy playing guitar and spent a couple years while living in California playing solo and duo gigs (some with my wife) at various venues. Fun times, although I got tired of being my own rodie. And, once our first child was born, had to let this one go. I keep a guitar in my office and pick it up a few times a week.

I moved back to Niles, Michigan in 2004. I have two young children, a wonderful wife, two successful businesses, a beautiful home, lots of family and support nearby, many friends, and life just keeps getting better every day!