Mats Abatzidis offers a caring, supportive and inspirational environment for his coaching. This allows his clients to heighten their awareness of who they really are and to live more consciously.

Mats seeks to uncover and eliminate destructive behavioural and thinking patterns that impede progress, while equipping his clients with empowering tools that have been scientifically proven to work.

Mats offers a solution-focused approach to personal growth that is designed to make lasting changes in all areas of his clients’ lives. He aims to help you identify your passion and develop it with action, growth, confidence and motivation.

Mats Abatzidis, New Insights Certified VIP Life Coach

My passion & philosophy

I grew up in Greece for the first six years of my childhood. I remember spending a lot of time sitting with my dad when his friends would come and visit at the house and they would have their ‘adult’ conversations. I enjoyed listening to the conversations immensely.

Later on, we moved to South Africa and my best friend throughout primary and high school would call me his ‘rock’.  Towards the end of high school I would attract various people to me for advice as they always enjoyed speaking to me and, more often than not, they found my advice (when I had some to give) helpful.

Since then and until fairly recently, I considered studying philosophy, psychology and other similar fields, but somehow always felt that they did not quite fulfill my needs. Then, I found life coaching and it ticked all the right boxes for me.  I have since become a permanent student of life coaching and I love every moment of it.

I am passionate about listening to friends and colleagues, sharing hopes and dreams.  I connect with people from all walks of life and enjoy bringing true joy to people’s hearts, helping them find their purpose in life, feeding their passions and fuelling their happiness.

I am motivated by equipping people with simple yet powerful tools and techniques to improve their lives, empower themselves and achieve the results that they are willing to earn, achieve and enjoy.

Every single person has unlimited potential to be, do or have anything they want.  Everything we currently want that we don’t have is outside our comfort zone. We have to want it and be willing to take responsibility for getting it.

Life coaching has the ability to unleash people’s immense potential and empower them to achieve success beyond their wildest dreams.

Influential Life Coaching

Influential Life Coaching aims to help my clients achieve substantial personal development and growth tailored to suit their own unique needs.

I categorise my clients’ needs into the following eight interlinked life areas:

1. Health

Developing or maintaining physical wellbeing and fitness, including the need for weight loss and managing chronic disease.

Are there some great activities that you love to do but you have buried? Is there a positive physical activity or sport you used to be addicted to, but now have left behind? Are there things that will help you develop your mind and body that you could do, but are not doing now? If you are like most people reading this, you have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to doing things for yourself that are healthy for your mind and body. The vast majority of people today use the age-old excuse that they haven’t got time for things like reading, exercising, eating properly, or even taking time to just think.

Guess what? You are not like “the vast majority!” You are extremely important and special and do have the time to do all of this and more. And I know why you have time to spend time on yourself. Because you believe it is more important to have a healthy mental life and physical life than it is to rush through the ‘rat race’ with nothing to show for it, but a garage full of toys, a therapist’s bill, high blood pressure, and a divorce.

The easiest thing anybody can do is to quit! Quitting doesn’t help anybody.

2. Partner

Your relationship with your spouse, fiancée, boy/girlfriend.

This is one that cannot be neglected. Your relationship with this one person is like a muscle and absolutely must be exercised regularly or it will shrivel up and die. You made a huge commitment when you committed romantically to another person. The blessings that flow from a great relationship are priceless. This is a huge rock, but too many people drop it on their big toe and make no effort to put it back where it needs to be.

The eight areas of life are also like balls you are juggling and each one needs attention all of the time. Most of these balls are like tennis balls and will often bounce back if you happen to drop one of them. The exception is your partner and it is the only ball you are juggling that is breakable. If you drop this one it may shatter. It will also be very hard to clean up while trying to keep the other balls up in the air.

Are you giving your spouse, fiancé, boyfriend/girlfriend undivided attention? Are there things you are doing now that are causing you to neglect your partner?

3. Emotional

This life area includes emotional intelligence, beliefs and personal values, as well as the thought processes that either work for us or sabotage us.

While it may seem counter-intuitive to set goals for leisure time, the important thing to do is to schedule time for you only.  Note what time of day, week, or month you might be able to carve out some time for yourself.  Do you have a stack of projects that you would like to start, but lack the initiative to take the first step?  Do you have a stack of projects that you have already started, but can’t find the motivation to complete them?  This is your chance to set achievable goals.  Recreation can be an active hobby or a new experience.  Don’t just dream about learning to ski, do it!  Don’t just wish you could join the women’s volleyball league, make a call.

4. Spirituality

This is about our sense of awareness, religious beliefs, our place within the world, our place within our universe and our purpose.

You are in charge of one thing and that is your mind. Now you have the opportunity to put yourself in touch with the universal laws of nature and their infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, as humans have done throughout the ages. If you believe there is no higher power, I am not going to argue with you. Practice, teach and preach whatever you believe in.

5. Vocation

Your profession, job, or business.

We spend a large percentage of our time working in our chosen profession. If you do not own your own business, there are specific areas you can focus on in your work life that will create lasting positive impact on that business.

The first thing you must concern yourself with is the question, “Am I in the right business or profession?” Remembering the following will help with this decision “Do what you like and you will never have to work.”  If you do not like to get up on Monday mornings, then you may want to consider your options for a different career. You may, however, simply need to change your perspective on the work that you are currently doing for you to “like what you do.”

Are you excited about your profession or business? Ask yourself,  “What can I do to have phenomenal success in this area?” Do you need to read more, attend more seminars, listen to more positive podcasts and CDs, get more education, review your numbers more often, meet with your team more often, change your team, or begin expecting more from your team?

6. Money

Pursuing financial goals and objectives that are either personal or professional in nature.  Your relationship with your money.

“Everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it.”  Too many people believe that leaving this crucial area of life to chance will not affect them negatively. Consider why people get desperate, kill, divorce, abuse others, become addicted, cheat, lie, and ruin lives. The reason people begin many of those activities is due to the lack of money. However, money is “amoral”, meaning it is neither good nor bad. Money behaves just like fire. When fire is kept in the fireplace it is safe, provides heat, and provides light. If it gets outside of the fireplace, fire can burn the whole house down. It is all in how you handle the fire that determines its goodness or harmfulness. And so, it is just how we handle money that makes it good or bad.

We live in an instantaneous society that wants everything right now. We believe that we must have it now, and will go into any amount of debt to get whatever it is that is the latest, the best, the biggest, the coolest, or the fastest. Once we are deep in debt, its cycle is hard to break. We simply haven’t yet learned how to handle money. Many people give lip service to this topic, but are not serious at all about this crucial area of life.

7. Family/Social

The multiple relationships that form our social circle and support structures. Anyone related to you with the exception of your spouse.

Your “family” is your children (if you have them), your parents and your siblings, followed by grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, etc. Having this major area of life in place and in balance with the rest of your life is an integral part of the balance equation.

If you have children you need to be in regular contact with them no matter what has happened between you. Children need the love and support of their parents throughout life. Remember that our children are our children, no matter what. A child is never a reduced member of a family just because he/she gets married, leaves town, or goes astray.

If your last name is Smith, are you any less of a Smith because you do one thing or another? No. Has the Smith in you been reduced? No. You are always fully a Smith.  Furthermore, if you are the child of a wayward parent, re-connecting with your parent is something that may create tremendous space for success in your life. Sometimes just the attempt, even if it does not work out, will create the space you need to move on and live in balance.

In the instructions for using the QC you will find over 25 ways that you can, on a regular basis, connect or re-connect with your children, parents, in-laws or any other person who is in your family. You need these connections to be strong and positive in order to have the peace in your life that allows great success to surface.

Think about this deeply… Who in your family needs your regular and undivided attention? Are there things you are doing now that are water or pebbles that are taking the place of this big rock?

8. Personal Development

Personal development is a lifelong process. It’s a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realize and maximize their potential.

Begin by identifying the skills you need to set life goals which can enhance your employability prospects, raise your confidence and lead to a more fulfilling, higher quality life.  Plan to make relevant, positive and effective life choices and decisions for your future to enable personal empowerment.  Although early life development and early formative experiences within the family, at school, etc. can help to shape us as adults, personal development should not stop later in life.  Continuous personal development allows for constructive growth while achieving goals along the way.

Investment … or Luxury?

• Developing & growing as a person is not a luxury. It’s fundamental to being the best you can be and enjoying life to the full.
• Learning to take control of your life is not a luxury. It’s the secret to being successful, inspired and motivated.
• Understanding your value system is not a luxury. It’s vital for knowing who you are and what you really want from life.
• Dispelling your limiting beliefs and worst fears is not a luxury. It’s a way to soar above a life of mediocrity and inertia.
• Finding your purpose is not a luxury. It is essential if you want to live the life you love.
• Life coaching is not a ‘cost’; it’s a serious investment in yourself and your future happiness.

What I can do for you

I offer a caring, supportive and inspirational environment which allows my clients to heighten their awareness of who they really are and live more consciously.

I uncover and eliminate destructive behavioural and thinking patterns that impede your progress, while equipping you with empowering and specific tools that have been scientifically proven to work.  I offer a solution-focused approach to personal growth that is designed to make lasting changes in all areas of your life.

I will help you identify your passion and develop it with action, growth, confidence and motivation.

I will assist you with:

• Setting Goals – the building blocks of success
• Identifying resources and achieving milestones – essential stepping stones to your goals
• Developing empowering beliefs while removing limiting beliefs and move you closer to success
• Determining your personal values and adopting a value structure for ultimate success
• Uncovering your hidden rules and giving you the choice of always feeling good
  Discussing “The Six Human Needs” and which ones you need met
• Finding balance and accepting the bliss between the extremes of life.
• Proving information about communication & projection – all communication is projection
• Taking full responsibility for your success – the foundation for freedom
• Addressing the eternal questions that need answers
• Setting long-term goals – what would you really love to do
• Discovering your purpose – true meaning in life
  Learning to celebrate your successes
• Forming an attitude towards change that is characterized by excitement and positive anticipation rather than fear and trepidation.  Learning to turn obstacles into opportunities.
• Staying focused. I will work with you on setting intentions and give you exercises to do to elevate your position on the emotional scale.
• Building powerful confidence and using self-development tools, to carry you through your journey.
• Learning to be flexible, whilst still totally committed to your goals and dreams
• Learning to live in the moment, even as the moment evolves.

The Result

Every time our body experiences an event or an influence (stimulus) that engages our senses and causes us to respond in one way or another, the ‘Stimulus-Response System’ is employed. The vast majority of times, our bodies have been exposed to the stimuli before and we have conditioned our bodies to respond in a certain way i.e. we have learned to choose a response to a particular stimulus.  Learn to make and choose conscious and valuable responses to counteract events and influences in your life.  So, what are you going to do with the information I have just provided you?

An additional aspect of these responses is the fact that they can be further reinforced by positive associations and reward, or downgraded and even changed if the association made with them is negative as a result of ‘pain’ or some form of punishment. When people are either given the choice by others, or decide to give themselves the choice, they will tend to favour learned responses that bring them pleasure rather than responses that bring them pain. We always have a choice in responses, and should not fall into the habit of making thoughtless responses, which can ultimately hurt us, or prevent us from achieving our goals. So, what are you going to do with the information I have just provided you?

Lastly, it is not the things that happen to us that are either good or bad, but rather the associations we make with those events that determine whether we will experience that event as a good one and feel good/right, or experience that event as a bad one and feel bad/wrong. We (our subconscious minds) determine whether an event is good or bad, not the event. The strength of the association determines the intensity of the emotion we shall feel. Ultimately, our personal values are derived from our experiences & related emotions. So, what are you going to do with the information I have just provided you?

Request Me as Your Life Coach

To request me as your life coach, please enter your details on the contact form (making sure to choose my name from the dropdown list of coaches) on the Request a Coach page.

• Listing ID: 145
• Name of Practice: Influential Life Coaching
• Coach Gender: Male
• Year of Birth: 1975
• Practice Location: Johannesburg, Gauteng
• Coaching Medium: Face-to-Face, Remote (e.g. Telephone/Skype/Zoom, etc.)
• Qualifications: Veterinary Surgeon, New Insights Certified VIP Life Coach
• Speciality/Niche: Working with corporates, health professionals and university students (based on own experience and positions held).
• Unique Selling Proposition: I have the utmost confidence in my service as a life coach and firmly believe that I can help people obtain the necessary skills required to achieve significant improvement in their lives by virtue of specialised, tailor-made coaching. I offer a full money-back guarantee.
• Languages Spoken: English

1. Check all listings by this user