Want a Life-Coach? Try Hercule Poirot!

Life-coaching is a lucrative profession, and one that’s growing in popularity. Training to be a life-coach can cost thousands of dollars, and employing a coach long-term certainly won’t be cheap – which is not to say that you shouldn’t do it! Life-coaching can be extremely valuable, and I have one good friend who swears by it. She currently has not one but two life-coaches, one for work stuff and one for her personal life. I and another good friend of mine are both completely addicted to Brooke Castillo’s ‘The Life Coach School’ weekly podcast (it’s brilliant and completely free) – and I’ve definitely benefitted and picked up some amazing tips from listening to Brooke’s words of wisdom.
There’s one crucial thing, though, that the entire life-coaching industry has failed to consider: that the best life coach of all might be a fictional Belgian detective with a large, flamboyant moustache. Hercule Poirot has been life-coaching other characters in Agatha Christie stories since 1920. Without him, would there even be a life-coaching industry now? (Okay, there probably would, but I like to get carried away sometimes.) Read on to discover what Poirot has said over the years, in his capacity as life-coach-before-the-term-was-invented.
1. Danger/Risk
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
‘But when investing money, keep, I beg of you, Hastings, strictly to the conservative.’
The Lost Mine (1923)
‘I can admire the perfect murder – I can also admire a tiger – that splendid tawny-striped beast. But I will admire him from outside his cage. I will not go inside. That is to say, not unless it is my duty to do so.’
Cards on the Table (1936)
‘Put your trust in God, and keep your powder dry.’
Dead Man’s Folly (1957)
2. New Starts/Second Chances
The Murder on the Links (1923)
‘Courage, Mademoiselle. There is always something to live for.’
Peril at End House (1932)
‘To all of us, Mademoiselle, there comes a time when death is preferable to life. But it passes – sorrow passes and grief. You cannot believe that now, I know. It is useless for an old man like me to talk. Idle words – that is what you think – idle words.’
Peril at End House (1932)
‘There is, sometimes, a deep chasm between the past and the future. When one has walked in the valley of the shadow of death, and come out of it into the sunshine – then, mon cher, it is a new life that begins. … The past will not serve.’
Sad Cypress (1940)
‘You are an educated woman. You must look at things sensibly. […] It has been a wet day. The wind blew, the rain came down, and the mist was everywhere so that one could not see through it. Eh bien, what is it like now? The mists have rolled away, the sky is clear and up above the stars shine. That is like life, Madame.’
Evil Under the Sun (1941)
Poirot, despite knowing how painful life can be, is an optimist. If he were a life-coach, he would certainly say, ‘Give yourself and others a second chance wherever possible.’
3. Do not fight anything or anyone. Do not be in a situation of conflict with anyone.
Lord Edgware Dies (1933)
Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, wisely said in that book: ‘Whatever we fight, we strengthen, and what we resist, persists’. Poirot, as we see from the above quote, agrees! Rhonda Byrne, author of self-help mega-bestsellers The Secret, also agrees, and so do most self-help gurus. (And so do I, for what it’s worth!) Violent, negative and angry opposition to anything helps nobody and always makes the world a worse place.
4. Choose Good Dreams/Set Good Priorities
Three-Act Tragedy (1935)
To a woman who has said she must follow her own star: ‘Beware, Mademoiselle, that it is not a false star…’
Death on the Nile (1937)
5. How to Choose the Right Partner
‘The Adventure of the Clapham Cook’ (1923)
‘[A]ll is not the gold that glitters. [… T]hough this lady is rich and beautiful and beloved, there is all the same something that is not right.’
Death on the Nile (1937)
‘Hero-worship is a real and terrible danger to the young. Some day Egg will fall in love with a friend, and build her happiness on a rock.’
Three-Act Tragedy (1935)
To a woman who was falling in love with a murderer: ‘Hate me a little if you will. But I think you are one of those who would rather look truth in the face than live in a fool’s paradise; and you might not have lived in it so very long. Getting rid of women is a vice that grows.’
Death in the Clouds (1936)
‘Les femmes, they like brutes, remember that!’
‘Triangle at Rhodes’ (1936)
To a woman caught up in a love triangle: ‘Go home, Mademoiselle. You are young, you have brains, the world is before you.’
Death on the Nile (1937)
To a man who did silly things for a pretty woman: ‘You must not go through life being too credulous, my friend.’
‘The Stymphalean Birds’ (1939)
To a woman who is worried about a sexier rival, called Arlena: ‘The Arlena Stuarts […] of this world – do not count. […] Their Empire is of the moment and for the moment. To count – really and truly to count – a woman must have goodness or brains.’
Evil Under the Sun (1941)
Poirot believes that choosing the right love object/partner is as important as choosing the right dream. If you fall for a pretty face, or brutish machismo, or someone you hero-worship and therefore can’t see clearly, you might be inviting misery into your life. Poirot would suggest instead choosing someone good, intelligent and capable of cooking nice dinners. Hard to argue with that!
6. Radical Acceptance
Death on the Nile (1937)
‘I think that there might be something very painful to learn and I am asking whether you will be wise enough to say: “The past is the past[”].’
Elephants Can Remember (1972)
‘[Life] does not permit you to arrange and order it as you will. It will not permit you to escape emotion, to live by the intellect and by reason! You cannot say, “I will feel so much and no more.” Life, […] whatever else it is, is not reasonable!’
Sad Cypress (1940)
Life-coaches and gurus call this ‘practising radical acceptance’. Eckhart Tolle advises: ‘Do not make an enemy of what is and cannot be changed’, explaining that this will only cause you needless misery. Brooke Castillo says that instead of finding fault with the past, you have the option of telling yourself that everything about the past was perfect because it made you the person you are today. Poirot realised the truth of this before both of them! When you learn a painful lesson from the past, you have learned a lesson – so you could choose to be glad about that, once the pain has passed. You can choose to accept the unreasonableness of life and even welcome it, and the emotions it brings with it.
7. The Seductive Power of Evil
Death on the Nile (1937)
Evil, here is not an innate quality of a person who commits murder, but rather a virus that can infect an otherwise good person. Eckhart Tolle warns people against what he calls ‘unconscious, ego-driven behaviour’, in the same way that Poirot warns against allowing evil into the heart. Brooke Castillo advises us to wait before acting, and make sure that whatever action we choose will improve the situation and not make it worse, for us as well as for others. Shouting, accusing and (obviously) murdering are clearly not going to help make the world a better place, or any individual person happier. Poirot, in the above quote, is putting forward the highly enlightened view that you cannot attack another without harming yourself too.
8. Every Life Matters
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940)
9. Setting Priorities/Core Values
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940)
‘It is the brain, the little grey cells […] on which one must rely. The senses mislead. One must seek the truth within – not without.’
‘The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim’ (1923)
Convincing a murderer to turn herself in: ‘It is the children you must think of, madame, not yourself. You love your children.’
Dumb Witness (1937)
To a woman who is unable to move past sexual jealousy (and killed over it as a teenager, and got away with it): ‘I do not think you have ever in your life cared about about what any other person would feel. If you had, you might be happier […] my child, you have so much to learn. […] All the grown-up emotions – pity, sympathy, understanding. The only things you know – have ever known – are love and hate.’
Five Little Pigs (1943)
‘Humility is valuable.’
Dead Man’s Folly (1957)
‘[W]ith the passage of time, the mind retains a hold on essentials and rejects superficial matters.’
Five Little Pigs (1943)
‘Do you not know, my friend, that each one of us is a dark mystery, a maze of conflicting passions and desires and aptitudes? Mais oui, c’est vrai. One makes one’s little judgements – but nine times out of ten one is wrong.’
Lord Edgware Dies (1933)
‘You see too many sensational films, I think […] or perhaps it is the television that affects you? But the important thing is that you have a good heart and a certain amount of ingenuity.’
‘The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding’ (1960)
To Hastings’ daughter who is more interested in work than men: ‘Is it that you think of nothing but the test tubes and the microscopes? Your middle finger it is stained with methylene blue. It is not a good thing for your husband if you take no interest in his stomach.’ Then, in response to ‘I shan’t have a husband’: ‘Certainly you will have a husband. What did the bon Dieu create you for? […] Le marriage first of all.’ Then, to Hastings: ‘Some day she will know how wise old men are.’
Curtain (1975)
Poirot is constantly encouraging people to embody and promote the highest and best values: humility, family, duty, compassion, understanding, kindness, liberty. He also places a high value on intelligence.
10. The Power of Love
Curtain (1975)
‘The happiness of one man and woman is the greatest thing in all the world.’
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
‘Love can turn to hate very easily. It is easier to hate where you have loved than it is to be indifferent where you have loved.’
Elephants Can Remember (1972)
Poirot sees both the positive and negative power of love. It can remove guilt, shame and misery, but it can also turn to a powerful hate if it goes wrong. As with all powerful forces, Poirot believes that we should all take great care over what we choose to do with our love-power. We should always, he thinks, use it for good, not ill. Fundamentally, Poirot is a deeply romantic person: he is in favour of love, and this is an essential part of his goodness.
11. Everything Matters
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
Detail is important, right down to the smallest things. Self-help gurus agree! Deepak Chopra is always writing and saying that decluttering and tidying your personal spaces is essential to living your best and most enlightened life.
12. The Power of Truth
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
‘To arrive at the truth, yes, that always interests me. But the truth is a two-edged weapon.’
Sad Cypress (1940)
When Hastings’ daughter finds a man, who isn’t Hastings’ choice: ‘They will be happy together, those two. They will be poor and innumerable tropical insects will bite them and strange fevers will attach them – but we all have our own ideas of the perfect life, have we not?’
Curtain (1975)
Poirot recognises that truth is crucially important and powerful, and therefore can be a good even when the particular truth in question is a disturbing one. He also recognises that there is not always one truth that applies to everyone. We all have our own truths and must pursue and promote them, and be, most importantly, true to ourselves.
13. Trust Your Instincts
‘The Lernean Hydra’ (1939)
Poirot understands that hunches and instincts are not things we’ve imagined or made up. Rather, they are information our brain has given us with without us necessarily being aware of it. Our hunches are based, often, on tiny details we’ve observed. They are valid pieces of evidence that should not be ignored.
14. We Cannot Change Others
Evil Under the Sun (1941)
Poirot is aware that all he can do is advise and caution; he is not in control of how other people choose to behave. We should all, therefore, focus on amending, controlling and improving our own behaviour first and foremost, and enforce our morality and ethics most strictly on ourselves.
15. The Importance of Listening Properly
After the Funeral (1954)
Here Poirot talks about listening from the point of view of murderers giving themselves away, but again he is ahead of his time in stressing the importance of proper listening. Self-help gurus regularly point out that if you’re listening impatiently while waiting to jump in and talk as soon as possible, or if you’re listening in a disapproving or judgemental way, then you’re not truly listening. This will damage all your relationships, just as not listening properly to suspects in a murder case will make it harder to solve that case.
16. Children
Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
Children are people too, not to be underestimated or undervalued. (They might also commit the odd murder, or have important evidence to impart!)
17. Psychology
‘One always thinks the days of one’s own youth are best.’
‘The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding’ (1960)
Poirot understands that our beliefs are based on our thoughts, as Brooke Castillo is always saying. Change your thoughts, and you will find that your beliefs and feelings change too. If we choose to think that the best is yet to come, then we don’t need to feel sad that the past is gone and will never return.
18. Practical Tip
‘Do a thing well, then leave it alone. That was his maxim’
Third Girl (1966)