Everyone is familiar with coaching: Our favorite world-class athletes wouldn’t be where they are today without exceptional sports coaching. Many CEOs, entrepreneurs, business leaders, executives, actors, homemakers and business professionals would not be as successful without business coaching. These people all identify a gap between where they are and where they want to be, and turn to coaching when they want help reaching their goals. For them there’s another type of coaching that sounds more foreign to many people: Life Coaching.
WHAT IS A LIFE COACH?
The life coach definition is someone professionally trained to help you maximize your full potential and reach your desired results. They are like a supportive friend and a trusted adviser rolled into one. They’re someone who will push you to identify your goals, hold you accountable and provide encouragement throughout your journey to become a better version of yourself.
Life coaches complete extensive training that teaches them how to ask the right questions, communicate effectively and get to the heart of your needs and desires in life. They’re often trained in a specific coaching method.
Want to discover what's holding you back? A life coach is a type of wellness professional who helps people make progress in their lives in order to attain greater fulfillment. Life coaches aid their clients in improving their relationships, careers, and day-to-day lives.
HOW DOES LIFE COACHING WORK?
Now that we know the answer to the question “What is a life coach?,” let’s get into more detail about what exactly you can expect. Life coaching typically works in a specific, structured format, although your coach will ultimately work with you to create a custom action plan.
First, you will work with your life coach to define your vision. Your coach will ask you questions like:
▪️What is it that truly drives you?
▪️What’s at the basis of your goals?
After answering that question, you’ll work alongside your coach to identify barriers and limiting beliefs that have been holding you back. What negative things have you been telling yourself? How have these patterns gotten in your way and how can you move past them? Finally, you and your coach will set challenging, but achievable, goals. Your coach will ensure that you are not settling for limited goals or being too negative as you assess your position by helping you calibrate your long- and short-term goals against your core values.
Assessing your current position helps you and your life coach measure your progress and identify current and potential obstacles. After this important step, you and your coach will review your resources and all courses of action available to you in order to create a plan of action. You’ll then decide which specific steps you will take and when you will take them. You will prepare for potential obstacles and decide how to cope with them. At this time, you will ensure that each step supports your end goals, while your coach will help you stay on track and monitor your progress. If your plan needs modification at any point, your coach will help you with this as well, which will empower you to stay committed.
WHO SHOULD CONSIDER WORKING WITH A LIFE COACH ?
Anyone who wants to do more tomorrow than they can do today should consider hiring a life coach. Life coaching clients are typically ambitious people who want to improve their output and see more growth – and they want to do those things quickly and to the best of their ability.
There are a number of indications that working with a life coach could be helpful for you. These signs include:
▪️Frequent irritability
▪️High levels of stress and/or anxiety
▪️Inability to break bad habits
▪️Lack of fulfillment in your social life
▪️Persistent feeling of dissatisfaction at work
▪️Sense of blocked creativity
In recent years, life coaches have acquired a considerable presence in the mainstream. Indeed, a growing number of creatives, executives, and entrepreneurs are now teaming up with life coaches to attain success in their professional and personal lives.
WHAT DOES A LIFE COACH DO?
If you’re asking yourself, “What does a life coach do, and do I need one?,” it’s likely that coaching would benefit you. Here are a few more signs:
▪️You’re stuck in self-destructive habits like excessive drinking or overeating
▪️Your inner self-talk is very negative
▪️You’ve recently made a major life change or undergone a stressful event
▪️You suffer from fear of failure that keeps you from reaching your goals
Recognize yourself here? Make the decision to contact Life Coach today and begin the journey to a happier, more confident and fulfilled self.
A life coach encourages and counsels clients on a range of professional and personal issues. Life coaching is distinct from giving advice, consulting, counseling, mentoring and administering therapy. You hire a coach to help you with specific professional projects, personal goals and transitions.
The relationship between a client and their life coach is more like a creative partnership than a one-way street. From your first meeting, you will:
▪️Identify, clarify and create a vision for what you want
▪️Use your coach’s expertise to modify goals as needed
▪️Encourage self-discovery and growth
▪️Nurture and evoke strategies and a plan of action based on what fits best with your goals, personality and vision
▪️Foster accountability to increase productivity
life coach
Many people view working with a life coach as a means of bridging the gap between your current circumstances and the life you’d like to lead. The following are some of the positive outcomes that could result from joining forces with a life coach:
▪️Better work/life balance
▪️Elimination of long-held fears and anxieties
▪️Enhanced creativity
▪️Greater financial security
▪️Improved communication skills
▪️More satisfying work life
▪️Stronger relationships with friends and family
Additionally, people frequently pair up with life coaches in order to work through barriers that may interfere with finding a partner/mate. Many people also look to life coaches for help in identifying their passion and carving out their ideal career path.
Since sessions typically take place on a regular basis over a prolonged period of time, life coaches can ensure that their clients are implementing what is necessary to experience significant change.
For a great number of clients, accountability is one of the prime advantages of working with a life coach.
Along with providing the support and motivation essential for maintaining momentum, coaches can observe when a client is stuck or needs to recalibrate their goals. As a result, clients often achieve those goals more quickly and efficiently than they would if working on their own.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF LIFE COACHING?
Life coaches can help you clarify your goals, identify the obstacles holding you back, and then come up with strategies for overcoming each obstacle. In creating these strategies, life coaches target your unique skills and gifts. By helping you to make the most of your strengths, life coaches provide the support you need to achieve long-lasting change.
The exact life coach definition and the benefits you will experience depend on what your specific goals are. Some of the most common areas clients improve while working with a life coach include:
▪️Identifying goals and defining a vision for success
▪️Creating professional and personal growth plans
▪️Identifying limiting beliefs
▪️Working toward financial independence
▪️Obtaining work/life balance
▪️Learning to communicate more succinctly and effectively
▪️Fostering more powerful connections professionally and personally
▪️Improving relationships and communication skills
▪️Getting promotions
▪️Achieving weight loss and/or fitness goals
▪️Starting a new business or growing an existing one
▪️Managing an important life or business transition
▪️Articulating core values
Ultimately life coaching allows you to maximize your potential in any area. Research shows that coaching and training is a far more effective combination than training alone. Training alone can increase productivity by 22.4%, but when combined with weekly life coaching, productivity is boosted by 88%.
IMPACT OF LIFE COACHES
While people may report subjective benefits after seeing a life coach, there have also been studies that have shown that life coaching can be beneficial in a number of areas:
1. One study found that both individual and group coaching was helpful in reducing procrastination and improving goal attainment.
2. One review of studies found that health and wellness coaching showed promise for improving self-efficacy and self-empowerment.
3. A 2020 study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that coaching-based leadership interventions could be effective for enhancing well-being and improving functioning withing organizations.
4. Research also suggests that life coaching can have a range of other positive effects, including improvements in personal insight and improve self-reflection. It may also help improve overall mental health and quality of life.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LIFE COACH AND A THERAPIST
Although there may be some overlap in the benefits of working with a life coach and participating in psychotherapy with a licensed therapist, these professionals have distinct roles and serve unique purposes.
Unlike life coaches, therapists and other mental health professionals focus on healing, treating mental health conditions, and helping people work through trauma and other issues from their past. While working with a life coach may help you to deal with certain unresolved issues, life coaches cannot treat mood disorders, anxiety disorders, addiction, or any other mental health condition.
THERAPISTS
▪️Can treat mental health conditions
▪️Therapists have a degree and are licensed mental health professionals. They must follow an ethical code and adhere to regulations regarding confidentiality and ongoing education.
LIFE COACHES
▪️Cannot treat mental health conditions
▪️Do not need any formal qualifications or
academic training
▪️Are not required to follow health privacy laws.
Life coaching sessions can take many different forms. For example, some life coaches meet with their clients in person, while others conduct their sessions over the phone or by social media.
For help in finding a qualified life coach, try consulting an organization such as the International Coach Federation.
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