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What is a Life Coach?

Negotiating life and its ever more complex and changing opportunities is challenging for most of us. What do you want to do when we grow up? Are you struggling with stressful environments and situations? Are you wishing you could spend more time expressing your creative talents, maybe even earn a living with them? How can you better integrate work, social life, romance, as well as time to dream and regenerate?

Many of today’s influential leaders, professionals, and entrepreneurs use the services of a life coach to take their lives, careers, or businesses to another level or in a different direction completely. A coach will provide unbiased support and enable you to go beyond what you think you might be able to accomplish. Having a person with an objective perspective who can act as a sounding board, can be enlightening and rejuvenating  and can act as a buffer from the stress and second-guessing that can get in the way of taking those bold steps toward meeting your goals.

What’s the difference between coaching and therapy?

Coaches don’t work with you on past-based issues or traumas. A life coach is not a psychologist or psychiatrist. Life coaches focus on the present and the client’s goals for the future.

Why do I need a coach when I have my friends?

Friends are wonderful. A friend, however, is more likely to provide a good shoulder to cry on and tell you what you want to hear. Sometimes our friends don’t tell us the truth because they value our friendship too much and don’t want to risk losing it. A good life coach is never afraid to lovingly challenge your self-defeating preconceptions, hold up a mirror and encourage self-examination.

Is coaching like consulting?

Consultants are hired to fix a specific problem in a business such as productivity or employee turnover. A life coach doesn’t “fix” anything. A coach will provide differing perspectives on issues raised by a client, and together we become a team of problem solvers as challenges and goals are identified. The life coach stays with you for an agreed-upon period of time as you progress toward integrating new skills and perspectives. This is why coaching is so effective, it’s one thing to have the information and quite another to actually implement it. Life coaches offer very limited pointed direction. Rather than telling the client what to do, much of the time the answers will come from the client when the right questions are asked. Life coaches don’t necessarily have all the answers but they have the questions. The answers come through the process of puzzling things out together.

I should be able to reach my goals on my own though, right?

This is a commonly held belief because the values of being independent and self-sufficient have been highly regarded for centuries as cornerstone personality traits of successful, happy people. People believe they must sacrifice something to attain what they want. Generally that sacrifice is their health, their relationships, or their free time. All of this is unnecessary. You can have it all, maybe not all right this minute, but it’s possible to make it all work. Through life coaching, you’ll find that you don’t have to sacrifice anything in order to get what you want. You might need to make a few changes, yes, but will find that you have more time with your families and friends, more money, more opportunity, greater success and even more joy through work with a life coach.

Some of the wisest people in the world understand that anything of great merit is better able to be achieved with the help of the people around them. They know they need a trained professional or even a team of experts to help them determine the best direction and provide objective support and feedback. A coach listens to your story, helps you identify and clarify direction, and works with you to look at trouble spots that are tripping you up. Without this, it can be more difficult to achieve the goal you’re working toward. The extra edge a coach provides makes a world of difference.

If I’m already successful, why would I hire a life coach?

Is there any aspect of your life that you’re less than thrilled about? Are you doing what you most enjoy? Do you have the quality of life you want?Are you resigned about, cynical about or tolerating anything? Are you withholding your natural self-expression in any way? Do you have what you really want? Many people are living with the status quo, living small and avoiding giving serious thought to deeper dreams and ambitions.

How does life coaching work?

A partnership between the coach and client creates enthusiasm and momentum. Together, we develop clear, achievable goals that naturally motivate you. New skills are developed, which lead to greater success. Coaching is a support structure. Left to our own devices, we start out with the best of intentions and then, “life happens” and it can derail us completely or cause delays. Your life coach can help you quickly break through those snags and accomplish more with fewer struggles in a shorter amount of time. Your life coach is an objective supporter. If you’ve been doing it solo, try seeing how much more you can accomplish and how much better you can feel with a coach.

What kind of commitment am I looking at?

Most people find life coaching to be more beneficial than they realized and stay with it longer than they initially anticipated. Many life coaches ask for a three to six month commitment, some shorter, some longer. Most life coaches will ask you to sign a contract or an agreement to ensure your commitment to the process. It’s important to keep checking in with your coach and talking about this subject because on one hand, making changes can take time and it’s helpful to have that continued support. On the other hand, it’s essential to maintain a degree of autonomy and not become dependent on your coach. Once you commit to coaching, it’s up to you and your coach how much time you devote to the process.

If you have other questions that haven’t been addressed here, please email me, I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have. The contact page can be found in the menu bar at the top of this page.