Picture 1. The choices we make change the direction of our lives
Life Coaching seems to something of a buzz right now. Many people will have heard the name Tony Robbins, read one of his books, listened to an audio course, or even attended one of his live events (I know I have)… but is this really what “life coaching” is?
It appears to have all started back in the 1980’s with a chap by the name of Thomas Leonard who was originally a Financial Planner who went on to give his clients advice and strategies on how they could plan, structure, and develop other areas of their lives as well as their finances. Thomas went on to set up one of the first training courses for life coaches and the profession has grown from there with thousands of people qualifying in the profession each year.
This is all very interesting, but we are still none the wiser as to what Life Coaching actually is and does. If it were a tin of something, what would the strap line say that it does?
Picture 2. A stereotypical coach for most people
Many people’s first experiences or thoughts about coaching go to sports coaching either at school or in sports they watch for leisure. The role of a coach in sports is to enable the player to get the best out of themselves in order to achieve their best possible performance in a match. It is really important to differentiate here between the role of the coach and a trainer. The trainer will tell the player what to do. In the case of a physical trainer they will actually prescribe what sort of exercises, intensities, and duration etc. that the player needs to complete as part of their training regime. The coach does not tell the player what they must do, but rather needs to understand them in order to help them bring their best attributes to the table when required to perform.
So in this sense a Life Coach is much like a Sports Coach. The only difference now is that they are working with “Life” rather than “Sports”. A Life Coach will help you (the player) to bring your best performance to your life goals – whatever they may be (i.e. health, career, purpose, love etc.).
Picture 3. The many facets which make up modern coaching
How a Life Coach manages this will be through a conversation based process of helping you to:
clearly identify what your goals are
understand where you are starting from
map the gap between the two
co-create an action plan with yourself to achieve your goals
track your progress, keep you accountable, and address obstacle which arise along the way
In my opinion everyone would work with a Life Coach – but then I could be considered biased. However, if there is something you want to achieve but just aren’t quite sure how, or something that you keep on trying to achieve but always come up short for some reason, or are looking for new direction and focus, or maybe just aren’t happy with what your Everyday Life looks like – then consider Life Coaching. What have you got to lose?
Good luck out there!
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