Have you heard of a life coach or know someone who has been to a life coach and experienced its benefits?

Do you find yourself wondering how a life coach can help you?

In this article, we will discover what life coaching is, the different types of life coaches, what to expect in a session, and how to find a practitioner near you.

What is Life Coaching?

Life coaching sessions are geared toward counseling clients on a range of personal and professional issues. It is different from giving advice, mentoring, counseling, consulting, or administering therapy.

A life coach is hired to help with specific personal goals, professional projects, and/or transitions. Life coaching will help you grow by analyzing your present state and the existing challenges or obstacles you are facing, in an effort to devise a unique plan of action to help achieve your life goals.

5 Ways Life Coaching Can Help

A coach develops a relationship with his or her client seeking to:

  1. Identify: Identify and clarify, and if need be, to create a vision for what the client wants

  2. Grow: Help lead the client on the path of self-discovery and growth

  3. Create: Boost client's accountability to increase productivity

The life coaching process works in tandem to help clients maximize their potential. A study has shown that training and coaching are far more effective than training alone. The report found that training alone helps reduce procrastination and facilitate goal attainment; but when used in combination with coaching, it boosts productivity.

What Is the Role of a Life Coach?

People seek out life coaches for different reasons. A life coach can have different specialties and roles. The following are twenty-two different, traditional roles of a life coach, as well as, reasons why a life coach can be helpful:

  1. Articulating core values

  2. Managing an important business life or transition

  3. Starting a new business or nurturing an already existing one

  4. Achieving fitness or weight loss goals

  5. Getting promotions

  6. Helping to cultivate powerful connections both personally and professionally

  7. Communicating effectively

  8. Striking a work-life balance

  9. Working toward financial independence

  10. Identifying limiting beliefs

  11. Creating personal and professional action plans

  12. Identifying objectives and defining a vision for success

  13. Living an ideal life

  14. Becoming a problem-free zone

  15. Clearing clutter

  16. Breaking through the barrier of fear

  17. Building powerful relationships

  18. Finding the ideal career/work or business

  19. Breaking through the glass ceiling

  20. Getting out of a rut

  21. Finding the ideal partner/love/relationship

  22. Making more money

Types of Life Coaches?

There are many types of life coaches. Here is a list of the nine most common types of coaches:

  1. Happiness

  2. Career

  3. Relationship

  4. Achievement

  5. Motivation

  6. Confidence

  7. Purpose

  8. Fulfillment

  9. Relationship

And so much more....

Why You Should Try Life Coaching

Many businesses and people use life coaches and often have full-time life coaches as part of the team working with them every day. This helps them adapt to the changes in their various industries, professions, and lives.

If you are looking to improve your output, increase your growth, and accomplish these new milestones quickly to the best of your ability, you should hire a life coach. You will achieve more tomorrow.

Many types of people use a life coach: actors, small business owners, professionals, managers, homemakers, executives, entrepreneurs, creative types, business leaders, start-up pioneers, and many more. These people identify a gap between their present state and where they want to be and turn to life coaching to help them achieve their goals.

So, if you are looking to make an improvement in your present situation, you should hire a life coach.

A Life Coach and a Therapist: What's the Difference?

You may be wondering what differentiates a life coach from a therapist. There are key distinctions that separate the two. Life coaches do not treat mental illnesses, anxiety or depression. Note that when you hire a life coach, you will not be getting a therapist.

Future Vs Past

Rather than dealing with your past, a life coach is focused on working toward your future. While your life coach might offer suggestions, steps to take, or new ideas, they are not advice givers. They will ask questions to help you find your path, your answers, and your truth. They will align your life with who you are and what you want.

If at the beginning of your coaching session, your coach finds that you have unresolved, former issues, he or she will refer you to a therapist. Life coaches help to get rid of mental blocks, but troubling issues in the past are beyond their scope of expertise.

Solution Focused vs. Problem Focused

Life coaches and therapist are also different in their focus. A therapist, for instance, is more interested in a certain problem you are battling with and what got you there. This is why clients go to a therapist to work through an issue or solve a problem.

On the other hand, a life coach is more concerned with solutions that move you from point A to point B. You should consider life coaching if you need help understanding how to get to where you ought to be in life. A life coach is more interested in helping you discover new ways of thinking that will help you reach your goal.

How Does Life Coaching Work and What Should You Expect?

Life coaches utilize several techniques, processes, and methods to help you reach your goals. Coaches go through countless numbers of educational and training programs, so they are well equipped to help you succeed.

The First Meeting

The first session usually lasts between 15 minutes to an hour. This is the discovery session. This is the time your coach learns about your goals and aspirations. This first meeting might explore if life coaching is right for you, or it might identify what you would like to focus on. It could also be a combination of the two.

The first session will involve a lot of questions. It may also require taking some tests and doing specific exercises to ascertain what method of coaching will work best for you. Some of the questions may include: What is holding you back? What do you avoid? What are you passionate about? The initial meeting will give you an idea of what is required to kick start your getting on track.

Processes and Techniques

The following are common processes life coaches employ:

  1. Finding limiting beliefs

  2. Emotional freedom technique

  3. Relaxation

  4. Meditation

  5. Hypnosis

  6. Neuro-linguistic programming

  7. Affirmations

  8. Visualization

When you discover your ultimate intentions and gain clarification, this will begin a new process of realignment.

What Is a Coaching Session Like?

There are many types of sessions. The kind your coach uses will depend on the stage of coaching you are in. Sessions are dynamic and will change over time, As you start to realize what works best, various methods will be adapted to suit your strengths.

Life coaching reveals the factors limiting you, and the things you are stuck on With this identification process, mental and emotional blocks are addressed which pave the way for progress and success.

Your life coach will help you to identify your blind spots and to see things from a different perspective. Only a life coach enables you to examine your life and your goals, and that is why life coaching is critical for many people.

The Outcome of Life Coaching

After a life goal session, you will have a new sense of direction and purpose. You will ditch the feeling of being lost or frustrated for not being able to reach your goals. You will feel energized and mobilized.

When you eventually crack the code of setting achievable goals and implementing plans to follow through, your life coach will be there getting you motivated so you will feel more productive, confident. and enthusiastic for the rest of your life.

You will have an incredible feeling of satisfaction and validation that comes with having a clear vision of your life and witnessing yourself achieving your goals.

A life coach will usually start with where you are, what you are presently doing, and what you should be doing. After this, your coach will hold you accountable for steps you should be taking and for tackling problems that come up along the way.

He or she will be focused on three things: taking action, accountability and following through. As these are the main components to success, it will form an integral part of how your sessions are handled.

References

Losch, S., Traut-Mattausch, E., Muhlberger, M. D., & Jonas, E. (2016). Comparing the Effectiveness of Individual Coaching, Self-Coaching, and Group Training: How Leadership Makes the Difference. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 629. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00629. Retrieved May 2,2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4853380/