A life coach is a type of wellness professional who helps people make progress in their lives in order to attain greater fulfilment. Life coaches aid their clients in improving their relationships, careers, and day-to-day lives.
Life coaches can help you clarify your goals, identify the obstacles holding you back, and then come up with strategies for overcoming each obstacle. Life coaches are there to support the client in creating long-lasting change.
In many cases people turn to using life coaches for guidance in making significant changes in their life. This is not always the case though and some simply want to build a happier and more fulfilling future.
Here are just a few examples of things that you may be experiencing or suffering with that may indicate that working with a life coach may be very beneficial to you:
- High levels of anxiety and/or stress
- Irritability
- Feeling dissatisfied at work persistently
- Not feeling fulfilled in your social life
- Creatively feeling blocked, this can occur in writing, painting and so on
Life coaches have acquired a large presence. A growing number of professionals, creatives, entrepreneurs, parents, teenagers – you name it, are teaming up with life coaches to attain success both personally and professionally.
Different types of Life coaches
There is the all-encompassing more general approach which most coaches will find themselves using even if they specialise, as often when you go to a life coach for one thing you end up working on other things in your life as well. When searching for a life coach you may find that some coaches focus on specific areas such as:
- Mental health coaching
- Divorce coaching
- Sporting mindset coaching
- Family coaching
- Addiction coaching
- Recovery from injury/disease coaching
- Adolescent coaching
- Relationship coaching
- Career coaching
Life coaches can help with working on unresolved issues. Often someone may see a therapist/counsellor and then see a Life coach or it is very common to see both at the same time. They may use the treatments in conjunction with one another.
Coaching is future focused whereas counselling is past focused
Often after counselling or therapy the person may seek some mentorship and direction – you will get this from a Life coach. It can shed light on unseen possibilities and strengths. Coaching can be an active way of getting you to where you want to be in life. This does not say that Life coaches don’t discuss your past, especially if that is stopping you from moving forward.
What can a Life coach do for YOU
Everyone should have a Life coach!
Life coaches can help with all sorts of things you want to improve in your life, here are some examples:
- Eliminate fears or anxieties, these may have been held for many years or more recent
- Create a better work/life balance
- Improve mental health and wellbeing
- Improve relationships, both romantic and platonic
- Improve social skills
- Enhance creativity
- Family relationships
- Recovery
Typically, sessions take place on a regular basis, weekly or bi-weekly over a prolonged period of time, Life coaches can then ensure that their clients are implementing what is necessary to experience significant change.
A Life coach will support you in gaining momentum towards your goal or goals. A good coach will recognise where you fall or when you get stuck. They will then help you regain momentum. When working with a Life coach, clients often achieve their goals much faster than when working alone. Procrastination becomes a thing of the past.
Research suggest that Life coaching can improve mental health and wellbeing and therefore your quality of life.
