- What exactly is a life coach?
- Who should call on a life coach?
- What makes you think you can improve my life?
- Isn't life coaching something like therapy or consulting?
- Isn't life coaching too touchy-feely?
- Are there any professional coaching standards?
- What can I expect from working with a life coach?
- How do I choose a coach that is right for me?
- Where does coaching take place?
Most often people seek to work with a life coach because they would like to change, achieve, create something in their personal professional lives. From the outside looking in they might appear to have it all together, yet they feel something is missing. Some want a more rewarding relationship, better health, a more exciting career, while others want more business success or a new sense of fulfillment and balance in their lives. Coaching is a partnership in which I guide and support people to a higher level of personal and professional achievement. Some people have told me they want the structure and support personal coaching can provide.
There are different types of coaching: life coaching, business coaching, career coaching, performance coaching, personal development coaching, etc. They all answer the same fundamental question: "How can I be better?" "How can I achieve my personal best, and create the results I want in my personal and professional life?"
A personal coaching relationship offers a powerful partnership, providing the structure, accountability, feedback and support, to keep you moving forward and achieve the results you really want.
Coaching is about increasing someone's personal power, by increasing the number choices and options a person has to accomplish his or her goals. Personal coaching brings out the best in people, and inspires them to appreciate and support the best in others!
Most of us are familiar with the term coaching from the world of sports and training. The greatest athletes in the world all rely upon the help of a coach to elevate their game and reach new heights.
Personal coaching offers a 'time out' in the most important game of all, the game of life. Are you going for gold in the game of your life? Coaching helps you stay on track.
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Life coaching is not for everyone. If you live a perfect life, life coaching is not for you. Coaching is also not for those who are clinically depressed, or anyone who suffers from an anxiety disorder or any other psychiatric problem.
Life coaching is for you if you're ready to take full responsibility for your life. Coaching is for if you're ready to vote with your life energy for what will make you happy. Life coaching is for you if want to choose your own life, take action and create a life you love.
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There are many life coaching critics out there. Many of those people have never experienced a life coaching session with a qualified and certified coach, so you should not pay too much attention to their opinions. Many of them are often the same people who like to grumble and groan about everything else in life, and rather dwell in negativity than create new possibilities. Do I want to work with such people? Definitely not!
Coaching is about honoring the past, celebrating the present, and realizing (to make real) the future, today! Life coaching offers the opportunity to explore what is really possible, and the means to achieve that.
Coaching is so much more that goal setting and completing to-do lists or completing some kind of project. Eventually we'll get to the 'hard' stuff, the real stuff, and the places we are often unwilling to go. My coaching clients will agree with me that these are usually the places that provide the greatest opportunities to grow. Life coaching creates the space for those personal breakthrough moments to happen.
| Create compelling goals |
| Increase your self-confidence and build a healthier self-esteem |
| Overcome personal barriers and reduce conflict |
| Improve decision-making skills |
| Experience greater personal fulfillment |
| Keep yourself on track |
| Get the results you really want |
| Communicate more effectively |
| Unleash your creative potential |
| Create a better life/work balance |
Learn new tools to enhance your personal development
and business success |
|
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Like consulting, coaching is outcome oriented, dealing with vision and action. The major difference is that a coach does not provide expertise and solutions. A coach operates from the belief that clients have all the resources they need, including the ability to discover and utilize those resources.
Like therapy, coaching is client centered and individual. While therapy goes in depth about various issues, usually dealing with the past, coaching is more action-oriented and focuses primarily on the present state and desired future outcome or result.
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Masterful coaching is about asking powerful and sometimes difficult questions, and this evokes emotions. Since emotion drives human behavior, any coaching program that dismisses the emotional component will fail over time.
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The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the leading organization that sets and monitors the international standards for professional coaching ethics, training and practices. As a member and Professional Coach of the International Coach Federation I commit to adhere to the ICF Standards of Ethical Conduct.
To read about the ICF Professional Coaching Standards please click here
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Every coach has his or her own style. For me, coaching is playful, interactive, it's all about you! Sure, there is a lot of talking, thinking, feeling, listening, and reflecting.
Coaching is about (re)connecting with what's really important in your life and taking ownership for your own life; it's about creating positive change from within.
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Before deciding to work with a coach, think about the outcomes you want. Do you want more focus on your career or your relationships, your work-life balance, or something more specific?
When choosing a personal life coach, there are three very important things for you to consider:
Certification is very important, because personal coaching is a profession that requires very specific skills, conduct standards, and a foundation of training which is only taught at qualified schools and organizations
The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the largest worldwide resource for business and personal coaches. The ICF is the organization that sets and monitors the international standards for professional coaching ethics, training and practices. I'm a professional member of the ICF.
Ask for references. I have references available upon request. In addition, you can read some testimonials on the my website.
An effective life coach for one person may not be a good match for another. Personal chemistry is important. I offer everyone an introduction coaching session, so you can see for yourself what coaching is all about and find out if you feel comfortable enough to develop the trust and confidence necessary for breakthrough coaching.
At the end, trust your 'gut' feeling in this process.
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Some coaches work in person, while others prefer to work over the telephone, so it is well suited to professionals' busy lives. Some coaches also use e-mail as a means of communication. Often the coach doesn't live in the same community or even the same part of the country as the client. To many, this is seen as an advantage. It puts the coach well outside the system within which the client lives and works, and provides a sense of distance, objectivity and perspective.
Most of my personal coaching sessions are either in person or over the phone.
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