Are you unsure as to where your life is headed? Have you changed careers, relationships, hobbies, and even lifestyle, yet are still feeling bored and unchallenged by what is going on around you? Perhaps you have spoken to like-minded co-workers or friends about your concerns and they have given you advice based on their own experience. But is that really the route to go? There are trained professionals out there who can help you move forward in achieving personal and career goals as well as help you to utilize your unique skill-set and experience in a way that is most beneficial to the growth you want to see in your life.
This type of professional is called a life coach and there is one out there waiting for you.
Realistically, anyone can call themselves a life coach; therefore, if you are currently searching for one, you want to make sure you have found yourself a true, trained professional life coach who has proven experience with helping individuals reach their goals.
In this article you will learn what a life coach is all about:
- A quick history of life coaching
- Who benefits the most from having a life coach
- The types of life coaches available to you
- The wonderful benefits of using a life coach
- Some of the cons of life coaching
- Working with a life coach
- Tips and advice from actual life coaches
- Books about life coaching you should read
- Current life coaches you should be following
This article piqued your interest for a reason, so keep on reading to learn more!
A Quick History of Life Coaching
The concept of life coaching really has not been around all that long. In the 1980’s a man named Thomas Leonard, who at the time was a financial planner, became the first modern life coach. Over the years of overseeing employees, he came to the realization that they were wanting more. More than tips and advice. More than helping them with work situations. What they really wanted was help with life. Leonard took the initiative to develop his own life-planning program and wrote his first book titled The Portable Coach. He also founded the first ever formal training program for prospective life coaches, called Coach University and played an important role in helping to found the International Coach Federation. Overall, you can thank Thomas Leonard for pioneering the concept of life coaching and inspiring others to walk in his footsteps.
Who Benefits the Most From Having a Life Coach?
Depending on various circumstances, some people may or may not benefit from hiring a life coach. Life coaching may be beneficial for the following individuals:
- Those who are unmotivated and feel unfulfilled
- Those who are not taking the right steps to move forward in their career and personal life
- Those who have stress surrounding making choices
- Those who seem disinterested or disengaged in life
- Those who lack the social or organizational skills to be successful
- Those who have trouble overcoming fears and anxieties
- Those who have a vision but no clear plan
Do any of these describe you? If so, you most definitely could benefit from hiring a life coach.
Life coaches are trained to ask you the right questions and guide the conversation in a way that keeps the focus on you and your needs. They will actively listen and help you create specific and measurable goals that can be worked on and tracked. Your life coach will help you throughout the process and get you to where you need to be!
The Types of Life Coaches Available to You
While there are numerous lists of the types of life coaches, here is a simple list of 7 common types for you to look at.
- Relationship and Family Coaching
- Career Coaching
- Finance Coaching
- Mental Health Coaching
- Health and Wellness Coaching
- Spiritual Coaching
- Skills Coaching
Find out what types of programs are offered with MindWealth and how they can assist you in achieving your life goals.
What are the Benefits of Using a Life Coach?
Of course, everything has pros and cons, and utilizing a life coach has a lot more benefits than downsides. If you are someone who relates to any of the circumstances above, researching or interviewing a life coach may be just what you need. Working with a life coach will be like building a relationship with a new friend or a mentor. It is someone for you to open yourself up to, to build trust and rapport with, and to become vulnerable with. In doing these things, you will be able to reap the numerous benefits that coaching has to offer.
Some of the specific benefits of working alongside a life coach, according to Positive Psychology, include:
- Coaching conversations help a person focus attention on their desired goals.
- Coachees who open themselves to being vulnerable also can experience growth in self-compassion.
- Coaches pay particular attention to assisting clients with identifying their strengths.
- Coaching creates the space for clients to build on these emotions and flourish.
- The coach provides resources and support and nudges as needed, but the coachee is in charge.
- Coaches can help support autonomy and build accountability.
- Coachees can work on improving their relationships and social life.
- Coaches can help with improving performance in whatever capacity the coachee needs.
- Coaches can work with coachees on developing positive behavior changes that will last.
What are the Cons of Using a Life Coach
There certainly aren’t many negatives to utilizing a life coach.
One primary downside for many is the cost of hiring a coach. It really depends on the experience and training of a coach, but it is common for one to charge between $75 and $200 for a coaching session. Another is the fact that anyone can claim that they are a life coach. Make sure you have evidence of their training and certifications before you hire. Although there isn’t an actual degree for life coaching, the person you hire should have positive references, a good track record with other clients, and some legit experience. Lastly, a common downside to hiring a life coach is that people can potentially get too dependent upon their coach and instead of flourishing and becoming a more independent person, they regress. This especially happens if the life coach is not holding their client accountable.
Read Inspirational Tips From Actual Life Coaches
Look no further and read what they have to offer. The following quotes come from LifeGoalsMag after life coaches were interviewed on how to become your best self.
- “Start your day with quiet and stillness. Set your intentions for the day of how you want to feel, not what you have to do.” – Camilla Eames
- “Create wholeness within yourself. So many of us are looking for things, places, experiences and people to give happiness and joy to us, rather than seeking to create wholeness for ourselves. If you’re looking to be successful in any area of your life, you must understand that everything begins with recognizing that the key to sustainable joy is what you are willing to offer yourself.” – Klay S. William
- “No failure, only feedback- Get the word “failure” out of your vocabulary. Take your setbacks as a chance for feedback, whether it’s receiving constructive criticism from others or your own personal critiques. That way “failure” becomes a way of tweaking and perfecting your talents and goals.” – Jonathan Bennett
These coaches know exactly what they are talking about. Great advice!
Speaking of Reading…
Reading always comes with the territory of learning. Those who read and research are more likely to have a better understanding of what they need to be doing and where they are going. There are many wonderful books out there by life coaches about life coaching. Positive Psychology has an excellent collection of 10 that they recommend.
- The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are – Brene Brown
- Thinking Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Carol Dweck
- Grit: Why Passion and Resilience are the Secrets to Success – Angela Duckworth
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change – Stephen R. Covey
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business – Charles Duhigg
- Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – Susan Jeffers
- Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live – Martha Beck
- How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
- You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life – Jen Sincero
Coaching with Compassion is another coaching-related book highly recommended by Rohit Malhotra of MindWealth.
Lastly, if you are interested in learning more about what a life coach is like and what they do to help their clients…follow some of them!
5 Life Coaches You Should Follow
Now that you have learned the basics about what a life coach is and how it can benefit you, think about what your next steps will be. Do you need to dig more into the specifics? Do you need to ask around to see if anyone you know has used a life coach? Or do you need to start the process of looking for the right life coach for you?
Either way…get on it! You only live one life. Make it your best!
To learn how MindWealth can help you in the area of coaching, browse their site and see for yourself. Learn how Rohit Malhotra, a certified professional life coach, can assist you today.
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