Wouldn’t it be nice to have a guide to walk through life with? Having a great life coach isn’t a far stretch for making this dream a reality. Life coaching is designed to increase your human potential, personal growth, and leadership qualities. Unlike a business coach who focuses on helping people grow their businesses, life coaches work with their clients to develop the various aspects of a person’s life. For example, this might include career and work, finances and wealth, life planning, spirituality, health and wellness, relationships, and physical environment.
According to a survey conducted by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), those who hire a coach can experience a wide range of positive effects in their lives. 80 percent of respondents said self-confidence improved, 73 percent said relationships improved, 72 percent had better communication skills, and 67 percent said they balanced work and life better.
These types of results show working with a life coach can be a gamechanger for those looking to develop their full potential. If this is you, and you’re interested in working with a life coach, learn more about what a life coach is, what they do, what they don’t do, the benefits of having one, why coaching works, and tips for finding the right coach.
What is a Life Coach?
A life coach is a professional who facilitates growth in their clients’ lives so they can experience the fulfillment and joy that comes with working toward a purpose in life. Their job is to teach the relevant skills, strategies, and approaches required for achieving maximum potential. Coaches analyze how to motivate a client to consistently play to their strengths. Additionally, they educate and develop people in areas that can increase success in life.
What Does a Life Coach Do?
A life coach begins by asking questions about the client’s ideal vision for their life, then helps refine this picture, goal-set, and create a strategy. During this process, their help equips the client to navigate the road to achievement.
Yet, oftentimes, the path to accomplishment isn’t straightforward. Roadblocks like limiting beliefs may pop up when a person is working toward their goals. A life coach can help their client shift away from beliefs that have held them back in the past. Additionally, because life isn’t a linear journey, the unexpected can occur and affect strategy. When this happens, the coach is there to teach ways to adapt so the client can continue to move forward.
Additionally, life coaches help their clients with:
- Becoming a more well-rounded person
- Increasing belief and confidence needed to pursue big goals and dreams
- Shifting out of a fixed mindset and into a growth mindset
- Developing positive daily habits
- Working through the fear of failing or stepping outside of comfort zones
- Identifying unique gifts that speak to a person’s specific purpose
- Exploring their purpose in life and what brings them joy
- Establishing a life vision that speaks to this purpose
- Creating goals that help achieve their vision
- Being a source for accountability and motivation
- Overcoming obstacles that hinder them from reaching their objectives
What a Life Coach Isn’t
It’s important to note that a life coach is not a mental health professional, such as a therapist or counselor. There are key differences a person needs to be aware of in order to understand a coach’s purpose and limitations. Below, find information on the role of a life coach versus that of a mental health professional. Also, discover five key factors that indicate which type of person you might need to work with.
Benefits of Having a Life Coach
Working with a life coach is about improving and growing oneself. Finding the sticky areas that need development can be a long and challenging process when trying to do this alone. A coach can help decrease the time spent learning tough lessons through trial and error. As Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google once said about coaching: “The one thing that people are never good at is seeing themselves as others see them. A coach really, really helps.” An experienced, trained coach expedites the process of self-mastery by pinpointing strengths, which builds confidence. Yet, they also identify the places a person needs improvement. This increases the person’s self-awareness about bad habits, fixed mindset, limiting beliefs, and other roadblocks that have kept them from reaching their potential.
Other top benefits include:
- Identifying blind spots that prevent goal achievement
- Feeling more empowered to create and work on challenging objectives
- Reducing anxiety and overload with better time management and productivity skills
- Increasing performance by learning to focus on work that achieves results
- Developing leadership qualities that advance business or career goals
- Improving emotional intelligence
- Making better decisions that work in favor of envisioned life
- Experiencing a sense of balance between work and home
- Finding more happiness, meaning, and purpose in life
Why Coaching Produces Positive Results
There’s a scientific reason why so many people working with coaches say they experience transformational results. Barbara L. Frederickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions offers a concrete explanation for why working with a life coach can significantly impact a person’s life in a positive way. In summary, Frederickson theorizes when a person feels positive emotions, it not only “[signals] optimal functioning,” but also “[produces] optimal functioning, not just within the present, pleasant moment, but over the long-term as well.”
In her research she found, “Individuals who experienced more positive emotions than others, over time became more resilient to adversity, as indexed by increases in broad-minded coping. These enhanced coping skills, in turn, predicted increased positive emotions over time (Fredrickson & Joiner 2002). These findings suggest that positive emotions and broad-minded coping mutually build on one another.” She calls this process an “upward spiral” of positivity and positive outcomes.
There is a distinct correlation between coaching and Frederickson’s theory regarding the psychological effects of positivity. Coaching is about creating positive outcomes—it is a coach’s job to generate real results in a person’s life. This is done by helping a person move away from negative habits, traits, behaviors, and mindsets, and toward those that positively affect a client’s life.
What to Know Before Hiring a Life Coach
With all the evidence that coaching can have a massively positive impact on a person’s wellbeing and life, you might be ready to make the leap and hire someone. Before doing this, here are a few pointers before investing in a coach:
1. Consider What You Want From the Experience
Write down three to five major goals you want to accomplish over the next year. This will help jumpstart the process of coaching. It’ll also help you realize in what areas you need coaching so you can select someone with experience in improving these parts of life. Check out this article on goal setting to learn more about this process.
2. Visualize Your Life Coach
Develop a clear picture of the type of person you want to work with. What is their specific area of expertise? Are there personality traits or qualities you envision for good synergy between you and them? How do they drive results? Write down your visualization and keep refining it until you’re clear about who this person is.
3. Look for Someone Who is Certified
Certification helps show who has invested in themselves first before asking others to invest in their coaching services. One of the most trusted and well-known organizations for coaching certifications is the International Coaching Federation (ICF). A major plus is finding a coach with certification or training accredited by the ICF.
4. Set Aside a Specific Amount of Money to Invest
Many coaches offer various priced tiers of programs that range from in-person sessions to online group coaching. Deciding the amount you want to invest is important because it determines who you will work with and the type of coaching you receive.
5. Research a coach before making an investment.
Many life coaches market their services online through social media. While the results they tout may sound appealing, do your research. Start by checking online for testimonials, case studies, and other evidence a person has really helped improve their coachees’ lives. Additionally, never sign up to work with a coach without first speaking to them. This introductory conversation helps both parties know if they’ll be a good fit. Also, you can ask a coach for references from their current or previous clients.
Finally, if you’re new to entrepreneurship and need help growing your company, hiring a business coach might be more beneficial to you than getting a life coach. Find out more about business coaching by checking out this article next: