Life Coaching – What To Expect?

Life coaching can help with any and every aspect of life!

Life coaching is a widely misunderstood concept. Some consider it a modern form of counselling, others an expensive agony aunt, and rest a by-product of attitude of the Americans to chasing the proverbial dream. The truth is far more different!

Life coaching can help with any and every aspect of life. It has grown to be a hugely successful form of talking therapy, to the extent that it has helped turn lives around. A life coach is someone that empowers others by helping them make, meet, and exceed goals in their personal and professional lives. It might seem that the concept of turning to a coach outside of a sporting context is something that many individuals would shy away from – but the more you think about it, the more you may realize that individuals have been turning to friends and family for help and guidance for years. Life coaching is just a professional extension of that help.

Most of us turn to a friend whom we consider to be ‘wise enough’ when it comes to certain circumstances. But friends may not always have the answers or may not be sufficiently objective about a situation to give decent advice. This is where life coaching has a role to play, by helping individuals see their life from a different perspective and giving them the confidence to move forward without giving them advise.

The primary aim of life coaching is to help individuals break their negative belief patterns, act more decisively, and set clear goals towards achieving what they want from life. The process of coaching triggers thoughts in the sub-conscious mind and enables individuals to take actions accordingly. In fact, the following 3 words largely describe what a life coach does:
Guide: Provides frameworks to individuals to broaden perspectives and reach goals.
Empower: Helps individuals to realize their self-worth and self-belief that have, for one reason or another, been diminished.
Improve: Aids individuals to go from where they are to where they want to be.

Life Coaching: What to Expect
– The first life coaching session looks to gain an overall perspective of life of coachee, before identifying which area they seek to improve or are currently unhappy with.
– The coach and coachee then list goals that will be broken down into more achievable objectives in sessions to come.
– It is then down to the coachee to go with the takeaways and work on what has been agreed.

It is essential that individuals must possess the drive and focus to want to change. This will be facilitated by the life coach who during the sessions will change how individuals look at themselves and the rest of the world and in time a more positive thought process develops. It is the alteration of the thought process combined with the desire to change and challenge themselves that will allow the individuals to ultimately achieve their goals.
Coaching is an on-going process, a method of continuous development and significant learning experiences for coach and coachee. What many people regard as mistakes are lessons, experiences, and opportunities to grow and develop. A coach must demonstrate resourcefulness and help coachees see that if they have failed in the past, that bears no bearing to what they can do in the future.

Communicating expertly is the most important ability of a good coach. This involves unbiased listening and powerful questioning. It takes patience, tolerance, and practice in order to build on these techniques. Listening without giving advice is central to truly helping individuals find their own directions and solutions. Also, questioning without assuming the course of conversation is central to a good coaching session. Most coaches draw on the techniques and principles of Neuro-Linguistic Programming to assimilate and master important communication capabilities.

Thus, a coach is most certainly not an advisor. The role of a coach is to help individuals find their own solutions, not to have them follow any recommendations or suggestions. That is the fundamental principle of coaching.

What is life coaching going to do for you?
– Gain a fresh perspective: Coaching helps individuals to look at the same situations differently – to reinterpret them in a new way and make dramatic discoveries in where they feel stuck.

– More aware of goals: Having a coach echo back what individuals are saying, they become more mindful of their current belief system on a situation. Mindful awareness of the current way of thinking sets the stage for adopting new ways of understanding and conquering the goals.

– Direction: A part of life coaching process is finding out where the individuals are now and where they want to go in life and finding the best process to get there.

– Purpose: By asking meaningful questions, the coach helps individuals to find a vision for themselves and turn it into a reality.

– Accountability: The coach ensures that the individuals take responsibility, face the excuses for not doing what is expected, and thereby help them to realize that they have the ability to make the required changes.

– Motivation: Coach keeps the individuals motivated by making sure there is a clear purpose and direction to make steady progress.

In terms of future development, the reputation of coaching is growing along with the use of the concept – and coaching is becoming increasingly associated with modern recognized requirements for success in life, work, businesses, and organizations, notably the qualities of excellence, integrity, humanity, and facilitative learning. To summarize, life coaching is based on the principle that individuals have the intrinsic ability to determine and achieve their goals. Everything is based on the present and what you want to achieve moving forward!

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