What Life Coaching Is & Is Not

I am always impressed by how much other people know about life coaching. I am very familiar with therapy, but only became aware of life coaching a few years ago when my wife decided she wanted to work with a coach on some of her personal goals. I knew very little about the profession, what the sessions were like and the life changing benefits (if you choose to commit to yourself).

So if you are still scratching your head (like I was!) about what the heck a life coach really is (and is not), here’s a quick breakdown -

Life Coaching Is:

A partnership between a coach and a client. Through outcome driven conversations, the coach helps the client create and live the life they want to live. The intention is to bring out the best in the client and take steps towards their major life goals. While some goals may be known right away, other goals will be discovered through coaching sessions. Goals can cover multiple aspects of a client's life. They may include, for example, one’s career, personal life, relationships, health and finances to even one’s spirituality. Any part of your life that you feel needs improvement, a life coach may be able to help. However, it is very likely that the client knows the goal they are trying to achieve and can work with a coach who specializes in that area.

It is important to remember that throughout the coaching process, the client is the expert; not the coach. Only the client can be the expert to their own life and experiences. And the coach is an expert in …well, coaching. The life coach will use the session time to listen intuitively, ask empowering questions, and allow space and time for the client to thoughtfully answer those questions. What happens during these sessions can be life changing!

Life Coaching Is Not:

A form of advice, nor therapy, mentoring or counseling; coaching is a separate modality from all of those. A life coach is not offering answers or talking from a position of authority. A coach is a partner with the client, and uses the coaching process to help the client find the answers within themselves. After all, it is very powerful when a client discovers the answers on their own. The coach is not the resource for answers, but instead is a resource for the client to self-discover the answers within themselves.

While sometimes professions like therapy and life coaching overlap, the difference comes from their purpose and focus.

A therapist tends to focus on the “why” a client is not functioning at baseline by exploring the past and its emotional tie-ins to the present. Therapy’s purpose tends to be healing from trauma, recovery, and emotional healing. Life coaching on the other hand focuses on the “how” a client can go from baseline to higher performance. The purpose is for self-improvement driven by the present and the client’s vision into their desired future.

So is Life Coaching For you?

I highly encourage you to think about the struggles you are currently facing and what result you want to achieve. If you find that many of your goals are focused on bettering your future or taking your life to a new level, life coaching might be a great fit for you! If you are still on the fence, seek out a life coach that best fits what you want to work on in your life and ask them what their practice is like. Many life coaches will offer complimentary initial sessions to talk through your goals and see if you may be a good match.