What is life coaching?

Paper peopleI am sure that some people in life have a very clear idea of where they are going and what they want to achieve. These are the people who seem to travel serenely through the experiences that are thrown their way, always moving forward very positively and taking the ups and downs in their stride.  These people are clear and confident about their goals and about what makes them happy. These are very fortunate people.

Then there are the rest of us. We could be just like the person above, if we could only have some help learning how!

I believe that we all have the resources in us that we need in order to achieve what we set out to do.  One of the biggest problems is finding those resources and knowing what to do with them.

The other tricky bit is actually finding your purpose in the first place.

A life coach, in essence, is someone who is trained and skilled to help bring out the best of you and to help you plot a course, maintain direction and even to know when you get there.

By definition a life coach can help in any aspect of life without having to be an expert in the specific area of coaching because the tools of life coaching are universal and not content specific.  This is also one of the reasons why a life coach can be an advantage over a specialist or a counsellor.  A specialist may know his topic very well but have a very rigid view of exactly what defines success or failure.  To a life coach there is no failure and it is the client who defines what is success.  A counsellor will listen well and help you explore your current world, but he or she won’t give you guidance or direction of any kind – a life coach will guide you in making your own decisions and those decisions come from within you.

Some areas where life coaching has helped:

Short term life coaching issues:

  • Decisions about next career or retirement steps;
  • Improving or finding new personal relationships;
  • Moving home;
  • Decluttering.

Long term life coaching issues:

  • Finding a purpose;
  • Getting more work-life balance;
  • Happiness;
  • Family relationships;
  • A whole life plan;
  • Dealing with change.

What do I do that’s different?

I am trained at Master level in coaching, and beyond that I have some really powerful skills and techniques which can help you make a step change in your attitudes, confidence and the management of your emotions. I combine my life coaching where appropriate, with the very powerful language techniques and interventions from Timeline Therapy™, neuro-linguistic programming and hypnotherapy.

All of the above approaches are optional, so if you just want a straightforward coaching experience that’s absolutely fine, but you’ll be missing out on something really rather special in terms of becoming the person you want to be.

When should you see a life coach?

Many people first become aware that they need some support in finding their direction in life when they reach a crisis or a natural slump. At this time you may decide to pick up the phone and arrange some sessions to get on track, find focus and get some clear goals. You might book a series of 6 or 12 sessions.

Once you have become aware of the difference that coaching can make in many aspects of your life you may consider having an on-going life-coaching relationship. For some people it can be as natural to see your coach as it is to get a check-up at the dentist or the doctor or to have a regular coffee with a good friend who is looking out for you. A monthly coaching plan may be the way to go.

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