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What is life coaching?

Life coaching uses dialogue to move you along in the right direction. When you engage in a purposeful conversation with your coach, you get to the root of things. You may discuss the following topics, for example:

• Why you act the way that you do
• Which beliefs about yourself limit you or stop you from taking certain actions
• What your options really are
• How can best go about getting the best results
• How you can maintain your motivation

Coaching is more than inspiring you to live the life you want; it’s even better than that. Sometimes your best experience in life comes from living through challenges that you may not want and understanding the lessons within them. Coaching conversations help you identify how to live your very best life, the one that taps into all your potential and strengths.

Coaching is shaped by questions that lead to answers that are right for you, which is a lot better than taking someone else’s answers. Many books claim to give you the answers or the magic formula for success in all areas of life, but coaching assumes that the answers are not “out there” – you already have them all and life coaching shows you how and where to find them. 

What coaching is not…

• It is not counseling or therapy
• It is not mentoring
• It is not giving advice

Coaching gives you the space and permission and the support to work things out calmly and objectively, based on what you really need or want.

Your Coach supports you in the following ways:

• Encourages you to set challenging and inspiring goals for your life and vocation
• Believes you can do it!
• Expects the best from you and knows you can meet the expectation
• Explores options with you
• Helps to generate action steps that work for you
• Keeps you moving forward
• Celebrates your accomplishments along the way
• Delights in the positive results you get for yourself

A coaching conversation will have several characteristics:

• The focus is on knowing what you want to get out of the conversation. You set a goal for the session. “By the end of this conversation I would like to ____.”
• Your coach asks many questions, sometimes powerful questions, that get you to thinking deeply about what’s going on and what’s important. Some of these questions may be ones you have never considered before or dared to ask yourself. 
• A fair amount of clarification occurs during the conversation. Communication can be a slippery beast and your coach needs to listen intently, dig deeply and probe endlessly. 
• The coaching conversation involves a strong call to action, but this doesn’t always mean you identify a full blown plan. The action may be that you need to explore more options, do some more research or even reflect more on the issue at hand. But the call to action ensures that you move yourself and your thinking forward. 
• The focus is fully on your current agenda, with the context of your life and work. If you decide that the burning priority in life is around parenting, your marriage, your health or even your golf swing, then they will be the focus until you choose to move to another aspect of your life. But because coaching tends to highlight the connections-or lack of them-in your whole life, you are likely to change your agenda fairly frequently for yourself when other priorities take over. 

Identifying your current priorities for coaching

Knowing where to start in coaching may seem hard. Sometimes you get a clear sense that one particular area is the one that requires the most attention. At other times you may have the general feeling that all areas of your life need a good overhaul or boost of momentum. Your priorities will change. That’s fine. We are there for you whatever you face.

Dividing life into compartments may seem simplistic. Your life is full of connections and consequences. However, it can be helpful to begin to consider some key areas. 

• Your work, your spiritual life, your goals, your challenges in all that you do
• Your happiness and fulfillment
• Money, savings, retirement
• People and relationships, especially your marriage and your family
• The conflicts you face
• Your health and well-being
• Learning and growing
• Life balance
• Confidence, self-worth and self esteem
• Loving relationships that work
• Hot buttons – managing anger, upsets, frustration and stress
• Managing Grief, Loss, Sadness and Change

As you prepare for coaching:

• Consider your priorities in each area
• Explore the level of satisfaction you feel in each area
• Where are you procrastinating? 
• Where are you feeling conflicted?
• Where are you lacking confidence?