If you’re considering a career change, it's crucial that you step into a role that you are actually passionate about. After all, we spend a third of our lives at work, meaning it is vital that we find career paths that are stimulating, meaningful and that we enjoy. .
If you have a passion for helping others and naturally attract others seeking your support you may want to consider a career as a life coach.
In this article, we’ll go over what a life coach is, what you do as a life coach and how to become one.
What is a Life Coach?
A life coach starts by helping clients gain clarity relating to their needs around careers, personal life, and overall wellness. For example, a client may reach out to a life coach to help them reach a significant milestone, deal with a troubling relationship or help them on the path to develop a particular aspect of themselves. .
While a skilled professional life coach will have participated in extensive training, this is not a clinical position. As a result, this should not be confused with the role of a therapist, who can provide clients with a formal diagnosis, though their roles do seem similar on the surface. A professional life coach helps a client look forward, what do they need, to create deeper meaning for themselves. This differs from traditional therapy that tends to look in the rear view mirror. I.e. what happened in your past to bring you to where you are now. Coaches look forward and therapist tend to look backwards. It is important for coaches when suspecting mental illness or issues out of their comfort zone to refer these clients to a professional therapist.
Wider Approach
A life coach takes a more holistic approach to client care; they provide guidance and support that helps them reach their goals. For this reason, a wide range of people can benefit from working alongside a life coach, which means it's also a great business opportunity for those looking to start a business as a professional life coach.
A life coach may also be called a mindset or transformation coach, a personal development coach, an empowerment coach a spiritual life coach among many other titles and niches. However, these variations tend to refer to a specialty within the life coaching realm. The same as an executive coach or business coach. No matter what the target markets a professional coach needs to have skills do handle many challenges.
Why Become a Life Coach?
There are many reasons why you may want to become a life coach - the most obvious being a desire to help others. After all, the support of a committed and skilled life coach is often instrumental in helping people get back on track after a tough time. For example, you could help someone get their mojo back after a tough break-up, allowing them to later embark on their next love story.
Alternatively, you could help someone figure out how to get started in when pursuing their dream career. Either way, this is incredibly rewarding work - especially as you experience the benefits you are helping your clients uncover during each session. It feels wonderful to help others and here those accolades about how much you have helped them.
However, pursuing a career as a life coach can also work wonders for your own personal development. One of the most frequent comments we hear from our students at The Coach Training Academy is how helpful the program has been for them personally. We have a saying in coaching “apply to self”, this means the skills you are learning, you apply not only to clients but to yourself.
Lifestyle of Life Coaching
Professional coaches are no longer tied to the traditional 9-5 grind, as you are now in charge of everything from your working hours to the place you work from to even what country you work from. Coaching allows us to provide services worldwide. This will provide you with an innate sense of freedom, all while carrying out work that is genuinely meaningful. Furthermore, it means you’re pursuing something that you have a genuine passion for and a vested interest in, as opposed to sitting at a desk all hoping the time goes by quicker.
In some instances, you may have worked with a life coach yourself and, therefore, understand the true value of the process. But now , you may be looking to help others in the same way in which your coach helped you.
What does a life coach do?
The role of a life coach can vary considerably, depending on the needs of your individual clients. For example, if a client approaches you with the desire to challenge a negative habit, you would start by exploring what habit is costing them and the different reason they desire the change. Some coaches may review different aspects of the science of behavior change (as explained in the infographic below).
Source: Medium
In exploring the clients beliefs and current situation our client will develop clarity of what they want and then can then start designing a plan for approaching (and changing) their behaviors for the better.
In some cases, a client may come to you asking for support after the breakdown of a relationship. In this case, you help them to come to terms with their break-up, whether that be romantic or platonic, and think about their future. For example, you could help them to determine what they want out of future relationships that were lacking in the previous one or if they need to work on themselves before jumping into a new relationship. This can provide them with a sense of closure and help them move forward with their head held high.
Alternatively, you may work with a client looking to take the next step in their career. You may explore options or even role play on how to best handle interviews. This might include how to best present themselves to hiring managers in order to increase the likelihood of them getting the job.
Confidence Playing a Factor
If confidence is a concern, coaches explore ways for clients to build confidence. In more extreme situations such as with a client with imposter syndrome professional coaches are skilled bringing various tools and strategies. Life coaches work together with their clients, as a team, to develop a long-term plan for their career that they can accomplish step by step.
Simply put, no two days are the same - because no two clients are the same.
We human beings are complex creative creatures. We never know what the next client will bring. Steven Kiges - Co Founder The Coach Training Academy.
However, that is part of the fun of working as a professional life coach. You’re carrying out varied, meaningful work every working hour. Furthermore, your client’s successes are your successes, too, which means you’ll always have a reason to smile!
How do you become a life coach?
While everyone has some basic coaching skills, there are specific high level skills that superior coaches have studied and excel in. These include the ability to listen t on three levels, ask reflective and challenging questions and above all create a state of curiosity in your client, These are advanced skills and anyone considering a career as a life coach, should look into obtaining a professional life coach certification preferably from an International Coach Federation (ICF) accredited school such as The Coach Training Academy. .
Not only will this help you to develop the skills you need to become a superior valuable coach, but it will also provide you with a framework for success as a business owner. ICF accredited schools do everything from the ethics of coaching, to emotional intelligence, to coaching structure and even to how to market your services - making it easier to find and retain clients.
If you’d like to find out more about life coach training in general or The Coach Training Academy, we would love to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to get in touch today.
We Can Help You Become a Successful Life Coach
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