Is Life Coaching the Correct Career Choice for You?

Written by Lizzie Learn On 7th Feb 2018

Are you considering a career as a life coach?

Life coaching is in demand and growing in popularity. Until a few years ago, life coaching was still an industry in its infancy.

People were not aware of the extremely beneficial effects of life coaching. However, more recently, with mounting work pressures, life stresses, single-parent families and rising living costs, it has become more important than ever to be able to talk to someone who can help. On the surface, life coaching may seem similar to counselling or therapy or even mentoring, but it is distinctly different. While a counsellor or therapist will listen to you and help you release the past, a life coach focuses on the present and helps reshape your future. More so than guiding or advising the client, life coaching is about motivating them to think in an empowering way about themselves and their thoughts, fears and values.

The underlying role of a life coach is to help clients formulate a positive plan of action, in order to achieve their goals and live the life that they want. By asking the right questions, you can help clients identify limiting beliefs and discover inner values that help them discover what they want out of their lives.

A career as a life coach is exciting, interesting and satisfying. As you meet with different people, understand their motivations and fears and help them move forward, there is undoubtedly a deep sense of fulfilment. Working as a life coach helps your clients and also helps you lead a richer life in the process. As you embark on this exciting career, you must remember to clearly explain your role to your clients, before you begin working with them. This will help reinforce the trust and mutual respect between the life coach and the client.

How does a life coach help clients improve their lives for the better?

• A skilled life coach helps clients tap into their skills and maximise their potential. Each client's skill set, values and beliefs will be different and unique to them. Their goals and dreams will also differ. Some clients may be interested in enjoying meaningful relationships, while others may wish to boost their careers or change their profession, etc. You may encounter clients who are unable to identify the reasons behind their unhappiness and stress. The diversity in clientele and the positive role that you can hope to play in helping them goes a long way in making this a fulfilling job role.

• Listening is one of the most important skills that you can develop as a life coach. One of your main tasks involves listening to the concerns and fears of your clients and acting as a sounding board for them. While it is best to refrain from offering advice, you can consider providing support at critical times, such as decision-making opportunities. Listening will also help your clients identify limiting beliefs that have been holding them back from progress, success and achievement.

• Your role as a life coach involves motivating clients to reach their life goals, once you have helped them identify what they want out of their lives, as opposed to healing them emotionally or mentally.

• Trained life coaches are aware of the right questions to ask, in order to help the client examine their motives, values and fears. At times, you can also consider drawing on your own experiences, in order to help the client better understand their situation.

• Coaches focus on opportunities, experiences and circumstances, in order to help people define their goals and plans of action. A good life coach can help bring about improvements in people's personal lives, as well as their professional lives.

• People will tend to stick to the plan of action and show improved levels of accountability, when they have to answer to a third party. By way of consistent and empowering communication, you can help clients maintain their commitment. It is important to understand that life coaches are not there to figure out the aspects that have gone wrong in a client's life - they are there to help the client use their internal and external resources to good use, in order to move forwards.

• Life coaching is not only beneficial to clients - it also helps you grow as a person. It helps add value to your clients' experiences and lives, as well as those of your own. A life coach experiences the most satisfaction, when they witness a client progress far beyond their own expectations. However, in order to know how to help your clients, you have to know what kind of goals to set and how to help your clients achieve them.

• The diversity within the job, the opportunity to meet different people and the ability to resolve various challenges make life coaching an extremely engaging profession, which brings about satisfaction and fulfilment. Every day is interesting and brings about its own set of opportunities through which to learn and grow.

• In terms of earnings, sought after life coaches are paid extremely well and earn a considerable amount per session.

• You can consider conducting sessions at your home, at a rented office or at your client's offices. If you are interested in doing so, you can also offer your services to companies and businesses.

Living in a fast-paced, competitive and hectic world is an increasing strain on many people. As a result, there are several people who seek motivation, encouragement and support, aimed at helping them overcome challenges and insecurities. Initially, life coaching was restricted to corporate life and was aimed at helping people maximise their business potential. However, nowadays, the life coaching industry offers its services to anyone who needs them. People from all walks of life are now turning to life coaching, to help them figure out what they want and how to get it. Men and women, professional executives and stay-at-home parents can all benefit from life coaching in different ways.

As an aspiring life coach, you can enjoy numerous opportunities to grow, both personally and professionally, by helping people reach their goals. As long as people harbour the wish to progress and to lead richer and more fulfilling lives, life coaches will always be in demand. Moreover, this demand is likely to increase.