How Coaching Works? Why Use A Life Coach?

Someone might say that only those that lost control over their lives need a life coach. Well, Not Really. In reality, anyone that wants to do and become more could use a life coach, whether you want to find your direction and clarity in life and become successful, or you want to improve your performance and achieve harder to reach goals. Even those that think they don't need a life coach are getting coached every single day. Life coaching has been used for centuries but most people were not aware of it because it didn't have a name and it wasn't defined. Life coaching is like sports coaching, but applied for one's life performance, not sports performance. It's that simple. The better the sports coach is, the better the athlete becomes and the more games or competitions that athlete can win. Therefore, the better the life coach is, the better you become in reaching your goals.

Life coaching is for everyone, but not everyone is for life coaching. One has to be willing to improve, change, and become the person that he/she has to become in order to be able to reach their goals. All athletes have a sports coach and a life coach, because they simply cannot push, guide, and motivate themselves enough to reach their maximum potential on their own. Therefore they need a sports and life coach that have the necessary experience to be able to help them reach their dreams. We are all human, therefore even the best athletes want to give up at a point during their sports career. You don't have to be lost to work with a life coach, you just have to want to become better and offer more to yourself, your family and the society. Life is a multitude of choices, choose wisely.

How To Find A Good Life Coach?

Like in any popular industry, there is a lot of confusion in the life coaching industry as well. Many think that a good life coach needs to hold a life coaching certificate. While holding a life coaching certificate is not a bad thing, it is definitely not the core of what makes a good life coach. Yet, many base their final decision in hiring a life coach on whether the life coach holds a certificate or not. Then, how do you recognize a good life, career or executive coach? The answer is simple. Words of encouragement are nice, books are great, quotes are inspiring, seminars and courses are OK. Is a coach able to help someone design a plan to reach a goal if the coach never did that? Does a coach know how to help someone stick to a plan if the coach never did it as well? Can a coach help someone become successful if the coach has never became successful? Will the coach be able to guide someone to overcome life obstacles if the coach does not have life experience? How long does it take to graduate college and learn a profession? Can a good life coach learn how to be a coach during a three weeks online course? These are the questions you want to ask yourself and look for in a good life coach.

This should be a no-brainer, as it is just common sense that a good life coach has to have much more qualities than just to hold a certificate. In fact, all the world renowned personal development experts and mentors have never sought to earn a coaching certificate, some didn't even graduate college.


 

How to Recognize A Good Life Coach?

Questions to ask a life coach before hiring:

  1. Have you ever had a mentor? If yes, how many mentors have you had? Do you currently have a mentor? - All good life coaches have a mentor, always.

  2. Name 2 or 3 of the most popular exercises or tools that you give your clients to do and use. Have you ever done those exercises yourself?
    If yes, how did you do it? For instance, if a coach is teaching the client to follow a 90-day plan, ask if the coach has followed a 90-day plan, and how?
    - 99% of life, career and executive coaches have NEVER done what they teach others to do, and this is due to lack of life and business experience and because most life coaches teach what they learned from the books in the Life Coaching School. Unfortunately, a certificate cannot teach life experience.

  3. Can you give me 3 examples of how did you help others reach their goals? Be as detailed as possible. - Find out if it’s worth your while.

  4. Have you discovered your passion? Are you happy? How do you see yourself in 5 years? - Here you can find out if the life coach can walk the walk.

  5. What is your “Why?” What is your motivation, your driving force for doing what you do? - It should be a deep emotional reason, not a superficial one.

Here are a few things to look for when searching for a good life coach:

  • Complex of skills, background and life experience.

  • Somebody that was even born with certain skills which simply cannot be gained otherwise. For instance, natural-born leadership skills.

  • A person that learned what coaching really is at an early age, and always loved to help others.

  • Definitely someone that was an athlete is more disciplined and knows what it takes to reach a higher performance.

  • A person that was coached by a good coach, at a point in life. A good life coach has to have experience in successfully coaching others.

  • Someone that has worked for many years on his/her personal development with help from great mentors.

  • A good coach has to be patient and capable to teach others. Maybe even have a pedagogy certificate.

  • A good life coach has to be a great leader with a high level of discipline, has to be a people person, and has to be passionate about helping others.

  • Last but not least, a great life coach has to have had an impressive life experience, as we are talking about life coaching.