When you hear the title “Life Coach”, what do you think of?
After polling you on Instagram, I realized there are many of you who don’t know what a Life Coach is (no shame – I was unaware at one point, too)!
I hope the below is educational and helpful to those of you who needed clarity!
What is life coaching?
Life coaching is many times confused with consulting, therapy, mentoring, or even MLM titles. While all of these modalities serve their unique purpose, Life Coaching is actually very different than all of the above.
At the core, Life Coaching is a profession based on the principle that the client is the expert on their life and has the ability to determine and achieve their goals. Life Coaches are trained to ask the right questions to help the client uncover their intrinsic needs in order to achieve their goals. Everything is based on the present and what you want to achieve moving forward.
Myth: life coaches tell you how to live your life
Many people seem to think that Life Coaches are there to tell you what do to with your life in order to be successful. It’s actually quite the opposite. Coaches are trained to NEVER tell a client what to do because that is putting their experiences and ideas into the client’s mind, which is against the principles of coaching. Coaches are trained to ask the right questions to help the client uncover their own thoughts and ideas.
ARE ALL COACHES LIFE COACHES?
You’ve probably heard of various titles of Coaches: Career Coaches (hey girl, hey), Health & Wellness Coaches, Relationship & Dating Coaches, etc. These are all specialties within the coaching modality (unless they are using similar titles and are trying to sell a brand or product to you – see MLM distinction below).
To simplify, I like to compare the structure of coaching to that of the medical field. The first step to becoming a doctor is going to med school. After the student understand the foundational principles, they then go on to specialize in an area: Family Medicine, Neurology, Orthopedics, etc.
Similarly, Coaches generally start with being trained as a Life Coach and once they have the foundational principles of coaching, they specialize in an area of their interest. Mine happens to be helping women make a career pivot into a career they love and thus I specialized in Career Coaching.
How does coaching compare to other modalities?
The biggest difference between coaching and most other modalities is the role of an authority figure. As mentioned above, coaching views the client as the expert and the Coach acts as a partner in the client’s journey. Whereas, many other modalities have an authority figure answering the client’s needs.
Consulting V. Coaching
CONSULTING
- Consultant is the expert
- Consultant proposes solution and up to client to implement
COACHING
- Client is the expert
- Coach generally works with client as accountability buddy through implementation and/or reassessing the goal.
THERAPY V. Coaching
THERAPY
- Therapist focuses on the past
- Therapist focuses on uncovering why you are where you are
- Therapist helps clients fix “problems”
- Therapist manages mental illness
COACHING
- Coach focuses on present and future. Past may come up if it affects current situation, but this conversation is initiated by the client
- Coach focuses on how to get you to your goal
- Coach does not see problems, only opportunities
- Coach does not treat mental illness
MENTORING V. Coaching
MENTORING
- Mentor shares advice for success based on their experience
COACHING
- Coach will not share advice based on their own experiences. As stated above, clients are the experts and coaches will help clients find their own way
MLM COACHING V. LIFE Coaching
MLM COACHING
- Selling a specific brand, product, or lifestyle
- Based in brand or product principles
- Although title sounds similar, it is completely separate from Life Coaching
LIFE COACHING
- Does not have a predetermined outcome other than client achieving their goal
- Based on coaching modality principles
How you described a life coach:
Interested in getting a Coach? Neha is a Career Coach helping women pursue their passions in harmony with their personal life. Book a complimentary consult to learn more about how you can align you career with your personal life.
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