Taken from http://www.lifecoach.com/what-is-a-life-coach

What is a Life Coach?

Life coaching is a synergistic relationship between an accredited life coach and a client designed to tap into your full potential. Just as Olympic athletes wouldn’t think of training without the added insight, objective perspective and enthusiastic support of an athletic coach, many of today’s most successful business leaders, professionals, executives, entrepreneurs and CEOs use the services of a life coach to take their lives, careers, or businesses to the next level. At LifeCoach.com we have an international directory of accredited life coaches who can address your personal and business coaching needs for both your personal and professional life. Find the perfect life coach to help you reach your biggest goals and dreams here.

 Part consultant, part motivational speaker, part therapist and part rent-a-friend, coaches work with managers, entrepreneurs, and just plain folks, helping them define and achieve their goals — career, personal, or most often, both.

- Newsweek

Why does life coaching work?

 Coaches have the ability to view things from afar — in what some call ‘helicopter vision’ — and to shed new light on difficult situations. Often they can act as a sounding board through tough decisions, help sharpen skills, and motivate.  

- CFO Magazine

An article in Public Management revealed a study where training alone was compared to life coaching combined with training. The study showed that training alone increased productivity by 22.4% while training combined with weekly life coaching increased productivity by 88%. Here is why:

1) Accountability. Most life coaches have three calls a month with their clients. This regularly scheduled call prompts clients to get more done than they would if left to their own devices. Think about it, if you work out with a personal trainer at the gym, you work much harder than on your own. Clients take bigger actions, set bigger goals and think bigger when they work with a professional coach.

2) Expertise. The trained life coach knows how to help you set the right goals, make more money, and structure your personal and professional life to achieve greater productivity with less effort. You’ll achieve more in less time with the input of an accredited Life Coach on your side.

3) Delivery. A well-trained coach knows how to use the right words so that you are naturally motivated. It doesn’t take brow-beating or nagging when you are working with a skilled life coach. Coaching typically works best with a weekly call so clients have time to integrate new ways of thinking and take action each week toward their goals. Most life coaching is done by phone and delivered in half hour to one hour coaching calls. The experience is challenging and uplifting. You’ll look forward to your weekly calls with your life coach. Find an Accredited Life Coach here.

4) Speed. Most people find that things start to happen very quickly after hiring a life coach.

Who works with a Life Coach?

Entrepreneurs, executives, business leaders, actors, musicians, creative people, managers, small business owners, start-ups, professionals and home-makers all reach their goals with the help of a life coach. If there is a gap between where you are now and where you want to be, there is room for life coaching. Not only will your life coach help you close the gap, your life coach will help you break through your limited beliefs and challenge you to think bigger.

What would you work on with a life coach?

• Setting and achieving goals and objectives
• Planning — business, career and life
• Blasting through blocks and fears
• Clearing clutter
• Financial security and independence
• Balancing business and personal life
• Making key decisions and designing strategies for success
• Communicating powerfully and succinctly
• Becoming a problem-free zone
• Building powerful relationships
• Breaking through the glass ceiling
• Getting promoted
• Finding the ideal career/work or business
• Finding the ideal partner/love/relationship
• Getting out of a rut
• Making an important life transition
• Starting a business
• Growing a business
• Living an ideal life
• Identifying core values and passions
• Fulfilling personal and emotional needs
• Getting organized
• Making more money
• Having loads more time to enjoy life
• Playing, having adventures, and a lot more fun!
• And much, much more…

Frequently asked questions

How does life coaching differ from consulting, therapy, sports coaching, a best friend?

Consulting. Life coaching can be considered a form of consulting. However, consulting is often information and expertise based. For example, you might hire a consultant to help your business with a specific problem. In which case, you’d expect your consultant to have knowledge and experience in that particular area. Life coaches, on the other hand, may or may not have a background or experience in your field. A coach is a life specialist, an expert on helping you develop all areas of your business and personal life. Unlike many consultants who propose a solution and leave you to implement it, the life coach stays with you to help you integrate the changes, new skills, and goals to make sure they really happen. This is one reason why coaching is so effective–it is one thing to have the information and quite another to actually make the change!

Therapy. Life coaching is not therapy. Coaches don’t work on past-based issues or traumas. Life coaches are not psychologists or psychotherapists. If you start the process of life coaching, and have not resolved a past issue, then it is very likely you will be referred to work with a therapist to resolve the issue. It is very common for unresolved traumas to stop us from getting what we want in our lives. Life coaches focus on the present and the client’s goals for the future. We help people move forward and set personal and professional goals that will give them the life they really want. Most life coaching clients are healthy, successful people who might be a bit stuck or simply want to make a big change in their lives and want the support of their own personal coach to do so.

Sports. Life coaching often includes principles from sports coaching, such as being your best, doing more than you think you can, working with a team, going for the goal. But unlike sports coaching, most professional coaching is not a competition. Your life coach will help you win in your own life!

Best friend. A best friend or two or three is wonderful to have. But is your best friend an objective professional who you can trust to advise you on the most important aspects of your life or business? Sometimes our friends can’t tell us the truth as much as they would like to because they don’t want to risk losing the friendship. A good life coach is never afraid to tell you the truth and is willing to be fired at any time. Why not have a best friend and a life coach?

Our basic philosophy of life coaching:

If there is a gap between where you are now and where you want to be, then there is room for life coaching. Why struggle on your own when you can get what you want out of life in a fraction of the time with the structure, support, and tools of a skilled life coach?

Who hires a life coach and why?

The ICF puts it nicely:

“People hire a life coach because

• They want more.
• They want to grow.
• They want it easier.

It’s as simple as that. Life coaches help a client get all three. Quickly.”

What are the benefits of hiring a life coach?

• You start taking more effective and focused actions immediately
• You stop putting up with petty annoyances
• You create momentum so it’s easier to get results
• You set better goals that are based on what you really want
• You have more time and energy

Do life coaches work on personal goals or business/professional goals?

Usually both. The life coach is the only professional trained to work with all aspects of your life. This is handy because very often, if something is bothering you at work, it is affecting your personal life as well and vice versa. Some clients prefer to spend more time focusing on their business goals, while others may want to focus on personal goals. How you use your coaching call is up to you!

Where does the life coach focus with an average client?

We focus where the client wants us to focus. Your goals are our goals, although we might have some radical suggestions for how to reach your goals more quickly. Sometimes, in order to be more successful in business, you need to do some personal work. So don’t be surprised if you get some personal assessments and quizzes!

Why does life coaching work?

Life coaching works for several reasons:

• Synergy between the life coach and client creates momentum and enthusiasm.
• Better goals are set— ones that naturally motivate the client.
• The client develops new skills, which lead to greater success.
• Life coaching provides a structure of support. Left to our own devices, we start out with the best intentions and then, we hit a snag and it can derail us completely or cause a long delay. A life coach can help you quickly break through blocks so that more is accomplished with less struggle and less effort.
• Your life coach is an objective, positive supporter. Not everyone is lucky enough to have such a friend or colleague to provide this. If you’ve been doing it solo, try seeing how much more you can accomplish with a life coach!

Why is life coaching so popular?

1. People are tired of doing what they “should” do and are ready to do something special and meaningful for the rest of their lives. Problem is, many can’t see it, or if they can, they can’t see a way to reorient their life around it. A life coach can help them do both.
2. People are realizing how simple it can be to accomplish something that might have felt out of reach or like a pipedream. A coach is not a miracle worker (well, they are, sometimes) but a coach does have a large tool kit to help the Big Idea become a Reality.

Shouldn’t I be able to reach my goals on my own?

We’ve been taught that “hard work and doing it on your own” are the keys to finding life, success, money, or happiness. Most people believe they must sacrifice something to attain what they want. Some people sacrifice their health, their time to enjoy life, or their relationships. None of this is necessary. You can have it all, but maybe not all right this minute! And, with life coaching, you’ll find you don’t have to sacrifice anything to get what you want. You may need to change a few things, true, but clients find they have more time with their families and friends, more money, more opportunity, and are more successful at work when they work with an accredited life coach.

Athletes, performers, CEOs and presidents know that they can’t do it alone. They know they need a trained professional or even a team of experts to help them determine the best direction and to provide objective support and feedback. Without this, it is almost impossible to achieve excellence. No athlete would consider going to the Olympics without the support of a coach. The extra edge the coach provides makes all the difference. Why shouldn’t you have this same advantage?

Why would people who are already successful hire a life coach?

Nobody really needs a life coach, but many people want one! Are you doing what you most enjoy? Are you tolerating or putting up with anything? Is life easy or are you struggling? Are you on the path to financial independence? Do you have what you really want? Most people can expect a lot more out of their lives. I thought I’d start writing when I retired at sixty-five. I wrote my first book at 30! Life coaching really speeds things up so hold on to your hat!

Can a dependency be created between a life coach and coaching client?

No. The client may need the life coach in order to maximize an opportunity or accelerate their personal growth, yet not be dependent on the life coach. Anyone who has big goals can benefit from the structure, advice, and support of a life coach, so in that sense, a coach is needed. As far as creating an emotional or psychological dependency, not to worry. Life coaches work with people who are healthy and successful on their own. Life coaches do not resolve therapy issues. If you start to feel dependent on your life coach, get a therapist.

Can life coaching hurt someone?

No. The client is always responsible for their own life. Clients makes their own decisions and takes their own actions. Life coaches provide positive support and encouragement. While a life coach might challenge you to think differently or suggest that you try a different or even radical approach than you would normally take, the client must decide whether to take the advice or not. Life coaches do not in any way control the client’s thoughts, actions or life. If you feel bad after a coaching call, for any reason, let your life coach know about it. It is probably a miscommunication or it could be that this coach’s style is not working for you. If this happens consistently, try a different life coach. You should feel uplifted and motivated to take action at the end of each personal coaching call. You should certainly feel good about yourself and your accomplishments.