Why Hire a Life Coach?

You've probably heard about life coaching. Being a business coach makes sense to most people -- but life coaching? Business coaches focus on your business challenges and goals. A life coach supports you to look at your life as a whole, to consider more deeply where you are at, what you would really like to do and be, your values, what stops you. Coaches are action oriented, however, not therapists. They facilitate you making the great choices you might not make if left to your own devices (or wouldn't you have made them already?) And there's the question of success vs. fulfillment I talked about in a previous blog: as a coach I will root for your fulfillment, which might also be your greatest success, but might not look like it to you from your current vantage point. Is it possible for you to be totally fulfilled and on purpose if you don't deal with your life as a whole, balancing the different aspects and not letting one area torpedo the rest? A disturbing relationship can keep you from clear focus on your career. Lack of inner clarity in any area of your life can cause stress and block success in all areas of your life, including your health and your relationships.

So why would you need to hire a coach to help you figure out all those "personal" questions? Well, what if you had somebody who would really listen to you without judgment, holding a space for you to process your thoughts and feelings about your life questions and your career? Asking the right questions. Do you have a friend or relative who does that for you? Most people don't, because an untrained person or someone involved with you personally is likely to give you advice, and give you their opinion of what you should do. Sure; sometimes that is helpful, but it is not always safe to tell your nearest and dearest what's budding in your heart. That can be scary. A coach can hold a space for you to do that, and because a session with a good coach should be a safe place to listen to yourself and speak from your heart, you can start to find the answers that will be "right on" for you. In my coaching, I listen to you with what Carlos Casteneda called "the second attention" -- beyond the words you use, to the deeper level of what you are communicating. I can highlight for you confusions or stuck places, and then we can work together on bringing illumination to all that.

After a session with a good coach, you should walk away with more confidence and clearer direction. Not all coaches are great -- but a couple I've had myself are worth their weight in gold! Even though I am not coaching with them now, the experience of their support and helpful guidance continues to work for me to this day.