Life Coaching

There are some subjects that we are using them through the life but we don't know them very well. They don't teach them to us but we learn them as we grow up. I personally don't know what I should name them; life experiences or life coaching. What ever you can name them, just now they are playing a very important role in our life. Here, lets name them as Life Coaching.

Coaching is comparably a new profession. It blends the best concepts from business,
psychology, philosophy, sports and spirituality. Although coaching combines skills from
other disciplines, it is a distinct process of supporting others to create an ideal life.
Coaches work with clients on a variety of topics: from business and professional issues to
personal and spiritual concerns. A coach is an advocate, a sounding board, a
cheerleader, an accountability partner, a truth teller and a supporter.
Coaching involves dialogue between a coach and a client with the aim in mind to help the
client obtain a fulfilling life. This is achieved by helping the client establish what is
important to them and by clarifying their values. With the client’s input the coach cocreates
value based goals and a plan to achieve them. Through collaboration, the coach
supports the client to achieve these goals.

A coach offers many things to the client during the coaching process such as:

1. Discovering the answers within yourself
2. Clarity of values
3. Co-creating a plan for how to achieve what the client really wants
4. Become a sounding board for new ideas
5. Support in making life changing decisions
6. Challenge to expand their views beyond their perceived limitations
7. Direction
8. Acknowledgement
9. Encouragement
10.Be a resource of information

What Coaching is Not

Coaching is not therapy, counseling or psychology. Although the coaching process may
have roots in the field of psychology (and intervention often follows some psychological
models), the actual process of coaching should not be mistaken for a therapeutic
intervention.
One of the most obvious differences between the two approaches is that therapy tends to
focus on feelings and experiences related to past events. Whereas coaching is oriented
towards goal setting and encourages the client to move forward.

Coaching is often likened to consulting and mentoring. However, there are distinct
differences between these disciplines. Consultants tend to provide advice, whereas the
coach helps the client discover their own solutions. Mentoring involves passing on the
benefit of specific experience concerning a goal in question. Furthermore, a coach may
provide powerful coaching without familiarity of a specific goal.
How Is Coaching Different From a...

Consultant

A consultant usually is a specialist in a given area. They are hired to give
recommendations and provide solutions. A consultant usually works with a client to solve
a particular problem. Once the problem is solved the consultant leaves. Generally, a
consultant doesn’t get involved with areas outside of their specialty.
Coaching uses a more holistic approach. With the client, the coach examines the
situation, creates a plan of action, and works side by side to resolve the issue. The coach
does not have to be an expert in the client’s business. The client is the expert. The coach
collaborates with the client to create a solution using the client’s knowledge and answers.
The coach does not have the answers. They have the questions that allow the client to
find their own answers and clarify their own values.

Therapist

A therapist typically works with a dysfunctional person to get them to become functional.
A coach works with a functional person to get them to become exceptional.
Therapists typically work with people who need help to become emotionally healthy. They
often deal with past issues and how to overcome them.
A coach works with functional people to move them to magnificent levels. Coaching does
not rely on past issues for achieving growth, but rather focuses on goals towards the
future. Coaching is action-oriented. The focus is on where the client is right now, where
they want to be next, and how to get them there.
If you are working in the past, then you are involved in therapy. The client is stuck and
can’t seem to move forward. If there is a drug or alcohol problem, then you are more likely
doing something other than coaching. Be alert. If you feel uncomfortable or uneasy about
where the conversation is leading, tell your client. Part of being a good coach is knowing
when and when not to coach. If the client needs therapy then refer them to a therapist.
Clients can use the services of a therapist during the same time period that they are
working with a coach.

Counselor

While a counselor provides information and expertise, the relationship is normally
hierarchical, perhaps even authoritarian. It is based in the past and focuses on fixing a
problem.
A coaching relationship is present and future based, action-oriented and not hierarchical
in nature. The client and the coach partner to create a better future for the client.

Mentor

Mentoring is a relationship that is established with someone that is an expert in their field.
The mentor is usually older and more experienced than the person being mentored. The
mentor bestows their knowledge and wisdom onto the student. The student looks up to
the mentor and seeks guidance and advice from the mentor.
A coaching relationship is a partnership whereby the coach walks side by side with the
client. The coach supports the client in drawing on their own wisdom and following their
inner guidance.

If you are interested in this subject, please, share your ideas and stories with me and lets write them down here. I'll be pleased.

Mehrdad