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There is still a lot of mystery surrounding what a Life Coach does.
Life Coaching emerged in the 1980s as a profession and continued to gain momentum in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Although there are no formal requirements for those who wish to become a Life Coach, in 1995, the International Coaches Federation (ICF) was founded and represents the gold standard in Coaching.
Coaches certified by the ICF are required to take rigorous training that develops the tools, techniques and conversational styles to unlock your full potential.
There has been a long and sometimes contentious debate between the Life Coaching and Therapeutic community about how these two professions align or don't.
In straightforward terms, Therapy, or formal Counselling, deals with mental health issues, where Life Coaching does not.
The debate enters the picture as many clients of Life Coaching have reported significant improvements to their mental health while working with a Life Coach.
Many in these wellness professions are trained and certified as Coaches and Counsellors giving their clients a complete support experience. But, ultimately, it will be up to you to decide what will best support you.
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the issues we face in life are more complex than they have ever.
Albert Einstein said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
Engaging with a Life Coach can help cultivate the mindset and look beyond the thinking you currently have to expose new potential in your relationships, career, business ventures and overall approach to life.
Here are the top five reasons that I have seen for clients to engage with a Life Coach:
You are facing a recurring struggle.
For many, life is a daily struggle. So much, so that being in a struggle becomes a pattern or habit.
It sounds outlandish to think that we would build a habit to struggle, but it is true. Our mind is a pattern-making machine, and it is required to be that way to deal with the amount of information coming at us daily.
Our mind looks for patterns to repeat. Those patterns can even live in the conversations we have with ourselves. During a deep dive conversation with a Life Coach, you can explore how these types of conversations create the reoccurring struggle and develop new practices to change these old patterns that are no longer working for you.
You frequently feel stuck.
Along the way, we can all get that feeling of being stuck. In my experience, this is a very natural part of our process. However, when being stuck seems to happen over and over again at an increasing interval, it might be time to explore some different tactics.
A Life Coach is a fantastic person to engage with to move through those stuck periods. Many Life Coaches have creative ways to get those creative juices flowing and see new ways to move forward on issues that get in the way.
You hunger for more self-awareness.
Martin Buber says, "All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware."
At times a coaching client will know that developing more self-awareness is something they crave. People who read books in the self-help section of the bookstore and hunger for personal and spiritual development.
Clients of Life Coaching who fit into this category often miss out on the conversation and practice of self-awareness. Many Life Coaches are experts in unearthing the methods you can apply to your day-to-day life that support your curiosity of self.
Desire to live your best life.
There is nothing more refreshing than being in a conversation about what your best life is. That is a powerful starting point for any Life Coaching conversation.
By being open to exploring what it means to be living your best life, you will expose the conditions that can create that experience for yourself.
One of the things I say to clients is, "You cannot create what you cannot articulate." By working with a Life Coach to articulate your best life, you are already engaging in the experience of your best life.
You need a safe place to explore your authenticity.
Being authentic is an extensive conversation in the wellness modalities. You see many programs dedicated to touching that part of your that awaits underneath all the social conditioning, life experiences and childhood traumas.
A Life Coach can create a space to explore what it means for you to be authentic and set out on that journey with you. There is nothing like walking in partnership with a Life Coach into the uncertainty of authenticity.
Being your authentic self can be scary.
As the poet David Whyte says, "We are the only species on earth capable of preventing our own flowering."
The journey to your authenticity requires someone who will walk through that experience with you and enhance your journey exponentially.
There are many other reasons you may want to consider engaging with a Life Coach, and these are only the five that I see crop up the most. Many Coaches specialize in particular areas like Finances, Career, Spirituality, Addiction and Divorce, so it will be up to you to find the Coach that best suits your intended outcome.
A good portion of Coaches offer 'Discovery Calls' or 'Fit Conversations that help you decide if they are the one for you. Sometimes stepping through that portal of support is the most challenging thing to do. So leverage these offers as they can be the conversations that unlock the following steps to your journey.
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Dave is a Leadership and Life Coach living in Steveston, B.C., Canada. Dave has experience with individuals that feel stressed out and exhausted who know that they want something different.
In 2017, Dave left a career as a Senior Manager at a large Local Government to start Small Pause Coaching & Consulting. His philosophy about taking a pause and inviting in a new conversation, a deeper conversation, has supported hundreds of individuals and organizational clients.
He is a Certified HeartMath® Coach & Mentor, a trained Equine Guided Learning Facilitator and a Certified Coach with the ICF. Dave took his coaches training at the Newfield Network in Boulder, Colorado.
You can learn more about his work at www.smallpausecoach.com or look him up on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.
Dave also expresses his creativity through the Small Pause Shop, where he designs apparel that supports living life 'inside the pause.'