The International Coaches Federation (ICF) states that life coaching is “an ongoing partnership that helps the client produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives”.
The Institute of Personal Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) says:”it is a professional that helps people tap into their inner purpose and passion and connect that with outer goals and tasks to bring about extraordinary and sustainable results”.
A life coach is about the here and now, who you are in the present moment and where you want to be in the future. Unlike a therapist or counselor who typically focuses on exploring the root cause of emotional pain by delving into an individual’s past experiences, family background, and upbringing.
Your coach helps you take stock of your life experiences, your needs and aspirations. Coaching is an active process that requires you to take concrete steps to move forward in achieving your goals. Coaches work with you to co-create your future and assist you in making the most of your present by achieving balance and meaning.
A coach will only provide you with homework unless you specifically ask for advice.
The key is within you, the responsibility of your coach is to help you find it, ask questions around your chosen topics and to give feedback if asked.
A coach can acknowledge past trauma that may have happened in your life but coaching is not a substitute for therapy. Coaching is about the now and the future, not the past.
A coach approaches every client with an open mind and treats all conversations completely confidentially. Coaching provides a safe space for you to talk openly, truthfully and freely. It’s a relationship based on mutual trust.
Your coach will help you gain clarity, kick start your passions and identify and set goals across all areas of your life. A coach recommends tools, helps to create strategies to move you towards your goals in a way that is aligned with your values and needs. This could involve major change or some finer rebalancing.