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How to Become a Life
Coach
Life coaches help their clients discover what is most
important to them, help them perform at optimum levels,
and achieve what it is they most desire.
They work one-on-one with their clients, either in person or over
the phone, and help them in their personal
development and in meeting personal goals.
If you like helping people and are a charismatic and energetic
person, then life coaching might be a good career choice
for you.
Let's first examine what a life coach is and does, then we'll go
into more detail on the process of how to become a life
coach.
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The practice evolved out of executive coaching, which itself drew
on techniques developed in leadership training
and management consulting.
It also
borrows from disciplines such as sociology, psychology,
career counseling, mentoring and other types of
counseling. Coaches may apply mentoring,
behavior modification, behavior modeling,
values assessment, goal-setting and other
techniques in their practice.
According to a survey of coaching clients, "sounding board"
and "motivator" were what they were looking for
most in a coach. The desire that their coach "really
listen to them and give honest feedback." Time
management, career, and business are the top three areas
in which the surveyed clients sought help.
Some say that life coaching is similar to psychotherapy, but
without restrictions, oversight or regulation. The State
legislature of Colorado disagreed, and ruled that
coaching is unlike therapy because it does not focus on
examining nor diagnosing the past. Life coaching focuses
on changing the client's current and future behavior.
Neither does life coaching delve into diagnosing mental
illness or dysfunction.
Life coaches are not therapists nor consultants.
Before becoming too involved in being a life coach, decide first on
a specialty, or a focus for your practice. Besides the
three areas already mentioned, you could also specialize
in finance, health, relationships, career management
or a variety of other areas. Decide on your
specialty, then pursue further training in that field.
Your preparation should include attending a life coaching
seminar. You will get a good overview of life
coaching in general, and have the opportunity to see how
coaches interact with people in the crowd. Grasp the
opportunity to approach one of the speakers after the
event and ask how best to break into the field.
After attending a seminar, you should have a pretty good idea of
whether or not becoming a life coach is something you
really want to pursue. You want to be sure of that
before you invest your time and money into life coach
training.
There are hundreds of coaching training programs that range
from $100 home study programs, to a $15,000 two year
life coach certification. The value and cost of life
coach training varies widely and is something you should
research thoroughly. The most comprehensive list of
coaching courses and schools can be found at
www.peer.ca/coachingschools.html
Without a coaching credential you will have a difficult time
convincing potential clients that you are authentic, so
it's important that you pursue a program of instruction
that results in accreditation.
We have reviewed the basic outline of how to become a life coach.
If you still fancy becoming active in this field, invest
plenty of time in researching the topic further before
you make any financial commitment.
Richard Rossbauer
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You cannot teach a
man anything: you can only
help him find it within himself
- Galileo Galilei
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