Life Coaching: What would that entail?

One of my lovely blog readers left this comment a few posts back,


Hi Angie,
I'm clueless. What would that entail? It sounds intriguing, but to be honest I'm not sure what a life coach does. Maybe you could educate your readers. I know I'd like more information.
Blessings,
The Differently-Abled Children's Author
J. Aday Kennedy
www.jadaykennedy.com
http://jadaykennedy.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/jessica_k


I've been looking forward to being able to answer this request for those that have either never heard of life coaching or for those who would like to learn more :-)

Life coaching is not therapy. It's not counseling. It's not mentoring.

Hiring a life coach helps a person find their strengths and build on them in a specific area. Working with a coach helps you uncover and reach your goals. Coaches ask questions that help YOU find direction and shift paradigms and hold you accountable for the results. Coaches don't do the work for you. That's important. They do give you personal work to do in between sessions pertinent to the result you want to achieve.

An important point in hiring and working with a life coach is to choose one in the correct specialty or niche. You can learn everything from emotional intelligence to how to draw higher level performance out of your employees. You can hire a coach to work with you on weight loss, personal goals, public speaking, writing, overcoming fears, divorce recovery, building a business venture, pageant performance and even relational skills. The list is literally endless.

I've hired a coach at several of my life junctures. In fact, I'm working with two right now because I have two separate goals and I needed those specialties handled separately. One is a pageant coach, she's teaching me how to strengthen my personal performance in the Mrs. International competition this July. The other is a business coach assisting my husband and I to build our heating company to a higher level in preparation for our son to take over.

Each appointment usually lasts 45-55 minutes. During that session, a coach will work with you on one specific topic. Too many topics, there's not enough time to work through them. So each session gets one topic.

My coaches ask questions that lead me to find the answers. They impart their expertise and pull the best out of me. I am now super-focused on achieving the results I set as goals-and I'm achieving them step-by-step because of the co-creative process. (More on co-creativity in a future post.)

So what kind of a coach am I?

I am an interpersonal and relational skill coach. I empower and encourage people to battle their internal pirates and uncover those Gems of Wisdom that improve personal skills and professional relationships. I help you fill your treasure chest so that you can live out your special purpose, calling in a more confident manner.

Thank you for asking, J. Aday :-)

Angie