What is Life Coaching?

The Impulse to Change

From time to time, we get impulses to change. It might be because of an inspiration. We might see someone else with what we want.  It could be because we feel bad or restless. A relationship, friend or colleague might challenge us. More often than not it's because something has gotten worse than we're prepared to tolerate, and we say: "I've had enough!"

Whatever the reason, this impulse for change comes along at certain intervals in our life. Unfortunately, we all know the impulse rarely lasts. Last week I had an impulse to lose a few pounds, by the weekend it was gone and I'd lost my momentum.  You may have thought: "You know - my relationship really could be better. Surely this isn't as good as it gets?" And the next day the impulse is gone. Or "How much longer can I go on feeling this angry every day?".   A few days later your life has taken over and the focus is on something else.

Impulses for change don't last... That's why we don't make many of the changes for the better that are possible in our lives.

Without coaching,  without a structure,  our natural tendency is to keep to our old patterns and behaviours.  We keep the same relationships, we keep the same barriers and limiting beliefs. We put up with feeling the same way.   We resolve ourselves to not having the things we really want.   We want  things to be different but  we don't change them. We're stuck. 

Signals from your Unconscious Mind

These impulses for change are the signals, the natural impulses,  telling us what is next in store for us in our lives. They are your intuition letting you know that you are missing opportunities and it's time to grow.   They are not only the signals that will help us achieve the goals we are striving for, but the signals that are telling us how to evolve as people.

If we ignore these impulses, we'll feel restless at a very deep level - perhaps knowing something is wrong, but not sure what.  Perhaps feeling depressed, anxious, teary, angry, unhappy, unsatisfied, flat,  bored.  To cope with our feelings we usually then reach for some kind of distration distraction - we blame our partners, our kids, our job or we comfort ourselves with  food, drugs, alcohol, TV, pescription medication...

Coaching Provides Structure

When you engage a Life Coach you make a committment to achieve your goals and change within a specific timeframe.  The timeframe varies and for some issues it may only take a couple of sessions with your coach to achieve a great outcome but the usual coaching relationship is 3 to 6 months.  During regular sessions you and your coach will decide on specific actions you will undertake to move forward.  Some of these tasks will be steps towards your goal or sometimes they will be behavioural strategies to overcome your issues.  Coaches also often recommend reading material, DVD's or CD's  to broaden your awareness and knowledge.   Your Life Coach can also help you to dissolve psychological blockages and resistance  by using NLP, Hypnosis or other techniques.

                       What's the difference between Life Coaching and Counselling?


"Counselling is about resolving issues from your past. Coaching is you shifting and creating new solutions from the present, so that your future is positively impacted."

When I'm coaching I am interested in how you got where you are and I may use Hypnosis or NLP to help you let go of the past but I am much more interested in where you are now and how to get you where you want to go in the future.  Coaching is future focused and gives you specific strategies to achieve your goals.  Life coaches will typically challenge you more and give you tasks to shift your perception and move you forward.