Life Coaching - The Top Three Reasons Why People Benefit From It
I've probably set myself a hard task already by choosing the title before I've written the article. The reason being that there are numerous benefits to life coaching, so choosing the top three could be quite a challenge. That said, let's take a look at three of the most commonly discussed benefits that my clients enthuse about.
Clarity
I'm going to put this one at the head of the list. Because coaching is goal and future focused, 99% of my clients say that having a greater level of clarity about what they want (and when they want it) helps them enormously. Lots of people carry pipe dreams and wishes around with them for most of their lives - the sad part of it is that the majority of them go un-realised. Whilst this applies to the goal itself and the date it's wanted by, having a degree of clarity about the plan of action required to achieve it is also key. It never ceases to surprise me about the number of clients who change their goal after realising what's involved in achieving it. This can be a double edged sword - whilst there can sometimes be a moment of disappointment, it often saves months or years of frustration, wasted effort and disappointment. My clients usually find that the replacement goal and plan is far more satisfying and achievable afterward though.
Perspective
The perspective that Life Coaching offers is a subtle but powerful benefit. Getting things down on paper, putting key dates into a diary or even just saying something out loud very often gives it a new dimension all of its own. My clients often marvel at the difference that hearing their own words back to them makes when we have coaching time together. There's tremendous value in bringing ideas from the sub-conscious mind into the conscious mind, but also in taking topics from out of the conscious awareness and feeding them back in again! It sounds peculiar but it works. The perspective that the coach and client bring together on a topic area is unique to this type of intervention.
Accountability
Okay, it's confession time. Have you ever had an ambition that you've wanted, kept to yourself and ended up procrastinating on? Relax - most of us have. The difference when working with a coach is that once it's declared out loud, silently putting it off is no longer an option. Sure, I've heard some incredible excuses for not taking action on a committed plan, but I always respond with a compassionate firmness and remind my clients why we chose to work together in the first instance. Most often times, clients find out that F.E.A.R is the biggest factor in not taking action, but that just turns out to be False Evidence Appearing Real. It's never as tough as they think once they get going.
Life Coaching has been an incredibly rewarding satisfying career move for me, and I know that my clients have benefited greatly from coaching time too. The only question left is "When will you start?"
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