Five ways you can get the most out of life coaching

Personal development

Considering hiring a life coach? Here are five ways you can get the most out of the experience.

Life coaching can help you evolve into the person you want to become – and help you achieve personal and professional goals. It can guide you as you seek to find meaning in your life, and achieve a healthier work-life balance.

But how can you ensure you get the maximum value out of the experience – and the investment of time and money you’ll need to make?

Here are five ways you can get the most out of life coaching.

1) Have the courage to question your life

The first step towards getting the life you want, is being honest not what’s not working for you right now.

It might be you feel that your career has stagnated, your relationship has gone stale (or was never really the right fit), or you have a decision to make that feels impossible.

Whatever has led you to the door of your life coach needs to be explored honestly. With the courage to really dig deep into why you’re in your current situation will you get the clarity and motivation to reach a place you do want to be.

So what kind of questions should you ask yourself? Let’s say you’re not happy with your job. You might ask yourself these questions:

  • Do I hate this particular job, or the role in general?
  • If I changed company would I feel any different?
  • What jobs have I enjoyed in the past?
  • Do I have the right level of education for the career I want?
  • Am I giving this role my all, or could I get more from it?
  • Am I productive at work?
  • Have I been taking my job seriously?
  • Do I need to find a better job with more chances of career growth?

A life coach can help you explore questions like these in order to get to the truth – and help you either really embrace the opportunities of the job you’re in, and learn to love it. Or they’ll steer you as you consider other options, and help you devise a strategy to find a career that’s a much better fit.

2) Focus on the future

The best way to overcome past trauma is to focus on righting the wrongs and working on a plan for the future you do want. Continually revisiting the past and holding into past hurts won’t help you to move on from them.

So don’t focus on why you’re working in a job that doesn’t fit your talents and passions, on much much you hated school, or how difficult your marriage was before you left your ex.

Instead, decide that it’s time to move on and focus on your future. At this point, a life coach can help you establish clear goals and encourage you towards achieving that which you deserve, and help you step into the bright future you want.

3) See your coach as a motivator, not a counsellor

A life coach is very different from a therapist. Instead of spending your entire session raking over what’s gone wrong, a good life coach will provide you with a safe space where you can verbalise all your fears and weaknesses.

From here, you can address each fear, with your coach as your biggest cheerleader. So, to get the most from your life coach, you need to be honest with them about what’s holding you back, and be prepared to take positive action with their support.

4) Be clear about what you want

While a life coach can help you achieve your goals, in order for you to work towards the right goals, you need to be clear about what it is that you do want.

So if you have a vision for your life in the future, you need to share it. And if you don’t yet have a clear idea, then ask your life coach to help you establish one.

With a clear goal in mind, you and your life coach can work in partnership to help you get there.

5) Don’t procrastinate

Sometimes, one of the reasons why we need the help of a life coach is because we’ve procrastinated so much in the past that we’ve become stuck.

We may have had dreams and goals in the past, but because we put off taking action to working towards them, we’ve become lost. And ended up with a life that doesn’t fulfil us or make us happy – but with no clue as to how to change it.

If you want your investment in life coaching to pay off, then it’s time to ditch your procrastination habits for good! If you know this is a problem for you, tell your life coach and ask them to help you come up with a strategy to overcome it.

And resolve that you’ll commit to whatever actions and steps you agree with your life coach. Because when you follow the process faithfully and do the work, you should see results.

Read more about coaching

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Photo by Edward Cisneros