Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Personal Life Coach?
A Personal Life Coach is someone who is qualified to support, encourage, challenge and motivate you to achieve your goals. A coach is a good active listener that can pick up from your voice what you are really thinking and will facilitate you to take actions to move yourself towards your goals. They will celebrate your successes, help you discover how to overcome obstacles, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and enable you to move forward at a far greater pace than you could achieve on your own, with the ultimate aim of you achieving your goals and discovering a much happier life.
What is a Career Coach?
A Career Coach does exactly what a Personal Life Coach does (see above question), but the focus is on your career and your goals will be career focussed. A good Career Coach will have much experience in the fields of recruitment and selection, as well as being a qualified coach.
How is Personal Life Coaching different from Career Coaching?
The tools and techniques of the coach are exactly the same for Life Coaching as they are for Career Coaching. The main difference is that with Life Coaching you will be focusing on any part of your life or many areas which you want to improve, whereas with Career Coaching (as the name suggests) it focuses directly on your career. In practise, our careers have a major impact on most areas of our lives - choosing a Personal Life Coach who has a specialism in Career Coaching has a major advantage for those looking at any goals.
How does Personal Life Coaching work?
Life and Career Coaching works because it focuses you on exactly what you want to achieve and gets you there faster. We go through life constantly busy ‘doing things’, but very rarely do we stop and consider our future, and where we want to be. By using a Life Coach you are able to do just that, with the aid of a coach who is 100% dedicated to you and your future. They will listen, encourage, support and motivate you. The Life Coach is able to keep you focussed and, through their experience and expertise, you will be able to identify options available to you, that you may not have ever considered.
What sorts of people have a Personal Life Coach?
From my experience every type of individual will come to me for coaching. The only traits these people have in common is the desire to change part of their life so they are happier, and the realisation that they will stay focussed and get there quicker with the support of a coach.
What happens during a coaching session?
During each session we will recap on the actions set and achieved from the last session and look at general progress and successes. We will then set a ‘session goal’ to clearly set out what you want to achieve by the end of the day’s session. We then explore where you are at the moment with that particular goal; what you have tried; what has worked and any obstacles you have come across along the way. We then explore all the possible options in achieving that goal, using lots of techniques to really extract options that you have never thought of before. Lastly and most importantly we look at what actions you want to set yourself from the list of options to achieve that session’s goal.
How long are the coaching sessions?
Both Life and Career Coaching sessions take approximately 50 minutes. These sessions can be weekly, fortnightly or monthly, whatever suits your life and the speed at which you can take actions to achieve your goals.
How many Life or Career Coaching sessions will I need?
This depends on what you want to achieve with your coaching. Most people come to a Personal Coach with a life changing goal in mind. In order to achieve this we look at smaller goals, that need to be achieved each session, to move you closer to your overall goal. For some people this may take as little as 6 sessions and for others it will be more. It is a very personal decision based on your individual goal.
Where does the coaching take place?
In the majority of cases the coaching will take place over the phone, with the client phoning the coach. This has proven to be the most convenient way for individuals to fit coaching into their busy lives. Other than the phone, you will need a quiet room with no distractions where you can totally focus on the conversation. Face to face coaching is available, to those in the East Kent area, if they prefer this option.
How much does it cost?
Coaching costs about the same amount of money as seeing any health professional. Sessions prices are as low as £40 and last approx 50 minutes. This really is a very small price to pay for the life changing experience that you desire. For more information on packages and prices click here.
What will I have to do?
To get the best from Life or Career Coaching, you need have a positive attitude towards the achievement of your goal. You need to be totally open, trusting and honest within the coaching relationship. You need to have the time and commitment to complete the actions that you will set yourself at the end of each session. These actions are what will move you closer to your overall goal. Ultimately your level of commitment will directly influence the speed and extent to which your goals will be realised. To help you with all of this, the coach provides boundless motivation, support and encouragement within a confidential and non-judgemental environment.
What are the benefits of Personal Life Coaching?
The benefits of Life Coaching are having someone that is solely dedicated to you and the achievement of your goals. They are non-judgemental, supportive, encouraging and motivating just when you need it. They keep you focussed on where you want to be and moving forward in the right direction. They will enable you to get to where you want to be in life, much faster than you could on your own.
How is Personal Life Coaching different from counselling?
Coaching and counselling are similar in the sense that both counsellors and coaches ask the client questions, sometimes requiring a lot of soul-searching. Neither a counsellor nor a coach will give advice but they will listen to what you say and direct the conversation with further pertinent questions. However, whereas the typical counselling session will be dealing with emotions and issues in the past affecting the present, the coaching relationship is focussed on the future and deals with optimising the opportunities in your life for you to ultimately achieve greater happiness.