What is Life Coaching?
Zoe Hamilton Wynne, Cloud 9 Coaching

The field of life coaching is no stranger to being misunderstood. With common confusions occurring between coaching and sports coaching, therapy, mentoring, consulting and counselling, it is little wonder that many people are unaware of what life coaching actually is.

Simply, the life coach’s purpose is to support the client to achieve their full potential by making changes, solving problems and evaluating challenges. Life coaching leads to the attainment of goals and is based upon motivation and activity. It focuses on future possibilities, not past mistakes. If there is a problem to deal with, life coaching is interested in finding the solution, rather than dwelling on the cause. Working with a life coach, therefore, provides a positive, proactive approach to taking control of your life.

Life coaching is not a prescriptive process; a coach does not tell their client what to do but, instead, encourages their client to find their own solutions. The process of coaching increases a client’s awareness so that they feel confident to make their own choices, take control over their own lives, and encourages them to take responsibility for their own decisions.

Coaching is concerned with helping people to define their goals, review the reality of their situation, consider all of the options they have at their disposal and ultimately extracts a commitment as to what they intend to do. The coach offers a structure to this process and creates a real brainstorming climate to ensure that their client has the best chance of succeeding.

Zoe is a professional life coach with Cloud Nine Coaching, www.cloud9coaching.co.uk.