Introducing Life Coaching
Chapter 1
Introducing Life Coaching
In This Chapter
Knowing why coaching works Meeting your inner coach Coming to terms with change Working out your current life priorities
eople talk lots of hokum about life coaching. Life coaching television programmes, magazines, and newspaper columns range in quality from the powerful and inspirational through to the downright misleading and dangerous. True life coaching isn’t about some guru telling you how you should live. Yes, you may be tempted to bask in the comfort of an ‘expert’ who can fix your life, your fashion sense, your body flaws, and your emotional angst. But these fixes are too often like an elegant sticking plaster. Changes don’t last, unless a real change has come from deep within you. True life coaching enables you to call on your very own inner guru, any time, any place, with or without the support of another human being. This chapter explains how coaching can work its magic for you and how it can help you manage the changes in your life, not just right now, but through all of the shifting priorities of your journey.
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A Brief Definition of Life Coaching
Here’s my definition of life coaching: A purposeful conversation that inspires you to create the life you want. You have conversations all the time (unless you’re a hermit in a cave). Your conversations are either chit-chat to pass the time and get along with people, or purposeful talks where you clarify
10
Part I: The Basics of Life Coaching
thought processes, resolve problems, reach agreements, and commit to actions. Life coaching uses dialogue as well to move you along in the right direction. When you engage in a purposeful conversation with your coach – who is either a skilled professional, or simply that part of you that already is your coach – you cut through all the chit-chat and get to the root of everything. You may discuss the following topics, for example: Why you act in the way that you do. Which beliefs about yourself
Introducing Life Coaching
In This Chapter
Knowing why coaching works Meeting your inner coach Coming to terms with change Working out your current life priorities
eople talk lots of hokum about life coaching. Life coaching television programmes, magazines, and newspaper columns range in quality from the powerful and inspirational through to the downright misleading and dangerous. True life coaching isn’t about some guru telling you how you should live. Yes, you may be tempted to bask in the comfort of an ‘expert’ who can fix your life, your fashion sense, your body flaws, and your emotional angst. But these fixes are too often like an elegant sticking plaster. Changes don’t last, unless a real change has come from deep within you. True life coaching enables you to call on your very own inner guru, any time, any place, with or without the support of another human being. This chapter explains how coaching can work its magic for you and how it can help you manage the changes in your life, not just right now, but through all of the shifting priorities of your journey.
P
A Brief Definition of Life Coaching
Here’s my definition of life coaching: A purposeful conversation that inspires you to create the life you want. You have conversations all the time (unless you’re a hermit in a cave). Your conversations are either chit-chat to pass the time and get along with people, or purposeful talks where you clarify
10
Part I: The Basics of Life Coaching
thought processes, resolve problems, reach agreements, and commit to actions. Life coaching uses dialogue as well to move you along in the right direction. When you engage in a purposeful conversation with your coach – who is either a skilled professional, or simply that part of you that already is your coach – you cut through all the chit-chat and get to the root of everything. You may discuss the following topics, for example: Why you act in the way that you do. Which beliefs about yourself