I’ve been on so many life coaching courses and NLP training, met a lot of life coaches and even more NLP practitioners. But very few could tell me what they do. And they fail to explain, when I ask them. It’s not that they don’t know what they’re doing. It’s that maybe; and I’m just speculating here, they can’t articulate it because of all the confusion. And more confusion is caused.
So what is life coaching?
Ask 10 coaches and you’re most likely to get 10 answers. Here’s number 11:
The way I see it, life coaching:
1- Assesses your current situation.
2- Helps you define and achievable and clear goal.
3- Helps you decide on how you’re going to get there.
4- Motivates, guides and leads you to take steps and achieve results and attain your goal.
5- And it does this in a holistic manner so your life is kept in balance.
You can think this way about it. If you’re in London and you want to get to Cambridge, what do you need to input into your sat nav? Your location in Cambridge and your location in London. Then you’ll be guided to your destination by the sat nav. If these variable are not input, it’s very unlikely you’re going to easily make it to your destination. Or you’re likely to not get there. In life, you are the sat nav and the life coach is to help make sure you input corrent information. But of course you don’t like a life coach to input info in your sat nav! Right? Remember to answer this question yourself after you’ve finished reading. The sat nav analogy was borrowed from a friend of mine.
Albert Einstein said: “You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it”
Life coaches and NLP practitioners refer to this as the scotoma i.e. blind spot. It’s when you’ve been thinking about a problem too much, you’re getting nowhere and you feel stuck and eventually give up. This is why dreams aren’t chased any more. Then a friend comes along and throws the doors of opportunity open by asking you one question. An efficient life coach is like that friend coming in and asking just the right questions that will challenge you and get you thinking with your problem solving mind instead of your problem creating mind. When opportunities are clear, you’re then acting to find solutions and move forward. This is a continuous process that could last from a few sessions up to a life time.
