Professional life coaching is a career choice that has gained in popularity and respect over the last decade. Life coaches provide advice and support to clients who find it difficult or impossible to navigate some aspects of their lives independently. A life coach focuses on personal development while encouraging their client to work towards self-improvement. The list below highlights the common services that professional life coaches provide:
1) Identify and meet goals
Coaches help their clients pinpoint what they want out of life and then go about helping them set goals to achieve it. Goals might include anything from losing weight and getting more fit to starting a business and becoming successful. Once goals have been established, coaches work with their clients to create an action plan to get closer to reaching those goals.
2) Achieve self-awareness
Numerous studies have demonstrated that truly understanding oneself is an essential part of achieving one's goals. Due to that, professional life coaches help people set goals that they want to achieve and work with them to figure out why they want those goals and how to best go about achieving them. In essence, coaches help their clients discover who they are meant to be through the lens of what they hope to accomplish.
3) Develop interpersonal skills
For a person to truly succeed in life, they should have developed a high degree of social skills and etiquette. A coach helps their clients develop these traits by discussing situational encounters that require certain behaviors and then going over possible responses the client could use in such situations. That enables clients to feel more comfortable and confident in their interactions with other people.
4) Build self-esteem and confidence
Perhaps the most important service professional life coaches provide is building self-esteem and boosting a client's confidence levels. Because of the emphasis placed on interpersonal skills, clients often learn how to communicate more effectively, which helps them develop strong relationships with others and feel like they belong more than ever before.
5) Be an accountability partner
Accountability partners are individuals that help keep each other committed to achieving goals; it requires commitment from both parties involved to see results. Professional life coaches can function as great accountability partners for their clients because they understand what it takes to achieve goals and want nothing more than to succeed greatly in all areas of their lives.
6) Encourage personal and professional growth
Coaches do not limit themselves to helping their clients achieve certain goals; they also work to help them grow as people along the way. Perhaps one of the most important responsibilities a coach has is encouraging their clients to explore new possibilities and become better than they ever were before, which can often mean looking at things from different perspectives, opening up to change, and more.
7) Educate on financial management
Even though some coaches only focus on instilling self-confidence and steering their clients towards achieving specific goals, many also provide their services for a fee. However, some coaches choose not to charge for their services by providing educational courses on saving money, investing their money wisely, or otherwise learning more about financial management.
While some professional life coaches choose to focus on providing certain services, some choose instead to provide all of the ones listed above—and more. Due to that, it is critical for people searching for a coach to do thorough research first. If they look online or ask around among friends and acquaintances, they might end up choosing someone who provides only one service that could prove completely insufficient for what they need.