Most people are familiar with the concept of coaching within a sports context. A sports coach is the person who guides and encourages an athlete to push themselves to their maximum potential. The coach helps the athlete understand where s/he is now and to identify where s/he wants to be. The coach works in a professional partnership with the athlete in order to effectively cover that gap, and accepts nothing but the best performance.
Life coaching works in exactly the same way, with the coach encouraging and challenging the client to find that inner strength to become the best that s/he can be in any aspect of his/her life.
Coaching is a partnership formed to help the client get from where they are to where they want to be. It can be defined in slightly different ways depending on the coach’s area of speciality.
My definition of what is life coaching
Coaching is a transformational process whereby a normally functional person is challenged and encouraged by a coach to become an exceptional individual, maximizing his or her potential in every area of his or her life.
What coaching is not
Coaching is not therapy, counseling or mentoring. Coaching is focused on your strengths not weaknesses, and the future not the past. It is a commitment to forward thinking and forward actions. Coaching is similar to mentoring in that it involves encouraging and inspiring the client. It is different in that with mentoring the client looks up to the mentor for wisdom or knowledge in a sort of parent-child relationship. With coaching there is an equal partnership where it is the client who has the knowledge to resolve his or her own problems, and the coach helps the client to realize that.