What's a Life Coach?

A life coach, or life skills coach, as they are sometimes called, is essentially a personal trainer for your life. As the name implies, these personal coaches work with individuals to improve various areas of their lives.

Depending upon your circumstances and how you choose to work with your coach, they can take on a number of roles. These can include motivation coach, personal development coach, executive coach, small business or career coach, or relationship coach.

Below are some successful life coaches and links to detailed pages about them. Read further for some detail on what each type of coaching involves.

Here are some well known life coaches

• David Wood - David Wood is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF). He has coached clients in 13 countries and provides resources online for those wanting to pursue a coaching career.
• Talane Miedaner - Talane Miedaner is an internationally recognized life coach, author, and speaker. She has been mentioned or featured in local and major magazines, television, and newspapers.
• Todd Beeler - Todd Beeler is so good as a motivation coach that two of the most successful marketing consultants in history have sung his praises. Jay Conrad Levinson calls him "second to none." In addition, top ranked business coach Jay Abraham has written him up as a case study.
• Laura Hendershot - Laura Hendershot is a life coach and a student of the Graduate School of Coaching. She was mentored by the founder of Coach U and the ICF (International Coaching Federation), the late Thomas Leonard.
• Jeanie Marshall - For over 20 years, Jeanie Marshall has been showing people the way to personal empowerment. Her guided meditation CD's can be found on Amazon.com.
• Dawn Abraham - Dawn Abraham is a certified life coach with a successful business career behind her. She brings to her clients a number of varied life experiences combined with a passion for helping people achieve more.

Personal Development Coaching
The personal development coach role is broader in scope and elements of this role are present in every type of coaching. In fact, life coaching can be said to be all about personal development and growth. Typical areas of focus including personal inspiration, motivation, personal responsibility, and breaking down barriers to success. Coaches work with clients to eliminate old behavior patterns that tend to produce less than stellar results. In short, they help accelerate positive results!

Life coaches provide a level of accountability that normally does not exist in most of our lives. When someone is counting on you to succeed, you will be much more apt to be inspired to do so!

These coaches typically work with the majority of their clients by phone. Most life coaches will establish a monthly routine with you that includes several phone sessions ranging from a half hour on up, and "pep-talk" type calls that are usually 10 to 15 minutes as needed.

While not all coaches work quite the same way, some combination of long and short phone sessions are usually common. You are given not only theory, but real world examples, and exercises and "homework" to do that raise your skill levels. Your life coach will take you step by step to the next level of achievement.

Rarely, you would meet in person with your coach. Many coaches will do group sessions in person or on the phone, and some are called to appear as motivational speakers at larger venues.

Executive Coach
Executive coaching is a common subset of the life coach field. Executive coaching deals specifically with the challenges faced by the fast paced and often fragmented schedules of corporate executives. Sessions are done either one on one, or in a group setting (usually paid for by the company). Many executives who have taken this type of "training" will report gains in excess of 10 times what the coaching cost their companies.

Small Business Coach
Another common area of focus is for small business owners. This is either for people who just getting a business off the ground and need a business plan, or for those already in business who need a kick in the pants to bring things to a higher level. Sometimes, just organizing your life and taking charge and can dramatically improve the health of a small business. People often forget that they are a business owner, and not just a worker who happens to own a business.

Career Coach
The same types of goals and steps to get there can be applied to a career. Some turn to a coach to help them get ahead in their career. Others are looking to make a change in careers and need guidance and support. Still others are stuck in jobs and want to break into a new career or start a business but aren't sure what will suit them best or lack confidence.

Relationship Coach
Whether it's dealing with bosses, employees, or family members, coaches often work with people in the capacity of a relationship coach. People getting married, going through breakups such as a divorce, or those going out in the dating world again can benefit from this type of coaching. Again, the coach works with the client to focus on personal responsibility and getting one's own house in order.

Who can be helped by the services of a life coach?

1. Those who know that they can be and do much more.
2. Those ready to make a big change in their lives, or who have just made a big change and need help coping.
3. Those who want to improve their jobs, their businesses, or their relationships.
4. Those who have suffered a loss, such as divorce or a failed business.
5. Anyone wanting to shed old, ineffective habits in favor of new more effective ones.
6. In short, anyone wanting to improve!

Here's an interview with certified coach Dawn Abraham.

While some coaches have specialties, and they all have their own style, they typically work with all types of people on several fronts. One word of caution, though... you must be ready for this. Your coach will challenge you to do things that you normally might not do. Why else would you pay them? After all, if you could do it yourself, you wouldn't need a coach!

Ready to Work with a Life Coach?

Many coaches will offer a free coaching session from time to time so that you can get a feel for how they go about things. This allows you to not only try out coaching to see if you are ready for it, but also to try out the individual coach and see if you "get" their style or not. Tony Robbins has a great "life coach in a box" type program that you can do at home on your own. It's the Personal Power II audio series. Another word of caution here! Working with a coach over the phone or in person has a level of accountability to it. Here, you'll have to make sure that you follow through on your own.

Keep in mind that most people who buy books and courses of this nature either never take the course, or never act on it! Don't be one of those people! Action will set you apart from the crowd every time! I've taken this course and followed through with spectacular results, and I highly recommend it... if you're ready to be your own life coach at home.

Some folks who have been successfully coached end up pursuing a career as a coach themselves. If this intrigues you, you might want to have a look at David Wood's system for developing a coaching career. So, who knows? If you like being coached, you may love coaching!

So, if you're in need of a change, or ready for a change... or if changes have happened to you that you didn't expect... get a life coach! The greatest, most highly respected and highest paid athletes in the world have coaches, why don't you?!