Life coaches vary like night and day, along an infinite gradient. Advice and experience can be as free as a next door neighbor chatting on a Sunday morning. Good neighbors that reach out to people around them, manage to empower lives simply by being a neighbor. Family, especially elders, also make great life coaches, with snippets of advice and direction from a grandparent or an elderly aunt, sometimes enough to make life or decision-making easier.
Some people (young ones included), are natural-born coaches or counselors because they have great listening skills or they have a great approach to solving life problems. In these instances, there is a natural pull towards these sorts of people. Feeling personality types, in particular, INFP, ENFJ, INFJ and ENFP in that pecking order, are naturally attractive from a young age, as listeners and solvers of life problems.
In all of this, psychology swirls. The closer a person is to becoming self-actualized and living his/her purpose, the happier he is. Life coaching is the gentle manipulation of a person to do better than he is currently doing, to reach for the top, a desire shared by the mentee. The necessity of psychology in life coaching is that when the coach understands the workings of the human mind, it is possible to reach the mentee’s core mindset and to succeed in taking him notches higher.
Psychology involves human behavior, thinking, thought processes, social inclusion or exclusion, the activities of the brain and so much more that controls our thoughts and everyday living. We are entering an era where life coaching broaches mental wellness. If you make a wrong decision, you could get depressed. If you are already having a hard life, you probably are depressed. If you are needing advice and direction most times, then life is confusing and there may be an underlying reason. The list goes on.
Psychology is the study of the mind, actions and behavior, while life coaching deals with motivating and cultivating actions and behavior to enable an individual to live a more actualized, fulfilled life. Life coaching involves a coach directing a mentee to become better in many ways. A life coach can commandeer the mentee to use his natural gifts and talents, further than any ultimate the mentee may believe in himself to achieve.
Life coaching is a necessity, it is also an easier avenue to relief from daily stresses. An effective life coach can override certain mental barriers his mentee may unconsciously set up by using various tools to mentor and motivate him. Such tools include talk and written activities, listening skills and advice. A good life coach usually advises, but does not force his mentee to act. Neither does he make his mentee feel guilty about non performance. However, as a coach, he can use relational cues to point out the results his mentee’s lack of willpower produces, empowering him with a desire and energy to keep aiming for established goals.
A successful coaching relationship requires a mentee to hold his life coach on an esteem level higher than himself, with his ego flattened enough to listen and act on his coach’s guidance. Hence most life coaches are successful in coaching mentees that listen to the coach’s life experiences. Most mentees further model their own life goal structure around the coach’s life achievements, sometimes emulating their path to how the coach achieved his own goals.
However, life coaching involves psychology because the quest to achieve set goals relies heavily on the mentee’s mindset and willpower, essentially, the brain.
Currently, Life Coaching as a profession is not formally regulated by any authorities. Anyone can become a life coach without being certified. If you are taking such a route, your previous life experiences are attractive enough for people to seek your counsel. As you progress, you are likely building a client list of successful graduate mentees.
Be aware that things are changing and regulatory practices for the life coaching profession are currently being established. Do not get left behind, otherwise you may one day find yourself out of income and practising illegally. Hence, now is the time to act. Now is the time to start putting that plan into place. By getting a certification or a degree that is in line with becoming board certified, you are setting yourself up for ultimate success. You still have time, but five years may be late, as career-wise, it might create a dent in your income. Your best strategy is to start planning and acting now. Look out for the next issue, when Psychology Aisle will list excellent resources to help you make the right choices for the progression of your life coaching career.