Life Coaching MythUnderstandings

Life coaching is exploding. Is it any wonder why?

According to the International Coach Federation, the leading professional association for coaches worldwide, individuals who hire a coach can expect significant improvement in productivity, satisfaction with life and work, and the attainment of goals. Once limited to high-level executives, professional life coaching is now mainstream, enjoyed by people from all walks of life around the world.

But as with any growing profession, mythunderstandings about life coaching abound. Below, we debunk the top six professional life coaching mythunderstandings.

MythUnderstanding #1- Life Coaches are counselors

Putting life coaches and counselors on the same ground doesn’t make sense. A mythunderstanding exists in the mind of individuals. They consider life coaches as counselors which is certainly not true.

Counselors delve into the past of people and try to heal them. While life coaches concentrate on identifying obstacles and your take on the life that stops you from receiving the desired outcome.

MythUnderstanding # 2- Life Coaching is for people who cannot succeed on their own.

Years ago, many people viewed coaching as a tool to help correct underperformance or to “fix” people. However, things have shifted considerably since then.

Today, top producers and other successful people use coaching to help them achieve their greater goals and navigate toward a more compelling future. I believe coaching and mentoring can help anyone’s performance.

In sports, for example, athletes at all levels have a coach in their corner. The same is true in life. Even the most skilled, talented and successful people get—and benefit from—coaching.

MythUnderstanding # 3- Life coaches will tell you what to do to “fix your problems”

Parents, siblings, friends, and co-workers like to tell others what they should be doing. However, coaches don’t give advice or instructions; they focus on helping their clients change behavior. That is far more valuable than telling someone what to do.

Instead of listening to all the reasons their clients can’t do something, coaches help their clients dream, explore and stretch. Coaches encourage each client to come up with the best goals and choices for their vision of the future. And then they help the client adopt the behavior that will allow them to achieve their goals.

MythUnderstanding # 4- Having a life coach is like paying a friend to listen to me.

Your coach may be friendly, but they are not your friend. Your coach is your advocate. They want the best from you. They will work with you to help you reach your goals and to succeed. Your coach will hold you accountable and challenge you to grow and do more than you think you can do. They may push, pull, and stretch you in ways that may feel uncomfortable. And unlike a friendship, the coaching relationship is unilateral - it is exclusively focused on you and your goals, not the coach, his family, his golf handicap, or what she did over the weekend.

MythUnderstanding #5- Coaching takes too much time

Unlike some types of coaching, such as personal training, clients working with life coaches can achieve remarkable progress on their goals in just one or two hours a month.

In most cases, clients don’t even have to travel to meet with their coach. Instead, they meet over the telephone—it’s easier, more efficient and there are minimal distractions.

Good coaching relationships generally require between two and four sessions per month, each lasting anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes.

MythUnderstanding # 6- Coaching is too expensive

Coaching can cost a great deal of money. Most personal coaches charge a monthly retainer of $500 to $2,000 a month; however, some charge much more.

However, an ICF Global Coaching Client Study indicated that individual clients reported a median return of 3.44 times their investment in coaching.

So, while it’s not an inexpensive process, coaching is paying off for many people. If it weren’t, people wouldn’t continue to work with life coaches and the industry wouldn’t be generating $1 billion a year.