I read. I read a LOT.
Lately 90% of my reading has been in the form of blogs on my Google Reader, and about 75% of the blogs I subscribe to on Google Reader would fall under the category of “Life Coaching” blogs. I read over 50 different blogs that talk about “passion” and “soloprenuership” and how to work for yourself.
I don’t “GET” the whole life coach thing, though…
I mean, OBVIOUSLY most of these people have made a business out of telling other people how to live their lives, and have encouraged their clients to make “the move”… usually to becoming the next iteration of life coaches. Who then get clients and steer those new clients towards a career as a life coach? I don’t know… all I know is that most people who hire a life coach end up becoming a life coach (or talking about it) themselves…
I might have that wrong, though.
So, since I have very little idea what it is to be a life coach, and I have not gotten to the point in my life that I’d be eligible to HIRE a life coach (dude, I’m not a professional anything and I’m not entirely sure if I have special skills) and I can’t afford to even approach one of these exalted ladies (they all seem to be women, or is that just the ones I’ve come across?). I am unlikely to be able to do more than examine blog posts to determine what the appeal is and I’m not sure that I’m likely to BECOME one any time soon (is that another point against me?). And if that’s the goal, maybe I need to find a goal that is more in line with what I am.
I’m CURIOUS… what does a life coach DO? Does anyone have experience with this?
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I ask because what I get out of the blogs and conversations and posts is this:
I have a deep set NEED inside me, the NEED to find out where I BELONG.
Sometimes I feel like I don’t belong in my life… like I’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere in the forest (it’s always a forest) and I’m lost and wandering. I’ve been adopted by a community of beings, but I don’t fit, I’m not the same… but I don’t know where to turn to get to the place I DO belong. So I putter along doing what I’m doing – crashing and banging and getting tangled on the branches and undergrowth – and hoping that somehow, some day I will see what it is I AM and what is it I am meant to do.
At least, I HOPE that there is a group of people out there that I belong to and belong with… because there is a yearning in me to be part of a community I know that this MUST be something I AM destined for. The idea of a “life coach”, for me, is that maybe there is a person out there, somewhere, who might be able to help me see the past the trees in my self-imposed forest, who might be able to see the ME that I can’t see, who might be able to guide me to others who are like me, or help me discover what I AM…
I read these life coach blogs and sometimes I’m tempted to see what they might say (but really what are they going to say for a 36 year old administrator who can’t afford the $100US/hr rates on her $18CDN/hr salary) about my life and how to become the person I am meant to be. Sometimes I wonder if I am even MEANT to be more than I am, if there is a skill I have that I’m just not seeing a need for? I wonder if I am missing opportunities to become what I was always MEANT to be? What if they can see the potential in me I am missing?
Does anyone know?? Maybe someone can see something I’m not seeing here…
Tags: as-I-see-it, my life
A life coach is basically someone who helps give you any or all of: an external perspective on your life, or on a specific problem you want to address; techniques and methodologies on how to improve/address your situation; feedback on how you handle things before or after advice; and accountability as they track your progress.
You could do all these things yourself, but it’s hard to do and to manage. And a friend could do it for you, but friends sometimes choose to be nice over telling you something that might not be fun to hear.
Of course the life coach can do the same thing. If you feel bad, you may not pay for life coaching.
As for people going into the life coaching business, it’s a pretty easy thing to do. Once people solve a problem they’re all hyped an excited, and they know this one thing that solved their problem, and they take their hammer and tell you your problem is a nail. Obviously not every coach is like this and there are some really good ones, and even if they’re not professionally trained, they can still be effective.
But at its basic level, it’s no more complicated than you asking what I’m trying to do and then asking “are you done yet?” until I am. Or offering suggestions when I say I’m stuck or don’t know how to do something.
Where I get cynical is applying them to the questions you’re asking. You don’t go to volleyball coach to say “What sport should I play?” Because most of them will be able to do is speak relative to volleyball. The best coaches can help figure that kind of thing out, but it can be an expensive way to search. (And most of them are happy to bill you while you figure things out.)