Coaching FAQs

A life coach is a professional who helps individuals achieve their personal and professional goals. They provide guidance, support, and accountability, helping clients identify their strengths, overcome obstacles, and create actionable plans for success.

Life coaching is right for you if you are motivated to make changes in your life, are open to self-reflection, and are willing to take action towards your goals. It is beneficial for those who feel they could use clarity, support, and accountability in achieving personal or professional aspirations. This includes individuals seeking better work-life balance, personal development, or greater life satisfaction.

Life coaching is not right for those who aren’t directly choosing it for themselves (such as a child, partner, or friend that you think needs support to get their life in better shape.) The coach is not the agency that makes change happen for a client. Whether or not success is achieved is always in the client’s own hands, because they’re the ones who have to do the work of self-reflection, decision-making, and the carrying out of action steps identified in the coaching sessions.

Accountability is a key component of life coaching. Coaches help clients stay committed to their goals by regularly checking in on their progress, providing support, and encouraging them to take consistent action. This accountability helps clients maintain momentum and achieve their objectives.

Common goals include improving work-life balance, discovering efficient ways to manage stressful aspects of life, skill acquisition and habit formation, and achieving other personal development objectives. The idea is to find areas of your life that you want to change or improve in order to live a more full, enjoyable, and meaningful life.

Life coaching can improve time management by helping you prioritize tasks, set realistic goals, create effective schedules, and identify and eliminate time-wasting habits. Coaches provide strategies and tools to help you manage your time more efficiently.

Yes, life coaching can help with decision-making by providing clarity, exploring options, weighing pros and cons, and aligning choices with your values and goals. Coaches use various techniques to help clients make informed and confident decisions.

Yes, life coaching can help build confidence by identifying and challenging limiting beliefs, setting achievable goals, celebrating successes, and developing skills and strategies to handle challenges. Coaches provide support and encouragement to help clients gain self-assurance.

In the first session, I will get to know you by conducting an intake assessment to understand your goals, challenges, and current situation. You’ll discuss what you hope to achieve through coaching and together we’ll outline a plan for your sessions. This initial meeting sets the foundation for our coaching relationship and future progress.

After the Intake Session, subsequent sessions typically start with a check-in on progress since the last session, followed by a discussion of current challenges, obstacles, or goals. The coach asks questions, provides feedback, and then the coach and client work together to explore solutions, set action steps, and conclude with a summary and next steps. Each session is tailored to the client’s needs.

Life coaching can help you work on multiple goals by prioritizing them, breaking them down into manageable steps, and creating a plan to address each goal systematically. Goals are then worked on in order of priority. Coaches help you stay focused and balanced while working through your goal list.

Common tools and techniques used in life coaching include goal setting, action planning, visualization, journaling, mindfulness practices, values assessment, SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), and various questioning techniques to foster self-reflection and insight.

All of my life coaching sessions take place online through Google Meet.

The frequency of sessions depends on the client’s needs and goals. Many clients start with weekly or bi-weekly sessions and may reduce the frequency as they make progress. This can be tailored to fit individual preferences and schedules.

Progress in life coaching can be measured through regular reviews of your goals, tracking milestones, and assessing changes in your behavior, mindset, and overall satisfaction. As your coach, I will help you set measurable objectives and help you evaluate your progress.

The time it takes to see results varies depending on the goals and commitment of the client. Some clients experience significant changes in a few sessions, while others may take several months to achieve their desired outcomes.

In the field of life coaching, the cost can vary anywhere from $50 up to $300 or more per hour depending on the coach’s experience, qualifications, and location. My fees for 2024 are $60 per session. Most clients need between 4-12 sessions for working on small to medium-sized goals. For more complex goals, clients can continue their coaching with single add-on sessions when needed or they can purchase additional 4-session packages until they’ve completed their goal or are empowered to continue on independently.

To choose the right life coach, consider their fees, qualifications, experience, coaching style, and areas of expertise. Coaches will often serve particular niches in addition to offering general coaching. It’s important to have an initial consultation (Discovery Session) to ensure there is a good fit and that you feel comfortable and confident working with them.

When looking for a life coach, be sure to check that they are qualified, which means they hold certifications from a reputable and recognized coach training program. Additionally, a coach should have relevant experience or educational background and a strong track record of helping clients achieve their goals (see client testimonials & reviews). I have completed three coach training programs with IAP college and have a general Life Coaching Certification, a Time Management Coaching Certification, as well as a Master Life Coach Certification.

Life coaching focuses on setting and achieving goals, improving performance, and creating positive changes in one’s life. Most importantly, it focuses on the client’s present circumstances and how to modify their present behavior to attain their objectives. Therapy, on the other hand, often deals with diagnosing and treating mental health issues, exploring past experiences, and understanding emotional problems.

A life coach focuses on helping clients achieve their personal and professional goals through structured guidance and support without offering advice. A mentor, on the other hand, typically provides advice and wisdom based on their own experiences, often in a specific field or industry.

Clients are the experts on their own lives. While the idea of getting advice from a coach might seem helpful as a means to reach goals, it can undermine the core principles of effective coaching, which focuses on empowering clients, fostering independence, and facilitating personal growth through self-discovery and reflection. Life coaches want their clients to recognize they already have the answers within and develop their own problem-solving skills and decision-making abilities rather than becoming dependent on the guidance or direction of others. Outside advice may also have the unintended consequence of undermining the client’s confidence in their own abilities and decision-making skills. Additionally, advice can sap motivation! Clients typically feel less ownership of solutions coming from others. When solutions are self-generated, clients show greater commitment to implementing their own ideas. Lastly, providing advice blurs the lines between coaching and consulting or therapy, potentially violating ethical guidelines for coaching.

Yes, life coaching is confidential. Professional coaches adhere to strict ethical guidelines that ensure client privacy and confidentiality. Information shared during sessions is kept private unless there is a legal obligation to disclose it.