Coaching: What it Is and Isn't


If you are considering the possibility of working with a professional coach, it is important to understand the role your coach will play. If you are hoping that a LIFE coach will tell you what to do or magically provide some kind of quick fix, you may be setting yourself up for major disappointment. Here are some key assumptions that are essential in the coaching process: You have to be intimately involved in finding the answers that will work best for you. Your coach may be a mentor and a facilitator, but you are the key player. You have to accept ultimate responsibility for the decisions that are made. You have to take action to get the desired results. Plans and decisions don't get the job done. Not until you act can you expect things to change.

So, what is the role of the LifeFocus coach? Beyond these fundamental assumptions lies the core concept that "life focused" coaching is all about an integrated and holistic way of living. With life focused coaching, all of the parts fit together. You are not dealing with each aspect of your life as a separate and fragmented piece of some intricate puzzle. You increasingly become aware of the big picture, and when that happens, all of the pieces fit into that picture very naturally.
	For example, your money is an important ingredient. However, in and of itself, money has no value. Its value is in the context of your life and the values that matter most to you. You are using your money effectively when it is being used to help you express what you value most in your life.
Therefore, an investment advisor who simply focuses on helping you achieve financial success is quite different than a LIFE coach who helps you put money meaningfully into your real life situation. It isn't about how much money, but how much is enough? How much is enough to do what you really want to do with your life? And, how does "enough money" get distributed so that it provides personal fulfillment, strengthens relationships and helps create an overall sense of well being?
Or what about time management? Suppose a coach helps you manage your time so that there is never a stack of "stuff" in your unfinished "to do" box. You keep your desk clean, return all of your phone calls and answer all of your emails each week. Does that mean you are successfully managing your time? Well, that all depends. The real question is, "Are you using your time each day to express who you are and achieve what is most important in your life?" Are you focused on what you need to do to get the results you desire?
A LIFE coach will help you answer such critical questions as: Am I doing what I want and need to do to express who I am as a person? To what extent am I simply reacting or responding to others versus proactively determining how to use each hour of each day? If I only had a limited number of hours left in my life (which, in fact, I do), how would I use them? If, by better management of my time, I had an extra hour or two in each day, what would I do with that extra time? You can see that we are talking about quality - not quantity. Time management begins with our defining what is most important in our lives. It is not just a matter of rationing our time to get certain jobs done or tasks completed. It is deciding whether to do them at all. Do they fit into the scheme of things "to do" when we determine what we really want to do with our lives?
		A LIFE coach relentlessly works at keeping us focused on what life means to us at the very core of our being. Our challenge does not begin with what to do. It begins and ends with who we are and who we want to be. In between, there are all kinds of things to do. However, they are designed to serve a higher purpose than simply getting things done. Our "doing" becomes a servant to our "being".
The exciting outcomes from LIFE coaching are: the integrity that comes from knowing that you are being true to yourself, confidence that you are eliminating the distractions that might keep you from doing what you really want to do with your life, and the actual experience of feeling a deep sense of personal fulfillment that comes from passionately pursuing your mission. Disclaimer Read on to learn what makes the LifeFocus-Coach approach so unique. Top of Page

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