the International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as:

“partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

A more simple description of coaching is that: 

A coach brings you from where you are to where you want to be. 

A Life Coach supports you in:

Reaching a clearly defined and desired goal in your life (as opposed to for instance a business coach, who would focus on the work arena). This desired goal is highly personal. It can range anywhere from overcoming overwhelm to taking steps towards your dream, moving jobs or moving countries, becoming more confident or more peaceful. 

We will detail and define this goal during your life coaching trajectory and regularly check-in on your progress. We will also look at what has been holding you back so far and how to overcome those obstacles. Depending on the amount of sessions, we will usually end our trajectory with a simple, personal action plan.

Your Life Coach supports by being fully present with you, asking individual and at times intuitive questions, to support you in finding your own answers and solutions.  

If you are asking yourself this question, there is a good chance that  a coach can make a difference in your life.

Here below are several situations in which a Life Coach can support you:

• Feeling Lost
  You may currently be feeling lost in your life. Not knowing what to do next, you may have lost your spark, your enthusiasm for life for a little while. Life Coaching can help you create clarity and get back on track.
  
  
• Transitions
  Life Coaching can help you through the transitions in life. Whether you are facing or are in the middle of one. Transitional times can often be unsettling. You may need to find your footing, a new foundation, finding and redefining yourself, finding out what next steps to take and processing related emotions in order to emerge from this phase stronger.
  
  
• Feeling Stuck 
  Sometimes situations in your life aren’t moving forward as fast as you like, or they are not moving at all, or moving in a different direction than desired. You may even be unsure of your desired direction. Life Coaching can help you change your perspective and create new possibilities. 
  
  
• Decisions
  At times, we can’t see the forest for the trees. Circumstances may have left us unsure about who we are and what direction to move in. Life Coaching can help you get more clear on your priorities, values and next steps.  
  
  
• Insecurity 
  Do you often feel as if you are not enough? Not good/ smart/ productive/ successful/ etc. enough? Always strict with yourself? Perfectionistic? Negative thoughts? Afraid to fail? Life Coaching can assist you in looking at beliefs and behaviors that may be holding you back and update and upgrade your way of looking at yourself and your life.
  
  
• Overwhelm
  You may be feeling overwhelmed, as though you are holding up just one too many plates, not sure about which one to put down or pick up first. Priorities. Time management. Values. Goals. Life Coaching can support you in creating a clear pathway out of your overwhelm and increase your sense of peace.
  
  
• Fear
  Do you have a goal or dream that you would like to work towards but fear is holding you back? This can show up as constant procrastination, self-doubt, anxiety, distraction, comparison or negative thoughts. Life Coaching can help you recognize the ways in which fear holds you back in your life and move towards the freedom to follow the path of your purpose. 

That’s a good question! And one that is often asked. Here below is a simple definition of each.

Coaching vs. Counseling or Therapy

The most simple way to look at it is that counseling and therapy help you to move from -1 to 0. What does that mean? It means that you move away from pain, mainly looking at your past, to move towards a stronger present. For instance, if you have any mental health problem, then counseling or therapy will be of better choice than coaching. The support you receive is more specialized and you will move from temporary instability to a firm foundation.

Coaching on the other hand, helps you to move from 0 to +1. This means that coaching moves you from a strong present to a stronger future. It means that you are already functioning in life at a stable-to-good level, but you would like to improve and move from good to better, or even great.

Coaching vs. Consulting 

Consulting also supports you reaching certain goals and finding solutions, but these are brought to you by experts in their particular field. Simply said, a consultant will give advice and answers your questions, whereas a coach asks questions and helps you find your own answers.

Consulting brings specific expertise, whereas a coach sees you as the expert of your own life, and supports you in finding your own solutions.

Coaching vs. Training

Training is about transmitting knowledge. Following a training is helpful if you want to learn more and grow in a particular area and need to more information to do so. 

Coaching on the other hand, is highly individual. Whereas training offers information, coaching offers inspiration and insights for your particular situation.

Coaching vs. Mentoring

A mentor is someone who has walked a particular path before you and works in the same field that you work or aspire to work in. They are at least several steps ahead of you and invest time to provide you with information and inspiration to help you get ahead. They transmit knowledge based on their experience and/or expertise.

A coach may or may not have walked the same path that you would like to move forward on, but this is irrelevant for the coaching relationship. Instead of providing resources, coaching sees you as the source of information, inspiration and insights for your own success. A coach will not steer but will support you in reaching your personally defined path.

Even though each session is entirely different for each person, there are a number of elements that are the same during a coaching trajectory.

We always start out with defining and detailing your coaching topic and goal for our trajectory.

You will receive reflection assignments related to your coaching topic or session in-between sessions.

And we will create a simple personal action plan, for you to move forward even after our trajectory has ended.

Not unless you want it to 😉 It does mean that I pray before we meet online for our coaching session, just as some coaches might meditate or draw cards. Why? Basically to be of better service to you. Praying beforehand doesn’t only increase peace, it may even improve the impact of our coaching results. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Being a Christian also means that I personally work from a Christian perspective and professionally strive to adhere to Christian values. In the end this too will only have a positive impact on the end result.  

This is a good question. Because yes, I am a Life Coach and yes, I am a Christian. And although I didn’t follow a Christian Life Coaching training, I do hold a general Life Coaching degree, I also operate from a Christian perspective and am continuously educating myself around Christian Coaching.

If you are a Christian and are interested in Life Coaching, our trajectory will be more focused around God’s purpose and path for you. We will pray before and/or  after your session, staying as close to scripture and God as we can.

In  short. We can integrate our Christian worldview as much or little as you are comfortable with. You can find out more here.