Keshav was a mechanical engineering graduate working in the IT sector. He wanted to become an entrepreneur but wasn’t sure if he should follow his heart and take the plunge or play safe and continue with an assured income job. Keshav’s colleague, Jason, suggested he take up life coaching to clear his head and clarify his priorities. 

 “Do I really need life coaching? Shouldn’t I be able to handle my own stuff and find a solution?” Keshav asked Jason.

Jason told him that life coaching would help him find solutions on his own. “Then why do I need a life coach at all?” asked Keshav.

Would you like to know why? Then read on..

What is life coaching?

Coaching, according to the International Coaching Federation, is when a  coach partners with a client in a creative, thought-provoking process that inspires the client to maximize their personal and professional potential

Life coaching uses the coaching process to facilitate a journey of self-discovery that clarifies goal paths leading to success, excellence, and happiness. Goals can be professional or personal. 

Rekha Hatkanagalekar MCC-ICF is a distinguished coach who coaches leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives, amongst others. She says from her experience that anyone can use life coaching to achieve personal or professional goals, be they leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, students, or homemakers. “Because, at the end of the day, everything is about life.” 

Why do you need a life coach?

Life coaching has the following benefits –

1) Accelerate goal pathways

Vijay Rashali, a practicing ICF life coach, beautifully explains why one needs life coaching. 

A life coach enables you to channel your knowledge and life experiences positively to achieve your goals or dreams. Life coaching can smoothen and accelerate your journey to success.  A life coach can help eliminate roadblocks and overcome barriers to your goals by widening your perspective.”  

2) Autonomous decision-making

You are in charge of your life and decisions. Life coaching differs from counseling, mentoring, and therapy in that life coaches enable the client to act autonomously. Life coaches just help clear the mental pathway for enlightened decision-making. Research shows that people who are in control of the decision-making process are more likely to make behavioral changes that support their goals. 

ICF-credentialed life coaches are adept at facilitating autonomously motivated decision-making by providing a space of trust and non-judgmental acceptance.

3) Life Coaching is highly effective

A 2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study showed that 97% of the people who take up life coaching in India feel immensely benefited by the engagement.  To know more benefits of life coaching, read our blog, Amazing Benefits of Life Coaching.

When do you need life coaching?

Most people wonder what the right time or the right trigger that tells them they need life coaching is. 

Truly, life coaching can benefit anyone at any stage in life. Everyone needs a coach. We all need people that give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” said Bill Gates.

But there are certain points where life coaching would be the much-needed game changer or, in this case, life changer. 

Here are some of the common reasons people take up life coaching.

1) You have a goal without a clear plan of action  – All of us have dreams but most never get around to living them. Why? Because we did not know how to go about them practically. Do you wish to work and settle in a new country? Do you want to plan your family without disturbing your career? However big your goals, life coaches can help break them down into smaller, achievable steps. 

Life coaching can also empower you to identify and break out of habitual patterns that limit you. A life coach can navigate your thoughts in the right direction. A life coach can challenge self-limiting beliefs and help create new behavioral patterns that move you toward your goal.

Vijay gives an example- Shilpa wants to lose weight to become fit. She decides to exercise at the gym, but her work schedule leaves only early mornings free for exercising. Shilpa is a night bird who can not get up early, how much ever she tries. A life coach can enable Shilpa to overcome mental blocks that prevent her from rising early. Shilpa can then create a new habit pattern for herself, enabling her to wake up early and go to the gym. 

2)  Job, domain & role transitions – Changing roles, jobs & domains are crucial junctures that need much thought and deliberation. Life coaching can help you when you are at a crossroads.

A life coach is a perfect partner for you to look at the pros & cons and weigh options before making a life-altering decision. Life coaching can also aid you in settling into the new phase in your personal and professional spaces.

3) You have difficulty handling stressA life coach can function as a sounding board to clarify your thoughts and actions that ensure an outcome that is less stressful for you. A life coach can ease and reduce the time and impact of such situations on the client. How? Stress gets created by being stuck in a negative loop of thoughts. Coaching can help get you out of a negative loop and program your mind to think positively. 

An entrepreneur 6 months into her business felt she wasn’t her lively, confident self anymore. She was stressed that things were not working the way she expected, and she felt like a loser. The entrepreneur came to Vijay for life coaching. The life coaching conversations helped her realize that she had unrealistic expectations of herself. She was doing exactly what she was supposed to in this stage of her business. She understood that she must focus on ‘doing’ instead of getting impatient. This shift in thinking got her out of despair and brought back her confidence.

4) You feel lost in life – Everyone struggles to find meaning and purpose at some point or other in their lives. Midlife crisis, an indicator, is not confined to the middle-aged anymore. Life coaches say millennials are more vocal about living a purpose-driven life.  A life coach can help you find your life’s purpose and discover ways to live it to have a happier, more meaningful life. 

5) You doubt yourself– “Coaching helps you stop the crazy mind chatter in your head that tells you all the time that you’re not good enough” – Oprah Winfrey.  

Sometimes all that lies between us and success is a deficit of self-belief and self-confidence. Life coaching is one of the best processes that help develop trust and confidence in our abilities and talents. Life coaching can help us overcome fear, break out of self-limiting beliefs and empower us to be self-reliant and intuitive. In addition, a life coach acts as a cheerleader and motivator by celebrating each and every win and progress. 

6) You want to heal relationships – Life can get messy when relationships at work and home become complicated. The root of the trouble most times is a lack of perspective. A life coach can enable you to develop a 360-degree view of yourself and your relationships. The life coaching process can help you develop clarity on your actions, the feelings they stem from, and the triggers for those feelings. A life coach allows you to tap into your innermost thoughts and helps you see things that you subconsciously may be avoiding.

7) You want to manage time better – 24 hours never seems enough to accomplish all we desire. And yet, it is more than enough if we manage time properly. You can partner with a life coach to identify and prioritize essential activities and weed out those that don’t serve you. A life coach can enable you to achieve the elusive dream of every working professional – work-life integration.

Are you looking at transforming your life with life coaching?

 Partner with a Regal life coach and enjoy the benefits of

  • Being coached using the reliable ICF process
  • Experience in coaching 1000+ individuals
  • Life coaches skilled in healing modalities
  • Having a trusted partner & well-wisher for life. In a Regal Life Coach, you will find a true cheerleader & a sound critic to align your goals

Get in touch with us to learn more about our life coaching program. 

Mail us at info@regalunlimited.com 

See if coaching works for you through a FREE discovery session with a Regal life coach. Click below.

Rekha Hatkanagalekar is a Master Certified Coach (ICF), certified coach supervisor, system team coach, coach trainer, and mentor coach. She is a life coach who coaches, mentors, and develops leaders toward business, professional and personal goals.

Vijay Rashali is a certified life coach pursuing her ICF credentialing, and an entrepreneur. As a mindset coach, she helps aspiring entrepreneurs develop the right mindset to succeed in their ventures.

FAQs

What is life coaching?

Life coaching is a creative, thought-provoking process used by a life coach to maximize the personal and professional potential of a client. Life coaches bring out thoughts and feelings that bring clarity and create a paradigm shift in the client. Life coaching thus enables coachees realize their goals and dreams.

Does life coaching really work?

Life coaching is highly effective. 97% of people who take up life coaching in India feel they benefit from life coaching, according to a 2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study.

What are the benefits of life coaching?

Life coaching has many benefits – 

  • Life coaching enables individuals to be more self-aware.
  • Life coaching enables individuals to be authentic. Life coaching gives the self-confidence to be their true self.
  • People who take up life coaching become more compassionate and non-judgemental.
  • Life coaching helps people become process-focused rather than outcome focused.
  • Life coaching helps individuals realize their impact on others around them. Thus through life coaching, people become empathetic and sensitive to others’ needs.
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