So really, what is coaching?

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Coaching is a relatively new profession that focuses on creating a supporting and empowering relationship. At the heart of it, coaching is about helping a client achieve success in whatever areas of their life they want to make changes in. It is based on the belief that clients are creative, resourceful individuals who are truly the experts in their own lives and when that knowledge is unleashed, they are capable of amazing things!!

 

A coach is there to encourage, cheer and support clients as they work towards their goals. They are invested in their clients’ success and want them to achieve their dreams! They are also there to keep a client accountable and will lovingly kick their butts when needed! From a gentle prod to a swift kick, a coach is there to help the client stay on the track they want to be on or navigate a new one if the old one is no longer serving them.


What coaching is not….

Coaching is not therapy or consulting.

Therapy, or counseling, often looks to the past and works to heal the emotional issues from an individual’s experience.

Coaching looks at where you are today and what it is in your life that you want to be different. It is forward focused, working with what is present and where you want to go.

Consulting is another modality often confused with coaching. Consultants are hired for their expertise. They come in, assess a situation and come up with solutions based on their findings. Coaching looks at the client as the expert in his or her own life. A coach is there to help you look at what your core values are, what is really important to you, so that you can design and live your life from the place. 

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-- Mark Twain