LIFE COACHING: WHAT IT IS, HOW IT WORKS AND BENEFITS - ARTE - 2025

The life coaching is an aspect of coaching that focuses on the present of the client and the search for solutions and results, extending a vision to anything that is preventing further their goals, whether in the workplace, personal or in their interpersonal relationships.

Life coaching helps the client to think differently than he has been doing up to that moment and to discover his own abilities. The client will have a more realistic view of the obstacles that are preventing them from meeting their objectives, in order to have a projection towards the future that facilitates goals, creating an action plan to achieve them.

To do this, dynamics can be used to help the client realize the number of opportunities that exist in addition to those that he was already aware of previously. Visualizing yourself meeting your goals is a method that is also very effective.

This type of coaching is not therapy as such, but focuses on techniques such as NLP (neurolinguistic programming), meditation, negotiation techniques and social skills, among others.

Thanks to these techniques, the person understands why they act the way they do and how to behave both positively and negatively to achieve their needs in life. When we can understand the why of our actions, we can begin to be able to embark on the path to change.

Life coaching helps us to promote and clarify our beliefs, purposes and values, to act according to them and to take strategies and actions aimed at achieving our objectives.

Who is life coaching aimed at?

These may be some circumstances in which a person may be considering starting a life coaching process:

-Anyone who wants to improve their quality of life or wants to make a change in any personal, social and work environment and cannot find a way to do it alone.

-To people who want to start a career and need a boost to decide to discover their vocation.

-To people with health problems.

-To people who have recently suffered a major stressful event such as a divorce or loss, family or relationship conflicts, hormonal changes such as menopause, etc. These events are often the cause of an identity crisis.

-To people who want to increase their motivation and develop their creativity to carry out actions.

How are the sessions?

-First session

With life coaching, an alliance between coach-coachee is established from the first session. In fact, this first contact is quite important to obtain a good connection based on trust between both parties.

It is in this first session when the objectives are set and the work plan to be carried out is designed together.

-Role of the coach

The role of the coach is to listen, follow the coachee and believe in him as a person capable of developing any change he wishes, seeing him as a creative and initiative being. Taking this into account, some of the responsibilities that we can consider of the coach are:

• Help describe, clarify, and describe what the coachee wants to achieve.
• Stimulate self-esteem and self-knowledge of the client's strengths.
• Encourage the occurrence by the client of solutions and strategies.
• Motivate the client in the monitoring of the process and the achievement of the previously determined objectives, making him responsible and consistent with his actions.

-Objectives of the sessions

The life coaching sessions seek to provide:

Support for

Give constant support to the client with a faithful belief that the client will achieve their goals or objectives so that the person feels that they are capable of achieving it at all times. If face-to-face sessions (individual or group) are not possible, support can be given via email, individual or group phone calls (teleclass), or even via Skype.

In each session, the client and the coach will talk about the goals, desires, opportunities or objectives that they want to reach and a task will be developed for the next session (they are usually weekly and last between half an hour and an hour each a).

Usually one task per session is worked, a task that will be directed towards a specific goal or challenge that the client is facing.

Personal understanding

Make the client understand why he acts in a certain way and also give him the tools to be aware and understand the meanings that he gives to each circumstance or event that happens in his life. Through this awareness and understanding, the client can take responsibility for their own perception of things.

Decision making

In relation to decision-making, guide them so that they are directed to meet their own objectives or needs for their personal and professional growth. Techniques such as brainstorming (brainstorming), mind maps or games will be used to help increase them.

In each session, it is advisable to analyze each action option that the client has and if these options are consistent with the objectives or goals to be reached, taking into account the degree of satisfaction and the emotions and feelings produced in the person when make these decisions.

Action

Carry out the necessary actions for those objectives that have been previously determined, constantly monitoring support and strengthening these behaviors so that there is no abandonment throughout the change process.

Possible goal changes

It may happen that, during the process, the client realizes that an initial goal set no longer satisfies him. If this happens, it will be the client herself who modifies or adapts it to her new situation whenever she deems it necessary.

Also, it is possible to establish intermediate objectives or goals that help us consolidate our path towards the final goal.

Benefits of life coaching

Life coaching helps the person to focus on the now, to enjoy the present, who they are, at what point they are in their life and, above all, to define what they want to achieve, what they want to achieve it for and to lead their actions to have the future you want.

Confidence boost

As these goals are achieved, the client becomes more confident in himself and believes in his potential. In this way, you learn to identify that "internal saboteur" who says out loud that we are worthless or that we will never succeed and to challenge him.

Growth opportunities

The client will be made aware of his "comfort zones", gaining a perspective that these were not as comfortable as he believed. In this way, the difficulties that the client faces are converted into opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Actions and time management

Noticing unhelpful and even contrary behaviors to achieve our goals. You learn to manage time better, establishing priorities focused on the achievement of goals and on our own well-being and benefit.

Communication improvement

Improve communication and links with those around us, a very important section so that all of the above flows.

Conclusions

Coaching is a long-term process that takes time to be effective. A common coaching process usually lasts between 8 to 32 sessions of between 30 minutes and an hour each, although these characteristics can be adapted according to the history of each client.

The period between sessions is usually something established between both parties, with the usual average being a period between sessions of a week or 15 days.

Once the process is finished, the result will be analyzed to determine if we have missed something to achieve or carry out, as well as the learnings that we take from the entire procedure.

I would like to end with a phrase by Nikodem Marszalek that summarizes very well everything we have seen throughout this article:

“There is no born genius, but there are techniques and methods that unleash the hidden potential of our brain. You are ready? If so, put on your sunglasses, so that the released force does not blind you "

References

1. Life coaching for real. Charles Bentley, Charles Bentley, Ph.d.UNITIVE Press, 2008.
2. "Step one: Prepare yourself for the coaching role…", Sophie Oberstein, 2009.