Find a private life coach near me in Adelaide

Life coaching vs Therapy

Life coaching is sometimes read as just another type of therapy when really they're two very different things. Life coaches often have experience in counselling and psychology, but there are many career paths that lead people to become coaches. A fairly new business that began in the 1980s, over time it has become an established profession with hundreds of life coaches in every city in Australia and around the world. So if it's not therapy, what is life coaching?

In Choice Magazine, the director of the University of Sydney's Coaching Psychology Unit, Dr Anthony Grant said that "In a nutshell, the role of life coaching is to identify personally meaningful goals, as well as strategies to achieve them." So a personal life coach will support their clients as they look at what point they're at in their lives right now, where they'd like to go and try to identify the best path to getting there. Your coach will give you training, tips and tasks to start motivating you and keep you on the path to your goals. They'll also be there to lend a hand at a time when unexpected challenges pop up along the way.

If you're still convinced that life coaching is more or less therapy, try looking at it like this: counselling focuses on situations and experiences in your past, and how they may be affecting your behaviours today. Instead, life coaching courses look at your present and how you're working towards your future goals. Therapy analyses behaviours, emotions and the self while life coaching helps you go step by step to achieve your goals.

Life coaching for your career

Taking sessions with a private life coach could be the thing you need to give your career a new life. From Bill Gates to Steve Jobs, CEOs of massive companies have become clients of a life coach to jumpstart their business or look at things from a new perspective. Coaches can give you training in strategies around addressing conflict, how to focus on the most important things and not lose sight of them, or even just act as a sounding board for the development of new ideas. Whether you're changing your role, company or career, a life coach can support you during any transition, giving you the positive reinforcement that can lead you to success.

Other types of life coaches

All of this is not to say that life coaches can only help people in their career or business. Different coaches have different specialties, based on their qualifications, career background and lives. Superprof life coaches have years of experience and training and specialise in a variety of fields, so you're sure to find one for any problem you'd like to work on. Here's a breakdown of some of the more common issues where people may seek out a life coach:

Physical health and nutrition: People frequently contact coaches with backgrounds in medicine and nutrition to help them get healthier. They may use their expertise in health science to work together on a plan for your optimal diet and exercise based on the results you want. Most look at health holistically, and will help with strategies to take care of your mind and spirit as well as your body.

Personal relationships: This is especially useful for people who find themselves experiencing the same negative patterns time and time again in their personal relationships with other people. Sessions can be done individually, where you can analyse problems and see what steps you might individually take to resolve them. They can also be done in pairs or groups, and ask the people involved to think about where they would like the relationship to be, and think about how they can work together to achieve that goal.

General well-being and happiness: This form of life coaching allows you to identify negative or unproductive habits that are stopping you from reaching fulfilment and happiness. In these sessions, you are free to start learning about what actually makes you feel happy, and how to live and make those things a part of your life every day.

These are just some of the many fields of training a life coach may have. You may be able to find a coach for a specific skill, like conflict resolution or public speaking. For example, perhaps the most well-known life coach, Tony Robbins, is famous for the way he helps clients set and achieve their objectives. His 'goal mapping' technique involves writing down the goal, its importance to you and three steps you can take to get results. Your Superprof life coach will be able to personalise a course like this just for you and give you the tips and strategies they think will work best for you as a person.

You may need a life coach during tough times

When we're going through a period of change, anxiety, loss etc, we often look to our family and friends to support us. However, sometimes this hinders rather than helps us on our way to overcoming our issues. The people in your life care about you and don't always tell the truth to avoid hurting your feelings. Because a life coach is a professional, objective person who doesn't know you personally, it's easier for them to talk to you about your life with the clarity of someone looking in from the outside. They can talk to you bluntly, give you unexpected advice, or even see something in you that you've never noticed about yourself.

Another great thing about courses with a life coach is they can help you break down a goal that might seem impossible to reach, into small, achievable steps that one by one will get you to where you want to go. Finally, accountability is a big part of life coaching. Your coach will help you build a strategy to for reaching your goals, but they will expect you to be working closer towards with every session. By scheduling an appointment, you're deciding to follow through and not disappoint them.

There are great Superprof professional life coaches based in Adelaide, South Australia and all over Australia. You can book online appointments, or schedule a meeting in person. Look through each online profile and contact the coach that will best support you to start on your way to the results you want!