Life Coaching is a methodology that pursues maximum personal development and the transformation of people and, to this end, generates changes in perspective and increases their motivation, commitment and responsibility.
As an accompaniment to change, it allows understanding and learning of this process, and promotes the modification of cognitive, emotional and behavioral habits, helping to expand one’s potential and the capacity for action regarding the acquisition of personal goals.
Discovering Life Coaching
Life Coaching pursues the well-being of people in different areas of life, so it works on personal mission, individual goals and needs, life projects, self-motivation, different strategies for change, etc.
This week, Mª Teresa Mata, psychologist at the Mensalus Psychological and Psychiatric Assistance Institute, presents Life Coaching based on a parallel with sport.
Is sports training the same as personal resources training?
We train with the purpose of improving our physical and mental performance. For example, in sports, we train to beat a record since we associate success with preparation (“I went running three times a week to be able to participate in the race”, “the coach is pushing us to qualify). and go to the championships”, “I swim for half an hour to increase muscle tone in my arms and back”, etc.).
This success is different for each of us depending on the objective and the demand (for one, success is finishing the race; for another it means getting on the podium and being among the best three). Even so, there will always be a routine behind each goal, whether to achieve a time or to maintain a state of body-mind well-being (“I train to do the marathon in less than three and a half hours”/”I train to maintain my strong back and not have discomfort”).
The same happens with personal resources. If our desire is to improve “X” aspect (for example, stop interacting at work from a passive communication style) it may be helpful to look for some type of training that provides us with the tools we are looking for to achieve our goal (be more assertive). .
Now, in life as in sport this does not happen overnight. Integrating learning from practice and repetition allows us to see ourselves in new situations and feel different. When the perception we have of ourselves changes, the way we relate changes.
How can we train personal resources?
Training, in part, is already provided by life experience itself. School is training, work is training, leisure time is training, family gatherings are training, moments of solitude are also training, etc. Every time we live an experience we learn something that prepares us for the next moment. All moments are useful information; Whether we have it better or worse, we get something from them.
Still, we don’t always find the resources we want in our daily routine. Some specific objectives may require extra learning. For example, continuing with the situation posed (stop being passive at work), this extra learning could be done through a group workshop or an individual coaching process aimed at increasing the ability to set limits and say no.
More specifically, what kind of work are we talking about?
In this case, training with a professional would help the person to make those thoughts/beliefs that make it difficult to be assertive more flexible, increase the ability to express their opinion at different times and with different colleagues, improve the self-critical voice that detracts from value and confidence. yourself, increase awareness of your own strengths, etc.
Is coaching only associated with training skills in the workplace?
Coaching is a discipline that brings us closer to achieving objectives that allow development in different areas of our lives, not only professionally. It is true that the word coaching is associated especially with the training of skills related to leadership and team management, but coaching is much more.
Specifically, Life Coaching focuses on training skills to deal with daily life, that is, to improve the management we have of our emotions and become more efficient people. For this reason, the famous emotional intelligence training (also considered coaching processes) have become valuable life training. The “lessons” that each one draws from the dynamics experienced become mottos for living instead of surviving.
And what type of public undergoes a skills training or coaching process?
Life Coaching is especially indicated for those people who are emotionally stable and enjoy good mental health but, at the same time, want to improve some vital aspect.
Many times the change that the person seeks goes hand in hand with leaving certain comfort zones (not as comfortable as they seem). To achieve this, an external guide can set the action plan; This someone is the life coach.
Sometimes we believe that we should be the ones to achieve the challenge, without anyone’s help. When this happens, are we making things difficult for ourselves?
There is a commonly held belief that responds to the following: “if I achieve it without any help, it has more value. I just have to be able to.”
The question is why?
Do the resources that we apply and/or acquire cease to be ours? Does success cease to be ours? Making things easier for ourselves helps us invest vital energy in what we decide instead of wasting it trying.
And what kind of tasks does this guide we call a coach or life skills trainer carry out?
The coach accompanies the person already committed to their goal.
Coaching is a process that seeks to overcome some exact aspect. That is why achieving the goal is so important. In fact, this is one of the great secrets of a good coach: breaking down the objective until it becomes quantifiable and highly specific. People who begin a Life Coaching process are surprised when they arrive for a first session and, with the help of the psychologist coach, they shape the reason for the consultation with which they come.
That said, the coach has the function of accompanying, insisting on the individual’s process of reflection and introspection. It is essential that the person considers new questions: untried solutions, new ways of doing and undoing.
Why is it so important that the person is already committed to their goal? It is always so?
Otherwise, it is impossible to start a coaching process. This does not mean, as we mentioned, that the person knows exactly what objective they want to work on. There is an idea and a need, but the objective is not drawn in detail (that is why they seek help).
This first step of specifying provides the coachee (client) with the main clues about what aspects they will work on and what map they will follow, steps that, together with the coach, they will decide and review throughout the training.
What’s more, commitment is so important that coach and coachee close the pact in a written document that, symbolically, reminds the protagonist of their role, an active role that, with the help of the coach, will work to assume the objective.
