5 Unexpected Reasons to Work with a Life Coach

You can take many paths to improve your life, whether through courses, getting a mentor, or furthering your education. However, if you want to improve your overall approach to life and really see significant changes, a life coach could be the game-changer you need.

If you’re considering coaching but still aren’t sure what it’s all about, we’re here to share what you can expect and why working with a coach could be your best investment ever.

What Is Life Coaching?

A life coach is a personal development professional who helps you improve yourself and find greater fulfillment. Some people like to compare life coaches to therapists or psychiatrists. But while both professions can (and should) have a place in your life, their approach to supporting you differs.

Therapists usually help people work through their past, analyze their patterns, and transform dysfunctional habits into functional ones. They’re also more likely to offer you direct advice or recommendations.

A life coach, on the other hand, supports you in analyzing what you’re doing now to improve your future. It’s a holistic approach to improving your life, and they rarely tell you what to do. Instead, they work to help you find your own answers.

Life coaching is a rapidly growing industry. Between 2015 and 2019, the number of life coaches in the US grew by 33%. As more people experience the outstanding results of hiring a life coach, it’s safe to say coaching isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

5 Reasons to Work with a Life Coach

Despite the growing popularity of life coaches, you may still hold some stigma or skepticism around life coaching. After all, it’s a relatively new industry and fairly unregulated compared to something like psychiatry.

Nevertheless, the results of working with a good coach will speak for themselves. Let’s look at some of the main reasons people choose to work with a life coach.

1. To Gain Clarity

Clarity is an often-underutilized tool for achieving any goal. Transformation Coach Lauren Bonheim, ACC, explains why it’s so crucial.

“I like to think of having clarity through a puzzle metaphor,” explains Bonheim. “When you’re completing a puzzle, you can complete it without looking at the puzzle on the front of the box… but it’s a lot harder, so you’re kind of just guessing, not knowing what pieces go together or what the bigger picture looks like. But when you’re able to reference the photo on the front of the box, the puzzle pieces come together a lot easier — it helps guide you to fit all the pieces together.”

An experienced life coach will know exactly what questions to ask to help you clarify your goals and see the bigger picture.

2. To Create a Strategy to Achieve Your Goals

Setting a goal is one thing, but achieving it is another. If you’ve ever set a New Year’s Resolution and abandoned it, you know how much harder it is to achieve a goal than to plan it. Discipline is an entirely different skill.

Advisor, mentor, and Arootah consultant Rodney Mueller explains what you can expect when you create a strategy to achieve your goals with a life coach.

“Ask yourself this question about your goals: If you achieved your goal, what’s the experience you believe it would provide?” he says.

Questions like these help you form the foundation of your goal strategy.

“Because the truth is, most goals are just symbols for what we really want,” Mueller adds. “We don’t want the money or the promotion, we want what we believe it will provide us.”

3. To Keep You Accountable

Accountability is present in every corporate, educational, and social structure. So, how do we leverage accountability in our personal lives?

Sometimes, just checking in with someone who understands what you’re trying to achieve is enough to stay on track with your goals. If you know you have to report to your coach about your progress, your brain is more likely to stick to the goal-setting strategy you’ve planned together. Think of it like doing your homework. You’re much more likely to finish your assignments if you know your teacher (or coach) will be checking in on them.

4. To Challenge Limiting Beliefs

Everyone has limiting beliefs or cognitive blind spots that might prevent them from reaching a certain goal. You may feel that you’re incapable of getting into an exercise routine because you’ve never done it before, or you’re not a good public speaker because all your past attempts have failed. A good life coach will challenge your limiting beliefs and help you break through whatever is holding you back.

The challenging part of limiting beliefs, or mental blocks, is that often, our brains view them as facts. If you’re trying to achieve a goal or improve yourself but feel the facts and circumstances are against you, it’s no wonder you won’t achieve that goal. When your limiting beliefs are challenged, you become limitless.

Kayleigh, an Arootah client, describes the shift she felt during her first life coaching session.

“I feel like I’m now able to look at things from outside my own perspective,” she says. “I can put myself in someone else’s place and give myself the advice I’d have given a good friend. I wasn’t feeling pressured at all, but we kept easily finding my truth throughout the session. It was wonderful!”

5. To Gain Confidence

Having the confidence to try something new, step out of your comfort zone, or improve your relationships will benefit your life immensely.

A life coach helps you feel more confident in all your endeavors because they teach you to trust yourself.

Can you imagine what you could accomplish if you had the confidence to do anything? That’s the kind of possibility life coaching opens up for you.

“It was just great to talk to someone about something I was struggling with without them having too much at stake in helping me come to my own conclusion,” adds Kayleigh. “It was great to have someone listen and help me imagine the situation from someone else’s perspective.”

The Bottom Line

The powerful results of working with a life coach will speak for themselves. A good coach will teach you to improve your life on your terms—not improve it for you.

When it comes down to it, how you view your circumstances will always dictate the results you achieve. Life coaching allows you to think about your circumstances in a way that benefits you and your goals while inspiring you to take concrete actions to enhance your life.

By all means, don’t take our word for it! Speak with a life coach to see how drastically your life can improve. Get started with a free, 30-minute introductory call with an Arootah Life Coach today.