Choosing a Life Coach

Choosing a life coach means you need to look at the knowledge and training the coach brings to the table. Their specified knowledge and skills are one piece to the problem. Life coaching is about helping you develop the tools necessary to achieve your desired outcomes in all facets of your life.

If you want a business coach, hire a business coach. If you want a relationship coach, hire a relationship coach. If you want a fitness coach, hire a fitness coach.

A life coach should be able to coach in the development of habits, emotional management skills, attitude development that transcend all areas of your life, but will not necessarily address specific areas of your life such as clearly defined fitness goals.

Any coach, but especially a life coach, should have knowledge and skills around teaching or coaching. Because someone has knowledge does not mean they are good at imparting that knowledge and helping you develop and use the knowledge they are trying to impart. Sometimes the best at doing something are not the best at teaching or coaching that skill.

I still remember attending a baseball coaches clinic sponsored by the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Red Sox hitting instructor at the time was a former, very accomplished player. He had a long and distinguished career as hitter. He could not though answer adequately any question from the coaches in attendance because he didn’t know; it was all unconscious for him. He never really studied his craft; he just did his craft. He only lasted as hitting instructor a couple of seasons. He was an excellent hitter in his career, but couldn’t coach hitting. It was two different skill sets.

You would be looking for educational background that would include any of a variety of psychology or therapeutic intervention as well as teaching or coaching training. Ideally when choosing a life coach you are choosing someone who will be training you to be your own life coach. Presumably, you do not want to be dependent on a therapist or counselor for a life time. You should not be expecting to maintain this coaching relationship indefinitely. Having said that, a good life coach can be called on to provide short term intervention after the initial coaching experience or training is completed. Sometimes people will become stuck and need to get unstuck. 

Case in point, I worked with a high school senior, who I had worked with previously, before an important baseball playoff game. He was going against a higher seeded team and one of the top pitchers in the state. He needed to be on his A game. I worked with him for 10 minutes just prior to the game. He lost the game in the bottom of the 10^th inning 1 to 0. He threw less than 100 pitches for the entire game. He was on his A game.

One question you will want to ask is how much access do you have to your coach. The more access generally the more the cost, but the more guidance you should be getting. You will also want to be clear if this access is one to one, small group, or some of each. You would want to know if the coach is providing you with any resources you can use after the coaching or training program is completed. What is their policy if you do get stuck and need further assistance?

Undoubtedly, a life coach should be about not only teaching knowledge and showing you how to care for your mental health and well-being, but they should be helping you develop the habits necessary to incorporate that into your life. Without the habits, the knowledge and skills will never allow you to fully take control of your life.

Habits are your responsibility, but the coach should not be simply passing that responsibility onto you without building a culture of accountability for you. It is the most challenging job of a life coach, but choosing a life coach who recognizes that challenge and doesn’t shy away from it is one who is worth the investment.

I have seen many athletes and families invest hundreds to thousands of dollars in sport specific skill athlete training where the athlete never really develops the coached skill because they meet a couple times a week over several weeks and that is all. The behavior never takes root even though they have been shown, coached, and instructed in what they need to do. The behavior was never made into an unconscious habit. You should be asking a life coach what they will do to help you create a habit even while you must understand the coach cannot create the habit for you.

Lastly, you want to be very clear on how you will be charged. Are you being charged by the hour or by the training or both. A life coach will typically start at around $125 per hour and go up significantly from their depending on their experience and reputation. Training programs can run a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on the length and objectives of the program. Very, very few life coaches offer any sort of guarantee any more than any school offers any guarantee on what you get for investing in the courses taken or degree you earn. Ultimately, a life coach relies on their reputation for getting results and that reputation may play into your decision in choosing a life coach.