3 Most Common Misconceptions Regarding Life Coaching

I have talked to a fair few people now about life coaching and it seems there are some misunderstandings regarding this subject. I will list the top 3 here and explain the differences.

Counselling
1) Many people confuse life coaching with counselling. They are not the same at all. Counselling focuses mainly on the past and deals with any emotional problems from the past. With life coaching you mainly focus on the future and whereas we also deal with blockages from the past which stop people achieving the goals they want to achieve we do not discuss the past extensively. Another difference is that a life coach will ask lots of open questions and will help a client move forward by asking pertinent, sometimes challenging questions.

Consulting
2) The difference here is that a consultant will give advice; he or she has been there before and will share his/her expertise. Coaches generally do not give advice and do not necessarily have to have experience in the field to be an effective coach. Sometimes the opposite is true; when a coach has little or no experience with a certain subject she may have a more open mind and be able to ask more pertinent questions.

Mentoring
3) A mentor is someone who has lots of experience in a certain subject, he is someone who is usually older than the person mentored because he has done the job before and has years of expertise in the field. Typically a mentor will be there for a younger person to be called as and when needed. Coaches on the contrary believe that a person has all the answers inside themselves, they just need a little help and support to unlock these answers.

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