33 Time-Tested and Researched Benefits of Life Coaching

Perhaps you’re curious but are unsure of the benefits of life coaching? Or, you might be wondering how to navigate some of the biggest challenges the world is currently facing.

Whatever motivates you, I’ve got something for you in this guide. Below you will find a list of 33 features and benefits of life coaching to answer your questions.

Let’s dive in...

What is the purpose of a life coach?

Before we take a look at the various benefits of life coaching, what exactly does a life coach do?

The purpose of a life coach is to work in partnership with an individual to help them reach their potential across all facets of life.

Just as a professional sports player has a coach to work on the technical and psychological aspects of their performance, everyday people should take a structured and disciplined approach to personal development and betterment.

An accredited life coach plays this role.

What are the benefits of life coaching?

Below are 33 examples that show why life coaching has become so beneficial.

1. Improved self-confidence: A study by the International Coaching Federation (IFC) discovered that 80% of people who hired a life coach reported an improvement in self-confidence.
2. A different perspective: We are often consumed by our own opinions, life experiences, and way of thinking. A life coach can provide a new and often helpful perspective on things.
3. Heightened self-awareness: Being fully aware of your impact on others and recognising your flaws, strengths, and unique personality attributes is an extremely challenging adventure. Self-awareness requires a strong capacity for introspection and reflection, something which a life coach can help you work towards.
4. Create a balanced life: The concept of life balance is different for everyone, but it often refers to a happy, peaceful, and harmonious relationship between your physical and cognitive being, as well as the major areas of life. One of the benefits of a life coach is to identify what balance looks like for you and define action steps to achieve more balance in your life.
5. Foster better relationships: Relationships are the glue that combines individuals with society and provides shared fulfilment in life. From marriages to friendships and beyond, strong relationships are a critical contributor to happiness.
6. Achieve goals: We all have dreams in life, but very few people crystalize these aspirations into tangible goals to systematically accomplish. A major benefit of coaching is being able to define your life goals and create a concrete, doable plan to achieve them.
7. Find happiness: True happiness is somewhat of a mystical experience and for most people, it’s hard to imagine a life that is forever happy. At the end of the day, happiness is intrinsic, it’s a feeling that is unique to the way you feel inside.
8. Discover clarity of purpose: Are you clear on what your purpose in life is? Again, this is a very individual and internal fire that burns within. It’s your passion, dreams, skills, and weaknesses all bundled into one.
9. Do what you love: Finding that one thing you love more than anything else and doing it every day is a large contributor to happiness and satisfaction. Having clarity of purpose unlocks insights into what this may be.
10. Follow through on commitments: Hiring a coach is about more than just getting advice and guidance, it also creates accountability. You will have an ally that holds you to your word and ensures those goals get pursued and projects are completed.
11. Discover your best self: Many of us spend too much time comparing ourselves to others and focusing on what we perceive to be our flaws. Discovering your best self is one of the priceless benefits of coaching.
12. Determine your strengths and weaknesses: A life coach will take an impartial view of your strengths and weaknesses, helping you understand your areas of greatest opportunity.
13. Be open-minded: To be open-minded you need to appreciate that there are different ways of doing things and varying perspectives on life other than your own.
14. Unlock potential: Many of us have latent potential that is hidden by prejudice or closed-mindedness. Life coaches unlock this potential by opening you up to alternate ways of thinking and creating clarity for your direction in life.
15. Improve communication: 72% of people who hire a life coach improve their communication skills, according to the ICF study mentioned above.
16. Manage time and productivity: Everyone has the same amount of time in the day, but some people use those 24 hours more efficiently than others. Working with a coach can help you better manage your time, set priorities, and get more done.
17. Eliminate negative thoughts: As well as looking at the positive aspects of life, such as your purpose, goals, and potential, life coaches are armed with a series of techniques that can help you eliminate or reduce negative thoughts that hold you back.
18. Overcome your fears: By minimizing negative thoughts and embracing your strengths you can start to overcome fears that have been restricting your ability to achieve your dreams.
19. Unearth creativity: You can work with a life coach to brainstorm ideas and unearth creativity that is sitting dormant in the depths of your subconscious.
20. Provide a different outlook on life: Being open-minded, self-aware, and considering a new perspective on life will give you a more positive and well-rounded outlook.
21. Produce higher income: The skills you develop while working with a life coach will focus your resources while pursuing career goals or growing your business to new heights.
22. Eliminate bad habits: When bad habits are embedded in our day-to-day life, they diminish our ability to perform. Working with an impartial third-party will help you determine what these habits may be and learn to eliminate them.
23. Be aware of your values: Our values are those deeply held principles that influence our behaviour and motivate us to do things both large and small. Given the sheer influence of life values on every action, being aware of what they are can revolutionize the way we live and perform.
24. Alignment of strengths with decisions: A strengths-based approach to personal development focuses on the positive inner resources of an individual to make changes. This is in contrast to traditional methods that focus on identifying weaknesses and trying to improve those areas.
25. Stay motivated: One of the most sought after benefits of life coaching. Setbacks and roadblocks can derail the best of us. You’ll likely discover pockets of inspiration and hunger that you never knew existed.
26. Better decision making: Despite thinking that we act rationally, most people make decisions based on emotion. With a deeper understanding of how the mind works, you can re-frame the process of decision-making so that it becomes simpler and wiser.
27. Show empathy: To be empathetic you need to see and feel the world through the lens of someone else, put yourself in their shoes, and be understanding of their situation. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same capacity to show empathy towards others. A coach can help you look beyond your personal needs and provide in-the-moment techniques for showing empathy.
28. Learn to accept criticism: If you’ve ever been to a job interview it’s likely that you have been asked how well you take feedback from others. While most people would like to think that they are open and willing to accept feedback or criticism, in the heat of the moment their emotions take over. Learning to accept criticism is a powerful life skill.
29. Show more appreciation: Showing appreciation and gratitude is a core component of fostering relationships. It makes people feel good about the impact they have on your life – be that in a corporate environment or socially.
30. Build rapport: Rapport is a connection between individuals or a group that enables those people to interact and communicate effectively. For most of us, rapport is seen as an uncontrollable force that we either have with someone or we don’t.
31. Improve physical well-being: Life coaches can offer more than just emotional and psychological support. They can also work with you to create and execute a plan for improving your physical well-being.
32. Reduce stress: Stress is a common occurrence for a large portion of the population. Financial burdens, career-related issues, or personal relationship problems can result in mental instability and stress-related health concerns.
33. Decreased depression and anxiety: Depression and anxiety are a society-wide health problem with a number of complex elements, none of which are an easy fix. However, having an ally in your corner who understands your triggers can result in an improved way of dealing with the symptoms of these mental health issues.

Benefits of Life Coaching - Conclusion

To be happy is a different proposition for everyone. But one thing is for sure, if you are clear on your purpose, eliminate negativity from your life, and have the tools and techniques to build meaningful relationships, happiness and fulfillment are achievable.

In fact, they are more than achievable – all you need is a framework for determining your direction in life and an ally to help you get there. This is your life coach.