Is Life Coaching For Everyone?

One can attest to how life can be overwhelming and a lack of resilience to maneuver through it often leads to anxiety, depression, and mental health problems just to mention a few. Each time we are thrown to the deeper end we can either let the situation define us or fight our way through the situation. It is either you are coming out of a problem, you are in one, or headed toward one. It is imperative that one has the requisite coping skills and strategies to navigate the terrain of this journey so-called life.

Each time l have spoken to individuals about life coaching on how it can assist them in fighting life battles they often shrug it off and say, “Life coaching is a scam” Many people are misinformed about this subject area, yes we cannot deny the fact that they are unscrupulous individuals who are portraying to be life coaches by passion yet they are just in it for the money and unconcerned about the coachees (person or institution being coached) well-being. It is heartbreaking that lives are being lost over the image of a bad reputation.

So what is life coaching?

According to the International Coach Federation (ICF), coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Life Coaching helps one to take action toward the realization of one’s vision, goals, or desires. It uses a process of inquiry and personal discovery to build one’s level of awareness and responsibility providing one with structure, support, and feedback. The life coaching process helps the one being coached to define and achieve professional and personal goals faster and with ease than would be possible otherwise.

Do I really need life coaching?

One may say l know myself fully, there is no need for me to have a life coach by my side. In a study that was done by Dr. Tasha Eurich on self-awareness, she points out that there are two sides to self-awareness; internal and external meaning for one to say they know themselves 100% and how to react to situations correctly is a fallacy as the human model will and always need help to make it better and appealing. One always needs to ask oneself did I bring myself to the world, for me to be where I am, is it by my sheer strength or because of the many human interactions combined?

Famous people like Barack Obama, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Oprah Winfrey all have a life coach. None of these people got to where they are on their own. They realized early on that they would get more out of themselves if they had the support, advice, and accountability of a coach, even multiple coaches. We have all had life coaches in the form of a teacher, parents, or instructors who taught us to do something well and improve on it when something distracted our self-esteem or performance. Grand Master Coach Blessing Duri of the International Coaching and Mentoring Foundation always says, “Everyone Needs A Life Coach” Do you agree?

I cannot afford it; life Coaching is for the affluent, not us

Coaching is built on the foundation of making clients or coachees become the best version of themselves in whatever area they want to major in seeing them through every process. The coaching engagement is affordable should one choose or want to embark on it. There are life coaches who assist individuals with reasonable rate payouts and offer even pro-bono coaching to the ones in dire need of it. One should not discard it and say, I cannot afford it; just go, be vulnerable, and seek help after all it is your well-being and sanity that matters at the end of the day. Many things are happening, the youth are easily getting distracted by technology with mental health issues on the rise, and it is becoming trendy on social media spaces.

We live in a society where we are judged, laughed at, and ostracized for being vulnerable to the various blows life throws at us. Culture taught us that a man never cries however we are seeing the results of what the family institution imposed thinking it was best to do so. Dysfunctionality in our homes, schools, places of work, and governments has made us think no one cares when in reality life coaches are there to guide and assist us in maneuvering through our set challenges. Whether it is in a government, school, company, or family set-up, there is a need for life coaching to chisel and mold every individual to look at life and situations with an informed decision. Most of the time people fall into ditches because they are half-baked and confront a situation without the requisite skills. How can you have a hammer when you need an umbrella to avoid getting wet?

There is a myth that life coaches should be older people and these young ones coming into the picture; people ask what have they got to pour from their cups. When did they suddenly become knowledgeable about life? Everyone learns something from someone, you can never know everything under the sun. There are issues that young life coaches can easily relay as compared to older life coaches the same is true for the latter. That mentality can distance someone from being assisted even Jesus Christ was 33 years old when he died but made so much impact in his lifetime. Ignorance is the thief of time in our generation; a lot of people have accidents every day physically, emotionally, and mentally. Give the young coaches a chance to coach people, review and benchmark them if need be, and if their coaching skills are relevant then talk afterward.

In different societies we live in there is a need to unlearn, relearn, and discard some of the habits we engraved while growing up. You might be worried about bread-and-butter issues and how the economy is fighting you tooth and nail to always worry about provision and staying afloat so that you survive. However, to build smart cities we need to take a 360-degree view of ourselves and say the man in the mirror needs work which is not easy and comfortable to always say. Engaging life coaches to walk through the journey of life with you; maybe today you would not regret those decisions you made and you are not particularly proud of simply because a third person was not available or you lacked the prerogative to look for a life coach to advise and tell you there is a better way or road ahead.

Life Coaches are professional people who actually go through training so as to offer solutions to society guided by a code of ethics and authorities should they be found doing unethical things they are unanswerable to the rule of law in their practice. A good life coach will not prescribe courses of action based on their own desires. Instead, they empower the client or coachee to create goals that lift and light them up, with the coach acting as a guide, motivator, and facilitator to reach those goals.

Whatever you are battling with, fighting against, losing sleep over, crying over, or failing to eat over – it is not too late to seek help and remedy the situation. Why allow situations to define you when life coaches can redefine the situations for you?

Yes, Life Coaching Is For Everyone!!!

Coach Carl Maswoswa is an award-winning Certified Life Coach and Toastmaster writing opinion articles on LinkedIn with experience in public speaking, digital and financial literacy, team building, youth and business coaching. A founding member of NUST Coaching and Mentoring Club in partnership with the International Coaching and Mentoring Foundation currently serving as the President of Supreme Toastmasters Club and Area Director for Toastmasters Zimbabwe Division Z2. As the Partnership Director for Coach Emmah Incorporation, Carl facilitates coaching sessions. For more information, you can contact him at +263778078905, email at [email protected] , or reach on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest using the handle #Carl Maswoswa