OTHER QUESTIONS

What is life coaching?

What is the difference between coaching and therapy?

Therapy and coaching can complement each other or stand alone. In either case, each works in different ways. Therapy usually focuses on uncovering and recovering a person's past, while coaching is more about taking a person where they are now and helping that person live a more satisfying life through an action-oriented approach.

Coaching clients appreciate how they can take ideas or insights and turn them into action plans that lead to immediate beneficial changes in their lives.

Why should I see a life coach? Why can't I do it on my own?

If you want to do your taxes, you'd go to a certified public accountant.

If you want to train for a marathon, you'd see a professional personal trainer

If you want to make beneficial changes in your life, you'd go to a certified life coach.

As an accountant might direct you towards ways to reduce your taxes that you were unaware of, a life coach has the ability to bring your attention to aspects of yourself and your life that are preventing you from moving forward. A coach can then work with you to shift that habitual way of thinking and/or behaving so that it no longer serves as an obstacle.

As a personal trainer would provide you with exercises that help build strength and endurance in the areas you need, a life coach provides practices that build your capacity and competencies in areas where you will most benefit.

If you are interested in making changes in your life, working with a coach not only provides the training and expertise of someone who is accomplished in bringing about transformation but also allows you a neutral, third-party viewpoint that can give you consistent support, guidance and accountability that you don’t often get working on your own or with friends and family.

Bottom line, working with a coach will maximize your chances of successfully gaining control of your life while minimizing the time to accomplish such goals.

How do I find the right coach?

The right coach is someone you feel you can trust and speak openly with about all aspects of your life. She is someone that understands who you are, where you want to go with your life and what it will take to get there. A coach can have years of experience and a plethora of appropriate degrees and certificates but ultimately it's a personal connection. You will know it when you feel it.

I would recommend that you interview coaches as you would a potential staff member or nanny. Ask the questions that might be important to you, such as "what kind of training and experience do you have?" or "what is your coaching methodology?".

Also, unlike a therapist, your coach will be much more inclined to pull from her own personal experience so feel free to ask more personal questions that will help you make a more informed decision.

This is an important decision; take the time you need to find the person that feels right for you.

What is your coaching methodology?

I am a trained, certified integral life coach through New Ventures West, an International Coaching Federation accredited school. Practicing as an integral life coach means I coach my whole client not just the IT manager or marathon runner but the IT manager who is a divorced marathon runner with two kids, a shin splint and a broken Blackberry.

As much as we have learned to compartmentalize, we are still the sum of our parts, and as much as we'd like to deny it, if our Blackberry goes on the blink, our kids get sick or we have that shin splint that won't heal, the odds are other aspects of our lives will be affected. In our coaching relationship we will work together to position all aspects of your life so that they are in alignment with your goals, beliefs and values.

My training and personal approach to coaching have been informed by the basic Buddhist principle of reducing suffering in our lives by building our capacity to live more fully in the present moment.

Where do the coaching sessions take place?

The location of our coaching sessions is largely up to you and your geographical distance from my San Francisco home office. What is most important about the location is that you feel comfortable. My coaching clients have usually been comfortable speaking over the phone or meeting in quiet public meeting spaces, my home or their workspaces.

Can I receive a complimentary initial consultation?

Yes, since finding the right coach is such a personal decision, I always have an initial consultation with my clients prior to beginning our working together. During that initial consultation we can address any questions or concerns you might have about the process and about my experience and approach to coaching.

 

Its not what we know   
but what we are   
willing to learn.   

~  Mary Catherine  
Bateson