FAQs
What is Life Coaching?
There’s been a lot of interest in coaching over the last decade or so, so what’s that all about? Is coaching more or less the same as psychotherapy? Or is it like those self-help books that give you advice on how to live your life?
Well, actually, no!
Coaching is a unique one-on-one conversation, where your coach will use a variety of techniques to help you to see things differently, often radically so, and to build your own path. After that, your coach will support you as you walk that path.
Unlike psychotherapy, very little time is spent gathering and interpreting information – there are a lot of questions, yes, but almost every coaching question is designed to push you over one of your obstacles. Not later, but now (before the next question!)
And since a lot of our challenges come from unhelpful data and patterns in our unconscious minds, many coaches also use ways to talk directly to your unconscious, such as metaphors (my personal favourite) and NLP (see below).
As for advice, you’ll be surprised how little of that you get from a good coach. Because it really is your journey, not mine :-)
Why is it so effective?
Again comparing to psychotherapy and self-help books …
Coaching is solution-focused and therefore very direct. Whereas in psychotherapy there’s a lot of time spent gathering information, coaches really don’t need so much, and in fact will sometimes encourage you to provide less! We aren’t so interested in finding, analysing and interpreting what caused your problem, only in working out an effective way forward as soon as possible (which in coaching means “Now!”)
A lot of the ideas in self-help books are useful. To someone. At some point in their lives. But working one-on-one on your goals and challenges - the bits of your life that matter to you - with a dedicated professional is obviously going to be way more targeted and powerful. One session with a coach will probably change your life more than reading 10 self-help books – and it’s probably cheaper and certainly much faster.
Won’t my life become amazing if I just read enough inspirational quotations on facebook?
No. It won’t change at all.
Who should have coaching?
If you would like to see positive change in your life, and are interested in participating in the process of making it happen, coaching is for you!
Coaching is effective for transforming your emotions, working towards goals, and facing challenges. As just a few examples of many: having a better relationship with others (or yourself); getting free from negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, sadness, doubt or lack of motivation; changing bad habits or building new good ones; gaining clarity about important life decisions; working on your health; moving on from an old life to a new one …
Who shouldn’t have coaching?
Well, if your life is 100% the way you want it to be and you don’t believe things can get better, congratulations! I’d still be happy to coach you, though :-)
If you’re dissatisfied with your life and you don’t believe things can get better, then you really really should see a coach, because one thing we’re very good at is changing that view and starting you on your journey to better things.
If you believe that your life would improve most by striving, achieving, getting and succeeding more, actually the coaching toolkit works just as well for that and I’d be happy to help, though I’m a bit surprised you came to this website!
If you feel that you only want a better life if it doesn’t cost anything, see where you are 12 months from now, and then ask yourself if you’re ready for a different approach yet.
But if you just enjoy telling everyone that your life is rubbish, or that you want things to change one day (later, when you have more time, ideally without you having to do anything to make it happen), then no, coaching is not for you!
Do you coach in languages other than English?
German, yes, I have.
French, one day but not yet!
Do you use NLP? And if so, what is it?
Yes I do!
NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is a set of techniques which aim to bypass the conscious mind and to rewire your neurological impulses, and thus change the way you respond to things. This means that NLP can be used to change behaviour (such as smoking), beliefs (e.g. I can't give up smoking) and responses to triggers (e.g. seeing a glass of beer makes some people automatically "decide" to smoke).
Because NLP works on the unconscious mind, there is no need to "understand" the processes.
It can be used for many issues – including “sticky” aspects of our spiritual path such as negativity, reactivity, poor self-worth, lack of motivation, our relations with other people, and many more.
Having said that, I’m not an “NLP Coach”, and I don’t see it as a magic bullet, so I only use it if it’s the best way to get you the benefits you want.
I have trust issues. Can I trust you?
Yes, I’m very much a Buddhist first and a life coach second. If it wasn’t possible to do this job with integrity, I’d go and do something else instead. Really.
Oh, and trust issues are one of my favourite topics to coach …
There’s been a lot of interest in coaching over the last decade or so, so what’s that all about? Is coaching more or less the same as psychotherapy? Or is it like those self-help books that give you advice on how to live your life?
Well, actually, no!
Coaching is a unique one-on-one conversation, where your coach will use a variety of techniques to help you to see things differently, often radically so, and to build your own path. After that, your coach will support you as you walk that path.
Unlike psychotherapy, very little time is spent gathering and interpreting information – there are a lot of questions, yes, but almost every coaching question is designed to push you over one of your obstacles. Not later, but now (before the next question!)
And since a lot of our challenges come from unhelpful data and patterns in our unconscious minds, many coaches also use ways to talk directly to your unconscious, such as metaphors (my personal favourite) and NLP (see below).
As for advice, you’ll be surprised how little of that you get from a good coach. Because it really is your journey, not mine :-)
Why is it so effective?
Again comparing to psychotherapy and self-help books …
Coaching is solution-focused and therefore very direct. Whereas in psychotherapy there’s a lot of time spent gathering information, coaches really don’t need so much, and in fact will sometimes encourage you to provide less! We aren’t so interested in finding, analysing and interpreting what caused your problem, only in working out an effective way forward as soon as possible (which in coaching means “Now!”)
A lot of the ideas in self-help books are useful. To someone. At some point in their lives. But working one-on-one on your goals and challenges - the bits of your life that matter to you - with a dedicated professional is obviously going to be way more targeted and powerful. One session with a coach will probably change your life more than reading 10 self-help books – and it’s probably cheaper and certainly much faster.
Won’t my life become amazing if I just read enough inspirational quotations on facebook?
No. It won’t change at all.
Who should have coaching?
If you would like to see positive change in your life, and are interested in participating in the process of making it happen, coaching is for you!
Coaching is effective for transforming your emotions, working towards goals, and facing challenges. As just a few examples of many: having a better relationship with others (or yourself); getting free from negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, sadness, doubt or lack of motivation; changing bad habits or building new good ones; gaining clarity about important life decisions; working on your health; moving on from an old life to a new one …
Who shouldn’t have coaching?
Well, if your life is 100% the way you want it to be and you don’t believe things can get better, congratulations! I’d still be happy to coach you, though :-)
If you’re dissatisfied with your life and you don’t believe things can get better, then you really really should see a coach, because one thing we’re very good at is changing that view and starting you on your journey to better things.
If you believe that your life would improve most by striving, achieving, getting and succeeding more, actually the coaching toolkit works just as well for that and I’d be happy to help, though I’m a bit surprised you came to this website!
If you feel that you only want a better life if it doesn’t cost anything, see where you are 12 months from now, and then ask yourself if you’re ready for a different approach yet.
But if you just enjoy telling everyone that your life is rubbish, or that you want things to change one day (later, when you have more time, ideally without you having to do anything to make it happen), then no, coaching is not for you!
Do you coach in languages other than English?
German, yes, I have.
French, one day but not yet!
Do you use NLP? And if so, what is it?
Yes I do!
NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is a set of techniques which aim to bypass the conscious mind and to rewire your neurological impulses, and thus change the way you respond to things. This means that NLP can be used to change behaviour (such as smoking), beliefs (e.g. I can't give up smoking) and responses to triggers (e.g. seeing a glass of beer makes some people automatically "decide" to smoke).
Because NLP works on the unconscious mind, there is no need to "understand" the processes.
It can be used for many issues – including “sticky” aspects of our spiritual path such as negativity, reactivity, poor self-worth, lack of motivation, our relations with other people, and many more.
Having said that, I’m not an “NLP Coach”, and I don’t see it as a magic bullet, so I only use it if it’s the best way to get you the benefits you want.
I have trust issues. Can I trust you?
Yes, I’m very much a Buddhist first and a life coach second. If it wasn’t possible to do this job with integrity, I’d go and do something else instead. Really.
Oh, and trust issues are one of my favourite topics to coach …
To find out more, or to book a free consultation:
email [email protected]
email [email protected]