Life & Work (i.e., Lifestyle) Coaching
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This type of coaching, commonly called "life coaching" or "lifestyle coaching," is the broadest category of coaching.
It can take into account many different aspects of your life. For example:
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This is how you can feel after expert coaching: Victorious!
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- Do you want to live in a new country (or just a new climate) sometime before you get too old to really enjoy it, but you can't see a clear method for how to go about making such a change?
- Do you work full-time but secretly wish to be your own boss or run a company of your own, but you can't begin to imagine how to make that happen in your current circumstances?
- Are you stuck in a job that requires 80 or more hours of your life each week and then keeps you awake at night with worry, and all you want is a simpler life with fewer demands and more time for your health and your loved ones?
All of these are possible reasons to hire a qualified life coach.
The main goals of such coaching are typically to create work-life balance, attain the job you love, and get the time you want for yourself and your loved ones.
The focus is on getting you what you want so you wake up every morning thinking, "My life rocks!!"
How Does Lifestyle Coaching Work?
That's easy. As with all my coaching, this is what we'll do.
- You'll schedule an appointment with me or book a multi-session package on the scheduling page.
- We'll start working on clarifying your goals immediately, and I'll take you systematically through my 7-step Coaching Cycle.
- We'll keep working together until you get what you want!
Here's an Example of a Lifestyle Coaching Client
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Sometimes it's easier to see how coaching works by looking at some example clients. I've created one here to help show you what's possible with life coaching.
Bridget, 45 years old, single with an adult child no longer at home. Bridget has been a nurse practitioner for 15 years. She loves her work, but she's feeling burned out and wants to identify a new professional path that's viable for someone of her age and with her specific lifestyle requirements. |
Does Bridget really need to start a new career to love her life?
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In our first session together, Bridget confides that she is nervous about changing her career, given that she felt pressure to achieve her NP qualifications due to job security. The thought of changing careers makes her feel panicky, but something just isn't sitting right with her worklife, and she wants a change.
Given Bridget's fears and her lack of a clear end goal, I start by asking her lots of questions (always Step 1!) to help her get clear on exactly what is not working for her in her current role, what she wants to feel at work, what she wants to have time and energy for in her life, and what her long-term goals for work and life might be.
Answers to all of those questions help us home in on Bridget's true goals: Does she really want a change of career, or will substantial changes in her current job suffice?
For example:
Those are just a tiny sample of the clarifying (Step 3) questions we go over together. But all of them are significant because they do one thing that good, effective coaching excels at:
Helping my client get 100% clear on the outcomes she really wants so we can find a plan to get her there.
They also help Bridget see that the change she desires might actually be possible without pulling up sticks and making a big career change after all. The options we discuss in our first session help Bridget see other possible ways of changing her life that cause her much less stress and still feel interesting and appealing.
Bridget leaves the session with homework:
Bridget leaves our call a happy woman, breathing easier and with a huge smile on her face. She's on her way to a life she loves.
Our systematic planning, which takes into account her very real emotions and very important desires, helps her see a light at the end of the tunnel and feel empowered in her life again.
Given Bridget's fears and her lack of a clear end goal, I start by asking her lots of questions (always Step 1!) to help her get clear on exactly what is not working for her in her current role, what she wants to feel at work, what she wants to have time and energy for in her life, and what her long-term goals for work and life might be.
Answers to all of those questions help us home in on Bridget's true goals: Does she really want a change of career, or will substantial changes in her current job suffice?
For example:
- Could Bridget get what she wants by staying an NP, but by changing hospital systems?
- Would she be happier specializing in a certain area, such as gynecology, rather than working in general family practice?
- Would cutting her hours down to part time allow her to keep the stability she needs and still get the change she's after?
Those are just a tiny sample of the clarifying (Step 3) questions we go over together. But all of them are significant because they do one thing that good, effective coaching excels at:
Helping my client get 100% clear on the outcomes she really wants so we can find a plan to get her there.
They also help Bridget see that the change she desires might actually be possible without pulling up sticks and making a big career change after all. The options we discuss in our first session help Bridget see other possible ways of changing her life that cause her much less stress and still feel interesting and appealing.
Bridget leaves the session with homework:
- She'll investigate further the options she might have to stay in her current field while making enough changes to offer her the free time and emotional support she currently lacks but really desires.
- I assign her some incredibly effective imagery exercises to help her accomplish those tasks, and
- We set her first SMART goal: To write a clear description of her perfect day, from waking up to going to bed. She'll bring that description, along with the results of her brainstorming, to our next session.
Bridget leaves our call a happy woman, breathing easier and with a huge smile on her face. She's on her way to a life she loves.
Our systematic planning, which takes into account her very real emotions and very important desires, helps her see a light at the end of the tunnel and feel empowered in her life again.