What Is a life coach, and is it the right career path for you?

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A life coach is a professional who helps clients reach their potential or achieve success in either life or career. As a life coach, your job is to guide clients into goal setting, introspection, and overall personal development. Most people will find a life coach when they want a fruitful career or a balanced life.

For someone looking to venture into the field, it is essential to know the requirements and responsibilities that come with the title. Doing so helps you determine whether it is the right career path for you or not. Below are some of the requirements you need to be a life coach.

Education and Training

Like any other profession, one of the most recognized qualifications is education or training. You ought to have gone to school and done a relevant course like psychology, business, communication, or any other relevant discipline. However, if you do not have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a relevant field, you still have a chance to join the life coaching field through training.

Nowadays, you can even do an entire course online and get a life coach certification to help kickstart your career. In training, you need to identify the type of life coach you want to be to focus on courses that lead you there.

Life Coach Certification

Once you have completed an accredited training program, you can apply for an ICF certification for either an Associate Certified Coach, Professional Certified Coach, or Master Certified Coach. The life coach certification from ICF has specific requirements that you need to attain to get the ICF approval. 

Advanced certifications like Master Certified Coach require earning a PCC and passing the Coach Knowledge Assessment before applying for it. The ICF certification is the standard clients use to see whether a life coach is qualified for the job or not. When you get life coach certification from an excellent accredited training program, they will help you with the ICF application until it goes through. 

The Skills You Need

You need to have some basic skills and qualities to be a good life coach. These skills include:

  • Excellent communication skills
  • Great interpersonal skills
  • Empathy
  • Strong intuition
  • Great listening skills
  • Goal-setting ability
  • Problem-solving skills
  • The spirit of collaboration

You could have a life coach certification and all other educational requirements, but you will not excel in this field if you do not possess the necessary skills. People with outstanding interpersonal and communication skills tend to do better in the life coaching career path. Clients find it easy to talk to them and open up to them. According to Executive Coach Canberra, open communication in life coaching is good as it builds a connection that you can exploit to help improve your client’s life.

Conclusion

Life coaching is a great career path with high flexibility in rates and schedule. As a life coach, you define your work environment and decide how much to charge each client. If you feel that this career path is what you were meant to do, get that life coach certification and start changing your clients’ lives.