Life Coach

LegacyUser

Does anyone here know anything about life coaching ? I'm stuck in a serious rut and I need to change. I need to change who am I basically and I have no idea how to do it.

I seen some adds for life coaches around but I'm not sure if they would work or if its just some "be positive" kinda generalised stuff.

What exactly do they do and how much do they usually charge ?

flowerchild

Like many other areas of work, the practitioners vary greatly in approach and effectiveness. But it depends what you want. If you are looking for help in what is really a mental health issue, I wouldn't go to a life coach. But if you want to talk about work/life balance, then they may be a good port of call.

LegacyUser

Just giving my experience of the one coach I met. (Won't suggest every coach is the same before anyone starts but, IMO, it wouldn't be much different an apporach.)

Cost was 200euro per hour session once a week.

Basically yes, it comes down to "be positive", "if you want it enough it will happen", "if you believe it, it is true", "everything is a limiting belief", etc, etc...

Nothing you couldn't tell yourself for 200euro.

Also the "limiting belief" thing just didn't make sense to me. Like, If I went in and said I just had a brain hemorrhage, they'd insist I only had one because I believed that was true, once I convince myself I didn't have one, it will no longer exist... seriously?

The sessions seemed to have a very set structure. I spent a lot of time asking to change the subject to the things *I* wanted to cover but was told we needed to complete the exercise and would "get to that next week", the follow week I'd be told the same, and on.

They go through a lot of exercises designed to make you think about what you want and sort of how you will achieve them but it doesn't really offer a lot of insights or answers, just a lot of white boarding and "ranking" your preference of items of importance to you while you ask "well, I can think of 5 which are above number 1 and not even on this list but they aren't on the coaches curriculum to discuss".

For my 200euro I was given a small rock from the beach, told to keep it in my pocket so I could take it out at any time and look at it and it would remind me to be successful and happy and that I wanted to an astronaut or whatever.... hokey is too subtle a word here.

They also tried using NLP. Which is where they might play some "calming" music and read scripts is slow monotone voices which are supposed to reach your "inner mind" while you are hypnotised (or something, I don't know really). I guess I was supposed to be under their trance but I kept laying there wondering what exactly was supposed to be happening until they were done.


In all honestly, I think it's garbage. That's just my opinion though. I've heard of people saying it's great but I think it depends on your level of suseptability (sp?).
You can get your "reminder" rock for free down the beach. You can download free NLP MP3's only if you want to see what it's like to listen to and I'm sure you can find all the advice and exercises online too.

Sorry if this is overly negative but I'm just giving my perspective. If you want real answers, this isn't what you need. If you need a shot of positivity and can go along with it, maybe it's worth a shot.

dublin80

Life coach yourself. Sit down with a pen and page, write down all the things about your life that you want to change, once you write them down, go through each point and write down what you think you could change about it.
you havent really said what exactly you want to change. i.e Your job, where you live, laziness, attitude etc
once you know what you can do to change , work on one thing at a time, you'll even start to feel better within yourself and be more confident.
I paid €60 per hour for something similiar last year, i went for about 8 sessions and realised after the 8 weeks that it was a total waste of money.
I done the above, (wrote down changes in my life), and now I'm so much better for it, and realise I didnt need someone to tell me how to change.

Hope this helps, and good luck..x

LegacyUser

I actually had a very different experience, after I'd not had a long term contract renewed.

I met with a life coach with very specific reasons for doing so, and used the time during the one session I had (about 150e) to address all of the negatives I felt as a result of my experience.

Best 150e I ever spent, still in touch via email, and recommend him wherever I come across people needing someone like him.