A life coach is a type of wellness professional who helps people make progress in their lives in order to attain greater fulfillment. Life coaches to aid their clients in improving their relationships, careers, and day-to-day lives. Life coaches can help you clarify your goals, identify the obstacles holding you back, and then come up with strategies for overcoming each obstacle. In creating these strategies, life coaches target your unique skills and gifts. By helping you to make the most of your strengths, life coaches provide the support you need to achieve long-lasting change.
I vividly remember my first sessions with two life coaches.
Mostly because they were as different as could be.
In the first one, I had barely explained the problem when the coach told me to close my eyes to take me through a meditation. She prided herself on being intuitive and spent most of the session freestyling me through a meditation I didn’t want, leaving me frustrated.
In the second session, I felt heard from the moment I walked into her office. She reflected on my thought processes, challenged my assumptions, and guided me through different perspectives to a clear conclusion.
I was the only person to blame for my unpleasant experience; I had not done my research, and the major difference lay in their training.
There are many paths and approaches to being a life coach. Here is a step-by-step guide if you want to become a great one.
Life Coaching: A Job Description
Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards.
Anthony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within
Tony Robbins is probably the most famous life coach to date. But selling millions of book copies, speaking in front of thousands of people at any one event, and getting around in a helicopter are not accurate reflections of the life of a life coach.
Whether a life coach is working for themselves or contracting with other businesses, a typical workday comprises a couple of coaching sessions with clients and completing the associated administrative tasks.
Administrative tasks include preparing for sessions and taking notes thereafter, preparing contracts and legal documents, bookkeeping, marketing activities, and further education and training.
Life coaching clients can be of (nearly) all ages and walks of life. They may approach a coach when seeking guidance to work through a complex problem or looking for clarity about important life decisions and direction.
Relevant life areas can span across all domains including relationships, career, health, finance, personal development, and leisure.
In their work with clients, life coaches can be real lifesavers. Through active listening, paraphrasing, asking powerful life coaching questions, and using coaching tools, they guide their clients through mental roadblocks and help them explore opportunities to realize their goals.
Life coaching sessions are usually based on a coaching model, such as the GROW model, and have a firm structure. They begin with a brief description of the problem, determine the desired session outcome, and then work through the individual steps of the chosen model.
The coach guides the conversation accordingly and ensures it concludes with actionable (e.g., SMART) goals for the client, including establishing accountability.
What does a life coach do?
It’s important to understand the role a life coach plays. And a lot of the time, that comes down to personalized goals. At BetterUp, our coaches work with members to create personal and professional development goals. Here are just a few examples of what a coach can do:
- Improve productivity and focus
- Improve overall work performance
- Improve time management, stress management, prioritization
- Improve self-confidence, self-compassion, and self-esteem
- Improve collaboration and teamwork skills
- Improve communication skills
- Better balance or harmony of work and personal life
- Better balance of physical health and emotional health
- Better mental clarity, improved mental fitness
- Better engagement
- Better leadership and management skills
- Improve decision-making skills
- Ways to manage caregiver fatigue
- Managing burnout
- Improve resiliency and grit
- Help people find their purpose, meaning, and passions in life
- Manage stress and build healthy habits for stress management
- Inclusive leadership, especially around fostering belonging in the workplace
- Navigating grief and coping with grief
- Improve sleep and sleep hygiene
- Help find a better sense of belonging and ways to take action to further diversity, inclusive, equity, and belonging
- Improve presentation skills
- Navigating change, uncertainty, and the unknown
Some life coaches also help with things like romantic relationships, dating, divorce, marriage, and more.
Life coaching vs. therapy
Is life coaching and therapy the same thing? In short, no. But there are some similarities. While life coaching and therapy are both focused on improving people’s well-being, there are distinct differences. Therapists require certain educational and license prerequisites to provide mental health care treatment.
Coaching, however, is focused on personal and professional development. Coaches will help their clients build and utilize the right tools to reach their goals but don’t (and shouldn’t) offer clinical mental health care. Let’s dig into this more.
Life Coaching
When comparing life coaching to therapy, here are some key differences:
- Life coaches serve as guides through various aspects of your life
- Coaching is focused on personal growth and professional development
- Coaching can resemble talk therapy, though coaches are not certified therapists and can’t practice
- Coaching focuses on achieving goals, behavior changes, shifting perspectives, and overall self-improvement
- Coaches can help you improve your physical health, emotional well-being, and financial wellness
- Coaching is not mental health treatment or clinical care
- At BetterUp, our coaches focus on sustainable, behavior changes rooted in positive psychology
Therapy
Let’s take a closer look at key characteristics of therapy:
- Therapists are trained, mental health professionals
- Therapists have education and license requirements to practice with clients
- Therapists help you to understand your psychological patterns to change your behavior
- Therapists can diagnose and treat your mental health needs
- Therapists can improve your mental health and emotional well-being through various techniques and therapy styles, like CBT, EMDR, and more
- Therapists often work with your medical care team to help improve your overall well-being
- Some (not all) therapists can prescribe medication for psychological and mental health conditions
7 benefits of life coaching
When it comes to life coaching, many effects or benefits of coaching come from social science research. At BetterUp, we lean on social and positive psychology to help shape how our coaches work with our members.
If you’re thinking about life coaching, here are seven benefits to keep in mind:
- Better self-confidence. A study by the IFC reported that 80% of people who hired a life coach reported improved self-confidence.
- A growth mindset. A benefit to coaching is a shift in perspective. At BetterUp, we think of this as a growth mindset. With coaching, you can expand and nurture your growth mindset.
- Improved self-awareness. The research found that only 10-15% of people studied were self-aware, despite people believing that they are self-aware. But with coaching, you have a guide to reflect on your progress and your levels of self-awareness. Coaching can help you build your self-awareness muscle and ultimately, gain more confidence in knowing who you are.
- Improved relationships and communication skills. According to the Institute of Coaching, your relationships will benefit from coaching. One study found that of those who participated in coaching, over 70% benefitted from improved work performance, relationships, and effective communication skills.
- Better clarity and purpose. Our mission at BetterUp is to help people everywhere live with more purpose, clarity, and passion. Our data has shown that folks who take part in coaching report a higher sense of purpose and meaning.
- Improved overall well-being. Coaching can also help improve your overall well-being. Our data also shows that a majority of people who start coaching in a “stuck” period get better. 77% will significantly improve their well-being state in three to four months with personalized support.
- Lower stress levels (and better resiliency). The same data cited above shows that with BetterUp, a benefit of coaching is lowered stress levels and better resiliency.
Limitations of life coaching
Life coaching and therapy are not the same. There are instances where life coaching may not be what you need right now.
At BetterUp, we think of mental health and mental fitness as two different things. And while coaching can have positive benefits for our emotional and mental well-being, it’s not clinical mental health care.
For those experiencing symptoms of mental health conditions (like anxiety, depression, bipolar, PTSD, or any other mental illness), seek professional help. A trained mental health professional will be able to support you in your mental health journey, not a life coach.
Mental health is a spectrum. Some people live with mental health conditions while others experience symptoms at certain points in their life. We do know there’s a massive middle — 55% of people are in a state of languishing. To help prevent that massive middle from sliding down the spectrum, it’s important to build mental fitness.
And that’s where coaching comes into play. With coaching, you can build a strong mental fitness practice to be better equipped to handle whatever life throws at you. Think of it as a supplemental practice to your mental health care, not a substitute.
Types of life coaching
There are lots of different types of coaching. Here are some common types of coaching we’ve seen in the industry.
Individual coaching
- Mental fitness coaching
- Grief coaching (coping with and navigating grief)
- Success Coaching
- Communication coaching
- Health and nutrition coaching
- Sleep coaching
- Intuitive or spiritual coaching
- Relationship Coaching
- Transformational coaching
Business coaching
- Executive Coaching
- Leadership and development coaching
- Sales Coaching
- Peak performance coaching
- Team Coaching
- DEIB coaching
- Communication effectiveness coaching (presenting, interpersonal relationships, and more)
Some of the other different types of life coaches include:
- Addiction and sobriety coaching
- Business, executive, and leadership coaching
- Career Coaching
- Dating and relationship coaching
- Diet and fitness coaching
- Divorce coaching
- Family life coaching
- Financial coaching
- Health and wellness coaching
- Life skills coaching
- Mental health coaching
- Spirituality coaching
- Sports coaching
Who Can Become a Life Coach?
The short answer is ‘anyone.’ There is no regulatory authority for the coaching profession.
That means that you can literally print yourself a business card with the title ‘life coach’ and coach away.
However, apart from a questionable ethical code of conduct, because of the lack of authoritative regulation, the coaching market is becoming increasingly flooded. This means that prospective clients increasingly compare coaches’ training and experience and opt for higher quality professionals – a demand that is further reflected in the unwillingness to pay for unqualified services.
Besides that, coaching sessions with a coach who lacks fundamental training and experience will likely be as frustrating as my first coaching experience for both the coach and coachee alike. Even worse, unqualified coaches can harm when practicing with others.
Becoming a great life coach requires several personal qualities and extensive training, supervision, and experience.
Appropriate qualities include openness, approachability, curiosity, and empathy. The quality and price of training differ as much as those of operating coaches.
How to Become a Life Coach: Step-by-Step Guide
There are two major pathways to becoming a life coach, each with its educational requirements and resulting qualifications: the traditional route and pursuing a graduate psychology degree.
1. The traditional training route
Through a coaching course, you can attain the relevant knowledge and competencies involved in coaching. There are numerous training bodies to choose from, so it is important to compare them closely.
The better quality training options are often more expensive as they include more training hours and often mentoring and supervision. They are worth the extra investment.
Several coaching bodies govern the standards of coach training. The most widely known and highly recognized is the International Coaching Federation (ICF; 2021). The Association for Coaching (2021) and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (2021) are two others.
Together, they offer several directories and databases of accredited training institutions (ICF, 2021). The ICF’s Approved Coach Specific Training Hours (ACSTH) program categorizes training courses by the number of equivalent student contact hours.
If you are looking for a good-quality training provider, ensure they are accredited by one of these governing bodies first.
Coaching courses are provided in-person or online and typically include theoretical foundations, practical exercises, accreditation, supervision, and mentoring.
Depending on the amount of training and number of hours of experience, coaches can obtain different levels of accreditation. For example, the levels of credentialing at the ICF (2021), in ascending order, are:
- Associate Certified Coach (60+ hours of training and 100+ hours of experience)
- Professional Certified Coach (125+ hours of training and 500+ hours of experience)
- Master Certified Coach (200+ hours of training and 2,500+ hours of experience)
Many coach training providers offer courses that are accredited by the ICF. This means that their training is of a good standard but does not qualify the depth of training, experience, or supervision that an individual coach has completed.
Coaches who seek accreditation from the ICF have to provide detailed documentation of their training and experience and may then be required to complement these until a certain level of ICF standard is reached.
2. Becoming a coaching psychologist
The other route to becoming a life coach is via a psychology degree. This pathway has been established more recently and is not yet offered widely across universities. It is also a longer and possibly more expensive option as it is obtained through graduate education, such as a master’s of coaching psychology.
Technically, the frameworks, practices, and techniques used are similar or the same as those used by coaches. However, some argue that coaching psychologists, because of their comparatively more extensive training, may provide coaching of better quality and adhere more closely to ethical standards (Lai, Stopforth, & Passmore, 2018).
Education Requirements & Qualifications
For the traditional training pathway to become a life coach and because of the non-regulation of the coaching profession, there are no education requirements to enter a training program or practice.
Interestingly, when choosing the academic career pathway, the education requirements can be quite the opposite. Entry into a master’s degree in coaching psychology usually requires a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, often in psychology or psychological science.
Do You Need a Certification or License?
You can probably guess the answer to this question by now. In general, you do not need a certification or license to be a practicing life coach. However, this also depends on who you want to work for and how competitive you are hoping to be.
With the increasing knowledge about the unregulated nature of the coaching profession, many businesses contracting to external coaches will request the accreditation by one of the above-mentioned coaching bodies.
On the other side, if you would like to practice under the title of ‘coaching psychologist,’ you need to hold the corresponding degree from an academic institution.
How Long Does It Take?
This also depends on the type of training and level of accreditation you are aiming for.
As a general rule, you can expect an accredited training course to take 12 months.
Often, the training hours are provided over the course of a few weekends throughout that year, with the accumulation of coaching practice hours being self-paced by the students in between.
Non-accredited courses can be a lot shorter (and cheaper), but this is generally reflected in lower quality, too. There are also accredited courses that can be short, such as this three-day level-1 life coaching course by the Certified Life Coach Institute (2021), but it is only equivalent to 32.8 ACSTH.
In other words, it only provides about half the training hours required and none of the experience to get credentials from ICF as an Associate Certified Coach.
An academic route to becoming a coaching psychologist is more time intensive and takes roughly five years (three years for the prerequisite bachelor’s degree + two years to complete a master’s degree in coaching psychology or equivalent).
Training in Life Coaching: 100+ Programs, Courses, and Degrees
There is a wealth of training programs and courses that can support you to become a trained life coach. Expectedly, they differ in intensity, duration, quality, and price. I recommend using the training program search service of the ICF (2021) or a directory of a similar governing body to find an accredited provider.
The ICF lists over 60 training courses worldwide that use a combination of in-person and virtual training and over 50 for in-person training.
These results appear from searches for coach training specializing in life vision and enhancement, with many other training options available.
100+ Online Training Opportunities
With the ever-increasing presence of online learning programs, massive open online courses are a convenient option.
Learning platforms such as Udemy (2021) offer several very affordable life coaching courses.
However, if you do not have any coaching experience and are looking to become a qualified life coach, I would only recommend these courses to get an insight into some relevant topics in life coaching. Short and unaccredited courses like these are not substantial enough to provide you with the knowledge, coaching skills, or experience necessary to provide effective coaching.
ICF lists 95 English-language virtual life coaching classes.
A Note on Starting a Coaching Business
If you are looking to start your own coaching business, there are a few things you may want to consider.
How to remain competitive
Because of the unregulated nature of the coaching profession and associated short pathways into the career, the competition in the coaching market is high. When working for yourself, consider strategies to be competitive and stand out.
Possibly the best way to do this is to establish solid credentials. This starts with the quality of your training and the extent of your experience. While the path to becoming a coaching psychologist is the longest and most expensive, it can instantly set you apart from most coaches on the market.
However, having an accredited training background together with many hours of experience, supervision, and client testimonials will give you strong credibility.
You may also want to consider identifying your own niche in the life coaching industry. Can you provide services for a particular target group, in a particular setting, or with a focus on one particular life domain? If you enjoy working with children, you might consider coaching kids as your focus.
Beware of your limits and risks
Remember to stay in your lane. A lot of your responsibility, professionalism, and ethical conduct surface in your first (introductory) chat with a new client. Take the time to understand their needs and decide whether this is something you can genuinely help them with or if you should redirect the client to another professional such as a psychotherapist.
Our article explaining how coaching, mentoring, and counseling differ also has practical examples of when a client should be redirected to a more appropriate channel.
Related to this is the importance of using a coaching contract to clarify the role you do (and do not) play as a coach. You will also need to insure yourself with professional indemnity and potentially public liability insurance.
Online versus offline
Many coaches report a better experience when coaching online or even just over the phone, due to being more concentrated on the conversation. Online coaching has become a lifesaving alternative when logistical challenges, time constraints, or a pandemic necessitate interactions online.
However, not every client will be willing or able to receive coaching online. The key is to find a modality that works for you and your clients. You could consider conducting the first few coaching sessions with a client in person and then move online.
Online coaching has certain requirements such as ensuring privacy and confidentiality. There are several applications that provide this, and one that stands out from the rest is Queny. You can interact with your clients using any device, and the application also provides you with record keeping, so you can store your clients’ information securely.
In addition to the exercises you can assign to your clients while tracking their progress, video coaching is another vital feature of Quenza.
Although video coaching platforms can make it harder to read body language, a few simple steps can ensure that you have a productive session. Make sure your camera and lighting are set up optimally. Check and possibly upgrade your internet connection as lags due to slow bandwidth can cause audio delay, which can be frustrating and distracting.
Consider undertaking additional training in virtual service delivery, check your setup, and prepare your client similarly. Ask them to remain a fair distance from their camera and switch on their lights.
Leverage other companies
It can take a while to accumulate enough clients to make a living from a coaching business. In that case, it’s beneficial to look for opportunities within other businesses. Some medium-to-large enterprises employ a pool of external coaches.
While they often pay a lower hourly rate than you would usually charge on your own, you can benefit from a higher volume of commissioned coaching hours.
What to look for in a life coach
There’s no one answer to what makes a good coach — only what’s a good coach for you. That being said, here are the four most important ways to determine if your coach is a good fit for you.
Rapport
If you don’t get along with your coach, you won’t get the most out of your coaching sessions. You need to have that element of building rapport with your coach. There’s a lot to be said for finding a coach that you really gel with.
If it doesn’t feel like the right fit, feel free to keep looking — your coach likely won’t take it personally. At BetterUp we encourage Members to keep switching until they find the right person — and our platform makes that easy to do.
Expertise
Coaches are trained to ask questions and create impactful change in just about any area of life. However, many also specialize in certain fields. You might look for a coach that works with entrepreneurs, executive coaching, or neurodiversity in the workplace.
Availability
Soft skills and expertise aside, there are some practical considerations when working with a coach. You’ll want to find someone who’s available to meet when you’re available. If you can, BetterUp suggests meeting with your primary coach at least once a week for the best results.
Results
Lastly, coaching is meant to help you have greater purpose, clarity, and passion in both your personal and professional lives. You and your coach should be able to set goals, work on your plan for achieving them, and celebrate your wins together.
One of the best benefits of coaching is the accountability a dedicated coach provides. If you don’t feel like coaching is making a positive difference in your life, it’s okay to look for a new coach. It doesn’t mean that they’re a bad coach — just not the right one for you.
Potential Pitfalls of Working With a Life Coach
Before you see a life coach, there are a few potential pitfalls that you should watch for:
- Don’t expect immediate results. Your life coach can help you make plans, address problems, and work toward achieving your goals, but it is important to remember that these things take time. If may be helpful if you set some short-term and long-term goals to work toward.
- Consider if your coach is suited to your needs. Not all life coaches take the same approach to a problem, so what you get out of the process may have a lot to do with the type of relationship you have with your coach. Look for a coach that is suited to working with your personality type and approach to solving problems.
- Don’t see a life coach to address serious mental health issues. If you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition such as depression or anxiety, you should talk to your doctor or therapist to discuss your treatment options. Life coaches can offer advice that can improve your well-being, but that does not mean they can provide mental health treatment.
History of Life Coaching
As a formal field, coaching is relatively young, but it has roots in many older disciplines. It draws on areas that include the human potential movement of the 1960s, leadership training, adult education, personal development, and numerous areas of psychology.5
Life coaching formally emerged during the 1980s and grew in popularity throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Some of the earliest life coaches focused on life planning, but the field eventually grew to encompass other life areas including relationships, finances, careers, health, and overall well-being.
A Take-Home Message
As you can see, there are many options to get training in life coaching.
Whether you are ready to practice as a life coach is up to your own judgment, standards, and expectations. While cheaper and quicker training routes may be tempting, remember the profession comes with responsibilities and implications for your clients.
When done right, life coaching can be an incredibly rewarding career that can provide life-changing insights for clients.
Once you are skilled enough to guide your clients through mental roadblocks and get to witness a genuine ‘a-ha moment,’ you will appreciate your financial and time investment in good-quality training.
