Life Coach Certification: Life Purpose & Happiness Coaching

In the previous section we focused on establishing trust and building solid relationships in order to create successful partnerships with your clients and in this section we’ll take a closer look at developing potential. The fact is everyone has potential. We’re all born with the potential to succeed and it exists within all us but without help not everyone is able to tap into their potential or uses it effectively. Another fact is that potential does not serve us if we can’t turn it into purpose. 

Potential is great but on its own it is not enough to achieve success. To truly succeed your clients need to turn their potential into purpose and goals. If they recognize their potential but they are not attempting to turn it into personal and professional growth then that potential could become a negative and destructive force in their lives rather than a positive and empowering one. 

In the previous lesson we looked at identifying potential and finding purpose. We established that everyone has potential but that in order to reach our goals we need to turn potential into purpose. This lesson focuses on identifying skills that your clients need to develop their potential. When discussing skills and potential it important to remember that potential is an abstract concept but skills and abilities are real, tangible assets that your client can use to succeed.  

Of course there are also more general work skills like good communication, presentation techniques, time management and team work. These work skills can be learnt on the job and usually improve with time and experience. Work skills can also be divided into foundation skills and marketable skills. 

In the previous lesson we looked at identifying skills but it is not enough for a person to know what their skills are, they need to do something with them. Once your client has identified their skills you need to help them convert these skill into actions and that is what we’re going to focus on in this lesson. Knowing that you have skills and what they are is wonderful. Identifying them is an empowering and enriching experience that builds self-confidence and creates a positive self-image. 

It is important for your clients to take time to learn the language of the application and interview process and to know how to describe their skills in terms that will help the employer see value in hiring them above anyone else. Especially when it comes to transferable or foundation skills it is necessary to describe them in a way that is relevant to the job. 

Everyone needs goals. They give us the focus and motivation we need to achieve more, aim higher and move forward. Often small goals lead to big successes, short term goals can create long term achievements and professional accomplishments can help us realize our personal goals but without goals we would drift aimlessly through life struggling to achieve our true potential. Fortunately most people do have goals but unfortunately many don’t know how to identify or achieve them. 

There must be a way to measure the success of the goal and to know when the goal has been accomplished. Then goals also need to be actionable, in other words there have to be actual real steps that can be taken to achieve the goal and it is important to be able to break the goal down into smaller steps if necessary and list each one. 

The previous lesson looked at setting goals and the importance of understanding different types of goals. But it is not enough for people just to set goals, they need to do something with those goals. As a life coach, you and your client will invest a significant amount of time and effort in setting relevant goals. But all that will be for nothing if you don’t have a workable plan to make these goals a reality and so this lesson will focus on how to create effective action plans. 

In order for a fluid document, like an action plan, to work successfully there needs to be regular feedback and that is why it is important to have a column where your client can fill in feedback or note the status of the goal at defined intervals. This feedback needs to be scheduled appropriately and you need to decide how often the goal will be revisited, for example, weekly, monthly or annually depending on the timescale established for the goal. 

Setting goals and creating action plans is an enriching and empowering exercise for your client. Who doesn’t want to imagine the perfect future? But as a life coach you have to steer this process and guide your client so that they have realistic expectations. This lesson will focus on how to manage your client’s expectations. Goal setting is important and necessary for achieving success but it does have limitations and it is important to be aware of the pitfalls so that you can develop strategies to deal with them, as and when they arise. 

If you haven’t invested enough time and effort in building your relationship you might still be able to tell them the hard truth but they will struggle to accept it. Always be aware of the effect a goal will have on your client. Obviously successfully reaching a goal has a positive effect on a person’s confidence and encourages them to aim higher but failing to achieve a goal can be demoralizing and have a negative effect on confidence. 

In the previous sections we looked at building relationships, identifying skills and setting goals and all these are important elements on your client’s road to success but the most important element is your client themselves.  They are the central pivot around which everything else revolves and in this section we’re going to focus on ways that you can help them grow so that they can get more out of life and achieve greater success. 

It is important that your clients realize that resilient people still have negative emotions and thoughts and they need to accept that these will never entirely go away, but as a person becomes more resilient they develop better coping techniques that that allow them to effectively navigate through a crises. Self-confidence is the self-assurance and belief in our own personal judgement, abilities, skills and power and like resilience we don’t need to be born with it

This lesson is about eliminating limiting beliefs. No matter how confident or successful a person is everyone has some limiting beliefs. These are beliefs about ourselves, others or the world in general that serve no positive purpose in our lives, and in fact do just the opposite, they hold us back and hinder our progress and they can blind us to opportunities, prevent us from taking chances and keep us from reaching their goals. 

To begin the process, choose one limiting belief to focus on at a time. Usually it is easier to start with the more obvious and less challenging ones and build up to the more difficult ones. The more success your client has with eliminating the easier limiting beliefs the more confidence you will have to tackle the difficult ones.

We all have barriers that limit our success and this lesson looks at ways to break down those barriers so that your clients can reach their full potential. Barriers inhibit our personal and professional growth, they prevent us from forming close relationships, they make it hard for us to connect with people and they generally stop us living more fulfilling lives. 

It is important for your clients to define and identify what happiness means to them. For some people it is material gain for others it is doing something they enjoy. Encourage them to keep a journal and analyze their feelings in certain situations and then highlight the situations that make them feel good and happy. If your client knows that buying a new car will make them happy then encourage them to strive towards that goal, if having Sunday lunch with their family or connecting with friends makes them happy then that is where they should focus their energy. 

The ability to communicate effectively is essential in everything we do, it is not just a business or social skill but a life skill that we use every day in every way. Life is all about good communication; strong relationships are built on it, successful partnerships rely on it and business thrive on it. No matter what you are trying to achieve or what the situation is or whether it is in the work place, among friends or on the internet, it is essential to be able to communicate effectively to be successful. This lesson takes a closer look at how we communicate with those around us and why it is an important skill. 

Life coaching is a rewarding and fulfilling experience but it is also hard work. In order to be successful you will have to invest a lot of time and effort into guiding your clients and helping them achieve personal and professional growth. Fortunately there are many tools and resources at your disposal that can make things easier for you and make you a better life coach. In this lesson we will look at some points that are important to keep in mind as you accompany your clients on their journey of self-discovery. 

Being a successful life coach is not just about motivating and helping your clients to achieve their goals, it is also about marketing yourself and increasing your professional profile and visibility. You can be the best life coach in the world but if people don’t know about you, you won’t be able to help them reach their personal and professional goals or guide them on their journey of self-discovery and self-improvement. This section provides information about various marketing platforms and focuses on the tools and skills a life coach needs to turn their passion into a successful business. 

The rise of the internet has changed our daily lives. It has changed the way we see the world, the way think about things, the way we do business and how we connect with other people. It has given us access to markets and marketing platforms that were unheard of 20 years ago and this lesson will take a closer look at digital marketing and social media. 

Obviously as a life coach you want your main focus to be your clients but you also have to remember that life coaching is your business and it needs to generate an income. It doesn’t matter if you have a small practice or a large one, you still need basic business skills in order to succeed. If your business is big enough you will probably employ admin staff and a bookkeeper but if you are just starting out or your practice is small, then you will need to do a lot of the admin yourself. In both cases it is important that you understand basic business principles