Life Coaching: How To Know If You Should Pursue Certification
There are many reasons you may want to become a certified life coach. Perhaps you have benefited from the encouragement and support of a life coach yourself or you simply enjoy helping others. Answering a few important questions will help you determine getting a life coaching certification is a good fit for you.
Have you always enjoyed self-improvement?
If you are passionate about health and lifestyle issues, you will likely make a great life coach. A great life coach usually has experience working to improve their own life and has a high interest in exploring ways to enhance the quality of their life.
Do you generally have a good attitude?
Not every personality type is cut out for life coaching. A person with a pessimistic outlook on life will not be a good fit for life coaching. However, if you have an optimistic outlook on life, a great sense of humor, and a good attitude, people will naturally be drawn to you and your optimism will be contagious.
Are you unbiased regarding beliefs and values?
Life coaching means working with many different types of people who have a wide variety of beliefs and values that may not always line up with yours. Being able to remain unbiased regarding these issues is important when you are life coaching. The ability to work with others and agree to disagree is crucial to your success.
Are you a good listener?
Being a good listener may seem like an obvious trait to have when determining if you would make a great life coach. Unfortunately, being a good listener is a skill very few people have mastered. If you find yourself interrupting others when they are talking or thinking about what you are going to say next, you may need to work on your listening skills before you pursue life coaching.
Are you a people pleaser?
A great life coach knows the difference between helping someone and enabling them. To achieve lifestyle changes to better their future, your clients will need to make tough choices that will require some work on their part. A life coach knows how to strike a healthy balance between encouraging someone to change and not enabling them to make excuses and resist change.
Becoming a certified life coach is a rewarding and fulfilling endeavor for those who love helping and inspiring other people. Once you know it is the right choice for you, pursuing certification will help you get started on the pathway to a new and exciting journey.