 You guys have so many questions about coaching which is fantastic. I realized that I'm answering them all ad hoc and it'd be much better for my life work balance if I created a video with the most common questions that I could point you all to so I hope that this is helpful. What is coaching? Life coaching is when you recognize that there is some aspect of your life that you would like to change and you work alongside a coach in order to enable that change to happen. Now this could be any aspect of your life if it might be one tiny bit or it might be everything as a big picture so there are loads of different kinds of life coaches working in different niches so you might have someone help you with your romantic relationships, you might have someone who helps you with your return to work, you might have someone who helps you through pregnancy, you might have someone who helps you through career change, you name it there'll be someone out there who will specialize in it. The area I specialize in is helping people to get the right life work balance to enable you to enjoy energy both at work and at home often at times of change so perhaps after a period of absence from work during a career change or if you've been promoted for example lots of different times when we might want to re-look at that life work balance. Now the key thing to understand about coaching and how it's a bit different from some other types of kind of mentoring or therapy for example is that you are working closely with a coach and the coach will provide some structure and guidance but actually this is about you recognizing what you'd like to change and then working with the coach for you to recognize how you can make this change happen so it's all about enabling and empowering you to be honest you have to do the hard work I'm afraid. Is it like therapy? Coaching and therapy are similar in that you form a close relationship often with your coach and actually the relationship with the coach is really important in just the same way that in therapy we say that that therapeutic alliance that bond between you and the therapist is almost more important than any other thing to do with therapy like what kind of therapy is and it's the same with coaching it's not exactly the exact process you go through that's important it's about you gelling with that coach and having someone you feel that you can trust and confide in and work with to be honest about different aspects of your life. Now coaching works really well when you're able to be really open and honest and like therapy then there is you know you'll make promises around confidentiality. It's not like therapy in that often in therapy we're looking backwards and we're trying to kind of heal past hurt whereas in life coaching generally we're looking forwards and we're trying to think what do I want my life to look like and what other steps I need to take in order to make that happen so it's quite different in that regard. Who is it for? It's probably easier to explain who life coaching isn't for so it's not for you if everything's peachy and you don't want anything to change in your life right now it's not for you if you're not prepared to work hard and it's not for you if you just want all the answers handed to you for someone else to do the work so otherwise as long as you recognise a need or a want for change in some aspect of your life whether that's a little bit or kind of the whole thing and if you're prepared to put in some groundwork and work hard with your life coach and you're prepared to kind of develop the skills to work out how you can make changes in your own life rather than someone else telling you what to do then life coaching can be for you so lots of people think that you know it's only for people who are working at a really high executive level or at very specific periods in their life but actually coaching can work for anyone it's just about recognising that you want change to happen and that you're ready to make this investment in yourself. What happens in the sessions? Okay so this varies hugely between different life coaches and it will also vary as you work through the process so it usually takes a little while to get to know one another and lots of life coaches will work through quite specific processes sometimes you will have done some homework filling out various forms and stuff but the basic premise is that you and your coach will work together to recognise where you are in your life right now where you want to get to and essentially you'll go through a process of recognising what the obstacles and the challenges in the way of that and what are the things that you can proactively do in order to try and make that change happen. Now ideally you work with your life coach over a period of time and you have the opportunity to actually go away and put into practice some of the things that you discuss in your sessions. In terms of the practicalities of the actual sessions themselves so some people do that face to face lots and lots of people do it via video link or on the phone so you can actually have a life coach on the other side of the world and that's really cool because it means you can find someone in the niche that you're really interested in and also someone who you get on really well with. The other nice thing about that is that you can work it around the rest of your life so you might be really really busy with stuff at home or stuff at work and actually you can work with your life coach to find a schedule that really works for you around all your other commitments. You'll often be asked to do work in between the sessions so some of that will be about implementing the changes that you talked about and sometimes it will be more practical like filling out a worksheet doing a brainstorm around a topic and the work that you do in between the sessions is kind of really important because the harder that you work between the sessions whether it's implementing ideas or kind of filling out sheets and stuff the more that you put into that then the more that you'll get out of the actual coaching sessions themselves. It's a bit like anything else if you do your homework then you're going to get more out of the sessions and given that you're investing your time and or your money then you want to make sure you get the most from the sessions so do your homework. How do I know if it's working? This is different for absolutely everybody but you and your life coach will work together to have a think about what your aspirations are what your aims are for this process and what successful look like essentially. So you might have some really small achievable goals that you will try and achieve early on but equally you might have some really big goals that might take months, years to achieve and some of those might be beyond the coaching process. You might be still working to those beyond the process but essentially you work with your coach to set out and map out some goals, some aims and you'll you'll revisit regularly those to see whether you're making progress towards them. Sometimes you'll find you're making really fast progress and that's fantastic. Other times you might find things plateau and actually recognizing when things plateau or maybe even go backwards is really important because that can help us to recognize some of the barriers that are standing in the way of you achieving the things that you'd like to change in your life and often we can learn a huge amount from those moments when things aren't going forwards in such such quick momentum and it's learning to kind of overcome those more difficult times that can often be the key to helping you to kind of keep moving forward to longer term. Is it expensive? It can be. So life coaching can cost anything from about 50 pounds an hour up to like 1500 pounds an hour depending on who's doing the coaching and in what format and so on and so forth. But it is always expensive in terms of your time. So you need to see this as an investment in yourself because even if your employer may be paying for this because perhaps you're returning to work after absence or you've had a promotion and they want to coach you through or something like that maybe someone else is paying for it. You're still having to invest your time. You're having to do the hard work here. So you've got to really want to invest in the process. So it's an investment in yourself both in terms of time and money too. So don't undertake it lightly. But at the same time if you're wondering about whether or not you can afford it it's worth thinking about this as a genuine investment in yourself taking time out to really look at your life and have a think about how you can help to make your life something that you're more happy living essentially and working with someone to help you achieve those goals. Lots and lots of people who go through life coaching do find that actually at the other end of it they are in a better position to earn better or work more effectively or enjoy their kind of life work balance more. So there are often great benefits to be reaped. But yeah, don't underestimate the amount of time and effort it might take. And it can sometimes if you work with a more expensive life coach or over a longer period of time then it can be a significant financial investment. But one that many, many people would say was incredibly worthwhile. What if I don't like my coach? Right. Let's be clear from the offset here. Your relationship with your coach is the most important part of this whole process. The thing that will guarantee success in the life coaching process above anything else, above any methods that you use, is you having a good relationship with your coach. Now that doesn't mean to say that they are going to be relentlessly kind of positivity and light because sometimes maybe you won't have done the things that you set out to do. Perhaps you didn't do your homework last week. You didn't do the things you said you would do and your coach will hold you to account. A good coach will do that. They will be your critical friend as well as your champion. However, it should be someone that you feel you can be open and honest with. It should be someone who is celebrating your successes with you and who you feel you're making progress with. You should gel with them and feel that they're someone that you enjoy working with. So yeah, they'll hold you to account sometimes and have some difficult conversations with you but on the whole they should feel someone that you really like working with, that you respect and who you feel respects you too. Now you can quickly get a feel for whether you're going to get on with someone. Just book in a 10-15 minute discovery call before you commit to the process and you'll very rapidly know whether this is someone who you're likely to get along with or not. Allow your gut instinct to tell you a bit here and don't be afraid to ask searching questions during that first 10-15 minutes that you have on the phone with someone. If you don't feel that this is the right person for you then don't waste your time or your money working with them. Instead keep on looking because there are plenty of people out there and there will be someone who's the right fit for you. Is it hard work? Yes. Next question? No, I'm joking. But yeah it is hard work. You shouldn't commit to life coaching unless you're willing to put in some time, effort and energy and unless you're willing to kind of go through the process of change which sometimes can be difficult. But it's really worthwhile. So yeah it's hard work and you will need to really think hard. You'll have to really dig deep and you will need to work harder implementing different strategies that you discuss with your coach in order to move your life forward in the ways that you're aiming to. But you know like many things in life you get out what you put in. So the harder you work on this process the more that you challenge and push yourself the more that you'll see change happen and the more productive the process will be. So yeah it's hard work but it's totally worth it. Does it take up a lot of time? So this is really something for you to negotiate with your life coach. So typically people will commit kind of once a week or up to three times a month for an initial period of three to six months and sessions each session would last maybe 45 minutes to an hour and then you're going to have some work to do between sessions. So some of that's going to be kind of simple things that you will integrate into your normal day-to-day life but sometimes you'll have like specific kind of homework to do as well where you'll kind of really stop and think about things. Now that homework can take as long or as little time as you want it to. It works best if you're able to really give yourself a bit of time and space to properly think and invest a bit of time into that and you'll get more out of the face-to-face or online sessions if you do genuinely invest that time and really do thinking between sessions. The other thing is that you'll find that the process is really fascinating and that as you begin to see change happen it's quite kind of addictive I guess and you will want to spend that time. So it doesn't feel like an onerous task. But yeah do try and ensure that you have got a bit of time to spend on the process. But you can work with your coach to make sure the sessions are at times to suit you if you need to take a break between sessions then your coach will often facilitate that to happen. But if possible it's good if you can commit you know at least semi-regularly in the first few months because it's quite difficult to make progress if you're not checking in with your life coach every couple of weeks or so. How many sessions do I need and when do I stop? So how long you embark on the life coaching process for is really up to you and you might have a very clear idea from the beginning because maybe your employer is paying for a certain number of sessions or perhaps you have a certain amount of budget or time that you can spend on this process in which case you might very clearly map out how long you want to spend from the beginning and you can prepare for that ending right from the start. Other times it might be a slightly more organic process and you might want to see where you're going and then reassess whether you feel you're getting value for money and time as to whether you commit to a chunk more sessions. Some people just have a few sessions and it's just enough to kind of get them going get them thinking give them some skills in order to begin to reevaluate their own life. Other people really appreciate having a bit of guidance and support as they navigate through things in the medium and the long term too. It's kind of up to you it depends on what you can commit in terms of time and finances and how much you feel that you're getting out of the process. I think it's really important to reevaluate where you are every few sessions and make sure that you feel you are still making progress make sure that you're still committed to the process and that you and your life coach both feel that this is still worthwhile for you and that you're still working towards your goals. In terms of when to stop that's kind of a bit of a how long is a piece of string really but it is important that you build skills so that you're able to go off and continue to challenge yourself and move things forward in your own life without always having the guidance of your life coach. That said many people will find that they go away and they take a few months or even a few years and every now and then something big will happen or a change will occur or they want a change to occur and they might then come back to their life coach and work with them again and that's fine too. So it's really really personal and your life coach will happily work with you so long as they feel that you're making progress but most life coaches are pretty ethical and they're not going to continue working with you if they feel that they're just taking your money and taking your time and you're not really making progress anymore. So the point at which it becomes a bit of an emotional crutch and you're not really moving forwards then that's definitely time to really think about bringing things to an end. Doesn't mean to say you can't come back again because we love working with clients again later on hearing how things have changed and helping you to make progress again at another point in your life. I hope that answered some of your questions and it gave you a bit of an idea about whether life coaching is something that you might like to invest some time, effort, energy and money into. Investing in yourself is something that we are often hesitant to do but it's one of the best investments that you can ever make and the journey is really incredible working with a coach and recognizing things in your life that you would like to change and realizing that you can make that change happen is so empowering and so exciting. It's hard work but it's totally worth it.