What in the world do life coaches DO?

[raccoon]

And are there any qualifications/credentials involved?

[underpants]

1. They encourage you to get up in the morning and go to work

I guess. :shrug:

I have no idea why people would need someone to encourage them to do what they should do.

Jesus what a bunch of mushy headed sloth we have become.

[rodeodance]

3. its all part of the indivualization if the neoliberal society we live in.

[bryant69]

2. Are you in the market?

If you pay me enough money I'll tell you what you want to do anyway is exactly what you should do.

Bryant
Check it out--> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[raccoon]

16. No--between my 12 step groups and counselling I hope to

be able to figure it out.

[Minnesota Libra]

4. Life coaches tell people what they already know but.......

....make it sound like it's new. If you can make a decent decision you are qualified to be a life coach. :shrug: It's like a personal coach - don't need many brains to make decent money. Only in America!! :eyes:

[TahitiNut]

17. Did you ever search for your eyeglasses only to have someone ...

... point out that they were on your head? Do you remember the Wizard of OZ when Glenda tells Dorothy how to get back 'home' by clicking the heels of her ruby slippers? (She went through a lot just to discover she had a way 'home' with her all the time.)

Sometimes it's just a matter of knowing where to look. Sometimes the best way to hide something is in plain sight. :shrug:

[Minnesota Libra]

21. Good Point - yes been there done that with the glasses.........

....and other things as well. The point of knowing all along but needing someone to point it out to us is indeed valid. :toast:

[MassLiberal]

5. you can get certified

or licensed or whatever they might call it. Coaches help people figure out what they want to do with their lives, or how to be more successful in their careers. If you find a good one, they can be helpful.

[valerief]

6. I think they do what parents used to do

Except that parents did it when their children were not adults and life coaches do it after the person reaches adulthood. I guess they keep you in perpetual childhood, but, then, it seems our current administration is doing that anyway.

[raccoon]

7. Might be something to look into for those whose jobs are

outsourced. :sarcasm:

1/2 of the American workforce can be gardeners, nannies, WalMart employees, and pet groomers...

and the other half can be their life coaches/personal coaches. LMAO

[porphyrian]

8. Scam money. - n/t

[anitar1]

35. You got it! I know someone who has taken that title.

No training that I know of. But the person has tried so many things and cannot get enough clients.Or suckers, I should say. I had to laugh when I saw the ad. What next? Obviously tne Animal Physic career was short lived.

[AngryAmish]

9. They live in a VAN, down by the RIVER

[Dora]

24. ha ha ha ha ha!

:rofl:

[Marie26]

10. Are they sort of like football coaches?

Get out of bed! Go! Go! Do it for the team! When you head into the office, I want you to use the back stairway, & sneak by the opposing teams' defenses. Now write that memo! You can do it!

I think a coach like this would be very helpful.

[godai]

11. There's a Coach U...really

This was on the Colbert Report (or Daily Show?). Seems like a total ripoff, with only online courses

http://www.coachinc.com/CoachU/

[Crowdance]

12. I am a co-active life coach

In fact, I'm leaving in a few minutes for additional training toward certification. So, that answers your first question: There is rigorous professional certification.

What we do: We help our clients to uncover and take their best paths of action to make their lives fulfilling and balanced. Coaches know that you already know what you want out of life, and help you to see how to achieve that. In a coaching relationship, the coach doesn't make decisions for you, or give advice. The coach's job is to help you arrive at your own understanding of what's good and important to you in this life.


If you want to know more, PM me. I'll answer when I return on Monday.

[godai]

18. Can you explain 'co-active'? TIA

[Burma Jones]

13. They are what used to be called good friends......

Some people have to hire professional friends.

[FooFootheSnoo]

33. LOL that's exactly what I thought!!

They are for rich people who can't make friends!!

[Solly Mack]

14. When you make poopies in the toilet they cheer and clap

and say "Way to Go!!!"

[katinmn]

19. Hee hee. A former boss of mine was a truly horrible manager

The staff rose up in unified protest.

The leaderships' answer was to hire a life coach for her who provided weekly phone counseling. After six months the end result was that the boss started writing down and attempting to meet her appointments and deadlines. Guess it was better than nothing.

[Solly Mack]

34. It's those first baby steps that are the hardest

:)


I couldn't be a life coach. I'd have my client in tears. But then, as a client, my life coach would be pulling their hair out.

[TahitiNut]

15. The Yin and the Yang of "personal effectiveness" ...

I often follow the "80% garbage rule" (80% of anything is garbage), particularly when looking at the various 'self-esteem' or 'self-actualization' or 'personal effectiveness' movements/approaches. Not only do the evangelists of such approaches seem to yield to the Rule, so also do the seekers (and avoiders) of such "wisdom and truth."

"Fish will be the last to discover water." (Einstein)

We swim in a culture of authoritarianism. We do what our parents tell us to do because they're our parents. We accept what our teachers tell us because they're our teachers. By the time we're 18, we're ready to join the military and do what we're told to do. Alternatively, we get a job in a corporation and take up the pom-poms of a 'meritocracy' (an authoritarian facade) - as defined minute-by-minute by the manager who hands out recognition awards and promotions. On the Sabbath, we make a pilgrimage to the custodian du jour of our moral direction - the arbiter of our soul and tour guide to the Afterlife. We're so immersed in designating an Authoritarian King of the Hill that, instead of reasoning together in a Guild of Captains of Our Own Fates, we engage in the Food Fight of Fellowships of Followers, hurling rotten tomatoes and cream pies at the various nominees for Pundit of the Week and Leader of the Month - always dealing in the 'who' rather than the 'what' or 'why.'

As I've asked before, what would a 12-Step Program for Authoritarians Anonymous look like? Would a first step be "acknowledge a higher power"??? (See http://journals.democraticunderground.com/TahitiNut/34)

I couldn't begin to count the number of people I've met who attend some seminar on 'How To Take The Helm of Your Own Destiny' - only to again try to turn over the navigation and helmsman duties to someone there. On the other hand, there are the rudderless 'independents' who don't seem to have a working helm and navigate in the fog. It's astonishing how many ships run aground.

I'm often reminded of the paradigm (a Zen Buddhist koan) of "a finger pointing at the moon."

The vast majority are fixated on the finger - and it's often a middle finger.

[gauguin57]

20. I was skeptical of "life coaches," myself ... but one REALLY helped a

relative of mine. I mean, REALLY helped him figure out how to reach his goals and just become a more balanced, happy, focused and ambitious person. He was struggling in his life, career, relationships, and none of us could seem to help him ... it took a stranger -- someone with an outsider's more objective view of his life -- to help steer him in the right direction.

And, though the life coach could probably have continued getting money from my relative for many more months, she told him he'd reached a place where he had benefited as much as he could from life coaching, and he didn't need to work with her anymore (and she was right).

I am a scoffer no more. Life coaching wouldn't be for me, but I can't dismiss it because of this person's good experience. People probably pay a lot more for therapy than he paid for sort of a combo of therapy, pep talk and career advice.

[baby_mouse]

22. They make LOTS of money. NT

[SmokingJacket]

23. Eh, whatever works for people.

Used to be people went to their priest, then their therapist.

Personally I can't imagine anyone knowing better than I do what I want out of my life.

Then again, if someone called me every morning and said, "So how's the new exercise program coming? And are you still trying to get the laundry folded by Monday morning? Sent out the twenty-five resumes we talked about?" I *might* be somewhat more effective...

[Beelzebud]

25. They take your money, if you're dumb enough to let them.

[ladjf]

26. I've read all of these posts and am somewhat taken aback

by the level of negativity about the life coaching. Does it mean that all of these people have tried their services and have had bad experiences?

As to whether or not hiring a "coach" is a good thing, it basically boils down to whether or not the coach's qualifications. An intelligent and insightful coach who care about people in general and who possesses good people skills could very well make a positive difference in some people's lives. It would have to be up to the client to decide about the efficacy of the services.

Judging from the terrible decisions Americans are making about a wide array activities, it looks like many of them could use some smart help.

[Beaverhausen]

29. No kidding

My life was turned around for the better a few years ago with the help of a coach. I love how people criticize things they have no knowledge of.

I wonder how many of those posting negative things are on anti-depressants and/or see a therapist once a week?

[ladjf]

31. Many good life coaches have some formal training as either psychologists

or psychiatric social work. The biggest difference is that the life coach is not going to be looking for diagnosis of psychiatric problems or will they recommend any drugs. They will start with the client at the current situation and move forward from there. In a sense, for the hourly rate the clients are using the experience and intellect of the coach for their own benefit, not a bad idea.
Coaches, like any good teachers can be very helpful with self-image issues. It's a matter of drawing out the client by accenting the best of their strengths.

[radwriter0555]

36. I know a fellow that's become a life coach. He is one of the nicest, most

grounded, sane and responsible people I've ever known. He was also in the rock n roll business, surrounded by drugs, women and vices of every sort, AND he was just plain HOT.

And never once did he stray from his marriage.

He's a person of GREAT humor, and fantastic fella to party with, hang with, BE with and to call a friend. He's of high moral integrity, and just plain silly.

He's a highly successful business man and a gentleman's gentleman.

If I needed a life coach, someone to tell me how to do things, he would be who I would turn to.

In previous generations we had neighbors, friends, relatives to turn to for guidance. We had family units who helped us in their individual ways with advice and assistance.

We can't always live this life on our own with no help from anyone. Even the most independent of us need a sounding board and people we trust to help us make important decisions about how to live our lives.

To put down someone who helps others, or those who need help is just mean. We can be better than that.

[ladjf]

38. Great post. Times change and that means opportunities

come and go. We need to be able to recognize opportunities. I believe that talented "coaches" , like talented social workers, psychiatrists, psychologist and teachers all have a positive place in the mental health field. I am a bit leary of psychiatrists who are too quick to recommend drugs.

[WinkyDink]

27. Oh, okay. I edited this. But why do adult Americans need to pay to

know to get up off their duffs and take action?
Or is it to have someone to be accountable to, like in Weight-Watchers?

[godai]

28. Made me think...only Americans?

I'm guessing that life coaches are an American phenomenon. Somehow, we got along for years without life coaches. I think it was, and is, family and friends that can give reliable advice, for free.

But, like personal trainers, TV astrologers etc., if life coaches work for you, be my guest. Just don't expect to be signing me up, any more than I'd sign up for Weight Watchers. If I need to lose weight, I know to eat less and exercise more.

[ladjf]

32. The strategies that seem so clear to you are often less clear to

people with motivation problems. A smart coach, like an intelligent friend, can often provide insight and encouragement that is beneficial. Most of the coaches charge a modest hourly fee. For many, it's well worth it.

[radwriter0555]

37. Sometimes you need a friend with an objective point of view.

What's wrong with that?

[TX-RAT]

30. I thought they were bartenders.