Why the Hell Does Anyone Need a Life Coach?
Matty Kerr is co-creator with John Brancaccio of The Working Experience. He is also a filmmaker and published author. Listen to our podcast on iTunes and Spotify and visit our website: theworkingexperience.com for videos, merchandise and more. You can also find us on Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, and Twitter.
I am a Certified Life Coach and I can solve all of your problems.
I looked up the job description for a Life Coach…
Life Coach: (n) a type of wellness professional who helps people make progress in their lives in order to attain greater fulfillment. Life coaches aid their clients in improving their relationships, careers, and day-to-day lives. … In creating these strategies, life coaches target your unique skills and gifts.
Or…
Life Coach: (n) A person who offers fairly obvious advice to people and somehow manages to get paid for it.
Most of us need guidance at some point in our lives. Having a mentor for a specific job is very valuable. But Life Coach just smacks of B.S.
A Life Coach is not a therapist, a position that requires training, a degree a medical license, credentials etc. There is no degree for a Life Coach. You can get a certification and I am sure that there are multiple “institutions” that will gladly take your money to provide you with a certification. But there is no official license that shows that a person has the qualifications to be a Life Coach.
Life Coaches:
- Cannot treat mental health conditions
- Do not need any formal qualifications or academic training
- Are not required to follow health privacy laws
You can get all the “certifications” you want but making money as a Life Coach mostly involves marketing yourself as a personality type. You create videos that showcase you as a person other people should listen to.
According to the website, lifecoachcertification.com, these are some of a skills of a Life Coach:
- Effective Communication. Effective communication cannot be underestimated in the coaching relationship. …
- Awareness. …
- Actions. …
- Listening Skills. …
- Non-Verbal Listening Techniques. …
In addition:
Being good looking, in great shape, having great hair and piercing blue eyes are helpful.
Being able to feign empathy is essential.
You also need the ability to convince someone that they need a life coach and should pay you to be their Life Coach, even if there is really no reason anyone should listen to you about anything.
What does a Life Coach supposedly help with?
- Better work/life balance
- Elimination of long-held fears and anxieties
- Enhanced creativity
- Greater financial security
- Improved communication skills
- More satisfying work life
- Stronger relationships with friends and family
Being a Life Coach seems to entail giving very vague or painfully obvious advice. It reminds me of Dr. Phil telling a guest, “Well you need to get off those drugs.” Brilliant.
What would a Life Coach tell me about financial security? To save more money?
What would a Life Coach tell me about having a more satisfying work life? Quit my job?
Advice is great. We all need it from time to time. But I am going to seek advice from a person who knows what they’re talking about, someone who works in a field I want to advance in for example. Or I will see a therapist. It just seems odd to pay a person with no credentials to tell you how to run your life.
Hard work, discipline, patience…doing what you have to do to get where you want to be. It’s not really a mystery.
Having said all of that, I am a Certified Life Coach and I can solve all of your problems.
