Questions and Prejudices Put to the Test
Do you also feel like everyone is currently thinking about mental health and work-life balance? Are you one of them? Both topics are widely discussed right now. Clearly, people want to take better care of their mental well-being. For me, this is a positive trend in the right direction. The only question is: How do I do that? The answer on the internet: Coaching, retreats, yoga, mindfulness exercises... the list is long, and my social media is full of offers. The claims are big, and so are my prejudices.
In this blog post series, I want to explore all possible prejudices and questions regarding coaching to help you answer the question of “how.” After all, many friends, colleagues, and acquaintances tell me that coaching has helped them in the long run, for example, to better understand their strengths and weaknesses, use their resources more effectively, make decisions, or take the next steps in their career/life.
Over the next four blog posts, I want to take a deeper look the following questions for you:
What exactly is coaching and would it be right for me/you?
Coaching vs. Therapy - What's the big difference?
How do I recognize a qualified coach?
What can Coach-Wave do for me?
What Exactly Is “Coaching”?
"I only know the term coach from sports, what does it have to do with my life?"
You probably know the term coach from sports. A Life-Coach is essentially the same thing as a coach in sports, but it’s a coach for the game of life. The beauty of coaching is that a good coach is trained to help you find and hit your “goal” on your thematic field, at your own pace.
Just like in sports, there are many different types of coaching depending on the life stage and role (position in the game) you currently find yourself in. For example, there is career/business coaching, life coaching, family coaching, etc.
A typical coaching session lasts about one to two hours and takes place, depending on possibilities and preference, in person or online. The basic premise of coaching is that we all have the necessary tools within us to lead a fulfilling life. However, sometimes we lack access to our resources. This is where professional Life-Coaching can help, opening up new perspectives and enabling you to take the next steps. Sometimes a single coaching session is enough to change your perspective and find motivation for the next steps. Sometimes it takes several sessions - it all depends on the topic. Essentially, coaching is a process where a coach advises you, the coachee (the client of a coaching session), in a solution-oriented manner and temporarily supports you on your individual path.What Exactly Is “Coaching”?
"I only know the term coach from sports, what does it have to do with my life?"
You probably know the term coach from sports. A Life-Coach is essentially the same thing as a coach in sports, but it’s a coach for the game of life. The beauty of coaching is that a good coach is trained to help you find and hit your “goal” on your thematic field, at your own pace.
Just like in sports, there are many different types of coaching depending on the life stage and role (position in the game) you currently find yourself in. For example, there is career/business coaching, life coaching, family coaching, etc.
A typical coaching session lasts about one to two hours and takes place, depending on possibilities and preference, in person or online. The basic premise of coaching is that we all have the necessary tools within us to lead a fulfilling life. However, sometimes we lack access to our resources. This is where professional Life-Coaching can help, opening up new perspectives and enabling you to take the next steps. Sometimes a single coaching session is enough to change your perspective and find motivation for the next steps. Sometimes it takes several sessions - it all depends on the topic. Essentially, coaching is a process where a coach advises you, the coachee (the client of a coaching session), in a solution-oriented manner and temporarily supports you on your individual path.
Would Coaching Be Right for Me?
"I’m not doing so badly, and it’s probably not the right thing for my issues..."
Coaching is a great resource for many, for both minor and major issues. The variety of topics that can be addressed with coaching cannot be summarized in one sentence. Coaching is understood as help for self-help. You can see it as support where you get proven helpful tips and tricks to achieve your goals. At the end of a coaching session, you will have worked out a strategy with qualified psychological experts that helps you navigate your individual path. A good coach works with you to determine what is important to you in your individual problem, what bothers you, and what options there are for dealing with your situation. Therefore, many topics can be covered in coaching. Here are just a few examples: Decision-making, motivation, dealing with stress, fears, or difficult times, family life, time management, next steps in your career or life... Different coaches have different specializations. There are qualified coaches for many topics, you just have to find the “right” person.
The goal of quality coaching and a good coach is not to make you dependent on instructions, conversations, etc., or to “brainwash” you. Instead, it’s about encouraging you to become independent and self-efficient. In the “best case,” you can answer your questions after just one session.
The intensity, number, and topic of the sessions are always under your control. If you realize during or after a session that you don’t like it or don’t need it anymore, you simply stop. With a qualified coach, you control the pace 100% and are not forced or persuaded to continue! The goal is not many expensive sessions but a quality collaboration for long-term positive changes.
Of course, you can also read books and/or talk to your loved ones or simply suppress issues. But firstly, suppressed issues will still be there later. Secondly, books are passive media that cannot actively respond to you, and thirdly, your loved ones often have biased opinions and their own lives. This can help and advance you, but these opinions are often not really neutral or professional. That’s why sometimes it can also help immensely to discuss your issues with an external, professional person to gain new perspectives on (possibly entrenched) issues and patterns.
In the next blog, I will look at the difference between coaching and therapy with you. Especially among young people, the terms are often used without much differentiation. What is the big difference? When is therapy the right choice? When is coaching the right choice?
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