Life is a gift meant to be cherished and lived to the fullest. However, often in the rigmaroles of life, we lose our sense of sight (regarding life goals), direction, and purpose or cannot identify the innate gifts and abilities that nature has blessed us with. How we view the world, our perspective on life, situations, relationships, and so forth comes under the purview of one’s mindset.
Our mindset is the foundation on which we build the rest of our lives. To help us move forward or to extricate ourselves from a rut, there is help available in the form of coaching. A good coach always believes in an individual’s inner power to solve problems. The coach gently nudges the seeker toward listening to their sub-conscience by asking the right questions. They empower individuals on the path of living their best lives by removing blockages, solving past traumas, and achieving their most genuine potential. There are different types of coaching, and we will focus majorly on life and mindset coaching and the major differences between the two.
While there isn’t much difference between life coaching and mindset coaching, the idea behind coaching is to help the individual learn “how to be” and “what to be with the newfound learning.” For instance, if someone suffers from low confidence or cannot come out of their shell, a mindset coach can help them build confidence and shed their preconceived notions about different areas of life. In contrast, a life coach can help people venture into the world and carve a niche for themselves with newfound confidence.
Many successful business owners wonder about the next step in their professional ventures. A professional life coach or small business coach can help such entrepreneurs achieve the zenith of success. The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the world’s largest organization that offers high standards for the coaching industry by providing coach certification training programs. It helps individuals get the best out of their association with a professional coach. According to the ICF, coaching involves “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
When to Seek a Professional
An individual’s inner compass, which is a conflation of one’s core beliefs and values, ultimately molds their thoughts. Thoughts indirectly or directly affect our actions while these pave the way to success and happiness, which explains the oft-repeated phrase, “mindset is everything!”
Whichever coach or professional you seek, the ultimate goal will remain the same: a successful, happy, holistic, and well-lived life. Here are a few indicators that you must look out for a professional coach:
- Your stress charts have been hitting the roof: It’s getting easier and more accessible for little things to trigger you into a meltdown at work or home. In such cases, it’s best to seek the help of a coach who may help you get clarity regarding the tasks at hand and also help you with certain relaxation techniques.
- Your self-confidence has taken a hit: Life isn’t a bed of roses, and we often tend to doubt ourselves. But if you are letting go of juicy opportunities you deserve to make the most of simply because of low self-confidence levels, then it’s time to book an appointment with a good mindset coach.
- You have trouble keeping up with deadlines: Most of us have trouble keeping up with promises considering the daily stressors and demands of life and loved ones. But suppose accountability is something that you are not known for. In that case, you should consider taking the help of a licensed practitioner who will help you stay accountable and get stuff done regularly.
- You know where you want to see yourself in the near future but don’t have a clear plan: Now, this is a clear indication that you need the help and services of a good life coach who can help you achieve the life goals you are perfectly capable of achieving by helping you set out an actionable growth chart.
The Different Types
Broadly speaking, coaching can be categorized into two main categories. These are individual coaching and business coaching. Let us delve into some subtypes of both sorts of coaching.
- Individual Coaching:
- Relationship Coaching: Suppose you have been struggling with interpersonal relationships. In that case, a relationship coach can offer individual coaching to help enhance or develop conflict resolution skills and achieve harmony and a deepened sense of intimacy. They can help you gain clarity in the present. However, if there are remnants of childhood trauma, they can refer you to a therapist who specializes in the same.
- Grief Coaching: The death of a loved one often leaves one experiencing deep feelings of sadness, loneliness, and anger. To cope with and navigate the grief, coaches can help you set actionable goals that will ultimately help you grow through loss.
- Business Coaching:
- Executive Coaching: This is one of the most individually curated coaching practices offered by an executive coach to a senior manager of an organization, one on one in a safe and structured manner. Many coaches employ the GROW model (goal, current reality, options, and will) to help the student identify competencies, understand how others in the organization perceive them, and chalk out goals and the way forward to achieve them strategically.
- Career Coaching: A career coach can help one navigate career challenges, identify career objectives, make well-thought-out career changes, get a career assessment done and develop effective job search and interview strategies.
Techniques Used
Both life coaches and mindset coaches utilize a combination of techniques or therapy to help the coachee overcome obstacles in their growth and live their best lives.
- One common method used by both is CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). A common form of talk therapy or psychotherapy, it can be a helpful tool to help people handle stressful situations in life by becoming aware of and altering their negative thought patterns. Executed in a structured way, it involves a limited number of sessions and can help resolve many challenges.
- EFT Tapping, or Emotional freedom technique, is another method used by life and mindset coaches to immediately help the student destress by tapping the nine major meridians of the body to help restore energy balance.
- EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), is a more mindset-focused therapy treatment used to alleviate blockages caused by previous traumatic experiences and memories that influence a person’s behavior. The therapist employs EMDR to take the student down memory lane when the incident happened and gradually bring them back while reiterating that the episode is now over and does not exist in the present.
- Life coaches specifically employ solution-focused tools such as The Wheel of Life and models such as the GROW model to help their students regain balance and harmony in different aspects of life. The Wheel of Life, Wheel of Success, or Coaching Wheel, helps coaches gain a bird’s eye view of the current scenario of the student’s life and allows them to construct a structured path to holistic growth. The coachee must know that transformation is the need of the hour as the balance is rarely retained for an extended period; a fixed mindset must gradually give way to a growth mindset.
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What are the Benefits?
Mindset coaching focuses holistically on the individual’s well-being and belief system, improving confidence, getting clarity, gaining, and being happier. In contrast, life coaching is about identifying and enhancing inner strength and working towards goals in a structured manner.
A good mindset coach will help you overcome blockages, get out of a rut by gaining a fresh perspective, offer the right kind of support, hold you accountable and be your cheerleader. You may also stand to gain pearls of wisdom from your mindset coach that might just give your life the kickstart it needs!
When you sign up for life coaching, you stand to gain the following benefits. First, you get a safe space to explore your strengths and grow in a structured manner. Your mentor helps you prepare for risks with a simultaneous increase in productivity, goal attainment, and not to mention enhanced flexibility.
Any coaching aims at helping the coachee attain a harmonious relationship with themselves, their loved ones, and the professional sphere.
Which One Should I Choose?
If you are well aware of your belief systems, about their strengths and confidence, but feel like a rudderless ship, you can avail the services of a life coach. Life coaches can help you find direction and achieve your life goals.
However, suppose you feel that you could do with some guidance in identifying your innate strengths. In that case, we recommend booking a session with a qualified psychologist/therapist to avail expert advice and get on the right track to growth and self-improvement without beating around the bush.
Get Started with a Telecounselling Appointment on Docvita Today!
A therapist who is also a life coach can help you come out of trauma and achieve a holistically rounded and well-balanced life. The good news is that such counseling psychologists are now just a couple of clicks away on DocVita, waiting to help you get your life back on track and get the most out of the gifts you have been blessed with. So we suggest you make an appointment now and be the winner you were born to be!