Many people want to believe they have the ‘gift’ of acting as a guide to people looking to find their way through the hurdles of life. The idea behind having such gifts stems from the general or conventional – yet rarely known- ideas about life, or their ability to effectively express thoughts through words. Whatever the case, having the above is the tip of an enormous iceberg of the things you would need to become a life coach.
Being a life coach is equal to having people hanging to your very words, such that when they begin to pay attention, your words will go a long way to either make or mar them. It is like a football team without a coach; they can play well if the players have the skills and commitment, but when they face a team of equal strength and a good coach, they would most probably definitely not stand a chance.
This is the same with life coaching; everyone may be striving to live a worthy life, but with the right life coach, you can do even better. This is why we are laying serious emphasis on the need to be qualified enough to undertake such a role or position. For people who may poses skills as enumerated above, the questions would be – ‘what is left for me to prove that I can be a life coach?’
To answer this question, let us quickly look at the 5 major things you need to know or have at your tips before you go into life coaching.
1. Understand Life.
Basically everybody alive knows what is needed to survive, but only a handful understand what life is all about. Before you become a life coach, take time to understand the way life works. This is why the leading people in life coaching are advanced in age, career and experience. You have to ‘live’ before you understand life. To ‘live’ entails being involved in the rights things pertaining to life like education, socializing, spirituality, career, etc. Human existence revolves around them so be sure to have experienced it all before you go on to teach people about it.
2. Be Confident.
Confidence is a huge part of being a life coach. From the scenario we painted above, being a coach means that you have to put up a bold appearance before your team to convey the feeling that you know what you are doing. Without confidence, you may have a hard time conveying your message, and this will greatly affect the reception of such a message devoid of confidence.
3. Show Empathy.
You have to develop empathy for the plight of others. Your audience would be people from various walks of life with various stories, some worse than others. You would have to show that you really identify with their plight, not just from your words but your conduct too.
4. Human Interaction.
You will be dealing with human beings who are the most populated species in the world, so you must have had to interact with them for a long time. Casually hanging around people and exchanging pleasantries does not cut it; interaction involves being around people and engaging them in discussions surrounding their lives and understanding the impact of some life decisions on their lives. This experience will come in handy when you have to advise someone else, as you can rely on the information you have gathered from your interactions.
5. Have Some Level Of Academic, And Career Qualification.
Your educational background and your career would go a long way in affecting the reception of your message. While educational qualification no longer receives much limelight, try and build up your career by taking advantage of opportunities that make such advancement possible. Life coaching entails that you have to be sound mentally to enable you to prefer easy and effective advice on the things of life.
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