Personal Trainer
Once considered obscure and esoteric, life coaching has finally made it to the mainstream. More and more people are seeking out life coaches to help guide them through their life's toughest decisions. Whether you are going through a career change, having trouble balancing your work and personal life, or just want to feel more confident, any major improvement you want to make could be made easier and more authentically if tackled alongside a trusted life coach.
WHAT IS LIFE COACHING?
Coaching is an experiential and individualized development program. It can be leveraged to achieve short and long-term personal or professional goals.
Life coaching deals with clients (you and me) in all their dimensions – personal, professional, relationship, career etc. Sharing feedback from multiple sources to the client is an important element of coaching.
Training is about imparting knowledge and skills and is often done in a group. Coaching treats each uniquely based on their learning style. Coaching supports active experimentation. Pushing personal boundaries, discovering values and questioning assumptions occur as you try out new approaches and actions. According to research (this is applicable in the Indian context as well) – Coaches/ personal trainer are most sought for:
– Personality development
– improving one's soft skills
– Addressing behaviours or mindset that could be blocking you in your present or future (in terms of performance or relationship)
In summary, a coach helps the client find new ways of acting and learning how to learn.
Life Coaches are different from Psychiatrists
Life Coaches help people overcome day to day challenges of life, like the ones listed above.
Psychiatrists, on the other hand, are medical professionals licensed to treat patients for mental illnesses, psychological disorders and serious behavioural issues.
SCOPE
- Coaching is nascent in India. Today most people find coaches via word of mouth. The biggest factor driving the need for coaching in India is the desire to be super successful. Most young people are gunning to become leaders and entrepreneurs at such a young age. Our growth oriented economy needs us to deal with constant change, globalization and challenges us to find creative ways to be at the head of the race. This is where a coach can work as your partner to support your personal and professional dreams.
- Not only has life coaching become more mainstream, it has fully grown up as a profession.
- While the life coach of the past was simply anyone skilled at giving advice and connecting with a person's deeper motivations, today's life coaches are full-time professionals who are highly qualified to coach others in their area of specialization.
- Many organizations hire coaches to support their top talent or leaders. They are engaged for a period of 6-12 months to work systematically to realize their potential or bring to life their development plan.
LIFE COACH CERTIFICATION
Presently, there is no specific degree program in life coaching or personal training, but a person aspiring to be an life or a personal trainer can a degree in human resources, teaching, communication, pyschology, etc.
There are diploma and certification available by institutes/organisations like:-
- ICF Coaching
- Wisdom Tree Solutions
- Symbiosis Coaching
- NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming)
