Daily Insight Video

I was talking with a coach from Spain the other day, and we were discussing the differences in coaching in other cultures. According to him, coaching is not as widespread or well-known in Spain as it is in the United States.

Coaching began in the US, and it has really started to spread across the country. Over ten years ago, when I was first trained as a life coach, coaching was not very well-known. I found myself explaining what life coaching was to people a lot.

It seems like this is the stage that other countries are in right now. Coaches still have to explain what life coaching is, what it isn’t, and what a life coach actually does.

This is an uphill battle.

Explaining what life coaching is is difficult in these situations because the people asking about it, usually start out skeptical about the approach.

At the beginning of my life coaching career, I really wanted people to know what coaching was. I found myself explaining it to people all the time, and I really wanted people to have a good understanding of what it was, and what it wasn’t.

Now, when people ask me what a life coach does, I just have fun with it. I will often say silly or sarcastic things about life coaching. Rather than focusing on the specifics of being a life coach, I have started to explain what I do by the problems that I solve.

People understand when I say that I help teenagers handle stress around grades, frustration around relationships, or anxiety about the future.

Rather than me explaining to people what life coaching is and how or why it works, I am able to explain the things I am doing to help students. People understand this, and people like what they understand.

I no longer have to worry about whether or not people agree with the use of life coaching, because I know it works. My focus is now on the problems I am solving and the help I am giving to students, and people respect this so much more in a conversation that my explanation of what life coaching is.

When you are explaining something to someone, they pick up on your attitude and energy more than the words you are saying. When I was explaining life coaching, it was clear in my voice and energy that I was uncertain and trying to convince people of something. Now that I have let that go, my conversations go much smoother.

So for all you new life coaches out there, struggling to explain what coaching is, try not to. Avoid explaining what coaching is or isn’t, and start explaining the kinds of problems you are solving.