Coaching Articles
‘My life coaching journey’
Inner contentment is something we all crave and life coaching can help us achieve it, whether we receive coaching or train to coach others. Christina Neal Managing Editor of Women's Fitness Magazine, reports on her journey to become an accredited life coach.
Personal development has become very popular and there is no shortage of training courses on self-improvement. Life coaching has always appealed to me more than any others. Last year, I received life coaching to help me address the work/life balance and it was a success. I felt that it offered practical, sensible solutions on how to manage my time, which made life less stressful and more rewarding. So I decided to embark on a coaching course and become an accredited coach myself.
Being an accredited coach can be the start of a new career for many people and some go on to set up their own successful coaching practices. However, my motives were not necessarily about launching a new career. Many people embark on a coaching course to learn more about themselves and define what they truly want from their own life. Most of us get sucked into the daily grind without stopping to think about what we truly want. Life coach Laura Berman Fortgang, author of Take Yourself To The Top (Penguin, £7.94), says it perfectly in her book: 'If you're running on a never-ending treadmill, you are not living a life; you're running a marathon and you will burn out. You will get much more of what you want if you get off the treadmill, take your eye off the road and start looking at the sky.'
Practical plan
Coaching can help us put a practical plan in place to move towards leading the life we truly desire. Life coaches are not counsellors and don’t provide therapy about past problems or issues. A skilled coach will look at where you are now, where you want to be and help you map out your journey, building in strategies for any obstacles that my arise on the way. On a coaching course, you learn how to coach others and you also receive coaching.
I chose to train with Catalyst Coaching after attending one of its free two-hour introductory seminars. It became apparent to me that this wasn’t a 'quick fix' course where you walk away after a weekend with a new ‘skill’. At present, life coaching isn’t regulated by a single governing coaching body, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t taken seriously. Catalyst Coaching has had its course vetted and endorsed by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) and coaching will most likely be regulated in the future. The Catalyst course consists of three compulsory modules; module one is named Core Coaching and consists of a two-day taught programme, module two, the Next Step, consists of a combination of tutorials, teleclass assignments, working with a mentor and coaching five practise clients, plus a further module which is a one-day taught programme consisting of supervision, contracting and information you need as a practicing coach. There’s also two optional modules, Corporate Coaching and Sales & Marketing. As you are assigned your own mentor, you get help with managing your workload and support when you need it.
The entire course can take from six months to one year to complete, depending on your schedule. Studying is flexible based on your personal circumstances. Next time, I’ll tell you more about module one and the start of my new journey in coaching.
Try the Wheel Of Life!
If you want to evaluate your life, you can try ‘The Wheel Of Life’. This is a quick, easy exercise that enables you to identify areas of your life that need change or improvement. You simply draw a circle and split it into segments for each area of your life, ideally selecting up to eight segments. These can include your partner, career, environment, friends and family and any other topics that are important to you, such as hobbies or other interests. You then grade each area on a scale of zero to ten depending on how happy you are with each of them. Once you have drawn your Wheel Of Life and earmarked the areas that need work, ask yourself the following:
Women’s Fitness magazine, caters for ordinary women of all ages and fitness levels seeking to lose weight and tone up through regular exercise and a healthy diet. Women’s Fitness is published every four weeks and is available in major retail outlets, including WH Smith’s, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and all good supermarkets.
To subscribe, call 0844 844 0246 or visit the website at www.womensfitnessmag.co.uk