Life coaching and personal coaching are interchangeable terms – they mean the same. Life coaching aims to draw out a person’s potential rather than put in aims and knowledge from the outside. It develops rather than imposes. It reflects rather than directs. It illuminates their own strengths and helps them to see where they have been used and where they are being used now.
Effective life coaching or personal coaching is a form of change facilitation – it enables people, rather than trains them. Life coaching is reactive and flexible – it allows for personal transition on an individual basis. Life Coaching of this sort makes no assumptions – it’s not judgmental, nor is it prescriptive or instructional. Empathy is central to the coaching process.
Good personal coaching looks at all areas of a person’s life and measures their levels of satisfaction with each area. It seeks to help a person’s understanding of himself or herself.
I use various tools of visioning, clarifying direction, planning, goal setting, affirmations, vision boards, values, standards, needs, intentions, accountability, and understanding flow.
Kathy Nelson, Life Coaching in San Diego, California