A great life coach has the power to help people see through the inner situation, understand every perspective and formulate a solution to address the situation. Becoming a life coach requires you to have the important qualities that allow you to become successful. If you want to be a great life coach then you should first consider if you have what it takes.
Here are some of great life coach qualities:
1. Empathic listener
Being a great listener is a primary requirement as a life coach; however, being empathic should be part of the package. You need to be great at listening from all directions – clients, peers, mentors, other people, and yourself. Being a great listener involves being able to see both from the inside and from the outside. That means that you’re able to see the situation as it is at the same time from a bigger picture perspective.
Being an empathic listener enables you to communicate within people aside from communicating between them. You’re able to listen, explore, study and converse in the subjective experience of the people you’re listening and communicating to. Part of achieving this is being adept at Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP since this is a skill that enables you to communicate both internally and externally.
2. Patient
Patience is more than just a virtue for a great life coach. It should be manifested in all areas. Whether you’re dealing with your clients, working with your peers and/or your mentor, or assessing your career. Patience is applied in all aspects. These are some of the situations where a great life coach should be patient:
* Dealing with unmotivated and/or uninspired clients
* Working on very complex client situations, such as those battling with addiction
* Following through with a client who fail to perform agreed actions
* Maintaining connection with absentee clients
* Dealing with clients who struggle to pay agreed fees
* Dealing with violent clients
A great life coach dedicates himself to helping his client. Whatever the situation is or the client’s personality is, a great life coach is patient enough to handle all these challenges.
3. Committed
People who look for life coaches need someone who is committed to help them organize their life, solve their challenges, keep track of their milestones, and continue to motivate them to achieve their goals. That said, they need a life coach who is committed to help them improve their quality of life. Someone who is skilled and passionate enough to help them get back on track.
A great life coach remains committed to their clients regardless of how difficult they may be or how challenging the situations are. A great life coach is devoted to walk the client through from the start up until the end.
4. Strong work ethic and self motivation
A great life coach should embody a strong work ethic. The personal coaching industry is very competitive and there are a great number of life coaches every day trying to source and win a client. Establishing a strong work ethic by putting in place a system for your practice is essential. This could be as simple as doing the following things every day:
* Preparing a daily, weekly, monthly plan
* Keeping a diary – for clients or for daily activities
* Allocating 4 hours a day for client work
* Allocating 2 hours a day sharing insights via social media
* Allocating 2 hours a day checking other life coaches for new ideas * Allocating 1 hour a day for reading self-help books or learning new methods
* Allocating 30 minutes a day to map out a goal for the next day, week or month
These are key things to keep yourself motivated. Being able to plan, know what you’re doing for the day and plot a goal for tomorrow. Follow a strong work ethic and being able to motivate yourself are 2 important things to be successful in the business.
5. Love to learn
The amazing thing about being a great life coach is the hunger for new things to learn. Whether you’re getting it from books, videos, podcasts, TED talks, and even social media. A great life coach loves to learn. This doesn’t mean learning only new techniques or methodologies about being a life coach. It means broadening the knowledge to other subjects, such as:
* Project Management
* Change Management
* SEO
* Branding
* Marketing
* Lean Methodology
These are tools that can help you become more effective with your practice.
Conclusion
Great life coaches embody great qualities. They walk the talk and lead by example. More importantly, great life coaches love the practice and they find new ways to manifest these qualities not only to their clients but also to their peers in the industry. These essential qualities make you stand out in the business.
If you would like to find out more about using a life coach to guide you, click here: great life coach guidance
Mandy X
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
