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In the past couple years, life coaching and consulting has grown into a massive industry. It is all over the news and social media. Many celebrities have endorsed life coaching as have countless others. So here you are, asking “What exactly is a life coach?” and “Do I really need one?”

Athletes have coaches, professionals have mentors, new parents seek guidance, and the list goes on and on. 

In all of these scenarios, people are seeking guidance from others to help them gain a better understanding of the stage of life that they are in and to learn how to improve.

A life coach is no different! 

Life coaches exist to help people as they navigate the ups and downs that life has to offer. 

Life doesn’t come with a handbook to follow and as a result, most of us weren’t formally taught how to live successfully. That is where life coaching comes in! 

Life coaches are people who have figured it out. They are people who have experienced life and were able to orient their paths to have a measure of success. They have become experts in their field and are using their experience to work with others; helping them achieve success in their own lives. 

A life coach can help you to figure out what you want out of life and who you want to be. They will work with you to set and achieve goals and provide you with the support that is needed to achieve their dreams. Additionally, life coaches will teach you tools that can be used long after the coaching experience has ended which will ensure that the positive momentum that was achieved during coaching can continue. 

A life coach wears many hats:

1. We are cheerleaders.

Life is easier when someone is in your corner. When you know you have support, it’s easier to take risks and chase dreams. When you are working with a life coach, you always have someone in your corner.

• Your life coach will also push and motivate you. Experienced life coaches have seen plenty of clients attempt to avoid hard work and stressful situations. They understand this behavior and if they see it in their clients, they can draw attention to it and push the client forward. 

2. We provide guidance.

It’s not always easy to make good decisions, especially when you’re stressed or fearful about the outcome. Sometimes, we are too close to our problems or hurdles to make appropriate decisions to move past them. A life coach can help you to make wise decisions. 

A friend can’t always be objective or completely honest, but your life coach can. You’ll hear what you need to hear from your life coach.

3. We help you to determine what you want to be when you “grow up.”

 
It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 68. A mentor can help you to determine what the next step of your life should be. If you’re feeling lost, a life coach might be the answer.

4. We will help you to find balance.

Life coaches are aware that there’s more to life than having money in the bank or the perfect physique. They emphasize keeping all parts of a person’s life in balance. Health, professional success, relationships, finances, spirituality and leisure activities are all part of a well-balanced life.

5. We can help with many facets of life. A few of these include:

• Career
• Love life
• Finding your life’s purpose
• Achieving challenging goals
• Making more money
• Creating more free time
• Following an exercise program
• Starting a business

As a result, you want to make sure that you coach has expertise in the area of your life that you would like to see growth. Here at The Morning Goals, we focus on working with career-oriented individuals, business owners, entrepreneurs, and creatives. We help people build businesses, careers, or build alternate revenue streams. With this focus in mind we also work with our clients to establish a well-balanced lifestyle. 

6. We are not therapists.

Therapists deal with past issues and traumas. Life coaches work from the present moment and into the future. A coach won’t help you get over a past loss or deal with the fact that you were bullied in junior high. However, a coach can guide you toward building a more desirable future.

7. We are not required to have any training.

There are currently no governing boards that require life coaches to have training – and there are many successful coaches who do not have any formal training at all. 

That being said, there are industry leading organizations that offer certifications where they train prospective life coaches on best practices to ensure successful relationships with clients. 

Here at The Morning Goals, we believe that knowledge is power and have perused training to offer the highest quality of service possible to our clients. Currently, Ed is a Master Certified Life Coach by the Certified Life Coach Institute (CLCI), the leader in life coach certification. For more information about CLCI, click here

Pay attention to reviews and schedule an introductory session to see if a particular life coach is a good fit. Most will offer a free session. Choose carefully.

Do you need a life coach? A coach won’t solve your challenges, but they can help you to help yourself. If you need a steady hand to guide you and a cheerleader to support you, a life coach can make a big difference. There are good life coaches and bad life coaches. If you’re looking for a life coach, ensure that you find a good one. For more information on the process of finding a life coach, check out our previous post here

We can often overreact to situations without even knowing it. How does this happen? Well, we allow our emotions to take over.

Once you gain control over your emotions you’ll be able to choose better reactions, which leads to better solutions.

It’s important to remember that no one is perfect. Everyone overreacts from time to time. It’s when your overreactions become the norm that you should seek a better way.

Consider the following action strategies to help you stop overreacting:

1. The art of not reacting. In order to stop overreacting, you can try using the art of not reacting. This means that when you’re presented with a certain situation, your goal will be to not react at all. Instead, you’ll take the time to think about the situation and then formulate your action.

2. Let out your emotions. Let yourself feel your emotions as they come to you and find positive ways to express them. When you let your emotions build up, they become stronger inside of you. It’s difficult to stop yourself from overreacting when you’re full of pent up emotion.

3. Take a time out. If you tend to overreact with anger, it’s vital to allow yourself some cool down time. If you feel emotions building inside you, instead of bursting out, go somewhere where you know you can be alone. Cooling down will help you to react with a clear head.

4. Write it down. Instead of reacting to a situation at all, go write it down. Writing it down is another way of giving yourself time to think over the situation. Later on, once you read what you wrote, you may be able to see whether your reaction was an overreaction or not.
   
5. Practice relaxation techniques. When you adopt relaxation techniques, you’ll find that you’re automatically more in control of your emotions. Try deep breathing or attend a yoga or meditation class. Relaxation will stop your stress and you’ll be less likely to lash out with any negative emotion.
   
6. Avoid judging. Make it a point to stop judging yourself and others.
   Judgments can give you strong opinions that may be unwarranted, which can lead you to overreactions. In the same vein, when you judge yourself for overreacting, you aren’t allowing yourself to make mistakes, which is a self-defeating attitude.
   

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

If you find that you’re overreacting to all of life’s situations, it’s time to start with the small things. Ask yourself why you’re reacting to small situations with such negative passion.

There could be an underlying issue you need to deal with first. Are you overly stressed? Is your mind focused on something else? Answer these questions and solve these problems first. Just take it one thing at a time.

Change For The Better

Once you’ve discovered a method that works well for you, incorporate that change into your life permanently.

It’s important to expect that you will make mistakes along the way – but that’s okay! You may still overreact from time to time, but we are only human and it happens. Don’t let mistakes discourage you from jumping right back into the methods that work for you.

If you’re having trouble changing, remember to take small steps. It’s quite difficult to become a different person overnight. Try to bring an overall awareness to your life so you no longer feel the pull to overreact. Soon enough, you’ll regain control over your emotions!