You’ve probably heard of personal coaching or life coaching. If you gave it any thought, you might have wondered what makes coaching different from therapy, mentoring, teaching, or even just personal development books?
Let’s break down the fundamental differences between coaching and all of the above.
Coaching vs. Therapy
This is the most common question, “how does life coaching differ from talk therapy?” At first glance, the two may seem interchangeable or mostly indistinguishable, but that’s not at all the case. There are three primary distinctions.
Therapy focuses on the past; coaching focuses on the future.
Therapy is invaluable when issues of past or current trauma are disrupting your life. Therapy is great at diving into problems of the past, uprooting them, and helping you let go.
Coaching isn’t so much about your past as it’s about forward motion and personal achievement. Personal coaching is ideal for when you’re ready to make significant and important life changes to become the person you know you can be but struggle to know where to start or need a supportive community and/or a reliable guide.
Therapy works to get you back to normal; coaching aims to propel you forward.
People commonly go to therapy because depression, anxiety, an inability to focus, and/or reemerging trauma make it impossible to function normally. Therapy is a crucial part of reestablishing normalcy amidst these common mental and emotional disrupters.
Coaching is all about personal ambition and accessing the tools to move forward successfully. People decide to go with personal or life coaching because they are ready to move ahead with their goals and dreams. Coaching helps individuals develop the skills and perspectives they need to achieve what has long seemed out of reach personally, professionally, financially, or socially.
Therapy is founded in psychological and medical research; coaching is based on goal, habit, and personal achievement research.
Therapy is about identifying potential underlying issues and making diagnoses where applicable.
Coaching is about identifying goals and actively implementing strategies to make strides with those goals.
Therapy is undeniably crucial to mental and emotional health. Even so, sometimes coaching is a better fit when what you’re looking for isn’t so much about getting back to normal as it is about having the support you need to develop your life more fully.
Coaching vs. Mentoring
Mentoring has a particular and therefore limited end goal; Coaching is open and versatile.
Why is mentoring limited? Because the end goal is to be where your mentor is while they’re mentoring you. Mentors are, of course, profoundly valuable people to have in your life. But mentoring is designed to show you the path a single person took to get to where they are.
Coaching isn’t about one narrow path. Life coaching is about developing the skills for all areas of life—opening as many paths as you’d care to walk down.
Coaching vs. Teaching
Teaching is a structured hierarchy, with the teacher at the top and the students at the bottom. Coaching is personal and team-structured.
Of course, teachers are the hinge point of an educated society. Even so, there comes the point in life when you’re ready to take a more active role in your education.
Personal coaching differs from traditional education in that it’s about the person as an individual. Life coaching builds on what you’ve learned in a way that not only educates you but also empowers you to achieve more professionally and personally.
Coaching vs. Personal Development Books
Personal development books require that you go it alone. Coaching provides community.
All of us have probably tried to brave the path of self-improvement alone. But that’s just it—when you read a personal development book, you are doing it alone. Even if you read self-help books in a book club, you only have one night of sharing insight.
There’s no reason to take the lonely road. Much of personal coaching is based on the research found in many self-improvement books. But coaching’s power is in the community and insight that comes from discussing those insights with others.
Additionally, life coaching is tailored to you and your life. Whether you join a group or elect to go one-on-one, you’ll be able to ask questions and get insight specific to your personal experience and ambitions.
Flourish First vs. The Rest
We know it’s not enough for us to help you identify a few underlying issues or teach you how to implement some powerful techniques. We are committed to helping you level-up in what we call the three L’s:
- Learn
- Live
- Lead
And with Flourish First, you move through the three L’s in eight core areas of life:
- Personal Growth
- Spirituality
- Romantic Relationships
- Health & Fitness
- Family/Community
- Career/Education
- Finances
- Fun & Social Life
We understand that life is multifaceted and that a healthy, productive life addresses all of the above eight areas. We also know that there is a difference between learning a principle and living it. We take you from merely understanding principles to living by those principles and even leading other people to do the same.
Interested in getting started? Click here and start your journey to a better life.