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I have no issue with your choice to become a life coach, and I also have no issue with you deciding to use a life coach.

Whatever it takes for you to find happiness, and all that.

But, and this is a big but, adding ‘Life Coach’ to your Instagram bio, followed by four emojis representing moon, star, sun, and rainbow, does mean you’re opening yourself up for criticism.

Especially when you’re in your early twenties, which is a common rant on this thread, which I guess Seth must have stumbled across.

Even life-coaching businesses like this one, JRNI Coaching (they go on to add coaching is “pronounced journey” in their ‘About us’ section), have addressed the issue.

Here are some excerpts from a blog post on that site:

It’s become so common that you might be wondering: is life coaching legitimate?

Here’s the thing: the field of coaching is expanding exponentially. With such rapid growth, it’s inevitable that a few shady characters will jump on the trend…

So everyone’s a life coach now. Or so it seems.

But this isn’t why you are getting cringes from other people when you say you’re a life coach.

It’s the emojis.

No, not really – apparently, it’s the perceived smugness of it all:

When you announce that you are a life coach, people get the impression that what you are really saying is that you have conquered life. That you know everything. It’s inherent in the title and a hard pill to swallow.

It’s lined with ego and push back will come faster than you can tweet your new passion, especially from your friends. Maybe not in words. But you will be able to see it etched into their faces.

They’re not angry, they’re just disappointed.

The same blog goes on to list three steps to stop people from cringing when you mention your, um, calling (journey), if you care.

I don’t, they just told me to write this story, so here we are.

CNBC recently ran an article comparing life coaches, career coaches, and therapists, in case you’re trying to figure out which one would best suit your needs.

Here’s how they outline what a life coach is:

Life coaches can guide you through all aspects of your life, from your romantic relationships to your finances and beyond, and help you plan for the future and make decisions…

Life-coaching resembles talk therapy, because the focus of sessions tends to be about you and what’s happening in your personal life…

But unlike talk therapy, the point of life-coaching is to create an action plan that helps you change your behavior in some area of your life.

Another big difference between a life coach and a therapist is that the latter is required to meet certain education and license requirements in order to provide treatment, and anybody can say they’re a coach.

Look, 2020 was a trainwreck, and 2021 is shaping up to be much of the same. If you think you can help empower other people to ‘live their best life’ (just think up a more creative tag line, please), go on with your bad self.

[sources:jnri&cnbc]