Can Life Coaching Improve Your Health?

Do you ever say, “I know what I should be doing, but can’t seem to follow through? Do you know the right things to say to yourself to motivate yourself to follow through? These are common questions that are being assessed and more trainers and coaches are integrating life coaching with fitness training to improve clients’ results and answer these questions. There is a large difference between life coaches and health coaches though.

Life coaching is a method based on client’s needs, values and priorities with a focus on the person’s whole life and on wellness, rather than disease. The purpose of life coaching is to achieve sustained cognitive, emotional and behavioral changes by understanding distortions in thinking: Once clients perceive their own mental barriers, they can generate individual strategies to make the daily choices required to realize specific goals. In contrast, traditional health coaching is a practice of health education and health promotion within a coaching context that focuses on specific health or disease related goals.

People who need support to improve self-efficacy and self-empowerment may benefit more from life coaching than those who already possess self-confidence. Life coaching uses tools such as positive affirmation, visualization, and goal setting to assist in maximizing your personal development around health and fitness. It can help eliminate beliefs that are holding you back to reaching your goals faster and more effectively.

One thing is certain, once you make the choice to become healthier, challenges will show up in your life. It is how you view, process and take action upon these challenges that will determine your quality of life. Life coaching is a very valuable tool in learning how to focus energy on developing yourself, how to tailor valuable information to meet your specific need, and how to take action with the knowledge you have acquired to attain your goals. Once you combine knowledge with action, you secure life-lasting results.