Life coaching

Is life coaching worth
the time and money?

 
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You've figured out what life coaching is, and that you've got the kind of issues a life coach can help you with right now. But is life coaching worth parting with your hard-earned cash? What about the time commitment?


 

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

Research conducted by the International Coach Federation has revealed a number of ways coaching clients have found coaching to be valuable to their lives (ICF 1998, ICF 2009).

  • Improvements in self confidence and self esteem.
  • More harmonious relationships, better communication and heightened interpersonal skills.
  • Increased work performance and smarter business management.
  • Greater career opportunities.
  • Improved goal-setting and higher rates of project completion.
  • Increased personal organization and better time management.
  • Better work/life balance, more fun and more free time.
  • Improvements in health, fitness and wellness, more energy and lowered stress levels.
  • Success in stopping a bad habit.
  • Improvements in quality of life.
  • More income.

In the same two studies, coaching clients said they found life coaching to be worth the investment. The first study, conducted in 1998, found that 98.5% of coaching clients said their coaching was valuable or very valuable. The second, conducted in 2009, found 99% of clients were satisfied or very satisfied.

According to a third study (ICF 2004), the aspects coaching clients found most valuable were:

  • Brainstorming with their coach.
  • Having an independent viewpoint.
  • The encouragement they received.
  • Being accountable.
  • Being listened to.
Coaching conversation
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WHAT WILL YOU GAIN FROM
COACHING?

So if you decide to enlist a coach into your life, what are you likely to gain from it?

1
Priorities and goals

Your coach will help you set priorities and goal, and guide you in how you can put your most important priorities first. These goals can be anything from the things of the world that are fighting against you to things in your mind which are holding you back.

When you have your list of priorities and goals organized, you and your coach will design ways in which you can achieve your goals in realistic and achievable ways.

Coaching priorities
 
2
Accountability

A huge factor in your success that coaching can help you with is accountability.

Having someone to report to greatly increases your likelihood of following through and achieving your target.

Coaching accountability
 
3
Motivation

Being motivated is like a superhuman cocktail when it comes to accomplishing what you want. If there are things you have been struggling to get done, chances are you're just not motivated.

Your coach will help you find out why this is, and work through any limiting beliefs or patterns that aren't working. Then they'll work with you to keep you motivated and achieving your goals.

Coaching motivation
 
4
Moving beyond limiting beliefs and unproductive strategies

Everyone has habits of thinking that just aren't working for them. Coaching helps you break free of these habits by showing you new perspectives, pointing out your blind spots, and bringing on big "ah-ha" moments.

You've also got certain unproductive strategies you've been using to try to get things working in different aspects of your life. Everyone does. Your coach helps you to unlearn these and develop new strategies that will actually work for you.

Once you clear away what's not working, you'll be able to focus on where you want to be, and have a solid chance of getting there.

Moving beyond limiting beliefs
 



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IS LIFE COACHING WORTH THE TIME
AND MONEY?

One question people often have before they try life coaching is: Is life coaching worth it? Can I really afford the expense? What about the time commitment?

Well, let's think of this as a math problem. You are already spending a certain amount of time and money every week without life coaching, living and meeting your goals however you have learnt to do that. Let's call that amount "x."

Now life coaching will cost you a certain amount of money, and a certain investment of time. Let's call that amount "y."

Time and money spent on meeting your goals now:
 
X
Time and money you will spend on life coaching:
Y
   
 
How much life coaching will cost you:
 
Z

So how do we determine if life coaching is worth the time and money? Well, very simply, we subtract y (the time and money you will spend on life coaching to meet your goals) from x (the time and money you are already spending to meet your goals without life coaching). If x is greater than y, we will have a positive savings. Even if the amount we come up with is 1 (hour saved or dollar saved), you will have gotten value for money.


Time and money spent on meeting your goals now:
 
$1500
Time and money you will spend on life coaching:
$1000
   
 
How much life coaching will cost you:
 
$500
saved

"Hold on," you may be saying to yourself, "I am not spending time or money at all now—I am just doing what I do."

That's an easy but deceptive trap to fall into. We are always, all the time, using strategies we have come up with to get things done. For instance, we have a way of organizing our time in the morning, or a way to lose ten pounds, to meet someone new, or to try to find a job. Often, we haven't given a lot of thought to these strategies, and we've adopted them in an ad-hoc manner. This is where we are really losing both time and money.

Weighing in
 

If we are using a strategy that takes twice as long as it could—and we probably are—we have lost time. It might be a matter of

  • an hour every morning, or
  • three months of job searching, or
  • six months of dieting.

Talk about adding up!


And of course, we all know our time is money. But what does that really mean? Well it could be as simple as the fact that when we lose an hour a day, we tend to order more convenience food, which ends up costing us much more in the long run. Or if we are taking longer than we wanted to lose that weight, we might be tempted to buy all sorts of "get thin fast" pills, books and programs, which only reduce our wallet. And of course if we take an extra three months job searching, we have lost out on a good three months of income.

Eating junk food
 

So we invest time and money every time we adopt a strategy.


If the time and money we would invest when we have a life coach working with us to tailor these strategies is less than the time and money we spend on the strategies we currently use, then we have come out on top. Even one hour or one dollar less is a savings. But you are likely to save much, much more, as the examples above indicate.

Coaching on issues that help you attain business and career goals can also be tax deductible. Check with your accountant or tax advisor for more information.

 

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HOW MUCH DOES A LIFE COACH COST?

Life coaches charge comparable fees to other trained professionals. Fees will vary based on the coach and also the service offered. Greater training and experience will usually correlate with higher fees.

Private coaching involving one-on-one coaching calls or face to face interaction will generally cost more than online coaching or group coaching. At the low end, private coaching might cost $50 per hour, and at the high end $500 per hour, with a lot of variety in between.


Most coaching is sold in packages of several sessions—for instance a month's worth of coaching or three month's worth of coaching, which you can then renew.

 


 
 
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