What is a Life Coach? What You Need to Know

A life coach is a well-being professional who helps clients to make meaningful progress in their lives. Their focus is on aiding people to realize their full potential in every area of life including, relationships, career, and business.  

Life coaches specialize in helping you identify your goals, recognize your hindrances, and work out strategies to achieve everything you'd like. Of course, you could do this on your own, but having someone knowledgeable and dedicated to holding you accountable will make things happen faster and with more consistency. 

Life coaches are skilled at seeing your gifts and talents and encouraging you to use your strengths to gain confidence. Personal development is more than a trendy term; it's necessary for your life's fulfillment. A life coach will support and guide you toward long-lasting change without taking power from you. Instead, they recognize that you are the expert of your own life.  

Who Can Be a Life Coach

When you look for a life coach, look for someone who specializes in a niche that suits your unique needs. 

While a life coach doesn't require a degree, they should have the following personal traits:

• Be an active listener.
• Be dedicated to their own personal development.
• Be enthusiastic and positive.
• Have genuine care for the well-being of others. 

What Benefits Do Life Coaches Offer?

Having a life coach will give you a broader, fresher perspective on your life. Their insights can be invaluable to you. Here are just a few more of the benefits offered by life coaches: 

Manage Chronic Stress and Anxiety 

Stress and anxiety seem like permanent facets of peoples' lives, but they shouldn't be. You may not even be aware of how much stress and anxiety affect your life, but a life coach can help you reduce and manage your stress. In addition, they can help you to understand your thoughts and aid you in processing the circumstances of your life. 

Personal Growth Towards Goals or Fulfillment 

One of the key features of life coaching is to engage you in meaningful personal development. They will work with you to create a strategy for reaching your life and career goals and work with you through anything holding you back. Much of the effectiveness of life coaching is the accountability aspect that will keep you moving forward even when you lose motivation. 

Has your work left you burned out and stressed? We can help you reset, recharge, and renew. Contact Deanna Larson MD to learn more. 

Improve Personal Relationships, Self-confidence, and Creativity 

With the mental clarity you can achieve with the help of a life coach, your confidence will also increase. In addition, a mind that is unfettered by anxiety and confusion can better deal with personal relationships. As you undergo the transformation afforded by coaching, these other aspects of your life will improve.

Professional Growth

Life coaching will give you authority over your thoughts and beliefs so you can move toward a purposeful response to the issues in your life and profession. This will inevitably bring clarity and alignment to your career goals and assist you in following a winning strategy.  

How is a Life Coach Different from a Therapist?

Although the roles of a life coach and a therapist seem to overlap in some areas, they aren't the same things. A therapist will go deeper into your past to find the 'whys' behind your current behavior. Then, they will attempt to help you move forward by doing the deep work of self-discovery and self-realization. Also, therapists are qualified to treat mental health issues.

If you need direction, support, and accountability to reach your goals, you'll benefit from the services of a life coach. But if you're looking for inner healing or treatment for mental illness issues, you need a therapist or a psychiatrist . 

Types of Life Coaches

Here are some of the types of life coaches:

• Health and Wellness Coach
• Divorce Coach
• Career Coach
• Addiction and Sobriety Coach
• Diet and Fitness Coach
• Mental Health Coach
• Spirituality Coach
• Relationship Coach
• Financial Coach
• Sports Coach

Why Medical Professionals Should Use a Life Coach

Why would a doctor need a specialized life coach? Medical professionals have unique pressures, and burnout is common. This is partially due to the, ironically, unhealthy culture of organizations and supervisors not providing adequate support, staffing, and resources.  Throughout medical training, physicians are indoctrinated to believe they must put the patient first, and that it is weak to ask for help. Expecting too much from yourself, as a doctor, will lead to overwhelm and, over time, burnout.  

What is a Physician Coach?

A physician's coach understands your issues and knows how to bring you and your practice to their best. As practicing physicians themselves, they will have a better insight into the norms, dynamics, and difficulties uniquely related specifically to physician life. They will invigorate your creativity and passions by deepening your engagement with work.  

Hire a Life Coach?

If you are feeling numb, disconnected, or in any way emotionally exhausted by your work, it would be worthwhile for you to hire a life coach. One study showed that over five months, despite having more work to do, physicians who had coaching experienced decreased emotional exhaustion and burnout and reported improved quality of life and resilience. The total time of coaching needed to show these improvements was only 3.5 hours!

Additionally, physicians' coaching provides other benefits:

Specific Benefits

• Managing Burnout in the Healthcare Industry: A physician's life coach has various tools dedicated to improving doctors’ lives and well-being.
• Improving Diagnostic Performance to Improve Patient Care: A more fulfilled, emotionally balanced physician will bring energy and creativity to their work. The patients will benefit from a higher level of doctor engagement.  

The Takeaway on Life Coaches for Physicians

Physicians have unique pressures and concerns. Due to the high-pressure nature of the work, beginning as early as your time in residency, many physicians experience burnout and exhaustion. These affect your well-being and that of your practice. A life coach who understands these specific problems can be invaluable. In addition, a life coach can help you rediscover yourself, your love for the work, and how to deal constructively with stress. 

Are you exhausted and disillusioned with your practice? You can still have the career you envisioned. We can help you to reset your mind, recharge your life, and renew your career. Contact Deanna Larson MD for more information.