Life coaching is becoming more popular, and with good reason. The coaching industry has an estimated $20 billion valuation, with an annual growth rate of 6.7%.
With all the turbulence, turmoil, change, and uncertainty today, having someone to guide you and have your back can help.
All the world’s greatest athletes have coaches to challenge them to perform even better. So, why wouldn’t you want someone in your corner to help you perform at your best with whatever’s most important to you?
According to a well-known mental health blog, “Life coaches can help you clarify your goals, identify the obstacles holding you back, and then come up with strategies for overcoming each obstacle.”
Sounds good.
But there’s a problem.
Many people ridicule life coaches. To many, life coach means unemployed. Or they think of a life coach as a Gary Smalley wannabe chanting, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”
As Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin point out, the coaching profession has a low bar for entry and a high bar for success.
The brutal truth is that many coaches aren’t good at what they do.
And then they wonder why they can’t get clients or keep them on the rare occasion a client shows up.
You can, of course, get better results by becoming a better coach.
But I propose that we can reach a more profound level - a difference in kind, not just degree.
A different kind of coaching.
From Life Coach to Transformation Artist
There are many outstanding traditional life coaches.
But let’s contrast life coaching with a different approach, that of the transformation artist.
Traditional Life Coaching is about doing. Transformation Artistry is about being.
Rather than ask what you want to do, the transformation artist asks how you choose to be. The transformation artist might ask, for example:
• Who do you need to be to have what you want?
• Given the challenge you’re experiencing at work or with your family, if you could be any way you want to be, how would you choose to be?
• Who might be a role model for you in this situation?
Your client will have more options when you emphasize character qualities and states of being more than specific actions. This method will also guide the evolution of their identity, of how they see themselves.
As a transformation artist, you guide your client to embody their chosen character qualities and states of being in situations where they previously did not have access to these resources.
Life Coaching is about solving problems. Transformation Artistry is about deep-rooted healing.
You can go a long way by brainstorming with people on how to confront and conquer their problems.
But if you don’t get to the core of the issue, the problems will keep coming back with different people, in various guises.
As a transformation artist, you work with your client to uncover hidden beliefs, conflicting internal parts, and unconscious associations so they heal from within. Once healed, the problems in their life become much more solvable or even irrelevant.
Traditional life coaching sessions are client-led. Transformation Artistry combines what’s relevant to the client with a structure to go deeper.
The problem with the client dictating the topic for each session is that they may avoid what is most difficult and most critical.
Plus, clients will often launch into whatever pressures they happen to be experiencing, resulting in a ping pong succession of topics that don’t build on one another and don’t lead in a clear direction.
When you combine diving into the client’s topics as needed with having a structured roadmap, each session will build to the next.
And your clients will be able to see how you guided them from where they were to where they want to be.
Life Coaching is about achieving goals. Transformation Artistry is about aligning your life with your mission.
Goal setting can be magnificent. It can help you challenge yourself to reach new heights and give you direction.
The problem is that when you ask most people to set a goal, they will first subconsciously and unknowingly look for a hole inside where they are incomplete psychologically.
They’ll then ask themselves what they would have to do or what they would have to have to fill that hole inside. And because this is all subconscious, they’re not aware of how they chose the goal.
This process can lead to hollow goals that feel empty, even when you achieve them.
That’s why it’s more impactful to begin with what is at the core of the human being you’re working with – their life’s purpose, core identity, and top life values.
And only then to strategize on goals that align with their purpose.
Life Coaching is often about linear change. Transformation Artistry is about generative change and expanding possibilities.
Linear change is about going after what you want and getting the result. For example, you go after a promotion, and you get it, but nothing much changes beyond that. One plus one equals two.
With generative change, you never know how far a change will go.
For example, when a baby learns to talk, you don’t know precisely how they’ll use the ability to speak when they’re an adult. But you do know the ability to communicate will be essential for them in countless and unimaginable ways.
Transformation artistry is about seeking generative change over linear change. It’s about developing fundamental skills and seizing ever-expanding opportunities. It’s a world where one plus one can be many.
Life Coaching is conscious mind to conscious mind communication. Transformation Artistry leverages the power of the subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind is the seat of our emotions, habits, and deep-seated beliefs. It is the powerhouse for long-term change.
When you speak the language of the subconscious, you infinitely expand your ability to move minds and help people grow.
To sum it up, a therapist will get you to talk about your past and your problems. A life coach will help you achieve your goals. A transformation artist will help you see the world differently.
And different seeing is different being.
