Answering this question seems like an important piece to add to my site given the blank stares or quick assumptions I get when I tell people that I’m a coach.

The description of coaching from the International Coach Federation (ICF) sums up the profession of coaching well: coaching is “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

People appear to be the most familiar with the niche of life coaching. Life coaches focus on the “personal” piece described above. However, there are many flavors of coaching including corporate/executive coaching, small business coaching, career coaching, conflict coaching, recovery coaching, leadership coaching, relationship coaching, teen/adolescent coaching, equine experiential coaching and the list goes on….

Also important to note is what coaching is not. It isn’t therapy, consulting, mentoring, training nor athletic development. Distinctions between each of these and coaching can be made and are nicely outlined in the ICF’s Coaching FAQs site.

Ultimately, the simplest explanation is that if you’re looking for someone to help guide you to get to your goals and dreams more quickly – and someone to hold you accountable in the process of moving toward them – then a coach would likely be a benefit to you. When my clients find the actions they need to take based on our conversations, then follow through and see progress which strengthens them to keep progressing toward their final destination, it energizes me. And that is why I coach.

As a coach who is also blogging, in a similar fashion I hope to challenge you think about where you are now in your career and life and if it’s where you want to be. To question whether you want more than what you have now and to get you thinking about what that looks like for you.