Your Life Coach and You
‘Bunmi Aina,
Director, KTP
September 12 2012
Who are the KTP Life Coaches?
• KTP’s volunteer Life Coaches are professionals
on- and off-campus who look like you
• They come together individually and collectively
to support Black and Latino students in their
quest for a degree from Gallaudet
• They are accomplished professionals who know
how to navigate the system and can share
important knowledge to help you navigate the
system on campus
So .. What is a Life Coach?
• A life coach is someone who can assist you with
your personal development, especially in the area
of setting and achieving specific goals.
• The life coach may:
– share advice
– offer guidance
– help you make plans, and
– hold you accountable for taking action.
Telling You More
• A life coach is someone who works with
healthy people who want to improve their lives
in specific ways, such as deepening their selfunderstanding, for example. They deal with
stress management, time management, goal
setting and other key areas of change to help
you lead a more balanced life
And More
• Your life coach is someone who can promote a
healthy, positive, and enabling process that
develops your capacity to solve today’s business
and personal problems. Your life coach will
touch your spirit and rekindling what deeply
matters to you.
And Still More
• Your life coach is someone who wants to help you
feel more satisfied, be more engaged with life, find
more meaning, have higher hopes, and probably
even laugh and smile more, regardless of [your]
circumstances. He or she focuses on you. He or she
works with you to:
– Increase your well-being and your levels of
accomplishments
– Connect with your dreams and goals
– Develop and hold on to an optimistic perspective
– Savor your life right now in your pursuit of happiness
What Your Life Coach Is NOT
• Your life coach is not any of these things:
– Financial planner
– Bank
– Attorney
– Doctor
– Minister
– Psychologist
– Counselor
– Therapist
What Your Life Coach Is NOT
• Your life coach will not become your friend. The
role of your life coach is to develop a warm and
nurturing relationship with you that will allow
your life coach to remain objective.
Letting You in on a Secret
• One of the secrets of highly successful people is
that most of them use a coach to help them get
to where they want to be in life and business
• A life coach can help you identify goals and can
motivate you to make those goals a reality for
your future
Characteristics of Effective Life
Coaches
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Committed to your success
Desire to become the best life coach they can be
Excellent listening skills
Avoid talking more than you
Totally trustworthy
Encouraging, motivational and inspiring
Respects other people
Empathetic
Characteristics of Effective Life
Coaches
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Effective communicator
Communicates in a non-judgmental manner
Analytical skills
Flexible and courageous
Builds rapport
Controls their personal biases
Controls their desire to advice, “own” and
control
Benefits of Life Coaching
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Setting Goals
Clarity
Action
Motivation
Support
Overcoming Challenges
Life Balance
Consulting
Confidentiality
Benefits of Life Coaching 1
• Setting Goals. One of the primary focuses of a
life coach is that of helping to set and reach
goals. A life coach can use questioning to isolate
what is most important to you and once your
goals are isolated, then the life coach can help
you to come up with a workable plan that can be
put into action
Benefits of Life Coaching 2
• Clarity. A life coach can help you clarify your
present condition and your future directions
Benefits of Life Coaching 3
• Action. Action is what creates success in life.
The reason why many intelligent and
knowledgeable people do not experience the
level of success that they desire is because they
are slow to act on or apply the knowledge that
they have. A life coach can help you to make
decisions much more quickly and reduce
harmful delays and provide better quality action
Benefits of Life Coaching 4
• Motivation. The world’s top experts use life
coaches or consultants because they will feel
psychologically more accountable if they know
another person is observing their progress. For
example, actors, models, and bodybuilders have
personal trainers who make sure they are keeping
up on their program to reach their intended goals.
This is a powerful motivating force for them
• In the same way, life coaches motivate you towards
your goals, and they make you accountable for
maintaining your program and sticking to it
Benefits of Life Coaching 5
• Support. A life coach will listen to your story
without evaluating, criticizing, judging, or
offering solutions. They will lend their support
for you through the toughest of times as well as
the best of times
Benefits of Life Coaching 6
• Overcoming Challenges. We all face
challenges in our lives that we must overcome
for us to achieve success. A life coach can help
you brainstorm for possible solutions to
complex challenges that you need to deal with
Benefits of Life Coaching 7
• Life Balance. A life coach can work with you to
improve the ratio of work versus play in your
life to achieve an optimal balanced ratio of both
which will lead to reduced stress levels and a
better quality of life
Benefits of Life Coaching 8
• Consulting. Most life coaches specialize in
some aspect of expertise such as business
management, social work, counseling,
communication, self-advocacy, health and
fitness, or stress management. The knowledge
that they possess can be invaluable to you if you
require the use of such skills
Benefits of Life Coaching 9
• Confidentiality. Although life coaching is not
therapy or counseling, what is discussed between
you and your life coach is strictly confidential.
So .. What Next?
• Do you want a life coach?
– If you do, you will meet our life coaches on October
3 during the KTP Welcome Dinner and Celebration
at Peikoff Alumni House (Ole Jim)
– You will get to choose your own life coach
QUESTIONS?