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Meet Martha Beck, the life coach who writes for O, The Oprah Magazine and has been a guest on Oprah’s show many times.
Currently promoting her latest book, Steering By Starlight Martha is a special type of life coach.
She has no formal training.
She does, however, have a Phd in sociology from Harvard University. While both of these facts are really neither here nor there, (as arguments can be made for both the need for coach-specific training hours or the natural ability of transforming higher education into a coaching strategy) it is interesting to note how Martha got her start, and in the process, was naturally “named” a life coach by her clients and peers.
According to an article in the Arizona Republic, while teaching at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, she answered the mounting requests for classes that focused on topics outside of the business-course curriculum by creating her own company which focused on helping her clients “create more joy in their personal and professional lives.” Through the development of this company, Life Designs, Inc, which would eventually be the company she owns today, North Star, Martha created and refined the tools and practices she uses to be a successful life coach and to train other life coaches.
The basis of Martha’s coaching is derived from the idea that “coaches are born, not made” and requires certain innate qualities in her coaching students like sensitivity, empathy and intuition. And Martha certainly practices what she preaches. Currently, how she lives revolves around doing what “feels” right, and not necessarily trying to think things through. She encourages her clients to find what makes them happy and to pursue it, whether they know why yet, or not. Her mantra for 2009 is “Follow your deliciousness.”
So what does this tell us about life coaching? Martha Beck is an extremely intelligent professional who writes and often appears as a guest on the Oprah show. She recently spearheaded both a four-day luxury life coaching event and aid work in Londolozi, Africa and is also promoting her latest book Steering By Starlight. Her life’s goal is to eliminate suffering– for herself, others, even the planet.
All of her efforts and success are based on a desire to understand her own life, and to help other people understand theirs. And it all started by doing what she wanted and creating a fulfilling career from the pieces.
To learn more about Martha, her methods, books and advice, jump to her website here.
All of us have, at one time or another, stood in front of a bathroom mirror at 3 a.m. and asked our reflections:
- What am I doing with my life?
- Am I happy?
- How do I achieve goals x, y and z?
And while it often seems like these are answers only ourselves (or occasionally, bizarrely, our reflections) can answer, there is a solution that is less out there than you might think.
Life coaching is an accessible, practical way to find help answering these questions, as we see from this article by the Lansing State Journal. With the state of the recession and more and more people at a crossroads in their lives, “interest in coaching is higher than ever.”
I can hear you all say, “but life coaching is for executive types and people with large disposable incomes.” While some coaches might target these groups, there are far more coaches who are ready to help you with what you need right now using practical theory and offering reasonable rates.
The article to goes on to mention that life coaches are responding to the nation’s hard times by offering free workshops, group sessions and discounted individual rates.
Indeed, in true life coaching fashion, coaches are taking the lemony economic times and making lemonade. What better time to embark upon a new career, clean the cobwebs out of your current career path or just simplify and retarget your goals?
I sometimes wonder how people can think that life coaching is “just for celebrities”, “a pyramid scheme” or any other type of hoax when it is such an accepted facet of the business industry… then I discovered Nik and Eva Speakman. Advertised as psychotherapists and motivational coaches, the Speakmans boast of developing a “patented Visual Coding and Displacement Therapy” which can “cure most fears and phobias in under ten minutes.”
This is NOT what life coaching is about; I’m also fairly certain most psychotherapy is hardly this accelerated either.
When anyone talks of the pressures of “curing” people on live television and radio, it’s bound to make the general masses skeptical. Using a replica of the DeLorean in their therapy sessions probably doesn’t help either.
(Photo by: Kevin Abato)
Yes, that DeLorean.
So where does the crossover happen? Why are personalities like the Speakmans hailed as life coaches when their methods are so unorthodox, and, frankly, not at all what traditional life coaches do?
While I suppose it’s fair to argue that the “motivational coaching” part of their services covers their title as “life coach” and the “psychotherapist” title enables them to dole out “therapy” it surprises me that they are often referred to as “life coaches” versus “therapists.” Indeed, their tv show in the UK is entitled “A Life Coach Less Ordinary.” So how does this work? Are they legitimate life coaches, or are they using the life coach industry name to create certain expectations?
My feeling is that this type of “therapy” is largely a placebo effect with a sweet car from a classic 80’s movie…what do you think?
Despite being a relatively new industry, there are already a lot of rumors, myths and misconceptions about life coaching that people suffer from. Have you heard of one of these?
1.Life coaches are only for celebrities and top executives – while both of these groups are known for employing life coaches, they aren’t the only ones by far to do so. Life coaching is applicable to almost anyone with a goal or issue that they can’t quite solve on their own: from organizing a closet, to training to climb Mt. Rainier, life coaches can provide the support, motivation and accountability to help anyone succeed.
2. Life coaching is a pyramid scheme – this one baffled me when I first saw it; apparently, there are those who believe life coaching is a get rich quick pyramid scheme because the field is open to a broad range of backgrounds, and life coaches often have services specifically to train new coaches. While I suppose it’s true that anyone can say they are a life coach, in reality, it won’t take long for a client to know if they are getting their money’s worth or not, and lack of clients will stop any coach’s success short. Coaches provide a service, and because coaches and clients work together to determine personalized goals and strategies, there isn’t really a way for coaches to fake results with their clients. As for coaches training more coaches, it’s one of the more hands-on aspects of life coaching about the field. Practical experience is a must, and what better way to learn if you want to be a life coach, than to meet and work with one.
3. Life coaching is all about touchy-feely issues and emotions – again, as an industry so broad, with the majority of its popularity in the business sector, it surprises me that this is still a misconception about life coaching. While some coaches do specialize in personal issues like relationships, inner peace, spirituality and the like, these factors do not by any means define the profession.
4. Life coaching is a replacement for counseling or therapy– now this one is tricky. While life coaching can replace counseling or therapy in a person’s life, it does not provide the same services as counseling or therapy. Life coaching focuses on the present and the future, not the past, as these other disciplines do. While coaching does help facilitate breakthroughs and the improvement of the quality of a client’s life, it is through a much different way than either counseling or therapy.
5. There’s no government regulated certification; anyone can say they’re a certified life coach — as many life coaches do much of their marketing and networking online, it’s easy to see how this one started, however, just do your homework folks. While it’s true there is no single approved source for coaches to receive certification, this does not excuse potential clients from using common sense. There are multiple national and international organizations that offer respected professional designations in the field. Check references, go through referrals, request a trial appointment if you’re not sure.
In short, there may be people out there claiming life coaching is like therapy, or it’s the last secret of the stars, or what have you, but if you do a little research, and keep an open mind, you’ll get past the fluff and find out if life coaching can help you with what you would like to achieve.
