Life coaching is different from personal therapy or professional consulting. It helps people understand their own values, goals, and actions so that they can make lasting changes to their lives.
Coaching can be transformative — not just for the client but for the coach themselves. It's a calling that draws on deep compassion and actionable, everyday strategies.
When you join a coach certification program, you begin a life-changing journey toward discovering who you really are, building your own business to help countless others, and creating meaningful change in the world around you.
What Is a Life Coach?
Life coaching is a supportive, goal-oriented process that helps people clarify their purpose, overcome obstacles, and make actionable plans toward their goals. A life coach’s role is primarily collaborative rather than directive: While they generally do not directly advise a specific course of action, they help individuals come to their own conclusions through deep conversations and guided exercises.
In a typical life coaching session, you might start by talking to a client about what they want to achieve within the next year. You'll help them narrow their goals down into something specific and actionable. For example, you could work together to refine the broad goal of "enjoy life more" into the more tangible "practice a new hobby at least twice a week."
You'll also talk to the client about their progress — giving them the tools they need to succeed and offering support and focus if they're feeling overwhelmed by life's challenges. Mindset changes, positive reinforcement, and even time management tools could help them stay on track.
There are many different approaches and techniques in life coaching. When you study with a program like the Jay Shetty Certification School, you learn a mix of coaching skills. The program emphasizes empathy and cultural wisdom, alongside actionable steps to help clients reach their full potential.
Download the brochure to learn more about the Jay Shetty coaching certification program.
Life Coaching vs. Therapy or Consultant Work
Life coaching is a distinct profession. It is not the same as therapy, mentoring, or consultancy and requires different training and certifications.
Therapists usually have healthcare credentials, although this varies between countries. They are mental health professionals who help clients deal with difficult experiences, memories, or mental health conditions, and often focus on helping clients work through their pasts. Life coaching, on the other hand, focuses on present and future goals.
Consultants and mentors, meanwhile, have expertise in business. Consultants are hired to get business results for a company using their in-depth knowledge about their specific industry. Mentors are industry experts who focus on supporting their mentees toward career goals. In contrast, life coaches look at more than just profits or promotions.
The key difference between life coaching and other fields is that life coaches walk beside their clients. Instead of telling them what to do, they give them tools to reflect and improve their decision-making. Rather than doing the work for them, they support clients to take action in their own lives.
Common Misconceptions About Life Coaching
Some people misunderstand what life coaching is or who it's for, and may have common misconceptions like:
- "Life coaches are just motivational speakers." False! Life coaches often work face-to-face with individual clients, hearing their goals and concerns. They listen more than they speak.
- "Life coaching is only for people who are lost or failing." False! Many very successful people work with life coaches to keep track of their personal values, goals, and purpose.
- "Coaches give you all the answers." False! Life coaches don't tell people what to do. They help clients understand what they really want to do.
- "Anyone can call themselves a life coach." According to the International Coaching Federation (ICF), 85% of coaches have a life coach certification or accreditation. The coaching industry has its own certification programs to keep standards high.
The bottom line is that certified coaches are trained, compassionate professionals. They support and inspire clients to achieve their goals and make positive changes in their lives. Above all, life coaches don't "fix" people or tell them what to do — they just clear the path for clients to find their own way.
The Essential Roles of a Life Coach
There are many types of life coaches out there: some specialize in career coaching, relationship coaching, executive coaching, or overall well-being. But there are some universal skills good life coaches share — such as empathy — that help them take on their many roles to help clients.
Below, we’ll examine some of the most common roles that life coaches take on with their clients.
Life Exploration and Growth Guide
One of the most important roles of a life coach is helping people find a purpose in life — whether that involves their career path and professional life or their personal development.
Life coaches help clients clarify their values, set goals, and create an actionable roadmap for their personal and professional goals. They may work with someone who's ready for a new job but feels stuck. The coach can help their client figure out exactly what they value in their career, what their career goals are, and how they can get there.
For example, someone who feels burnt out on frontline medical work might rediscover their passion for behind-the-scenes research work (and regular working hours) with the support and encouragement of a life coach.
Momentum and Progress Partner
Once you've helped a client understand their goals, your next task is to keep them on track. As a life coach, you’ll set milestones, review progress, and support clients when challenges come up.
A health and wellness coach might help a client create specific goals for their fitness level, and then support them with tools to track their gym progress and stick to a regular routine.
It's important to note that, although life coaches provide support, they don't do the work for their clients. A health coach wouldn't go to the gym and put in training hours on their client's behalf. They're not accountability partners, either. They provide tools for clients to improve and hold themselves accountable.
Motivator and Encourager
Life coaches start with the idea that their clients are already capable of achieving their goals — they just need a little extra support, structure, or encouragement. So building motivation and confidence is a huge part of being a life coach.
Say you're a professional coach with a client who wants to start their own business, but they’re afraid of taking the risk. You can see that they already have the expertise and creativity to build a competitive business, and what they really need is someone to help them develop the confidence to chase their dreams.
As you work through your life coach certification, the program should teach you coaching skills to build clients' self-esteem and self-confidence. Many people find that their own confidence grows in the process.
Confidential Sounding Board and Listener
Active listening is one of the most important communication skills for a coach. Motivating people and discussing their goals are important too, but you'll do your best work when you simply listen to clients.
Life coaches give their clients a safe, non-judgmental space to share thoughts, worries, and aspirations, whether they're about personal relationships or professional ambitions.
Because the coach has a purely professional relationship with the client, they can listen without bias. For example, a relationship coach can listen to someone as they explore what they want in a partner, and then help them take positive steps toward finding the relationship they want. Similarly, an executive coach might listen without bias while a client questions whether they really want a promotion versus a career change.
You might already find active listening intuitive, but don't worry if it's new to you. Active listening is a skill like any other — you can learn, practice, and perfect it.
Self-Discovery Coach
If you asked someone to sit down and write a list of goals right this second, they would probably come up with a handful of ideas. But here's the real question: Are those goals what they actually, personally want? Or are they just the goals that they think they should have?
Life coaching provides people with clarity. It helps clients uncover their true desires and values so they can set goals that will lead to genuine and fulfilling life changes.
For example, a business client might tell you that they want to advance faster in their career, but what they're really looking for is a better work-life balance. A health and wellness client who says they want to lose weight might actually be looking to improve their self-confidence.
As a life coach, you can support clients with mindfulness tools and other strategies to increase their self-awareness and find clarity.
Transformation and Change Partner
Life coaches support their clients during times of change. If a life coach has done their job well, then their clients are likely to go through life transitions, such as career changes, relationship changes, or even physical moves to a new place.
A leadership coach who works with executives might support a client while they make major changes to a company. A wellness-focused coach might help someone stick to a healthy routine as they move to a new city.
Being a transformation partner isn't just about listening to clients or helping them to process stress. As a life coach, you can give clients practical tools, such as mindset training, to help them adapt to change.
The Transformative Impact of Life Coaching
Life coaching has already helped thousands of people around the world make lasting changes to their lives. From discovering new careers to strengthening relationships, building a healthy lifestyle, and overcoming low self-esteem, life coaches guide their clients toward their best selves.
But one of the most common pieces of feedback from coaches is that they experienced changes in their own lives and attitudes during their life coach training. Something that started out as professional development became a way to explore personal goals and growth. It's less about the job change, and more about doing something meaningful.
That's all part of the Jay Shetty Certification School's mission to create not just coaches but people who are catalysts for transformation. They change their own lives and the lives of the people they work with.
The Jay Shetty Certification School uses community and shared coaching practice to help you develop into the best coach you can be. You'll learn how to set up a coaching business and help clients — all with the support of a strong community and mentoring team.
Find out more about how our learning community changes lives.
Creating Change, One Client at a Time
Life coaches empower their clients to make positive life changes. They're guides, facilitators, motivators, and listeners. And in the process of helping others, they often go through profound personal growth themselves.
Life coaching is a profession like no other, and you’ll have the opportunity to play a variety of roles in each client’s life as you empower them to reach their goals.
When you study with a coach training program like the Jay Shetty Certification School, you'll learn the latest coaching techniques and motivational strategies, alongside ancient wisdom and modern business expertise. By the time you earn your certification, you’ll be equipped with all the tools and skills you need to make positive changes in the world around you.
Download the brochure now to learn more about your life coaching journey.
