Online Coaching Vs Self-Help Books

Take a look in any bookstore and you will find dozens, if not hundreds of self-help books which claim to help you take control of your life or get it back on track. In terms of life coaching, some focus on more specific issues such as overcoming fear, deciding what you want to do with your life or how to overcome passivity, for example, while others concentrate on business coaching and how to be successful at your career or become wealthy or other subjects such as health coaching. Others still take a much more general approach to dealing with a whole range of life’s more troublesome dilemmas.

Although self-help books can be quite useful in terms of outlining different ways of looking at the world and of suggesting how to deal with the areas where we sometimes get stuck in life, one of their biggest drawbacks of course is that they cannot be written in such a way as to deal with each individual’s own personal circumstances. In addition, they cannot take into account the unique personalities and backgrounds of the individuals who are seeking solutions. Their very nature is such that they can only provide more generic advice and guidance, much of which might be difficult for some readers to apply.

As anyone will know who has read a selection of self-help books, another issue that they present is that while they might do much to inspire and even to educate, actually finding the motivation to follow through with the advice that they give can be extremely difficult without a champion to support you. What start off as great intentions very often don’t materialize into concrete actions which help to move the lives of readers on in any way, and often the books themselves are eventually consigned to the backs of bookshelves or given away to thrift stores.

Any kind of coaching, whether it be life coaching, business coaching, health coaching or any other kind typically involves gaining new understandings and making changes in life. As so many people are resistant to change, trying to make adjustments to certain ways of thinking and behaving can be very difficult when all you have is a book to guide you and no-one to speak to who can help to steer you in what is ultimately the right direction for you. With online coaching, however, what you have is a mentor who can help you to reach the aims and objectives that you want to achieve, without taking control of your destiny, but while acting as your guide, champion and supporter.

Life coaching isn’t just coaching about life; it is coaching for life. Personal coaching, business coaching and health coaching are all aimed at making positive change and bringing about lasting results, rather than just being a flash-in-the-pan notion which is read about and then immediately forgotten. Through the use of today’s technology, online coaching provides a practical means of securing the guidance that we all need at certain times in our lives. Not only does it provide the tools and the skills to generate lasting change, but a trusted guide whose focus is entirely on you.

by Julie-Ann Amos, professional writer, and owner of international writing agency www.ExquisiteWriting.com

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