HEALTH + WELLNESS
ALL ABOUT LIFE COACHING
‘ The thoughts , feelings , and motivations within us may be invisible , even to ourselves , but have great impact on how we see ourselves , the choices we make and how we see and treat others , which in turn create much of the external conditions in which we live .’
Timothy Gallwey , author - The Inner Game of Tennis
I n the varied and wonderful world of wellness , it seems humans are finally understanding that the link between mental and physical health is inextricably linked . According to the self-improvement sector ’ s latest statistics , one in five people in the UK have engaged with some form of self-improvement service ( including life coaching ) to cope with the growing stress and complexity of modern life . So , why then is the role of the life coach still a little misunderstood , dare we say even mocked with TV shows such as The Office and Saturday Night Live historically portraying life coaches as overly enthusiastic , self-important people who offer simplistic and ineffective solutions to complex problems ?
Perhaps the negative opinions exist because there are no specific entry requirements into life coaching and therefore anyone with as little as eight weeks to commit to studying the practise can become one , regardless of previous qualifications ? Perhaps they exist because although life coaching is a recognised profession , it is not a regulated profession in the UK , so anyone can , in theory , call themselves one – including many social media influencers who masquerade as lifestyle gurus .
Recent , in-depth research conducted by Carnegie UK , an independent foundation with a mission to create a society where everyone can thrive , for their Life in the UK index , which measures collective wellbeing across the country , showed that out of a possible 100 , the UK ’ s collective wellbeing in 2024 was just 61 . It ’ s therefore clear that right now , society is very much in need of more guidance and support to become , well , happier . Which is exactly where the underrated role of the life coach comes in .
Far from a fad exacerbated by social media ’ s rapid rise , life coaching has actually been around since the 1980s , beginning in America . Not credited to a single ‘ inventor ’, like many modern-day developments in the sphere of wellness specifically , it was an idea that was nurtured by several people simultaneously as a natural evolution from business coaching , which first evolved from sports coaching . Author Timothy Gallwey ’ s 1974 book , The Inner Game of Tennis , is widely heralded as the inspiration for many future coaches who took his theories and applied them to the psychology and performance of business and general life .
Gallwey ’ s simple but extremely powerful discovery that when people feel more confident about their abilities they perform better was subsequently picked up in the UK by Sir John Whitmore , an ex-motorsport racer with an interest in psychology , who met with Gallwey to train with him in America before bringing his theories back to the UK . Whitmore realised that Gallwey ’ s methods could break out of the world of sport and be applied to business leaders , later coining the term ‘ performance coaching ’ and launching the ‘ GROW model ’ – an accessible coaching framework that helps people set goals ,
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