Life coaching is a unique field. Although it has been around in some form for decades, its popularity has blossomed in the last few years, as more and more people start to turn to coaching as a way to dramatically improve their lives. It also has similarities to mentoring, a type of learning and support that is popular in the business world, and remains common even today.
Similarities Between Mentoring and Coaching
Although there are many differences between mentoring and coaching, there are also many similarities as well. Both mentoring and coaching have several positive qualities in common:
Support – Both are designed to offer support as you look to achieve certain life goals.
Self-Growth – Both are there to help you grow in some way, and gain clarity on your life path.
Individual Connections – Both give you the opportunity to have one individual invested in you.
Accountability – Both help you feel as though you are motivated to succeed.
Both mentorship programs and life coaching give you a chance to gain incredible amounts of insight, and to truly understand more about something that interests you. But overall, there are additional benefits to life coaching that often make it a better choice for those that are struggling.
Advantages of Coaching Over Mentorship
For many, life coaching offers more solutions that can help someone become a more well-rounded, connected individual. Some of the advantages over mentoring include:
Broader Assistance – Coaching is meant to help you both personally and professionally, wherever you need it most. Mentoring, on the other hand, is essentially limited to professional growth, and often only in the specific field and interest you have at the time.
Encouragement Over Teaching – Mentors generally teach you like you are a pupil, and expect you to adapt to their beliefs and experiences. Coaches try to bring out the best inner you, and encourage you to follow whatever path is most appealing.
Connecting Spiritually and Emotionally – Coaches also help you grow spiritually, allow you to learn how to find happiness even when it is hard to see, and
Find Motivation – Coaches look for ways to encourage motivation from every aspect of your life, and go deep inside you to find out what motivates you towards success.
With mentorship, the goal is to become a better businessperson, and in general make more money. But money is not necessarily what builds happiness, nor is it the only issue keeping you from contentment. Coaching looks at you from a holistic level, and uses proven tools to help you become the person you were meant to be.
Benefits of Mentorship Over Coaching
Mentorship is still a great path to choose if you are only looking for single-minded professional growth, however. Those that mentor often have network connections, financing, and specific experiences that can help you achieve great things in your specific field of interest.
But finding a mentor that has that expertise and those connections is often much more difficult, and mentors rarely provide the additional assistance that someone needs to feel more fulfilled, more motivated, and sometimes to find yourself. Indeed, a mentor is a great way to break into a field, but what if you find out that field isn’t truly what your heart desires, or your personal struggles are standing in the way of your professional success?
Both coaching and mentorship have many advantages, but for those that feel stuck in any form in life, life coaching tends to have more benefits that can help you move your life forward again, and find greater fulfillment along the way.
If you’re looking for a life coach in New Jersey to help you move forward in life, do not hesitate to call me at 1-800-937-2029 for your free discovery call session. You can also email me using the e-mail contact form.
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