Life Coaching vs. Simplicity Coaching
Given how much life can throw at us, many people seek guidance and support to lead a more balanced and fulfilling life. I specialize in simplicity coaching, and I’m often asked how simplicity coaching relates to life coaching. While both types of coaching aim to help individuals improve their lives, they approach their goals from somewhat different angles. I wanted to spend some time exploring the similarities and differences between a life coach and a simplicity coach, and why both are great options for anyone wanting to take control of their life and focus on what’s important to them.
Life Coach: A Broad Guide to Personal Development
Life coaching is a broad and versatile field that focuses on helping people achieve their personal and professional goals. Life coaches provide guidance, motivation, and support to help clients overcome challenges and realize their potential. The core mission of a life coach is to empower clients to lead more fulfilling lives and reach their desired outcomes. The reach for a life coach can be broad – tackling anything from career and personal development to nutrition and financial wellness.
While there are general life coaches, you will often see coaches specialize in a specific niche under the broader life coaching umbrella. Not only does this specialization help the coach tailor tools and methods a bit more, it also allows clients more specificity when seeking a partner to support changes in their life.
Simplicity Coach: A Focused Path to Aligned Living
Simplicity coaching, while sitting within the broader life coaching umbrella, has a more specific focus. The primary goal of a simplicity coach is to help clients lead more intentional lives that are focused on their values. Simplicity coaches may also help individuals declutter (physical and mental) and coordinate various aspects of their lives (financial, relationships, decision-making, work, etc.) in a way that reflects core aspects or values that are most important to them, reducing the stress that often accompanies the modern lifestyle. Often, simplicity coaches will provide perspectives and tools associated with minimalism, intentionality, and Stoicism. You can think of simplicity coaching as the toolkit that a life coach brings to the relationship.
Similarities
Goal Setting: Both life coaches and simplicity coaches work with clients to identify and set meaningful goals. Whether it's related to career, relationships, health, or personal growth, both types of coaching involve goal-oriented approaches.
Accountability: Coaches from both disciplines hold their clients accountable for their actions and progress. They provide structure and support to help clients stay on track toward achieving their goals.
Personal Transformation: Life coaches and simplicity coaches both aim to facilitate personal transformation. They assist clients in developing self-awareness, gaining clarity, and making positive changes in their lives.
Client-Centered Approach: Both life coaches and simplicity coaches adopt a client-centered approach, tailoring their coaching sessions to the unique needs and aspirations of their clients.
Improved Wellbeing: Simplicity coaching, like life coaching, aims to enhance the wellbeing of clients by reducing stress, improving time management, and promoting a healthier work-life balance.
Neither are Therapists: Therapists have certain educational and license requirements to provide mental healthcare treatment. They most often deal with historical psychological patterns a person may have and can diagnose and treat mental health needs. Life coaches and simplicity coaches, on the other hand, serve as a guide and sounding board for areas of your life focused on personal and professional development. Coaching aims to deliver sustainable behavior changes through setting and achieving goals, shifting perspectives, and overall self-improvement.
Life coaching and simplicity coaching are not forms of clinical mental healthcare. If you are experiencing symptoms of mental health conditions (e.g. depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder), seek a trained mental health professional.
Differences
Focus and Scope: Life coaches address a wide range of personal and professional issues, from career transitions and relationship challenges to time management and self-esteem. They help clients navigate various aspects of life, often resulting in more diverse coaching sessions. Simplicity coaching is essentially an approach or mental model to life coaching. Simplicity coaching overlays a framework that may be informed by decluttering, minimalism, intentionality, or other similar perspectives that focus the life coaching process. Simplicity coaching builds on the sustainable benefits of “less is more (and better)” to inform how a client can make changes in their life.
Methodology: Simplicity coaching specializes in simplifying areas of and approaches to life. This may include home organization, time management, and your digital life, but it also addresses how you make decisions and ways to support your underlying values. Simplicity coaching ultimately seeks to help clients achieve a more minimalist, focused, and balanced lifestyle that is countercultural to the “always more” vibe of modern life. Life coaching, on the other hand, tends to carry a more generic (though still potent) toolkit that helps clients make positive changes. Simplicity coaches often bring a more timeless approach to improvement, informed by age-old wisdom, where general life coaches tend to focus on newer age methods. Think “does your career reflect what’s most important to you” (simplicity coaching) versus “what additional skills do you need to develop to get ahead in your career” (general life coaching).
Tangible Outcomes: Simplicity coaching will typically provide more tangible, physical outcomes, such as decluttered living spaces and efficient daily routines, in addition to emotional and psychological changes coming from coaching. Life coaching tends to have a reduced focus on more tangible outcomes.
Benefits of life coaching and simplicity coaching
A coach is going to be your advocate for affecting the type of change you want in your life. If you’re thinking about life coaching or simplicity coaching, a few benefits to consider include:
Improved self-confidence: The International Coaching Federation reported that 80% of people who hired a life coach reported improved self-confidence.
Clarity of focus and values: The combination of a coach who is dedicated to your success and a deeper understanding of your values (the “why” behind your change) makes a big difference.
Build personal equity: You deserve to invest in yourself, and your experiences, skills, and development contribute to your overall wellbeing. Coaching is a way to increase the ownership stake in your own life.
Reduced stress: A coach can help you learn to focus on the things that are most important to you and be less swayed by the pressures from outside sources. As you develop additional awareness of how you want to measure your life, the stress that comes with a lack of clarity will go down.
Growth mindset: Our personal narratives are a huge part of how we define ourselves. Coaching can help you shift into the mindset that dedication and effort will help you grow.
What to look for in a life coach or simplicity coach
I don’t believe there is an objective answer here; rather, you should look for a coach that is right for you. Some things to consider:
Compatibility: You need to be able to get along with your coach for your time together to be most effective. If it doesn’t feel right, keep looking. Coaching is a professional service, and any coach wants improvement for your life. They understand the value of good rapport.
Specialization or Niche: Coaches will have various methods for helping you discover ways to bring meaningful change into your life, but many life coaches specializes in certain areas (simplicity coaching, for example).
Results: Coaching is about your improvement and driving toward increased clarity and purpose in your life. You and your coach should be able to develop a clear plan for setting goals and a path for achieving those goals. Make sure your coach offers a clear process for discussion, discovery and accountability throughout your time together.
Certification: Life coaching as an industry is unregulated, meaning there are no formal requirements for a person to become a life coach. However, many coaches opt to participate in coach training programs and education to help them become a more effective resource for their clients. Someone who has completed a training program is considered a certified life coach.
Life coaching and simplicity coaching both offer valuable services to individuals seeking to improve their lives. While they share many similarities, they differ in their focus and methodology. Ultimately, the choice between a life coach and a simplicity coach depends on your specific perspective and goals, but both can be instrumental in creating positive changes in your life. If you have a penchant for wanting more simplicity and to build a full life centered on the things that are most important to you, simplicity coaching may be just the right fit.
