Why Academic Life Coaching Does What it Does

Let’s take a moment to inventory the WHY.

Coaching for success is a concept widely embraced by corporate America. Employers routinely look for ways to improve leadership and uncover staff potential. Coaching helps to awaken mindfulness while developing defined goals, perseverance, and “grit”. Folks have embraced this approach to improve success in the corporate world, but we still haven’t committed to teaching these kinds of life skills in schools.

Teenagers especially, are at a major crossroads in their lives, determining their academic interests, career paths, goals, and where to go to college. They are also starting to really get a sense of their character and passions.

So often, students are thwarted by an overly structured academic life: they’re told what to learn, when to learn it, and what to do next. Rarely do students have the opportunity to check in and ask themselves: What do I want to do? What am I good at? What am I striving for?

This kind of dialogue can really help young people focus in on themselves and develop self awareness. These non-academic skills or “soft-skills,” are the kinds of skills they will draw upon for countless challenges in the workplace and in communicating with themselves and others.

Life is not just about work and success, but happiness and fulfillment. Individuals must be allowed the opportunity to change and grow, fail and learn, and live out dreams or change the direction of the dream as they see fit. Embracing the possible. This is crucial to empowering young people. As Ken Robinson would say, “fostering a climate of possibility.”

We are on a mission to revolutionize education from the inside out, using the guiding methods of life coaching. This the central impact we strive to make at Academic Life Coaching.

Here is a quick and handy list of recent studies and articles that illuminate WHY we do this:

• Because teaching “grit” works to help young people overcome stress and challenges
• Because there is so much evidence that mindfulness is necessary, for both students and educators:
• Because sometimes we forget to ask students what they want
• Because JOY also belongs in education
• Because we’re on the side of the argument that says YES to self examination
• Because we’ve consistently seen students flourish when granted the opportunity to change and grow and define themselves

Also read: Life Coaching vs. Positive Psychology