Don't Life-Coach Me!
The life-coaching joke and why we need to do something about it!
You can't shortcut your way to fame, assuming full-time fame even exists. If you have nothing worthwhile to do, find something meaningful to engage in. What's trendy today won't necessarily be trending tomorrow. Building a career solely as a life coach is akin to building a career out of deceiving people. You may argue that it works for many, so it could work for you too. But can you guarantee that things will remain the same tomorrow? Are you genuinely convinced that a career solely based on social media is fulfilling in the long run?
Let's imagine you decide to become a life coach like so many others. Here's a question for you: why are you coaching me on life? I never asked for unsolicited advice or was inundated with coaching services. It seems like everyone is taking shortcuts to gain fame, which is poisoning our lives. Then we fret about the potential threat of AI taking over? If we consent to spamming others, we shouldn't be surprised if someone decides to “unfilter” AI. If we are concerned about robots, we need to filter out life coaches.
Here's what I believe: there are no benefits to cutting corners; only downsides exist. It's as if we willingly spiral down into a destructive abyss because everyone is trying to coach us, and we willingly embrace being coached, leading to a situation that easily spirals out of control, especially when each of us has our personal life coach. Look, I understand if someone gains wisdom from books and podcasts, but please, present it in a more authentic manner. Don't market yourself as a life coach. This trend is expanding beyond reason and spiraling out of control. Tomorrow, your taxi driver may become your life coach simply because you believe everything they say, or your barista may be seen as a university professor. This pattern even extends to E-commerce non-experts selling e-commerce coaching lessons. Your intern coaching you on how to become a better writer. Your nurse performing open-heart surgery on you.
You get the idea! I'm not suggesting that people can't pursue new careers. On average, a person changes careers seven times in their lifetime. However, when someone transitions to a new career, they should do so after thoughtful reflection, not as a knee-jerk reaction to being fired or due to a passing whim.
My concern with life coaches is that they claim to coach life itself. It's like cockroaches teaching you about life. What happened to authenticity, lifelong learning, and a genuine commitment to the betterment of humanity? What happened to our attention spans that we believe everything we hear, with a refresh rate of less than eight seconds?
I'm worried this trend will spiral out of control, and we'll find ourselves accompanied by bespoke life coaches everywhere we go. I'm concerned that life coaches themselves need the most help. They should ground themselves in reality and stop attempting to coach others. Maybe life coaches need a significant wake-up call—help for themselves—before they try to help us. I’ll leave it to you to decide.