what is coaching?

With so many professions known as coaching, it definitely sounds confusing :); I understand that, I had been there, felt the same. Here is a short story as an anecdote to the concept of coaching.

A little girl named Lilly, used to live among the mountains. Her house was next to a mountain that has a multi color tree. This tree has flowers of many colors - pink, yellow, orange, blue, and purple. Everyday, she used to look at the tree after waking up. She felt happy and energized looking at the colorful tree. One day, she woke up and went out to see the tree, it was not visible. It was a foggy day but still not looking at the tree made her unhappy, confused and sad. Slowly, the rays of the sun broke the fog and made the sky clear. She could see the tree and became excited, energetic and happy again!

Similarly, the little girl represents our mind that sometimes gets filled with so many thoughts called fog and unable to see the destination clearly or sometimes forgot about it. The process of coaching is like the sun rays that helps clear the fog so that mind can see the destination again to get energized.

If you are like me and got a follow-up question: "If coaching is about reaching destination, what is mentoring, consulting, sports coaching, or other options available". Here is a short video from ICF to understand the difference and hopefully, bring more clarity - https://youtu.be/PpmeQj-LFoY