Should You Become a Health Coach?

Happy dietician and patient having a conversation during an appointment

Being a health coach is a fulfilling career path that allows you to share your passion for health and wellness while earning a decent living. Before dedicating hours of your time to pursuing this line of work, you’ve probably wondered if this was the right career path for you. The following are some crucial questions you need to ask yourself to help you decide if this career is the right one for you.

What is health coaching?

First of all, it’s important to know what exactly you’re getting yourself into. A health coach is a supportive mentor and authority for wellness who helps clients improve their health through food and lifestyle changes by designing personal wellness programs that meet individual needs. Your job as a health coach is to successfully integrate your clients’ desired health and wellbeing changes into their regular lifestyle.

Key questions to ask yourself

Physical therapist with a client

Interested individuals have to undergo rigorous training to become registered health coaches. It’s not an easy journey, but it’s a worthwhile one if you’re truly passionate about what you’re doing. Here are some key questions to ask yourself to help you decide if it’s the right path for you:

What do you expect to get out of health coaching?

The first thing you need to do before pursuing this line of work is to figure out what you expect to get out of it. If you’re coming into this field because you want to earn lots of money, you need to rethink your goals. It’s fine to have money on your mind, but if it’s the only thing you’re seeking, you’ll be disappointed. It will take time and effort to land dedicated clients and earn a decent income. The time and money you invest in your training should be worth what your reasons for pursuing this career are. Some worthwhile goals include wanting to help your friends and family members improve their health, wanting to improve your personal health and lifestyle, or pursuing a personal interest in health and wellbeing and a desire to learn more.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Think about what unique strengths you can bring to the table, as well as what weaknesses you have to work on. When you know what you’re good at, you can leverage these skills to become successful in the field. There’s plenty of uses for what you learn during your training, you’re free to explore other careers that aren’t just being a personal health coach. You can be a workshop facilitator, a podcaster, an educator, or more in the health field. By emphasizing and playing up your strengths, you’ll have a much more fulfilling career as a health coach.

What does your ideal lifestyle look like?

Consider what you want your ideal work and home life to look like three to five years from now. What do you want to have achieved? What do you want to be doing on a daily basis? If you know what you want, you can build your goals around that and move forward in that direction with your career in health coaching in mind.

So, is health coaching right for you? Answer honestly and from the heart, and you’ll get your answers. With this in mind, you’ll have a clearer picture of whether or not a future in this career is right for you.

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