Coaching is helping a person to manage their life towards attaining their goals. It is an optimistic approach to personal achievement. It takes its starting point from the principle that each individual is a vessel of untapped potential, where present achievement is not always a reliable indicator of future performance. The coach's job is to help an individual to realise his or her potential and perform at the maximum of that potential.

1. Goals

The essence of coaching is the attainment of positive goals by self-management. These goals may take many forms, for example: better work life balance, time management, relationships with family and friends, losing weight, health and fitness, career, business, stress, self-development and job hunting. The coach in partnership with the client helps to set realistic, challenging but obtainable goals. Coaching                                                                         helps to give clarity of purpose by setting                                                                             clear and precise goals

2. Reality

To plan a strategy towards any particular goal, each person in partnership with the coach needs to ascertain the current reality of their position in respect to the goal. In order to get somewhere the client needs to know where they are starting from. For example there is a significant difference between a well trained athlete with a goal to reduce her best time by a few seconds and an unfit middle-aged businessman who wants to increase their level of well-being and health. Each goal will need a different plan of action because individuals start from different places and have different targets and ambitions.

3. Options

The coach raises awareness of the many paths that can lead from the current situation towards the attainment of the desired goal. The coach helps to give different perspectives and a range of options are discussed. Choosing the best option is unique to personal circumstances, the time frame, the                                                                                     goal itself and the level of commitment.

4. Taking Action

The actual doing is often the most challenging part of the coaching process. Taking action usually demonstrates the level of commitment of the individual towards their goals. Coaching should enable the appropriate actions by the client to take place. In the coaching partnership the client is accountable for his or her choices. Where actions are not taken then non-judgemental feedback occurs to discover the reasons why.