Life encroaching Life coaching on the other hand is not about the past. It works on the assumption that what you make of your life is up to you. Coachees need to take careful note of this, for it is the main term and condition in every life coaching agreement. In short, success is up to the coachee to address here and now, the coachee has the answers, and the coachee needs to make his or her own changes. The road less traveled As the Chinese proverb has it (one of many obscure Chinese proverbs that are of considerable value to the life coach, because they only really make sense to the recipient well after the session has ended): “If you don’t change the direction you are traveling in, you are going to arrive at where you’re going.” Discipline disciples Apostles of life coaching will point out that everybody has something they would like “fixed,” even if it’s something that without benefit of alcohol and intimacy, they might not choose to share with the wider world. Belief relief Life coaches keep their own beliefs pretty much to themselves. You won’t catch a life coach saying, “I believe” very often, unless it’s followed by “I’m seeing you again next Tuesday” or “we’ve made a lot of progress”. They will shy away from anything that to the coachee smacks of a personal conviction or belief, on the grounds that (as any experienced bluffer will remind listeners in world weary tone) it’s the coachee’s belief that counts.