Life coaching can be beneficial for you and for your clients, but before you can become an effective and successful coach, you need to know how to properly handle your sessions and engage with your clients. Your clients are looking to you to uncover internal blocks, action steps, and accountability, so it’s important to know what life coaching questions to ask and how to ask them. 

Being a life coach is a rewarding career because it can give you the opportunity to help clients in a long-lasting way through leading their lives the direction they truly want. Not only can you help others, but working as a life coach can also allow you to experience abundance in life, improve your creativity, and encourage you to become a better individual. 

15 Life Coaching Questions

1. What’s Standing In Your Way? 

It’ll be challenging to help your clients if you don’t know what they’re problems and blocks are. How can you be your best life coach if you don’t know what’s holding your client back?  

Asking your client this question will make it easier to navigate sessions if you can determine their roadblocks and hurdles. With this question, you’ll know whether their problems are about their careers, relationships, or personal matters. The answers you get from this question will help you work with your clients towards solutions that are geared specifically for them.  

2. Can You Tell Me More? 

For you to better understand your clients’ struggles, you should follow up the first question with “tell me more”. This is a versatile follow-up question that allows you to dig deeper into your clients’ concerns and help you know more about them.  

When asked at the right time, this question can also show your genuine interest while providing a sense of safety and comfort, which encourages them to open up throughout your sessions.  

3. What Are Your Biggest Fears? 

The fears that your clients have can become the reason why they’d feel stuck in life. Instead of climbing up the professional ladder, their fear of rejection will likely prevent them from even trying.

As a life coach, it’s your responsibility to help clients identify their fears, navigate them, and move forward. Doing this will surely help your clients keep stress at bay and build a solid foundation for long-term success.

4. Are You Happy Right Now? 

Despite the unpredictability of life, a happy life is something most people strive for. Regardless of their situation, learning how to be happy and having a positive mindset are so important!

When working with a client, ask them if they’re happy with their lives. The answer you can get from this question will provide an initial assessment of your clients’ general mindset. It can also help you determine the necessary strategies to implement, ensuring that your clients remain open, candid, and honest during your session.  

5. What Does Success Look Like? 

This question is important because it helps clients put their goals into perspective. With this question, you can encourage your clients to get out of their head and verbalize their definition of success. This question will also motivate them to articulate what they want to explore in life and start taking action to reach their specific goals.

6. How Would You Describe Your Previous Year? 

For you to better understand your clients and their frustrations in life, it’s important to not only know their present state, but also the information relevant to what they’re dealing with. 

This particular question actually has two purposes – it can allow you to better understand the occurrences in your clients’ lives, and will allow you to dig deeper into their mindset.  

7. What Do You Want To Accomplish In The Next Year? 

It’s important to ask your clients what they want to accomplish in the next year so you can determine what their life goals are. From there, you can create short-term goals so they can achieve what they want for the next year and grow.  

8. What Things From Your Daily Life Make You Happy? 

Life is generally challenging, but there are always things that can help improve your clients happiness and stress levels. When working with clients, ask them about the things that make them happy. Their answers to this question can help them realize how fortunate they are, what their priorities are, and if they need more of this thing in their life. 

9. What Are You Most Of Proud Of? 

At times, clients seek the help of a life coach because they struggle with their sense of value and worth. This can be especially true if the client is currently experiencing a dead-end in their career or personal life.

To encourage your clients to think more positively, ask what their achievements are and what they like about themselves (sometimes having to ask what their friends like about them). Doing this during your session is a great affirmation that can help clients realize that they are worthy and loved.

10. What Do You Want? 

Even after hearing some of your clients’ problems or concerns, it can be tough to create solutions if you don’t know what they really want. Regardless of how common you think their problem is, your clients might want something totally different than expected.

Asking clients what they want can help them focus better, as well as achieve balance and peace of mind.

11. What Have You Done To Solve The Problem? 

Humans often will look for solutions on their own the moment they see themselves struggling. However, there will be instances when their solutions don’t provide their expected results, regardless of how many times they’ve tried.  

To help them, make sure to ask the solutions they have used in the past, and if these worked or not. Asking this question is usually enough for you to determine why it wasn’t successful and allow you to work with your client to create better solutions.

12. If Your Main Problem Didn’t Exist, How Would Your Life Look? 

It’s common for clients to have major problems in life, but they often tend to focus on the negativities and completely forget about the good in front of them. Instill optimism in your clients’ minds by asking them where their lives would be if their main problems didn’t exist.  

Letting them verbalize what they feel about the situation they are in encourages their brain to bridge the gap and allows them to look for better solutions.  

13. What Do You Need Most Right Now? 

Life can get stressful, and not knowing what your priorities are can make it worse. Without establishing priorities, clients might see themselves running in circles, attempting to do countless tasks at once.  

Asking your clients what they need right now is essential because it helps them prioritize the things that are truly important. When priorities are set in place, your clients can begin to accomplish one task at a time.

14. What Is The Most Important Thing In The World To You? 

This is a question that can help your clients know more about themselves and what their core drivers are. When your clients know what drives them to move forward, it’ll be easy for them to focus and attain sustainable success. 

15. What Hasn’t Been Working For You Today? 

If you want to help your clients solve their long-term problems, it’s vital to start small and make them realize what their day-to-day problems are. Starting small can be very advantageous as this can make the task less daunting and stressful for your clients.  

When they are able to determine what their daily struggles are and are willing to work on them every day, it won’t be long before they can achieve their long-term goals.  

Ready to grow as a coach?

Apply here to join the Ama La Vida Certified Proactive Coaching Practitioner Training and become an Ama La Vida Coach.