Listen Life Coaching

with Ann Imig

Dane County

Do I Need a Coach or a Therapist?

By Ann Imig

Generally speaking, a coach helps us when we feel stuck with a decision, hit a stumbling block, or need clarity about a goal. A therapist assists us during times of personal crisis, serious or stressful life events, or if prolonged issues interfere with our day-to-day wellbeing. One process might lead to the other, and both are highly valuable.

Madison, Wisconsin Life Coach Ann Imig

I’m certified in Positive Psychology Coaching, a method grounded in neuroscience and evidence-based research, designed to help people navigate transitions, set and achieve goals, and create other kinds of positive change in their lives, work, relationships, and overall well-being. It is not advice giving, psychological counseling, or therapy.

“Coaching focuses on visioning, success, the present, and moving into the future. Therapy emphasizes psychopathology, emotions, and the past in order to understand the present. The purpose of coaching is frequently about performance improvement, learning, or development in some area of life while therapy often dives into deep-seated emotional issues to work on personal healing or trauma recovery.” – International Coaching Federation

What’s Life Coaching? What’s Positive Psychology?

By Ann Imig

What’s Life Coaching, Anyway?

Life coaching helps people get unstuck. While opening our mindset, we expand and explore our future potential. Coaching engages the client with curiosity, compassionate listening, supportive questions, and goal setting/achieving.

What’s Positive Psychology?

Positive Psychology concentrates on solutions instead of problems. Historically, psychology research and interventions focus primarily on treating “disfunction.” Positive Psychology research and interventions focus on building function. Rather than studying what isn’t working, Tal Ben-Shahar sums up Positive Psychology as “working with what works.” Positive Psychology provides an evidence-based framework and tools for increasing our own wellbeing. At its core Positive Psychology acknowledges the universality of hardship and human suffering — life’s ups and downs — and utilizes a person’s unique strengths to generate hope and optimism.

Madison, Wisconsin Life Coach Ann Imig

What’s Positive Psychology Coaching?

Humans are so much stronger and more resilient than we realize. Positive Psychology coaches help clients identify and connect to our strengths — how we’ve used them to successfully navigate challenges in the past, and how we can use them again to create and sustain positive change. Sonja Lyubomirsky’s happiness research demonstrates that while genetics determine 50% of our inherited “un/happiness set point,” we can impact fully 40% of our potential for happiness (life circumstances dictate the other 10%). Positive Psychology coaching provides researched and replicated action steps and tools to gain the maximum positive benefit for that 40% of our wellbeing that’s within reach.

Interested? Let’s go! Click for a consultation