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The Origins and Evolution of Life Coaching

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Life coach Peter Winslow lives Scottsdale, Arizona, where he owns and operates a wellness and advising center. At GoldMind, LLC, Peter Winslow helps clients achieve their emotional and personal goals in his capacity as a life coach.

Life coaching as a discipline began to take shape in the early 1970s. It drew heavy inspiration from coaching in athletics, and borrowed many metaphors and euphemisms from the world of sports. This led to the publishing of The Inner Game of Tennis, a highly influential book about overcoming opponents within the mind, in 1974.

The field grew further under the influence of Werner Erhard and Thomas Leonard. Erhard operated a series of personal empowerment workshops, which focused on personal improvement and emotional wellness. Leonard picked up where Erhard left off, and began to call himself both a coach and a life advisor. He established the first professional training program for coaches, known as Coach University. 

The discipline took off in the 1990s, helped along by IBM's decision to make coaching a part of its workplace culture. It caught on as a tool for business development, and continues to be utilized by leading corporations today.