This is a quick one: Much therapy focuses on the past–one’s personal history, family of origin stuff, past trauma, early influences, and so on.

The focus of Coaching is primarily on the Present and the Future. Where are you at? What do you want? What resources do you have? What resources do you need? How do you get there from here? And so on…

The past is never irrelevant, but in Coaching, it is not the focus. We never get stuck there, we do not use it to make excuses, we do not point to mom or 1963 as the reason we are not having success today. I may use your Sun, Moon and Rising signs to explore innovative ideas, but never to establish limitations based on them. (“I’m a Scorpio–I HAD to hit him over the head with the bar stool!” 

 Nuh-uh, man…)