Every now and then, I'm going to be featuring interviews with people who are either doing their dream jobs, or who can help us on our quest to snag ours.  This week's chat is with 29-year-old Christine Hassler, a Los Angeles-based life coach and author of 20-Something, 20-Everything. Now we've all heard of career coaches, but what's a life coach?  Let's find out.

Alex: Tell me a little about the role of a life coach.

Christine: I see myself as a client's support system rather than a "life coach." We all serve as our own internal life coaches, but sometimes we need to enroll other coaches to have on the sidelines as we play the game called life.  My role as a coach and member of someone's support system is first and foremost to listen.  The hardest part of the human experience is not to judge ourselves and others.  As a coach, my mission is to create a space  for conversation and listening without this judgment.  I encourage my clients to find their own answers and to cut away the extra fat that clouds their intuition, like expectations, pressures, belief systems, and so on.

I also work with my clients to break habits that aren't serving them well, and to create new ones that will result in positive life change. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!  Most of all, though, my role as a coach is to be someone who my clients can trust, someone to whom they can speak openly about anything going on in their lives, and someone who can offer guidance from a perspective they may not have considered.

Alex: What made you decide to become a life coach?

Christine: It's very simple.  In my own life, I needed a coach.  I would not be where I am today without the support system I had and continue to have. I was so inspired by the difference a good coach made it my life, and I wanted to learn more about the field and share my experiences with others.  Also, ever since I was little, I have been fascinated by the human mind and experience, and I look at coaching as an extension of that fascination.

The interview with Christine will continue in Wednesday's post.  In the meantime, if you'd like to contact Christine about her life coaching services, please visit her Web site.