There is actually very little documented on the history of life coaching, mainly because it is a very recent phenomenon during the last 20 or so years. However, there are many earlier experiences of coaching before it became more mainstream. In the 1880s American college sports teams started having coaches directly in addition to only team managers.

However, today's huge growth in coaching really stems from the 1980s when executive coaching began to be offered by large companies to help improve the performance of their top executives. Tony Robbins popularized business coaching with sales teams and top performance athletes. As the 80's went into the 90's coaching became more widely accepted and spread to smaller organisations and deeper into organisational hierarchy. Appreciation of the benefits of coaching was now widely accepted.

By the mid 1990's coaching began moving into the lives of individuals rather than only for businesses. People began seeing better results in their careers, health, and relationships. The medium of coaching also began to expand into phone coaching as well as in person sessions.

Since then there has been a rapid growth in personal life coaching. It is not psychiatry, psychology, therapy, or counseling, but a process on ongoing support and accountability.