Life coaching is something most people will explore during some sort of change occurring in their lives. You may be slap bang in the middle of change and feel uncertainty about what the outcome is or you’re not happy and change needs to be instigated but don’t how. So, let’s break down a couple of techniques Coaches use:
1. Work out what which part of your life you’d like to improve
It’s always good to acknowledge parts in your life that you’re happy with. It gives you a sense of stability to have some aspects in life your satisfied with. The next step is to identify parts you’re not happy with, that you’d like to improve on. These parts or areas can be relationships, career, finance, family, wellbeing etc.
2. Think about what you want more of
Once you’ve identified these parts you want to improve, it’s time think about what you want to attract, what you want more of. Most of us know what we don’t want which great however it doesn’t inspire change. It actually focuses our attention on sidestepping instead of working out what we want. Being aware of your self-talk will give you a hint of what you’re wanting more of in life e.g.
- I really want to lose weight
- I want a more of a loving relationship
Setting the goal
Here we get to the nitty gritty to retune our mindset. Creating a goal that works for you by keeping it simple in one to two sentences. The simpler the written goal, the more you can gravitate towards it. A little trick to writing a goal is to make it present tense (not future orientated) so the mind sees it as if the goal is already achieved. Some coaches liken a goal to an affirmation e.g.
- My body and mind work together making me feel fit, strong and healthy
- Note there is no mention of losing weight in this goal. By focusing on the outcome and how you would feel with having achieved the goal, changes your mindset
- I cherish and appreciate myself, my partner and our relationship
- It’s important to include yourself and not just focus on your partner or relationship
4. Mini goals.
You’ve worked out the areas you want to work on, what you want to increase and written a simple goal. Now we put the goal into action and create mini goals to measure your movement forward in a tangible manner. Mini goals are the how-to with a timeframe. Let’s create four mini goals for your one goal that are action orientated to introduce new habits for each one e.g.
- My body and mind work together making me feel fit, strong and healthy
1st Mini Goal – week 1
- Moving your body for 10-15 minutes of exercise a day (that includes vigorous cleaning!)
- Get a 7-day planner – look at times of the day that you gravitate towards unhealthy or comfort eating and mark them on your chart
- Have healthier snacks ready OR try doing five jumping jacks first! We want to break this habit.
2nd Mini Goal – week 3
- Revamp in slow increments you’re eating lifestyle e.g. if you get takeout often, cut back to twice a week, plan your meals at home for the week
- Increase your ‘moving your body’ to a minimum 30 minutes three-four times weekly. Gather some friends to join you or find a group|studio that makes you feel motivated
3rd Mini Goal – week 5
- You’re monitoring what’s working and what’s not, tweaking any of the above steps and streamlining them
- Start cooking larger quantities to freeze and for later meals
4th Mini Goal – week 7
- Incorporating this as your lifestyle to maintain fit, healthy and strong.
And last but not least:
External support
Whether you have a coach or choose to do self-coaching, it’s important to create a support network for your goals. If it’s your health and fitness goal, you may get an exercise buddy or two to keep you accountable or join a studio that you enjoy going to. It’s this external support that gives you that extra push when motivation hits a waning spot and let’s face it, we all could do with a little more ‘you got this’ incentive at times!
Author: Simone Lee simonelee.com
