It may be hard to believe, but life coaches are people, too!
We encounter problems, make mistakes, and don’t always have the right answers at times.
But what we do have are tried-and-true strategies and techniques to help us stay on top of our game. It’s not the absence of difficulties that makes individuals in the coaching industry seem so pulled together — it’s the way they handle those difficulties.
Below are six secrets life coaches use to handle their life circumstances and come out on top.
Identify and Limit Negative Self talk
Have you ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Basically, the concept behind the idea is that if you believe in an outcome strongly enough, you may cause it to come to fruition. You can see how that can become a problem if you tend to have a negative view of your abilities. Sometimes we actually “talk ourselves into failure” – because our minds tell us “No, you can’t” when we never even gave ourselves a chance to prove otherwise.
Life coaches are taught to be conscious of the power of negative self talk and how to get control over “the voices” so they won’t sabotage our lives. We pass this knowledge on to our clients in the hope that they, too, can learn to replace discouragement with positive reinforcement and a can-do attitude!
Manage Fears
Mark Twain once said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” Twain’s words still ring true to those in the coaching industry today. It is only natural to have fears, but the key to success is knowing how to manage those fears.
In order to live successfully, you must determine if your fears are realistic and what you can do to overcome them. Most importantly, you cannot allow fear to prevent you from doing things you need to or would like to do. Have you ever thought about what “fears” are standing in the way of what you really want to do in this lifetime? It pays to give the matter some thought, before you just resign yourself to a life of same old, same old!
Set Goals
How can you win a race if you don’t know where you’re going? The answer is, you can’t. Individuals in the coaching industry know the value of setting goals. When you set a goal, you create a purpose and a pathway for your future actions. You also develop a way of measuring your successes and evaluating how you can improve.
Life coaches set ambitious yet reachable goals in their own lives — for everything from their careers to family life to continuing education. In other words: we practice what we preach to our clients. As long as a goal is well thought out and sufficiently challenging, it will serve as an excellent motivator to help you accomplish your tasks.
Express Your Gratitude
Gratitude journals are a simple yet priceless way to focus on the positive things in life, and life coaches do not underestimate their value. Each day, take the time to write down a few things you are grateful for. Think about the ways that other people have enlightened you; shown you even the smallest gestures of kindness.
Think about all the good you do each day, and the ways that you enrich others. Not only is gratitude journaling a wonderful way to concentrate on the uplifting aspects of life, but if you’re ever in a rut, you can look back over your past entries and remember all the good things that have helped you along the way.
Craft a Personal Mission Statement
Most businesses, schools, and even churches have mission statements, so why not have one for your personal life? Crafting a personal mission statement will allow you to identify who you are, where you’re going, and what you would like to become. It helps you to recognize your core values and beliefs and how they combine to influence your actions.
Furthermore, a mission statement is something you can refer to when you feel like you’ve lost your way. Your personal mission statement should be something that allows you to reflect upon your purpose in life and how you would like to impact the world.
Find an Accountability Partner
Life coaches, though oftentimes full of strategies for positive living, do not know everything. Many times we have life coaches of our own. The benefits of having someone to keep you accountable are twofold. First, a mentor or coach can help you to find new solutions to difficulties you may be having.
Second, an accountability partner can remind you to put into action the things you already know. The main idea here is that you do not have to go through things alone, no matter how knowledgeable you may be on successful living strategies. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one!
In order to become a life coach, a certain amount of composure and self-control is required. However, life coaches are able to go through life at peak performance because of their large inventory of ways to manage the ups and downs. Try using the six secrets of the coaching industry discussed above to develop your own skills and strategies to stay on top of your game.
