Coaching Yourself—6 Tips from a Professional Coach

Have you ever thought about coaching yourself?  It’s a good skill to have—especially during an unexpected change, transition, or period of uncertainty. Through self-coaching, you can take control of your thoughts and actions.

Coaching yourself can be a challenge due to biases and assumed constraints.  However, by increasing your awareness of your thoughts and being intentional, you can coach yourself to positive outcomes. Here are six recommendations that may help you.

Silence is Key.  Set aside quiet times for yourself to deeply reflect and explore your thoughts.

Brain Dump.  Write down your thoughts.  Be honest about how you are truly feeling.  Don’t hold back!  Remember, you are only talking to yourself so be honest!

Identify Your Goal or Objective.  In your current reality, state what you truly want to accomplish or change.  Say to yourself, “In a perfect world, I want… or “If I could have it my way, I want…”

Create a Plan of Action.  The goal here is to move through the feeling of being stuck by answering the question “What am I going to do about it?”

Start Small. Identify a few actions you will take and give yourself deadlines.  Include what may block you from being successful and how you can overcome it.

Find an Accountability Partner.  Find a person or persons who can support you and speak to them about your goals and plan of action. Ask them to hold you accountable.

We all have times when we feel stuck and need a little help.  If you are unable to partner with a certified coach, remember that you can coach yourself to move toward thinking differently, consciously exploring your thoughts, and creating a plan. Use this six-step process to get started—and let me know how it goes!