Life Coaching: New Year, New You!
Are you ready for a change? If you are - then let me share a proven Self Mentorship approach to successful change and personal growth.
How to coach yourself through life.
1. Know yourself
2. Assess yourself
3. Create your Future
Life Coaching - It’s time for a New You!
Are you living the unexamined life? If so, how is that working for you? Sometimes, to move forward, we need to step back and be willing to view ourselves from the inside out. Most of us think we know ourselves, but how much time do we give to review and assess our lives? Investing in yourself is important. So spend some time today to see if Life Coaching could help you.
Doing your own Life Coaching requires insight and honesty. Even if you are doing well, you can always do better. Most of us want to challenge ourselves to reach our full potential. Make yourself into the person you want to be, and create a life that will make you happy. Life Coaching is a process you can start on your own. If you need to later, you can always look for a mentor or coach to help you process your thinking or act as a sounding board
The idea of Life Coaching is to review your life, assess what needs to change, and make a plan to start making things a little bit better every day. After a month or year, things can get a lot better.
Life Coaching is a gift you can give yourself. Download my free Life Coaching Guide, and let's take the first step. I will show you how.
Finding your Why
The Delphi of Greece said “Know thyself”. Why? Because self-knowledge is the first step to any kind of self-assessment or self-improvement. Many characterize this first step as Finding your Why.
Your 'Why' is unique to you. What brings you joy? What is your purpose? What makes you happy and fulfills you?
Use the Life Coaching Guide to write your Why. Add what motivates and inspires you. Motivation is specific to each person, and, it can ebb and flow. So think about the source of your motivation. What drives you, and how you can lose your motivation at times. This insight can provide you with 'sign posts' to look for your 2022 journey. Understanding the sources of potential distractions and demotivates can help avoid them. And be ready to ‘just say no’ to negative people, stress-inducing actions, or unhelpful feelings when they pop up.
Creating a 'better life’ is about focusing on the positive. Whatever that is for you - celebrate it and document it. Happiness is not about the things have or social media perceptions. Happiness is about how you feel, the life you lead, and your purpose.
Self Mentoring gives you the chance to ask yourself:
What path are you on?
Is it the right one?
Where do you want to focus your energy?
What outcomes do you want to see?
Are you wondering about your Why or perhaps you are struggling to articulate it? If so, review the Future Self Concept as a way to find your Why. See the video or read the blog.
Assess yourself
When looking at your life, take the big view. What is going well, and what could go better? What do you want to see more or less of? Where are you today and where do you want to be in three, six or twelve months?
Not everything needs to change at once, but you can gain insights by assessing your life from different angles. I call this assessment process the Wheel of Life Check-up.
The Wheel can help you think about aspects of your life. Give each area a 'rating’.
A happy, neutral, or sad face icon
Or rating from 1-10 (as I have done in the example).
As you go, make notes to clarify points or stories that highlight why you feel that way. This will help for review later. The Wheel of Life is just for you. It is your truth. So be honest with yourself. And feel free to replace my wheel areas with those that suit you.
After you have updated your own Wheel, assess your current state:
Step back and review.
Think about your top 1-2 areas you'd like to see change.
Consider how much you want things to change (and be reasonable with yourself).
Make a note of the ideal rating you'd like to give yourself next time you do this assessment.
Make a note of how this change would look (such as "I will listen more" or "I will make more time for family or skill building")
Remember, don't try to address everything. Sometimes good enough is good enough - focus on the most important aspects of you life right now. And when reviewing this Wheel, think about yourself. This is not about comparing yourself to others but creating your own journey. See my chart which summarizes of the Wheel of Life areas.
When you review your current and future state, note the gaps. Be realistic about how much energy these areas cost you today. Focus on starting with a small change. For example, being 5% better over three months can give you 5% more energy or more time to do something else. Small changes can create the tipping point you need to see change and begin feeling better about that aspect of yourself. And if you fail at first, keep going. Change is hard, and perseverance will pay off. So be kind to yourself through this process.
Focus your Future with Themes
If you "Why" and "Life Wheel" is clear - that's great, now you are ready to focus on your future. Themes can help. Themes are broad concepts that help you make plans, choices and take actions that help you move forward. CGPGrey has inspired me to use Themes - and I recommend using them. Themes provide a 'north star' of direction toward your larger goals. If Themes are new to you, take a look at CGPGrey’s Video here.
A broad theme allows its meaning to adapt with you. - CGP Grey
Themes help us manage intentions and energy. While we all have the same 24 hours, two things can make the difference in our success.
How we use our time. We make micro choices throughout the day about what gets our focus on how we allocation our actions.
How we use our energy. Unlike time, energy is a variable that can increase or decrease depending on our situation, health, and mindset. Doing things that boost our energy or avoiding energy drains can make a huge difference in our ability to lead the lives we crave.
The core problem with working longer hours is that time is a finite resource. Energy is a different story. - Schwartz and McCarthy, HBR Manage your energy not your time
Themes provide boundaries. Themes help us to stay on course and clarify what is important. So think big and broad when it comes to creating yours.
To define your Theme and write it down. Note how it contributes to your Why and your Life Wheel. If it does, great, you are set to let the Themes guide you toward your long-term goals.
Since Themes are directional, not action-focused, I also recommend making a journal to document your Theme and the actions that support it. A journal will help you to document, reflect and adjust your thinking around the actions and decisions that help you realize your life goals. It can also help appreciate the changes you have made, your lessons learned, and the understand your path for the next stage of your journey.
Those who set an actionable task for their goals and review weekly achieve 40% more! - Matthew’s Study
The Life Coaching Guide can be reviewed every few months or annually. I keep a log of all of my Coaching Reviews for comparison over time. It helps me understand myself and evaluate how to continue my journey of discovery and growth. Either way, it's about progress, so celebrate the moments of positive change. And remember to be kind to yourself and others along the way.
If you want to take things further, try setting specific goals to track your aspirations and progress. Life is a Journey, but you still need a roadmap and sign posts to get where you are going. If you need goal setting inspiration - see this video. If you go to the blog here, download goal setting worksheets.
I hope you found this information helpful. If you did, please let me know which part you found helpful and which part you changed to meet your needs. I would love to hear from you. And I wish you the very best in your life journey.
