You have jumped in, hired a coach, and feel ready to change your health! Next step: Don’t Blow It!!
Let’s do a quick run-down of where coaching fails and make sure to avoid these pitfalls.
- You think your coach should chase your down.
Here is what you should do – be sure to book your own follow-up appointments, send your coach regular check ins as requested, and message her with questions when they pop up.
What to avoid – Expecting her to reach out to you requesting follow up appointments or for her to ask for check ins. Also, allow 24 hours or more for a response to questions.
Why? Your coach is invested in your progress. She is rooting for you and hoping that all-day-everyday you are making fantastic choices to hit your goals based on the plans you made together. By taking initiative and reaching out to her, she knows you are actively engaged. If she doesn’t hear from you, she worries you have decided that finding your goals is not worth the effort, but doesn’t want to cross the line into nagging mother role. She knows that for you to change, you have to be invested and engaged.
2. You don’t tell your coach the whole truth.
Here is what you should do – Be honest about your worst habits, your biggest fears, and your spectacular fails.
What to avoid – Trying to be the star student and impress her by omission.
Why? The warts and scars of your health are the parts that are truly holding your back. By revealing them, you open up to an opportunity to learn about yourself. Your coach is there to listen as a problem solver and detective, not a judge. She can’t solve a problem she doesn’t know about. Let it all hang out.
3. You aren’t honest about your fears.
Here is what you should do – Let your coach know right away any doubts you have about implementing a health strategy she is suggesting. Or if you have chosen together to set a new behavior as a goal and it is just not happening, let her know as soon as possible.
What to avoid – Playing along, thinking your SHOULD do the practice that is being suggested, but having that nagging feeling that it will not be a fit for you. This sets you up to feel like a failure for never even giving that behavior a try. If you give it a try and it is not working at all, you end up feeling like a failure every day and your coach doesn’t want that feeling for you. She wants you to thrive.
Why? A health plan is only worth the paper it is written on. Implementation of the plan is the only way success will happen. By expressing your doubts, your coach can help find a slightly different path where you feel more confident, even if it is a less extreme change. A small change that is implemented 95% of the time will be more effective than a big change that is not implemented at all.
Keep these tips in mind to build a partnership that will help you learn and grow into the healthiest version of yourself!
