20 Coaching and Mindset Tips Successful Coaches Use Every day

1. Share Your Story… Your story is a massive part of who you are. It helps you create more meaningful connection with your clients and give them the trust and confidence to share theirs with you.

2. Successful Coaches Stick Around Asking Questions Way After Other People Have Stopped… The more questions you ask, the more engaged you are in creating a life-by-design and a more fulfilling future for yourself and your clients.

3. Doubt Your Doubts... Here’s something cool. According to Meta Dynamics™ and the basic principles of coaching, people do the best they can with the resources available to them at the time. Growth is never instant – it’s steady, slow and sometimes, painful. So before doubting yourself, doubt your doubts.

4. Focus on the Next Best Action Step... When you drive a car on the freeway, you can only see the next 200 metres of the path ahead of you. Life can sometimes be the same... you don’t have to figure it all out! Figure out the next 200 metres and do what needs to be done. Your future isn’t set in stone, your future is whatever you choose it to be... starting right now.

5. Respect Your Clients’ Boundaries… As a coach, you will have clients coming to you in “no” mode... They will say “I can’t” a lot. Others would have told them that "you can't" a lot. Be the first to tell them that yes, they can, if they choose to...

6. Be Human… Your story is what makes you, you. As a coach, you’ll have many opportunities to share insights and advice from your personal life. Each one of us brings unique personal experiences that can make a huge difference during a coaching session.

7. There is No Right or Wrong within Coaching… Aspire to create a judgement free space, it's where all love and acceptance will grow from.

8. Keep Showing Up… All you ever need to be, is one step ahead of your client. Keep learning, keep showing up, keep adding more value.

To make a difference to our clients, as coaches we first must get over ourselves. We need to take ourselves lightly. When we lighten up about life, we make change possible. Gather the courage to make that change.

9. Take Action… Don't wait for the experience to come, the confidence to build, the fears to go away, before you act... they only come when you take action, step forward, have a go. It is a rapidly growing industry, so explore and innovate!

10. There is No Magic Pill… There is no illusive thing in between you and what you want. The answer, is effort. Remember, you are way to smart to be the only thing standing in your way.

11. Allow Clients the Gift of Responsibility… Your role as a coach is to facilitate change, to create an environment that fosters it for the client. You are not responsible for anything. All change happens within the client.

12. Embrace Uncertainty… The human mind likes control and stability. We love the familiar, the status quo, the predictable.

But here’s the thing. “Stable” could block growth.

That applies beautifully to being a coach. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but you’re willing to go there and explore the depths with your client.

Great coaches venture into uncertainty willingly. They navigate the clients into the unknown. It’s the key to unlocking the future.

13. Connect with Successful Coaches and a Like-Minded Community… If you're curious about coaching, connect with successful coaches. If you don't want to do this on your own, don't.

The difference between having a supportive community that champions you on your coaching journey versus having no one is huge. A coaching term for this is “modelling”, it is a great way to learn from the experience and expertise of people who have been there and done that.

14. Be a Learning Machine... Humans are naturally wired to learn every day. Successful coaches move away from the “memory mill” towards learning how to think. It’s also the basis of how the Meta Dynamics™ methodology was created.

15. Listen Generously & With Curiosity... There’s a subtle difference between being a good listener and being genuinely curious about your client. The more curious you are, the more possibilities open up for your client.

16. Be First On Your To-Do List… Take time out to take care of you. Reconnect with who you are, rekindle your passion, reflect on your purpose, refresh and express self-love.

17. Learn to Build an Instant Connection…Rapport is the ability to enter someone’s world and have them feel that you understand them and that you’re with them.

In coaching, rapport is defined as a state of trust and responsiveness where your words become your client’s thoughts. It’s your ultimate tool for producing results when working with clients.

18. Apply Coaching Models that Work… The Critical Alignment Model gives you an ideal structure to carry out your coaching session and serve your client in the best possible way you can.

For example, the model gives you a clear guideline when starting a coaching session – you always start from the Environment. The big picture. The “why”.

19. Choose How You Create Rapport… You can create rapport with your clients in two ways: By matching and mirroring. And here’s something really interesting… Although both techniques work, one is more conscious whereas the other is much deeper and works at a subconscious level. Find out which is which in the first 2 minutes of the video here.

20. Differentiate Between Low Quality and High Quality Problems…  When you’re starting out, a lot of your problems will be focused on you. Such as “how can I become better at this?” That’s a good coach.

A great coach however focuses on others and how to serve them. An excellent coach will ask: “How can I be of more value to my client? How can I challenge? How can I bring to them a different version of reality that will help them realise their own potential?” They challenge the status quo – and raise the bar.