As a life coach, you’ll learn to help clients build confidence and discover their career and life path. A significant part of building confidence in clients is helping them to realize and overcome the existence of self-imposed obstacles. Self-imposed obstacles are driven by internal forces, such as our own habits and fears, and cause individuals to struggle with or resist change (Voci, 2013). Common reactions may include denial, panic, surrender, or retreat (Hyman, 2020).
As a life coach, you’ll be trained through a structured curriculum to succeed in your own life and be able to assist others in achieving their goals. Positive action is the only way to reach one’s goal, and this entails knowing how to successfully eliminate obstacles (Hyman, 2020). By cultivating self-respect, confidence, and a commitment to their own talents, individuals can successfully overcome many of their limiting beliefs (Voci, 2013). Read on to learn more about how you can guide clients to fulfil their passion and purpose.
Identifying a Client’s Obstacles In Your Life Coach Career
In order to assist a client in breaking down their barriers, you first need to understand what those barriers are. An important life coaching step to overcoming obstacles is to acknowledge the validity of these feelings and the client’s right to experience them (Hyman, 2020). Allowing oneself to recognize these feelings is part of the process of clearing the mind of any denial and realigning one’s focus on the next goal (Hyman, 2020).
As you become a certified life coach you should recognize the importance of this process in assisting clients to move past their hurdles. Start by identifying the purpose of a client’s limiting belief and where it came from (Lashkaria, 2019). From there, the client should start to question the belief to ascertain whether it is still valid or useful (Lashkaria, 2019). The best way to challenge limiting beliefs is by replacing them with new beliefs – ones that are in line with the client’s values and will support them in achieving their goals (Lashkaria, 2019).
Assist clients with identifying their own obstacles on the path to overcoming them
Addressing the Fear of Failure
One of the biggest obstacles to personal growth is the fear of failure. Fear of failure is the worry we experience when we turn our attention to everything that would go wrong if we failed to achieve our goal (Lashkaria, 2019). In the face of self-doubting worries, a life coach should encourage their client to recognize that feeling and consciously turn their mind towards solutions. Instead of spending effort on worrying about what could happen, clients should focus that energy on ways they can minimize possible obstacles and thereby develop a more reliable plan for success (Fiske, 2020). By turning their thoughts into solutions, clients can develop the confidence and motivation to achieve their goals.
Additionally, a life coach may encourage clients to reflect on their past successes as examples of previous obstacles that were overcome by taking certain actions (Voci, 2013). Clients can then visualize how these successes may be repeated in the face of present challenges (Voci, 2013). By fostering positive solution-thinking in clients, professionals in a life coach career can empower clients to take proactive measures in their own lives.
Understand how self-doubt can inhibit clients in your life coach career
How Certified Life Coach Training Can Help
Part of the responsibility of a life coach is to assist clients in setting their goals and strategizing ways to achieve them. When working towards a goal, self-imposed obstacles can create significant setbacks. These obstacles can take on different behavioural forms including procrastination, stubbornness, a reluctance to change, limiting beliefs, or an attachment to comfort zones (Lashkaria, 2019). To cultivate the growth and success of the whole person, life coaches must focus on breaking down these self-imposed barriers.
One way to achieve this is by separating ability from thoughts (Das, 2019). By reminding clients of their actual capacity to achieve something, you can turn the focus away from their limiting beliefs and give them the courage to take action (Das, 2019). Students in a life coaching program will draw upon similar experiential learning models to allow them to tap into their own experiences and to help clients develop a more fruitful and proactive life path.
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Works Cited:
Das, S. (2019). A Simple Technique to Overcome Self-Imposed Obstacles. Retrieved from https://beyondtheshadow.blog/2019/05/09/a-simple-technique-to-overcome-self-imposed-obstacles/
Fiske, D. (2020). Don’t Allow Self Doubt To Be Your Biggest Thief. Retrieved from https://www.milestone-coaching.co.uk/blog/2019/8/20/dont-allow-self-doubt-to-be-your-biggest-thief
Hyman, S. (2020). The Best Life Coaching Tips On How To Overcome Obstacles. Retrieved from https://drstanhyman.com/the-best-life-coaching-tips-on-how-to-overcome-obstacles/
Lashkaria, F. (2019). How Self-Imposed Barriers Stop You From Success & Their Solutions. Retrieved from https://dontworrybehappy.co/self-imposed-barriers/
Voci, E. (2013). How to Overcome Obstacles in Life: Five Strategies that Life Coaches Use to Help Clients Succeed. Retrieved from https://elainevoci.com/change/how-to-overcome-obstacles-in-life-five-strategies-that-life-coaches-use-to-help-clients-succeed/
