22 November 2024
At a young age, we learn to understand the difference between positive and negative. We then use this notion when asked if we feel we are living a good or positive life. So, depending on our natural mindset and the things we use to measure success, we may sometimes feel we are not living the life we really want. But this may simply be because we have an imbalance in one area of our life or we do not have full control over the things we are using to measure our success or happiness.
So if you are working with a client and they do not feel as if they are living the life they want, it could be the perfect time to ask them how they normally measure their success. We know that some people will normally measure their success by how much money they have, the number of possessions they own, or the job they have. Or it may be how much success they have in life compared to other people. But whatever material measure they do use, it may be time to see if they would benefit from switching their focus away from these things and focus instead on exploring what sources of energy, happiness or positivity they have within themselves.
Especially as many of these material things may be out of their control or simply unrealistic, so as a starting point, this could be a great time for them to learn how to measure their success in a range of different ways. And if they do, they will start to have a much more balanced view of the contribution they are really making to the world and their impact on the people around them.
Maybe you have a client who looks to their friends and family to boost their happiness, or they constantly turn to habits like shopping to make themselves feel better when they are lacking energy or feeling negative. Maybe they have not checked their work-life balance recently or they do not normally allocate the right amount of time to really focus on the things they love. Or do you have a client that just finds it difficult to prioritize competing activities or feel they need to support people who may be draining away at their energy reserves and natural positivity.
If you do, now could be just the right time to have a review session with them to check progress against their long-term goals and look at where they are getting their energy from to see if they need to make any changes to the way they live their life. And it can also be helpful to discuss a range of different areas of their life and see if they feel they are living a healthy lifestyle. This could include looking at things like exercise and if they are eating a balanced diet, if they ever use meditation or mindfulness, or are they getting plenty of sleep and staying hydrated. But does really need to explore all areas of their life to ensure they understand how they use energy and where they can generate the all-important energy they need each day.
But remember, this should not just focus on when they need a boost to overcome any stressful or negative situations and will start to form the building blocks they need to provide your clients with a solid understanding of their own personal energy base. You will be helping to build the foundation they need for the longer-term approach you take to uncover the solutions that work for them. Especially as any negative feelings can quickly return if they do not address where these feelings are actually coming from.
Helping your client take time out to reflect back and look at all areas of their life can really help them see where they have any imbalance and will help provide them with the insight needed to start making some positive changes. And by working with them to help check their own natural mindset, they will be able to see how they can learn to live a more positive life. This moment of reflection during a coaching session can really help and is another powerful tool they can use on a regular basis to really understand where any negative feelings are coming from. And they will start to learn how to reset these feelings or at least start to spot any triggers early.
Without even knowing it our beliefs can slowly and quietly condition how we react or feel about the world around us and the things we encounter every day. So it can also be important to be aware of our own beliefs and try not to maintain any that are negative or hold us back. You don’t need great insight to correctly predict that two people with the same genetic background will go on to lead very different lives, if one adopts a positive outlook on life, and the other has a negative outlook or negative beliefs.
Learning to use positive life scripts or mantras to help us change the inner voice or our own inner saboteur into our own internal cheer squad will encourage us all to keep moving forward and succeed where we would have once never even tried.
And as a professional coach knows how important it is to live a positive life and focus our energy on doing the things that really bring us joy. So it can be really helpful if we also take some time to reflect and rebalance, so we make the space needed to review the many different areas of our lives. And if you do find any imbalance, what tools or techniques will you use to help change your natural mindset and start to break any negative beliefs?
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