The Work: Preparing For A Coach

Through inexperience we have the opportunity to make choices with little to no knowledge of the outcome — these choices can result in mistakes, but they also leave room for sparks of genius. As we continue to practice a skill or craft, we refine our approach. We miscalculate less often. We continue to do what works and we discard what doesn’t.

Overtime, we develop rules that dictate our behavior and actions. If A, then B. These rules allow us to feel confident, knowing what to do even when the situation we’re encountering is new.

Even more significant than learning what someone knows, is to learn how and why they came to that conclusion. Here within “the work” we’ll discover the rules that experts in the fitness and wellness space have developed as they share how they arrived.

Preparing For A Coach

Tania takes us through her process when onboarding a new client:

I begin each curious prospective client with a conversation of inquiry.
The mechanisms we have unconsciously created in order to survive do not want to be seen. What lies on the other side is a world of possibilities. The process of identifying those mechanisms and seeing beyond it is euphoric, exhilarating and completely freeing.

Advice on how to prepare before a conversation with a coach ask yourself:

1. What do I want to get out of this?

A great place to start when beginning a journey with a coach is; what areas of my life feel constrained? What feels like it’s not moving or growing? Where do I feel stuck? Those answers will bring light to the areas you’d like to give energy to with your coach.

2. What am I willing to bring of myself?

In this work, it's most important that we are present. When we are not present, someone else is running the show. Dr. Daniel Amen brilliantly coined the term, ANTs: Automatic Negative Thoughts. When we take the back seat to these thoughts we have no say in how we view what is coming at us, whether that be a stranger at a party, a speaker at a conference or say, a coach. Choosing to be present in each moment is like taking the wheel. Inside of that space lives being vulnerable, being coachable, and being compassionate - to yourself!

3. What am I committed to?

“At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

An exercise to prepare you for the transformation of the coaching process:

Over the next couple of mornings, right when you wake up and are still lying in bed, notice your internal conversation. Listen to the words, almost as an observer, what comes up. You’ll notice it may be repetitive day-to-day, it may get quieter or louder.

Write it all down.

Once you’ve written it all down, close the book, and choose one thing you’re grateful for. This is the first step in ‘Creating your day’.