Center for Coaching Certification
Current Articles |

Today is the very best day

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Cathy Liska

by Susanna Theo https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanna-theo-cmc-5126477Susanna Theo

Each day I take a moment to recite this phrase aloud with 100% belief supporting every word. I have the freedom to set the tone of my day both for myself and for my students. This action is selected with conscious commitment. The path I choose to walk is paved with stepping stones constructed of positivity and success where all things are possible.  Positivity begins with me.

As I am vested in my own road, my students become part of this, too. Each day and every moment is a living example. My students are not just on lookers, they engage as part of the example. Co-creation. The students have the chance to hear, see, feel, and experience if only for a split second. Positivity is like a seed: once planted it grows and grows. Quickly, students see the simplicity of including this shift in their everyday life through their own efforts: attendance is solid, they become more engaged, and they see progress in rising test scores.  Daily I watch the transformation.

Positivity does begin with me, therefore, I am at the ready.  Today, a student walks into a session with body posture and face revealing the weight of worry and stress. Their eyes reflect their thoughts spinning around in their mind questioning things like: how can I balance work and school, or pass an upcoming test? In a split second, I say “Today is the very best day!” Instantly, tense muscles relax as their face lights with a smile.  Now, the focus is solely on achievements where their smallest dreams will become real.

Today, I say, “It IS the very best day!”

 

Posted in Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Impact of Using Positivity

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Cathy Liska

by Pete Liska Pete Liska

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peteliska

Positivity and being positive affects more in a person’s health, career, relationships, and life than most people realize.

Being positive helps your whole body.  Positivity increases your energy level and you are more relaxed.  Positivity benefits your health by reducing stress.

Confidence increases in those who are positive and maintain a positive outlook in the workplace.  Confidence, in turn, helps increase motivation.  Positivity also aids in decision making.  Being positive enhances self-respect and confidence.  Positivity and confidence work hand in hand to earn respect and build credibility.   Additionally, positivity and confidence will increase engagement and productivity.  This increases opportunities professionally.

For me, working with social media, I recognize the language in posts matters.  When posting on social media, positivity engages.  People are drawn to positive words and positive posts.  It helps people be happy or stay happy.

Focusing on positive thoughts, feelings, and language improves relationships too.  I learned in the Science of Positivity class that positivity opens the mind and heart.  It helps build confidence.  Positive language and thoughts change your feelings in a good way.  Being open, confident, and positive helps those around you feel better as well.

Positive people are respectful.  Respect is contagious!  Being positive and confident in yourself helps to connect and engage with others.  This enhances relationships.  People notice those who are positive and maintain a positive attitude.

Being positive supports a great attitude.  Additionally, maintaining a positive, glass half full attitude makes one more grateful.

Being positive and grateful helps all aspects of your life and benefits those around you too!

Posted in Coaching Program, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Science of Positivity

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Cathy Liska

by Vonetta Wade, CPC Vonetta Wade

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vonetta-wade-6a497013

Prior to taking the Science of Positivity course, I thought I already knew enough about positivity.  I’m a fairly positive person, and many people tell me I have positive energy.  I just wanted to learn ways to reinforce what I already knew.  I didn’t know I was in for a surprise.

The class brought meaning to what positivity really means, what it does, and why it’s so important.  I had never thought about these things before.  Positivity is a science.  There is tons of research and evidence surrounding the benefits of positivity.

Positivity is important to our mental health.   Having positive emotions is extremely important to living a fulfilled, confident, and successful life.  Research shows positivity increases energy, optimism, and creativity.  This supports the need for coaches to research, understand, and actively practice positivity, and support positivity in our clients for successfully reaching their goals.

Our brains naturally pay attention to the negative, so a large percentage of our thoughts are negative by default.  The good news is the mind can train the brain.  We have the ability to switch from being negatively reactive to being consciously proactive for operating and responding in positivity by choosing positive language and habits.

Below are a few takeaways:

  • Be aware. Oftentimes, we go about our day on autopilot, not being fully aware of the language we are speaking to ourselves and others.  Because negativity is the default, awareness is a huge first step in our ability to recognize and change it.
  • Once we are aware, we can consciously begin replacing negative language with positive language. For example, instead of thinking or saying, “I can’t” we can choose “I can”.
  • Positive language leads to positive feelings, which leads to positive actions. Again, changing your language can change your brain and can ultimately change your life.  This is powerful information for coaches and our clients.

 

Posted in Coaching Program, Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Role of Influence in Your Coaching Practice

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Cathy Liska

By Eric Bloom  https://officeinfluence.com/Office Influence with Eric Bloom

As an executive coach, the study of influence has multiple advantages for your business and for the person you are coaching.

From your perspective, the proper use of influence-based concepts and techniques can help you more effectively win coaching assignments, increase your coaching effectiveness, and enhance your professional reputation.

From the client/coachee’s perspective, sharing your knowledge of influence concepts and techniques with your clients can enhance their influence in the workplace. This in turn, can increase their current job performance, position them for promotion, and accelerate their upward mobility.

Two of these key influence concepts are “Influential Presence” and “Situational Influence.”

Influential Presence is your ability to influence others based on your stature, skills and personal attributes.  In my book, “Office Influence: Get What You Want from the Mailroom to the Boardroom”, I divide the components of influence in the workplace into five distinct categories:

  1. Personal Attributes – Internal: confidence, trustworthiness, loyalty, courage, vision
  2. Personal Attributes – External: follow-through, leading by example, friends and allies
  3. Professional Stature: job title, awards, accomplishments, professional experience
  4. Interpersonal Skills: emotional intelligence, active listening, public speaking
  5. Business Skills: teambuilding, mentoring, negotiation, goal setting

The combination of these five attribute categories determine your influential presence and how seriously you are taken by your coworkers and clients at all organizational levels.

Situational Influence provides insight into your ability to influence a specific person (or group) on a specific topic at a specific time, based on your relative level of knowledge and organizational/social power over/under person you are trying to influence.  Situational knowledge, as the name alludes, is the depth of your knowledge in the topic being discussed as compared to the topical knowledge of the person or group you are trying to influence. Situational Audience refers to your relative organizational power as compared to the person or group you are trying to influence.

In closing, by continually enhancing your Influential Presence through personal introspection, training, and experience, and keeping an ongoing eye on situational influence, you can enhance your coaching profession and help advance the careers of those receiving your thoughts and advice.

 

Posted in Books and Resources, Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

About the Science of Positivity Class

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Cathy Liska

by Juanita Bulloch  https://www.linkedin.com/in/juanitabullochJuanita Bulloch

Science of Positivity is a continuing education class offered by Center for Coaching Certification that I recently attended.  My experience is that there is a lot of information available on positivity mostly emphasizing word use and affirmations, both of which I use and find helpful.

To really get noticeable and sustainable effects, the science behind positivity must be acknowledged and applied in words, thoughts, and actions.  Seeing the science of positivity as a holistic approach supports/allows us to be whole, in integrity, not living as a Pollyanna, instead as someone who acknowledges the dark days and challenges AND uses science of positivity tools to move to a higher frequency more easily.

It really is about changing our habits, our default programing or subconscious behaviors.  To change a habit requires conscious choices for words, thoughts, and actions, using conscious mind until our new way of being becomes our subconscious or default program.

The biggest awareness for me is that what ever I desire to change has to become a part of my physical body and its actions, be that chemical or movement.  What comes first, I don’t know.  Is it the smile on my face that triggers different words to come out of my mouth that causes me see the world as beautiful that then inspires me to take action to become healthier and engage with other like-minded positive humans or the converse of that scenario?  I do know the process is not linear.  Science now gives us technology to measure and track our responses and positivity levels.  What’s that saying in business?  What gets measured gets done!

 

Posted in Coaching Program, Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks! Science says so!

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Cathy Liska

By Mel O’Keefe – www.MelOKeefe.comMel O'Keefe

There were so many ‘aha’ moments that came out of CCC’s outstanding Science of Positivity class I could do a month’s worth of blogging!  For today’s purpose I will keep it to my title and my chosen fields of expertise.  The relatively new field of Neuroplasticity is a direction I’ve been heading in ever since the first webinar because it has applications in my field as a Personal Trainer as well as being a Wellness Coach.

I’m getting old!  P.S. so are you!  For all of the sixty years of my life my sole experience of aging is that “it sucks”.  Okay, maybe 99 percent.  The conventional wisdom has been that as you age you lose it….it being strength, mental acuity, and the rest that any of you over the age of 50 will nod your head to in agreement.  Thankfully science has taken over conventional wisdom!

The quintessential surrendering of our physique, mental and physical strength has been a con!  One that we were sadly unaware of until now.  It makes complete sense.  There has not been the technology to counter this so-called conventional wisdom until recent years.  Now we know that the brain and the body don’t have to atrophy.  They don’t even have to accept the status quo.  Growth in all areas is available to each and every one of us – because science says so!

Now to my other wonderful area of expertise, Wellness Coaching.  Now that I’ve captured your attention about anything being possible, it begets the question of “how are you going to succeed in your newfound and exhilarating zest for life?”  Because without a road map to lead you towards these exciting (no longer painful) years of your aging, getting lost is as easy when you’re old as when you’re young!  For me, I’m taking the same high road that Theodore Roosevelt took.  “We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us.  My choice is to wear out.”

 

Posted in Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Best Practices for Inviting Positivity in Difficult Times

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Cathy Liska

By Karen McMahon www.jbddivorcesupport.comKaren McMahon

It is relatively easy to stay positive when all is going the way we desire.  However, since life is peppered with transitions, detours, struggles and crisis, we can use positivity to remain centered and encouraged in spite of our displeasing circumstances. The science of neuroplasticity explains how…

Our thoughts can literally change the structure and function of our brains. The idea was first introduced by William James in 1890, but it was soundly rejected by scientists who uniformly believed the brain is rigidly mapped out, with certain parts of the brain controlling certain functions. They were wrong.

Neuroplasticity is widely accepted by scientists who are proving that the brain is endlessly adaptable and dynamic.

The brain has the power to change its own structure, even for those with the severe neurological afflictions. People with problems like strokes, cerebral palsy, and mental illness can train other areas of their brains through repetitive mental and physical activities. It is completely life-altering.

So what does this have to do with positive thinking and with you?

It means that repetitive positive thoughts and positive activity can rewire your brain and strengthen brain areas that stimulate positive feelings.  So when life is going well and we keep a positive mindset, we are creating pathways that will enable us to continue that practice when struggles and transitions hit.

Here are a few practices to practice both in easy and more challenging times:

  1. Help others – there is nothing more rewarding than helping others who are in greater need that you are.  Consider volunteering at a food bank, walking dogs at a pound, visiting a senior citizens center or whatever speaks to your heart.
  2. Be grateful…truly grateful – begin and end every day thinking about one person or situation you are truly grateful for.  Let them know or write a journal entry about it or talk to another person and elaborate on the reason and meaning that gratitude has for you.
  3. Laugh – google jokes, watch a funny YouTube video, hang out with young people who laugh so much more often than adults, wonder with a child, but make a point to laugh at least once a day…build from there!
  4. Celebrate yourself – track your progress, celebrate your small wins and watch how rapidly the bigger wins begin to flow in.  Celebrate not just what you do but who you are and how you have grown.

In short, the difficult times will come, but by practicing these simple steps you are building positive neural pathways in your brain to sustain your through and beyond the bumpy times with ease, peace and joy.  Namaste.

 

Posted in Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Now is the Time

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Cathy Liska

How often do you or people you know make a resolution and then forget about it within a matter of weeks?  In my experience, way too often.  What are the reasons?  Life – we get busy with other things, routines take over, habits, a lack of motivation, competing priorities, what others want gets in the way, etc. etc. etc. Now is the Time

Then think about the reason for coaching – to create meaningful change.  How does a coach partner with a client to move past the challenges?  When looking at the coaching competencies and the PCC Markers to demonstrate the competencies taught during coaching certification, of note is the focus on both the who and the what or the being and the doing.  If a coach focuses only on doing, they will miss the internal motivators that drive the effort to change.  If the coach focuses only on the being, then they will miss the practical application of how to change.  It is when the coach embodies the competencies and the markers with an awareness of both the being and the doing that they support the coachee effectively.

It is the coach’s role to empower the coachee to explore their possibilities and opportunities, choose what they want, reflect on their motivators, consider different strategies, and design their plan for moving forward.  Just as a coach does this for their coachees, the coach is well served to do this for them self and to have their own coach.

 

Posted in Coaching Program, Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Energy

Posted on December 30, 2019 by Cathy Liska

New days, new years, new goals – all are exciting and an opportunity to energize us.  How will you maximize this time to create new energy for you?  How will that support your coachees?  How will that impact your family and friends and colleagues?  During coach training it seems so obvious when we discuss the impact our energy, goals, and focus have in multiple areas.  It is also real that we forget in the day-to-day so when events and holidays remind us, it is smart to tap that new energy. New Energy

Reflect on these questions for yourself and consider using them with coachees:

  • What do you enjoy most about the holiday / event?
  • What do you anticipate?
  • What do you want to take care of proactively?
  • How will you balance work, family, and self-care?
  • What energy do you want to tap?
  • What do you want to focus on?
  • What do you want to notice about how you feel?
  • How will you capture the positive energy and keep it going?
  • What will you learn?
  • How will what you learn impact how you approach things?
  • How will you maximize the positive energy?

Keep going with the brainstorming of questions!  Use what you learned in coaching certification to ask the open-ended, simple questions, and add to what you want to ask yourself or ask your coachees.

 

Posted in Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When is your time?

Posted on December 26, 2019 by Cathy Liska

As with so many coachees, for coaches it is also easy to forget about self-care.  After all, you are likely focused on learning your craft, building your business, serving your clients, plus balancing family and more.  So, when is your time?

During coaching certification, learning the competencies and ethics included becoming aware of the significance of how we show up as coach.  Specifically, the coaching competencies call on us to be present.  The Code of Ethics calls on us to recognize our own ability to serve the client.  This all points to ensuring there is time for self-care. When is your time?

During busy times at work, with family, and through the holidays it is often a bigger challenge to ensure time for one’s self.  It is also essential for our well-being, that of our families, and for our clients that we as coaches take care of ourselves.

When is your time?  Here are a few ideas to help be intentional with self-care:

  • Start each day with exercise, mediation, or journaling.
  • Schedule appointments with yourself in your calendar so the time is reserved.
  • Include others in your self-care by exercising, cooking, or doing other activities you enjoy together.
  • Take energy time-outs during the day.
  • Balance how much you commit to including the work involved with family and holidays.
  • End each day with time to relax reading, being outdoors, or watching a movie.

So, coach, coach yourself using what you learned during coach training.  Design your actions and manage your accountability to yourself.  Remember, time for you is ultimately serving others too.

 

Posted in Coaching Resources, Coaching Skills, Coaching Stories, Skills Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment