Coaching to Build a Life

During coach training we discuss the importance of a client choosing what to focus on and also empowering the client in terms of how to have the conversation.  Based on this, for the client in the story of this blog series, as the focus shifts the conversation shifts based on what serves the client. 

For the session Katrina wanted to focus on relationships, she separated her relationships into the categories of workplace, neighborhood, friends, and family.  She listed people in each category.  I asked her about time, activities, and how she wanted to be in each of the relationships.

• What types of relationships are you focused on?
• Who are the people in your life now?
• Who else do you want in your life?
• How much time do you want with them?
• What do you want to do with them?
• How do you want to treat them?
• How do you want to feel when you are with them?

Wellness and self-care came up for Katrina.  We talked about ways to approach the topics. Katrina wanted to identify what she did currently for herself, what she wanted to start doing again, how to be aware of her self-care, and how to ensure she kept it a priority.

• What do you do now that is taking care of you?
• What feels good for you?
• What amount of time is right for you to dedicate to yourself?
• What activities are helpful to you?
• What are your thoughts about time for reflection?
• What is important about self-care?
• What might get in the way?
• How will you ensure you do manage your self-care?
• What support will help you?
• What resources will help you?
• How will you plan your self-care?

Then I asked Katrina if she was ready to talk about wellness and she said yes.

• What is wellness for you?
• What do you want to include for your wellness?
• What is your knowledge base?
• What are your sources of information?
• What helps you stay on track?
• What level of activity or exercise do you want?
• How detailed do you want your eating plan to be?
• What motivates you?

As learned through coaching certification, one of the great things about coaching is that the process works with or without subject matter expertise, because the client is empowered to choose the focus and approach, and to find their answer.  The coach asks questions