At the gym yesterday, it was obvious that everyone had made some type of New Years health coaching goal.  The place was packed, as I knew they would be.  At least for the next month, when things taper off.  I was thinking about what it takes to become a health coach who keeps their clients on track, because by summer, only the dedicated and committed will still be at the gym.  If you are to become a health coach who really makes a difference, you need to know what separates those who stick with their health coaching goals and those who quit.

When You Become a Health Coach You Need to Figure Out What Motivates Your Clients

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The first tool you’ll need to become a health coach who gets lasting results is to see what motivates your clients.  In health coaching, most clients are more committed to being comfortable than to doing what it takes to meet their goals.  I noticed my own commitment to comfort over the holidays when my mentor suggested a 10-day cleanse to get rid of a lingering cold.  I had family coming into town, and the thought of dealing with the cold was easier than dealing with my family’s reaction.

A New Peer Group Can be Essential for Those Seeking Health Coaching

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Which brings us to the next tool you’ll need to become a health coach who gets lasting results: an empowering peer group.  For most who seek health coaching in order to transform their health in a major way, they’ll need a new peer group.  If I’m not at the gym for more than a few days, people ask where I’ve been.  If I’m slacking off during the class, the trainers and my peers are on top of me.  That’s empowering.  But most people have to deal with friends or family who sabotage their efforts instead.

To Get Lasting Results as You Become a Health Coach You Must Help Your Clients Change Their Beliefs

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And finally to become a health coach who gets lasting results you must help people change their beliefs.  If people feel they are doomed to fail in achieving their health coaching goals, they won’t get started.  If they don’t feel they deserve good health they will sabotage their efforts.  And if they don’t acknowledge their efforts and reward themselves they will loose hope.  As their health coach it is up to you to find out, not only their stated beliefs that have kept them from achieving their goals in the past, but their unstated or underlying belief that they don’t even acknowledge to themselves.

Without the right tools it’s almost impossible to become a health coach who gets lasting results.  Health coaching is much more than goal setting, accountability and ‘how-to’ strategy.  It’s really about making an internal transformation in who your clients see themselves and who they become.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Bi-Designated Strategy and Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Become a Health Coach, Health Coaching

You can become a health coach just by asking the right questions. I was doing an initial goal setting session with someone this morning and it unexpectedly became a health coaching session. I say unexpectedly because this guy seemed like a fitness guru himself, until I asked some clarifying questions. Truth be known, he only sleeps an average of 3 or 4 hours a night. I don’t specialize in health coaching, but I recognized that pattern of adrenal burnout syndrome; in other words, running on adrenaline after you are exhausted. I was also able to predict his other issue of being addicted to junk food and explain his difficulty with focusing on tasks. Here’s how you can recognize this pattern and help others, whether you decide to become a health coach or not.

Become a Health Coach Who Knows that Health Coaching is Important for Everyone

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What you first need to become a health coach who can help people with this common pattern is to recognize normal sleep cycles. Most people start getting sleepy by 10pm, and for this particular client it was about the same. What happens to him is the same thing we see in children. If they keep going through their natural cycle of sleepiness, they start using adrenaline to keep going. You don’t have to be an expert at health coaching to recognize when children are running around wild long past they should be in bed, not looking the least bit sleepy. They get so hyped up that they have a tough time calming down. Adults do the same.

The second thing to recognize if you want to become a health coach, or do any type of health coaching, is that lack of sleep affects our appetites. Not too long ago I read a n article about a study from the New England Journal of Medicine that talked about hormone regulation with and without sleep deprivation. It turns out that people who have 5 hours or less of sleep show elevated levels of hormones that increase appetite and lower levels of hormones that suppress appetite compared to control groups who slept 7 hours. To paraphrase the results, lack of sleep makes you crave more calories. You really didn’t need to go to all that effort to prove that to me!

Health Coaching Still Involves Clients’ Needs and Desires

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As I mentioned before, I am not a health coaching expert. But I was able to cut through this clients ‘story’ and find out what he was trying to tell me about his apparent lack of focus and motivation just by asking a few clarifying questions. But even when you become a health coach, don’t forget that you still need to uncover how your clients are getting their needs me by their behavior and how that drives their action. Even when I helped this client see what his behavior was costing him in some major areas of his life, he was still not ready to make a change. He was afraid by not driving himself so hard he would not to feel as significant and he might loose out on the love and connection he was getting from his current behavior.

Become a Health Coach Who Can See Beyond Diet and Exercise

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You can start to become a health coach right where you are by caring enough to continue to ask enough questions to get to the real issues. When you can ‘read clients minds’ and predict their other issues based on what recognizing patterns, they will naturally see you as the person who can solve their problems. Whether you are a health coaching guru or not. Just make sure you don’t let anything slide, because what they almost tell you is usually what they need to tell you the most.

Colette Seymann
JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Become a Health Coach, Health Coaching