To become a success coach, you need to understand the 4 basic human needs. They are Certainty, Variety, Love & Connection, and Significance. Once you understand these needs, and apply them to your coaching with a few secret life coach tips, you will be able to motivate almost anyone to change their behavior even during a single coaching session.

The first of the life coach tips is to look at these needs on 2 different axises. On the first axis is: Certainty vs. Variety. People who are primarily driven by Certainty are generally introverted, and like to move at a slow pace. They want to feel safe and assured. On the other side of the scale, are the people who variety driven. They are generally extroverted, and are looking for variety and a fast pace.

The second axis is: Love & Connection vs. Significance. People who are driven by the need for Love & Connection have a strong people focus. People who are being driven by the need to feel Significance are generally direct and think in a linear fashion (1 + 1 = 2, or ‘Just give me the steps, 1,2,3!’). They are task and results focused.

If you are to become a success coach who can motivate anyone, you need to realize how everything a person does is related to getting a need met. Sometimes more than one need can get met at the same time. This is one of the big life coach tips. Why won’t your clients follow through with their goal to quit smoking? They get stressed, and want Certainty. Your clients get a lot of Certainty in knowing they can get a “quick fix” by lighting up a cigarette. They are meeting a need by continuing to smoke.

Imagine you have become a success coach for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and this client is chronically late (90% of the time). What life coach tips do you have for him? Maybe he is getting a lot of significance by showing up late.  Having “big” problems that come up and keep him from getting to places on time could feed his ego. Maybe he needs to see that there are other

ways to get significance?  If you can show him that getting this need met by being late may be keeping him from connecting deeply in some of his relationships. This might be affecting his friendships.  This pattern could be keeping him from meeting his friends needs for love & connection at a deeper level.

What if you were to become a success coach for Donald Trump? Sure, he’s very Significance driven. But do you think he might need some coaching around getting some of his needs for Love & Connection met at a deeper level without giving up that significance?

What about those people who have such a problem with clutter that their house is a fire safety hazard? They tell you they really want to get things clean, but they keep putting more clutter in their yard? Is their clutter a vehicle for significance or variety? You bet! You can offer life coach tips for this type of person when you understand the motivations behind their actions and behaviors.

Whatever patterns of behavior people use the most is an indicator of which needs are primary. The key is to become a success coach who can help them balance their needs, and get all of their needs met at a higher level.

With a few life coach tips, your clients can become aware of how their overused vehicles are not taking them where they want to be after all. Then they will be motivated to change their behavior so they can really get what they want.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Accountability Coach