Coaching success stories are what keep us going as coaches. Whether it’s my story or yours, it’s inspiring to all of us. We use coaching success stories to motivate ourselves, to motivate our clients and to help convert potential clients into paying ones. But for some coaches, and in fact many clients, it can be challenging to acknowledge the successes we’ve had and take credit for transforming ourselves into the people who could make those successes happen. When we don’t acknowledge success and transformation, we limit our ability to use those experiences to spur us on to further action. So how do we cement it all in? What can we do, and have our clients do, to keep our successes real and significant so they can move us forward? We can celebrate!

Why celebrate our coaching success stories?

The simple answer to why we need to celebrate our coaching success stories is that when we do, the successes become real to us. The celebration anchors the story and the success to a positive, powerful physical and mental state so we can call on that state when we need it. Everyone has doubts and fears, and it’s easy for the doubts and fears to cloud the story and take away our power. We get into our heads, start analyzing what happened, and minimize or even negate out accomplishments. We find explanations for what happened other than “I did that, I made that happen!”

One of my personal coaching success stories is about me being coached into a state where I was so unstoppable that I could (and did) safely walk barefoot across a bed of 2000 degree coals! I celebrated like crazy afterwards, and now I have only to put myself back in that celebratory state to know that if I could do that, I can do anything. Celebrating helps us to own what we have done so it can kick-start us to further action.

Meaningful celebrations

Coaching success stories are always cause for celebration, and celebration is first and foremost a physical activity. Pat yourself on the back. Jump and down and shout “yes”. Do whatever works for you. Reward yourself in some way and when you are feeling your absolute best, ask yourself some questions to really help you own what you caused or accomplished and who you had to be to make it happen. What are you celebrating? Why is that worth celebrating? Why was it an important goal? What did you do to achieve that goal? Who have you become in the process? Who will you become in the future because of what you did?

As children, we all knew how to celebrate. Something as small as seeing a caterpillar on the ground or a rainbow in the sky made us burst with joy and excitement. Coaching success stories are our caterpillars and rainbows. So celebrate your successes and your client’s successes with abandon, and use the momentum to make both of you unstoppable.

Dorine G Kramer
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach