These can be two of the most powerful life coaching tips: motivation and interviewing. These two skills can help people make changes in their lives and eliminate difficult habits and overcome obstacles to success.

Why Life Coaching Tips: Motivation and Interviewing

Motivation and Interviewing is similar to motivational interviewing, which is a technique used by clinical psychologists, usually when working with substance abuse patients. In the life coaching field, it can be a way of working as a helper in the process of change.

Motivational interviewing can help clients overcome ambivalence. Though the client has hired a coach to help bring about some changes, they are often intrinsically ambivalent about making real changes – it’s too hard, I can’t change, I don’t want to put the work in, I am who I am! There are excuses galore, but by implementing these two life coaching tips – motivation and interviewing – into your practice, you may be able to overcome some stubborn obstacles and effect change in your clients.

Can Coaches Actually Motivate?

Motivation is desire; it is that burning fire inside someone to succeed. It is attitude, mental toughness, character, and strength. We often see it in athletes, but it is also present in many others who succeed in their chosen fields. But, can a coach actually motivate their clients?

If you only think of motivation as desire, it would then be viewed as personal – something inside the client. However, if you think of motivation as a way of bringing that desire to the surface, then a coach can definitely motivate!

Think of motivation as inspiration, and you realize that motivating a client is all about creating the right environment for your client to succeed. You do this through support, encouragement, providing information, and most importantly, listening.

Listening and Interviewing – Life Coaching at Its Core

We have mentioned two important life coaching tips: motivation and interviewing. We have discussed one life coaching tip – motivation. Understanding how interviewing leads to motivation is one of the most important coaching tips, and can help you find more successful outcomes for more clients.

To create a positive environment that accepts, supports, and encourages clients, you need to know exactly who they are, what prevents them from achieving their goals and dreams, and what will motivate them to go for the gusto in life. You find this out by interviewing them.

Questions to Ask in a Life Coaching Interviewing

• What would you like to see different about your current situation?
• Why do you want to change?
• What do you think a coach can do to help you?
• What obstacles do you face when you try to change?
• If you make changes, what good things will happen to you?
• Where do you want to be in 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years?
• What is the worst thing (or things) that will happen if you don’t change?
• What is the best thing (or things) that will happen if you do make the desired changes?

Interviewing is powerful; interviewing can reveal; interviewing can be the secret pathway into the hidden desires and obstacles of an individual. With powerful interviews, you will be able to effectively use one of the most important life coaching tips – motivation.

By the way… you’re invited to claim your FREE step-by-step “Master Coach Blueprint” video toolkit. Just go HERE now to get your master coach blueprint videos.

Fred Philips
Business Coach
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