Yes, since it is mind over matter, mindset coaching is the coaching that counts. Period. Even if you are a successful physical fitness coach, you are dealing with their mindset. If you don’t think so, just remember back to the last time a client cried all night for being over-weight, and then had a huge banana split for breakfast. If you ended up doing any good for your client, then you were coaching your client’s mindset.

The Fact Is our Mind Drives our Behavior

Every human’s mind chooses behaviors that it believes will satisfy the four fundamental human needs – the need for significance, connection, certainty and variety. It is the balancing of these four human needs, and choosing the long term versus the short term – mixed of course with the memories of the past – that makes it all so interesting. This is the heart of mindset coaching.

Don’t Miss the Real Physical Connection in Mindset Coaching

Amazingly, our strongest control of our mind comes through our physical state. By relaxing through our breathing or pumping energy into our system with intense physical activity, we can break through emotional funks and move on to happiness and fulfillment.

How Best to Make Lasting Change?

Easy. The secret to mindset coaching is to remember that in spite of any hysteria or other distractions is remembering the four fundamental needs and that for humans they are life or death needs. Calm your client, and reconnect with their reason. Ask them which of the needs they are fulfilling and which they are not. Ask how they are fulfilling them. Show them what they are doing is positive and what is negative. Explain through simple words if they are correct or not. Help them see behavior that will better meet all four needs better than now. When you do and if they accept the idea, they will adopt your suggestions and their behavioral changes will be self reinforcing and permanent.

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article… Thank you!

Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach