Are you one to give yourself credit or do you second guess yourself at every step? Learning to be generous with yourself – as well as realistic – is where self-coaching begins. Being specific about your behaviours and habits of mind can also narrow down your focus and give you some meaningful information to assess. It’s a two-part process.
Of course, as a career coach, my natural inclination is to ask questions about the workplace, but you can expand these into many areas of your life – health, fitness, personal development, work/life balance, relationships, long-term goals.
The key question for truly recognizing your value is – What am I doing well?
• What professional skills have I improved over the last 6 to 12 months?
• How have my workplace relationships become more productive?
• How else has my contribution at work increased recently?
• How have I improved my response to change?
• What promises have I kept to myself and the people important to me?
• How have I demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity?
• What behaviours or activities are making a positive difference in my outlook?
Followed this with goal-focused questions centered on – What might I do better?
• What incremental changes could I make to increase my job satisfaction?
• If I could focus on just one core skill to expand at work, what would that be?
• How could I adapt my style of conversation to create more open communication?
• What shift in my everyday routine could help me build in more success?
• How can I begin to create more of what I do want and less of what I don’t?
• What beliefs do I need re-examine in order to increase my sense of well-being?
• How am I willing to reconfigure my schedule to have more time for the things that matter?
Do you see a pattern emerging from the questions? It starts with recognizing where you are, where you would like to go and how to begin to move in that direction. That’s all it takes – a beginning – for you to feel that progress is possible. When you pay attention to what you are doing well and how you can add to the abilities and strengths that are already working for you, growth and change become real possibilities.
Start with the two-step coaching approach and you can discover more of what’s possible for you.
Lynne O'Connor's Blog - Advanced Career Coaching Inc. 