Many people are attracted to the idea of hiring a personal Wellness Coach, to either help them achieve a challenging health goal or ease a difficult transition.
I liked the idea too, in fact after a really good experience of being coached I decided to become a coach myself and now helping people to improve their well-being has become both my passion and my work.
So just in case you find yourself becoming curious about what it would be like to have your own personal health coach by your side here are a few important pointers you should know about.
1. First of all Health Coaches aren’t the broccoli police. You set the agenda and the pace of change. If you find yourself working with a coach who wants to tell you what you should be eating, or how much you should be exercising I suggest you move on, unless of course you are really looking for a nutritionist or fitness trainer.
2. Baby steps are fine. As any of my clients will tell you I’m a great fan of taking ‘baby steps’ towards your goals. This is especially important if your ultimate goal appears overwhelming at first. For example, if you need to lose a substantial amount of weight, or swap a particularly sedentary lifestyle for a more active one, then it can be all too easy to put yourself off starting at all just because your goal to big to start with. Begin with baby steps and you will soon find that you are making confident strides.
3. Get SMART about your goals. By that I mean make sure that your goals are specific, measurable, action based, realistic and that you have set a time for completion. Vague goals hardly ever bring worthwhile results.
4. Be realistic and be honest about what you are willing to do. One of the greatest mistakes I find people make when they start on their journey to better health is to set unrealistic goals which don’t generate enough enthusiasm to make the effort worthwhile. If your heart isn’t in it, it will be much harder to get results.
5. Watch your language, it’s far more important than you think. For example, if you find yourself saying “I’m going to lose weight”, stop yourself and reword your goal to say “I intend to lose 2 pounds by the end of next week” or whatever is relevant to you. The word intend carries much more power and relates to the present, whereas saying “I’m going to” relates to sometime in the future that doesn’t exist yet. It’s powerless and meaningless, so get real about what you do and don’t intend to do.
6. Stop making excuses. I hear all sorts of excuses on a daily basis “ we are all fat in our family”, or “I’ve done the damage to my health now, so it doesn’t matter” and so on. You are worth more than that, much more. So do yourself the honour of at least being honest about your health.
7. Be prepared to be creative. Having several ways to approach your goal will help maintain both your interest levels and your motivation.
8. Make sure your goals are your own. In my practice I see many people who have been told, often by a healthcare professional, that they should change, or who have been nagged by a family member who feel that they ought to change. Unfortunately the words should and ought usually relates to the goals other people have for us, rather than our own goals. So make sure your goals are truly your own.
9. Make space for better health. It sounds strange I know, but often when we want to bring anything new into our life we need to make space for it and when it comes to your health this might mean letting go of limiting beliefs about what you are worth, or what you are capable of, or perhaps letting go of old unhealthy habits that are stopping you from enjoying really vibrant wellbeing.
10. Last but not least, if you’re planning on investing in some professional coaching, make sure you are clear about what you want to get out of the experience. Each time I work with a coaching client the first thing I ask is “How will you know that this session has been really good value for you, what will you have achieved, understood or agreed to, that would make you really pleased with yourself. So if I were to ask you the same question, what would your answer be?
At the end of the day wellness coaching is a partnership between you and your coach. It provides you with the structure, accountability, inspiration and the confidence to help you enjoy a higher level of wellness than you do right now and who doesn’t want that.
For more information about Health Coaching, please contact Erica at healthcoach@sonic.net.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Research Update: Health Coaching "Pays for Itself"
By Mark Joyella
How about this selling point for coaching? Coaching saves money.
A study just published by the “New England Journal of Medicine” finds telephone-based health coaching, when offered to a wide group of patients, ultimately saves more money than it costs. “With phone coaching, the client is educated, calm, and knows their body,” said coach Elizabeth Crouch, who was not involved in the study. “(The client) understands any new symptoms that require healthcare intervention."
The study, funded by Health Dialog Services—a Boston-based company that, it should be noted, provides the telephone coaching services used in the study—found average monthly medical and pharmacy costs were about eight dollars a month cheaper for patients who were offered coaching. With the coaching program costing two dollars a month per patient, the net health care savings was about six dollars.
David Wennberg, chief science and products officer at Health Dialog, was an author of the study. He told "The Wall Street Journal" that one of the groups who may have benefited from coaching were those "chaotic users of the health care system" who tended to get answers to their aches, pains and questions by running directly to the emergency room (at extremely high cost). The study, which followed 174,120 individuals over a twelve-month period, is described as the "largest randomized controlled trial study of care management ever published."
The coaching, Wennberg told the Journal, did not attempt to steer patients toward low-cost health options, or away from pricey procedures. Instead, he says, the coaching's focus was on facilitating the kinds of interactions between patient and doctor that will lead to the most effective treatment.
"The goal of this is to have a well-informed patient talking to a well-informed physician, preferably his or her own primary care physician," Wennberg told the Journal. "We are careful to grease the communication between patients and physicians," not prescribe or advise treatments. Most physicians would rather have a fully informed patient with objective information than 50 pages of downloaded information from the Internet," he said.
Ultimately, according to the study's authors, the majority of the money saved came from a ten percent reduction in annual hospital admissions. "By answering medical questions and explaining conditions and treatment options, our coaches help people become active consumers in their own healthcare," says a Health Dialog statement. "Coaches also help people prepare to ask the right questions at their doctor visit so that they can fully understand the risks and benefits of their treatment choices. And coaches teach people how to communicate their personal values effectively and appropriately with medical professionals.
"The payoff for companies deciding to support this kind of coaching, Grant says, is that employees make better decisions about their own healthcare, and become far more productive on the job. "(They) stay at work, versus (making) frequent trips to the doctor," Grant says, noting that the employer's cost for healthcare stabilizes or drops. A side benefit—not part of the study—Grant believes, is that this kind of coaching empowers workers to spread the word, educating "family, friends and community."
How about this selling point for coaching? Coaching saves money.
A study just published by the “New England Journal of Medicine” finds telephone-based health coaching, when offered to a wide group of patients, ultimately saves more money than it costs. “With phone coaching, the client is educated, calm, and knows their body,” said coach Elizabeth Crouch, who was not involved in the study. “(The client) understands any new symptoms that require healthcare intervention."
The study, funded by Health Dialog Services—a Boston-based company that, it should be noted, provides the telephone coaching services used in the study—found average monthly medical and pharmacy costs were about eight dollars a month cheaper for patients who were offered coaching. With the coaching program costing two dollars a month per patient, the net health care savings was about six dollars.
David Wennberg, chief science and products officer at Health Dialog, was an author of the study. He told "The Wall Street Journal" that one of the groups who may have benefited from coaching were those "chaotic users of the health care system" who tended to get answers to their aches, pains and questions by running directly to the emergency room (at extremely high cost). The study, which followed 174,120 individuals over a twelve-month period, is described as the "largest randomized controlled trial study of care management ever published."
The coaching, Wennberg told the Journal, did not attempt to steer patients toward low-cost health options, or away from pricey procedures. Instead, he says, the coaching's focus was on facilitating the kinds of interactions between patient and doctor that will lead to the most effective treatment.
"The goal of this is to have a well-informed patient talking to a well-informed physician, preferably his or her own primary care physician," Wennberg told the Journal. "We are careful to grease the communication between patients and physicians," not prescribe or advise treatments. Most physicians would rather have a fully informed patient with objective information than 50 pages of downloaded information from the Internet," he said.
Ultimately, according to the study's authors, the majority of the money saved came from a ten percent reduction in annual hospital admissions. "By answering medical questions and explaining conditions and treatment options, our coaches help people become active consumers in their own healthcare," says a Health Dialog statement. "Coaches also help people prepare to ask the right questions at their doctor visit so that they can fully understand the risks and benefits of their treatment choices. And coaches teach people how to communicate their personal values effectively and appropriately with medical professionals.
"The payoff for companies deciding to support this kind of coaching, Grant says, is that employees make better decisions about their own healthcare, and become far more productive on the job. "(They) stay at work, versus (making) frequent trips to the doctor," Grant says, noting that the employer's cost for healthcare stabilizes or drops. A side benefit—not part of the study—Grant believes, is that this kind of coaching empowers workers to spread the word, educating "family, friends and community."
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Dr. Oz Promotes the Benefits of Health Coaching
Recently, Dr. Oz was on Larry King speaking about the benefits of having a Health Coach. This would allow people to consult with a trained professional about how nutrition and other lifestyle factors can positively impact their health and give them some tools to achieve their goals. His argument is that you do not need to be an M.D. to understand the links between diet, lifestyle and disease. He proposes a tier of health care providers below medical doctors that would have more knowledge about nutrition and lifestyle, be more cost effective and be able to be your personal health coach.
In today’s medical climate, it really makes sense to look at other ways of supporting people with their health outside of the current model. Doctors already are strapped for time with their patients and in order to make serious lifestyle changes most people need support and direction.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
What is a Health Coach and Can They Help Me?
“Coaching provides a positive connection — a supportive relationship — between the coach and the person who wants to make a change. That connection empowers the person being coached to recognize and draw on his or her own innate ability and resource to make lasting changes for better health and well-being.”
-Anne Helmke at the National Wellness Institute
Health coaching is designed for people who are trying to make some kind of change in their life. A Health Coach can help clarify personal goals and implement positive behaviors while giving support throughout the entire process.
Some of the issues a Health Coach can assist you with include:
A coach's job is to listen and understand their client's lifestyle and to discuss with them how those choices affect their overall health. A health coach helps the client to set both short and long term goals, create strategies to attain those goals, find support to keep them motivated, and create accountability to ensure they reach their goals.
-Anne Helmke at the National Wellness Institute
Health coaching is designed for people who are trying to make some kind of change in their life. A Health Coach can help clarify personal goals and implement positive behaviors while giving support throughout the entire process.
Some of the issues a Health Coach can assist you with include:
- Smoking Cessation
- Diet & Nutrition
- Exercise
- Stress Reduction
- Work/Life Balance
- Eliminate Bad Habits
A coach's job is to listen and understand their client's lifestyle and to discuss with them how those choices affect their overall health. A health coach helps the client to set both short and long term goals, create strategies to attain those goals, find support to keep them motivated, and create accountability to ensure they reach their goals.
Most Companies Stick with Wellness Programs
By David Markiewicz
Free smoking cessation programs. Cash credits for workers taking self-assessment health surveys. On-site vaccinations and fitness training classes. Nutritional counseling. Subsidized gym memberships.
Employers have spent plenty in recent years to keep employees healthy, hoping that will keep them on the job and less likely to use health care insurance. That can lead to lower health care costs which were estimated in one national survey to average more than $7,000 per employee per year.
The return on investment in wellness is hard to measure, though, making such programs targets as companies cut jobs, benefits and other expenses to stem financial losses amid the recession. But companies say the programs can work. A study by insurer MetLife found 94 percent of companies with wellness programs said they reduced medical costs.
"The whole point [of wellness programs] is healthier employees and that means lower health care costs overall," said Stephen Holmes, spokesman for Home Depot, which has added to its list of wellness benefits even though the company has battled declining sales lately.
"We're not pulling back," Holmes said. "We're investing in the health of our associates."
Wellness program supporters now hope a fledgling economic recovery, combined with growing political and social support for such programs, will cause employers to expand and improve them. In Washington, legislators are considering a bill that would grant tax credits to companies offering wellness programs. The debate over health care reform also has put a spotlight on costs and benefits.
"CEOs have a tender ear to this issue now. They see their health care premiums continuing to go up every year and if you can show them a cost savings to health and wellness programs they'll see it as a business strategy," said Renzie Richardson, chief executive of Be Healthy For Life, a Cumming-based wellness consultant to small and midsize companies.
Companies should make wellness part of their culture, said Christopher Matthews, vice president and senior health consultant for the Segal Co., a benefits, compensation and human resources consulting firm in New York.
"If they're pennywise and pound foolish, some organizations are cutting back," he said. "The organizations that are successful at this are the ones that pound this hard."
In a June 2009 employee benefits survey of 522 employers, the Society for Human Resource Management found 72 percent offered wellness information, 64 percent provided vaccinations, and 59 percent had wellness programs. Tobacco use cessation programs were offered by 39 percent, weight loss by 30 percent and on-site fitness classes by 12 percent.
Employers who responded generally said they were more likely to add certain wellness benefits in the future than reduce or eliminate them. For example, 5 percent said they planned to add a weight loss program, versus 3 percent who said they would cut or drop one. While 3 percent planned to trim or drop a smoking cessation program, 4 percent planned to add one. Overall, the number of companies offering wellness benefits has grown since 2005, the survey indicated.
The study also found that companies were more likely to trim financial and compensation benefits such as undergraduate educational assistance, incentive bonuses, matching charitable contributions, payroll advances and stock purchase plans.
In metro Atlanta, Home Depot and UPS are among large employers that offer wellness programs.
Among Home Depot's offerings: a $25 per pay period credit to employees (and also to their spouses) who take a voluntary health self-assessment survey, and free flu shots in season. About 25 percent got the shots.
For a company with 300,000 employees, the total cost is not insignificant, Holmes said, although he said he could not provide a figure. Wellness advocates say that over the long haul such costs are offset by savings in employee health insurance premiums which can rise about 10 percent annually, depending on inflation and employee usage.
UPS offers employees at its Sandy Springs corporate center the use of a fitness center, although there is a fee for membership. It also provides employees free tobacco use cessation and weight loss programs, and health fairs.
The approximately 700 employees in the Department of Aviation at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport have been given pedometers to calculate their fitness walking at work, tips on dental care and footwear choice, and tours of the airport's food service options, with an emphasis on the healthy possibilities.
Some employees also participate in twice-a-week fitness happy hours. They are allowed to leave their posts early and head to a room where they do exercise such as yoga and pilates under the guidance of a trainer working for Quick Fitness Solutions. The Atlanta company provides on-site workplace wellness programs that range from exercise to chiropractic care.
Richardson said while employers continue to offer such programs, they are more than ever looking for "the accountability piece."
"Two or three years ago," she said, "it was one of those warm and fuzzy things companies used for recruiting. But with health care costs continuing to go up, they have also begun to see the link between healthy employees and productivity."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution -November 15, 2009
Free smoking cessation programs. Cash credits for workers taking self-assessment health surveys. On-site vaccinations and fitness training classes. Nutritional counseling. Subsidized gym memberships.
Employers have spent plenty in recent years to keep employees healthy, hoping that will keep them on the job and less likely to use health care insurance. That can lead to lower health care costs which were estimated in one national survey to average more than $7,000 per employee per year.
The return on investment in wellness is hard to measure, though, making such programs targets as companies cut jobs, benefits and other expenses to stem financial losses amid the recession. But companies say the programs can work. A study by insurer MetLife found 94 percent of companies with wellness programs said they reduced medical costs.
"The whole point [of wellness programs] is healthier employees and that means lower health care costs overall," said Stephen Holmes, spokesman for Home Depot, which has added to its list of wellness benefits even though the company has battled declining sales lately.
"We're not pulling back," Holmes said. "We're investing in the health of our associates."
Wellness program supporters now hope a fledgling economic recovery, combined with growing political and social support for such programs, will cause employers to expand and improve them. In Washington, legislators are considering a bill that would grant tax credits to companies offering wellness programs. The debate over health care reform also has put a spotlight on costs and benefits.
"CEOs have a tender ear to this issue now. They see their health care premiums continuing to go up every year and if you can show them a cost savings to health and wellness programs they'll see it as a business strategy," said Renzie Richardson, chief executive of Be Healthy For Life, a Cumming-based wellness consultant to small and midsize companies.
Companies should make wellness part of their culture, said Christopher Matthews, vice president and senior health consultant for the Segal Co., a benefits, compensation and human resources consulting firm in New York.
"If they're pennywise and pound foolish, some organizations are cutting back," he said. "The organizations that are successful at this are the ones that pound this hard."
In a June 2009 employee benefits survey of 522 employers, the Society for Human Resource Management found 72 percent offered wellness information, 64 percent provided vaccinations, and 59 percent had wellness programs. Tobacco use cessation programs were offered by 39 percent, weight loss by 30 percent and on-site fitness classes by 12 percent.
Employers who responded generally said they were more likely to add certain wellness benefits in the future than reduce or eliminate them. For example, 5 percent said they planned to add a weight loss program, versus 3 percent who said they would cut or drop one. While 3 percent planned to trim or drop a smoking cessation program, 4 percent planned to add one. Overall, the number of companies offering wellness benefits has grown since 2005, the survey indicated.
The study also found that companies were more likely to trim financial and compensation benefits such as undergraduate educational assistance, incentive bonuses, matching charitable contributions, payroll advances and stock purchase plans.
In metro Atlanta, Home Depot and UPS are among large employers that offer wellness programs.
Among Home Depot's offerings: a $25 per pay period credit to employees (and also to their spouses) who take a voluntary health self-assessment survey, and free flu shots in season. About 25 percent got the shots.
For a company with 300,000 employees, the total cost is not insignificant, Holmes said, although he said he could not provide a figure. Wellness advocates say that over the long haul such costs are offset by savings in employee health insurance premiums which can rise about 10 percent annually, depending on inflation and employee usage.
UPS offers employees at its Sandy Springs corporate center the use of a fitness center, although there is a fee for membership. It also provides employees free tobacco use cessation and weight loss programs, and health fairs.
The approximately 700 employees in the Department of Aviation at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport have been given pedometers to calculate their fitness walking at work, tips on dental care and footwear choice, and tours of the airport's food service options, with an emphasis on the healthy possibilities.
Some employees also participate in twice-a-week fitness happy hours. They are allowed to leave their posts early and head to a room where they do exercise such as yoga and pilates under the guidance of a trainer working for Quick Fitness Solutions. The Atlanta company provides on-site workplace wellness programs that range from exercise to chiropractic care.
Richardson said while employers continue to offer such programs, they are more than ever looking for "the accountability piece."
"Two or three years ago," she said, "it was one of those warm and fuzzy things companies used for recruiting. But with health care costs continuing to go up, they have also begun to see the link between healthy employees and productivity."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution -November 15, 2009
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Don’t Even Try to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions!
The New Year is traditionally an excellent time to take charge of your health and wellbeing, yet for so many of us the fine plans, goals and resolutions we make each year can come crashing down around us within just a few weeks of being made.
So what happens to those genuine desires to do what we know will make us happier, healthier and more successful?
One of the reasons for failure is that we were never taught how our minds work. We were never shown how to really identify and then achieve what matters to us. We were never shown that there are in fact easy and effective ways to stop unwanted habits rather than trying to struggle with will power alone. As a Health Coach I see many of my clients struggle to achieve their health based goals and the result can be unnecessary feelings of disappointment and failure. So let me offer you my best tip to help you get going. It’s simply this. Stop trying!
Think about this for a moment, how often do you say to yourself “I’ll try” ( to achieve whatever it is). For example, you may say “I’m going to try and stop smoking this year”, or “I’m going to try and lose weight before my vacation”. But what do you really mean when you say that you will “try” to do something?
As a Coach I always challenge my client when I hear this word because more often than not what it really means is that the person has already sub-consciously decided that they will not succeed.
Consider, what goals are you ‘trying’ to work towards in your life? Now, what would happen if you replaced the word ‘try’ both in your inner self talk and outer conversations with the word ‘intend’. Go on give it a go right now. What do you notice?
In general if you are willing to replace the word try with intend you will have a much greater chance of achieving your goal. The word ‘intend’ implies that you are actually willing to be successful, whereas the word ‘try’ holds little commitment.
If you find the word ‘intend’ too uncomfortable to use with sincerity, then be honest about that and think about revising your goals so that they are more realistic for you.
So there you have it, stop trying and start intending.
Now to help you a little further along your journey of change, let me share a few more tips with you that you might just find useful.
•Be absolutely honest with yourself and if you are not really willing to make the effort to change, then recognise that no amount of wishing or trying, will make the slightest difference to you.
•Do what you can to set yourself up for success. By this I mean putting structures in place around yourself t make it a little bit easier to be successful. For example, send yourself a daily voice mail message reminding yourself of your goals. Or, if you are trying to change the habit of putting too much of the wrong kind of things in your mouth, such as cigarettes, food or alcohol, then find some way of breaking this automatic action such as only touching those things with your non-dominant hand from now on. This will at least help break your unconscious responses and help you chose consciously if you wish to go ahead. Be creative here and think of as many ways as you can of helping yourself to be successful.
•Get some support, I can’t emphasise enough how important this is. Going it alone can be really tough when you are breaking out of your comfort zone. Who do you have who could give you really unconditional and practical support? A partner, a friend, a professional Health Coach?
•Be kind to yourself. Remember that baby steps are fine. In fact taking small but positive steps on a regular basis can often be more productive than trying to take a big leap into the unknown. Steady and sustainable change is what you should aim for. Just like the story of the tortoise and the hare, there is much to be said for taking regular slow and steady steps in the direction of your goal. You will soon be able to look back over your shoulder and be surprised at just how far you have come.
So if you if you are planning to make some improvements to your health and wellbeing this year, remember to be kind to yourself, be realistic, look for ways to set yourself up for success, and above all don’t try! Good luck.
For more information on health coaching, please contact Erica at healthcoach@sonic.net.
So what happens to those genuine desires to do what we know will make us happier, healthier and more successful?
One of the reasons for failure is that we were never taught how our minds work. We were never shown how to really identify and then achieve what matters to us. We were never shown that there are in fact easy and effective ways to stop unwanted habits rather than trying to struggle with will power alone. As a Health Coach I see many of my clients struggle to achieve their health based goals and the result can be unnecessary feelings of disappointment and failure. So let me offer you my best tip to help you get going. It’s simply this. Stop trying!
Think about this for a moment, how often do you say to yourself “I’ll try” ( to achieve whatever it is). For example, you may say “I’m going to try and stop smoking this year”, or “I’m going to try and lose weight before my vacation”. But what do you really mean when you say that you will “try” to do something?
As a Coach I always challenge my client when I hear this word because more often than not what it really means is that the person has already sub-consciously decided that they will not succeed.
Consider, what goals are you ‘trying’ to work towards in your life? Now, what would happen if you replaced the word ‘try’ both in your inner self talk and outer conversations with the word ‘intend’. Go on give it a go right now. What do you notice?
In general if you are willing to replace the word try with intend you will have a much greater chance of achieving your goal. The word ‘intend’ implies that you are actually willing to be successful, whereas the word ‘try’ holds little commitment.
If you find the word ‘intend’ too uncomfortable to use with sincerity, then be honest about that and think about revising your goals so that they are more realistic for you.
So there you have it, stop trying and start intending.
Now to help you a little further along your journey of change, let me share a few more tips with you that you might just find useful.
•Be absolutely honest with yourself and if you are not really willing to make the effort to change, then recognise that no amount of wishing or trying, will make the slightest difference to you.
•Do what you can to set yourself up for success. By this I mean putting structures in place around yourself t make it a little bit easier to be successful. For example, send yourself a daily voice mail message reminding yourself of your goals. Or, if you are trying to change the habit of putting too much of the wrong kind of things in your mouth, such as cigarettes, food or alcohol, then find some way of breaking this automatic action such as only touching those things with your non-dominant hand from now on. This will at least help break your unconscious responses and help you chose consciously if you wish to go ahead. Be creative here and think of as many ways as you can of helping yourself to be successful.
•Get some support, I can’t emphasise enough how important this is. Going it alone can be really tough when you are breaking out of your comfort zone. Who do you have who could give you really unconditional and practical support? A partner, a friend, a professional Health Coach?
•Be kind to yourself. Remember that baby steps are fine. In fact taking small but positive steps on a regular basis can often be more productive than trying to take a big leap into the unknown. Steady and sustainable change is what you should aim for. Just like the story of the tortoise and the hare, there is much to be said for taking regular slow and steady steps in the direction of your goal. You will soon be able to look back over your shoulder and be surprised at just how far you have come.
So if you if you are planning to make some improvements to your health and wellbeing this year, remember to be kind to yourself, be realistic, look for ways to set yourself up for success, and above all don’t try! Good luck.
For more information on health coaching, please contact Erica at healthcoach@sonic.net.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Three Easy Ways to Break Or Make a Habit
Have you ever struggled to break a bad habit, or even to establish a new and healthy one? If you have, then you are in good company. Will power alone is seldom enough to bring about change but establishing new and healthy habits for yourself needn't be a struggle.
Preparation, practice and persistence are three essential steps to help you on your way to success. Let me tell you some more.
1. Preparation
Aim to write yourself a goal for changing your habit and make sure that you only use positive words that reflects the new actions and behaviour that you do want, rather than describing something that you want to avoid. For example, your subconscious mind will respond much more positively to the statement 'I intend to be a non smoker by the end of the month' rather than 'I'm going to try and give up cigarettes'! It's also helpful to move away from the language of obligation such as I 'should', 'ought' or 'must' and instead simply state 'I intend' or 'I am' and make sure your outcome is measurable and has a final date for completion.
It's also really helpful to give yourself some structure to help set yourself up for a successful outcome. For example, you could put some post it reminders on your fridge door or bathroom mirror to remind yourself of your new goal or activity.
After all if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
2. Practice
Ask yourself if you need to establish a new routine to support your new habit, for example, if you want to become a non smoker you could try holding the cigarette only in your non dominant hand. This will probably feel a little awkward and uncomfortable and may help to stop you smoking a cigarette without really being aware of what you are doing.
Mental rehearsal is another useful way to reinforce your new choices. It's a technique used by all the top athletes to help enhance their performance and if it works for them then it can work for you too.
3. Persistence
If you find yourself struggling at any stage then it is probably worthwhile enlisting the help of a trusted friend or a professional Coach who can help to keep you on track. Most people will agree that it can make a tremendous difference just knowing that there is someone else on your side who is checking in on your progress.
In my own practice I tend to ask my clients how committed they are to achieving their goal on a scale of one to ten, where a score of one reflects minimal commitment and ten means they are unstoppable. So consider the level of commitment you have for changing your habit now ? How did your score?
On the whole I find that a score of 7or less tends to mean that you won't really have sufficient commitment to see your goal through. So if this is the case for you, ask yourself what you need to do to raise your level of commitment to an 8 or above. Of course if your score is really low, it may mean that you aren't really committed to changing this habit at all, so be honest about that.
Finally, celebrate! Finding some small but significant way to celebrate your successes on a regular basis will give you vital feedback that you are well on your way to achieving your goal.
Remember that changing any habit, has a lot to do with persistence. Some habits can be changed very quickly whilst others may take weeks or even months and research shows us that on average we make a resolution 5 times before we actually get around to doing anything different.
So don't let that be you. Make yourself some new choices today, and start looking forward to that feeling of success.
For more information about health coaching, please contact Erica at healthcoach@sonic.net.
Preparation, practice and persistence are three essential steps to help you on your way to success. Let me tell you some more.
1. Preparation
Aim to write yourself a goal for changing your habit and make sure that you only use positive words that reflects the new actions and behaviour that you do want, rather than describing something that you want to avoid. For example, your subconscious mind will respond much more positively to the statement 'I intend to be a non smoker by the end of the month' rather than 'I'm going to try and give up cigarettes'! It's also helpful to move away from the language of obligation such as I 'should', 'ought' or 'must' and instead simply state 'I intend' or 'I am' and make sure your outcome is measurable and has a final date for completion.
It's also really helpful to give yourself some structure to help set yourself up for a successful outcome. For example, you could put some post it reminders on your fridge door or bathroom mirror to remind yourself of your new goal or activity.
After all if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
2. Practice
Ask yourself if you need to establish a new routine to support your new habit, for example, if you want to become a non smoker you could try holding the cigarette only in your non dominant hand. This will probably feel a little awkward and uncomfortable and may help to stop you smoking a cigarette without really being aware of what you are doing.
Mental rehearsal is another useful way to reinforce your new choices. It's a technique used by all the top athletes to help enhance their performance and if it works for them then it can work for you too.
3. Persistence
If you find yourself struggling at any stage then it is probably worthwhile enlisting the help of a trusted friend or a professional Coach who can help to keep you on track. Most people will agree that it can make a tremendous difference just knowing that there is someone else on your side who is checking in on your progress.
In my own practice I tend to ask my clients how committed they are to achieving their goal on a scale of one to ten, where a score of one reflects minimal commitment and ten means they are unstoppable. So consider the level of commitment you have for changing your habit now ? How did your score?
On the whole I find that a score of 7or less tends to mean that you won't really have sufficient commitment to see your goal through. So if this is the case for you, ask yourself what you need to do to raise your level of commitment to an 8 or above. Of course if your score is really low, it may mean that you aren't really committed to changing this habit at all, so be honest about that.
Finally, celebrate! Finding some small but significant way to celebrate your successes on a regular basis will give you vital feedback that you are well on your way to achieving your goal.
Remember that changing any habit, has a lot to do with persistence. Some habits can be changed very quickly whilst others may take weeks or even months and research shows us that on average we make a resolution 5 times before we actually get around to doing anything different.
So don't let that be you. Make yourself some new choices today, and start looking forward to that feeling of success.
For more information about health coaching, please contact Erica at healthcoach@sonic.net.
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