Coaching is a form of learning that practitioners have been leveraging for years. There truly is no better way to overcome an obstacle, achieve previously unobtainable goals or push yourself in the right direction than learning from someone who has the knowledge you need. Learning a new skill from another is self-explanatory, its a process of passing over one’s knowledge on the subject matter that makes it easily learnable.
Yet, life coaching requires a different approach; there isn’t a concrete, objective solution. Instead, coaches must aim to support the coachee by providing new ways of thinking and create new opportunities to learn and develop oneself.
Learning Through Conversation
While coaches employ activity-based learning to measure progress, the majority of life coaching is achieved through conversation. We will look to architect a structure through questioning to challenge your thoughts, thinking, and envoke numerous learning opportunities. Coachees responses will help us determine where they are mentally, how much progress has been made, and the next steps to take to help them achieve their desired goals.
Yet, only understanding our external influences and obstacles limits our potential to see a real breakthrough. We are more likely to hit these barriers once more if we fail to understand the inner conflict within us that is causing them in the first place.
Enter Brain-Based Coaching
Neuroscience teaches us that our brain is the centre of everything that we experience. A neuroscience approach highlights vital areas that standardised life coaching misses; we can support your brain’s natural, preferred way of learning.
When I work with my clients, each session is hand-crafted to work towards the coachees prefered learning style and their unique preferences and work in line with the new behaviours they are looking to adopt or learn.
I look to alter and bring about change through improved thinking and behavioural change, not through “aha” moments.
How Does Neuroscience Break the Mould?
By looking at the coaching process through a neuroscience lens, we enable the coachee to shine and bring their resources to fruition.
In reality, all coaches facilitate and create the desired environment that allows the coachee to break through their shells and doubts. To do this, they need a new way of thinking. A neuroscience approach takes this a step further by creating an environment that allows you to think on a deeper level. We also alter the focus of questioning. Now, questions will require the coachee to think on a deeper level, and they may find that they cannot answer these questions quickly. By doing so, we tap into the areas of our brains that we usually aren’t able to target through standard coaching practises.
My past clients have voiced the dramatic difference between my processes and other life coaches, simple due to a shift in approach.
Through a deeper brain connection, coachees create the opportunity to break free from their hardwired actions and behaviours and bring them into the conscious mind. From here, they can work to form new, healthier neural links and develop more positive behaviours.
What Makes a Neuroscience Approach Stand Out?
Brain driven coaching still shares multiple similarities with traditional coaching methods. The outcomes are still largely the same; overcome obstacles and reach our goals. Yet, focusing on the brain causes this approach to stand out in a few key areas.
Solution-Focused
Focusing on the problems in front of us may seem like the best approach. But when we do, we strengthen these negative neural connections.
Focusing and diving deep into the core, printed problems is a frequent activity used in therapy. For coaching, we look at achieving something different. A neuroscience approach focuses on the solution and how we can work to overcome the problem present. To do this, I look at the desired solution – where you want to be in the future – and reverse engineer the process.
This enables me to create a coaching program that is personally tailored to you and your goals. For the coachee, it puts their future at the forefront of their mind. They are no longer focused on the problem, but the solution and potential.
This shift in perspective can have an immediate impact. It can boost one’s mood, bring about creative inspiration and give a new sense of purpose.
Bring About a Healthy Challenge
Our brains love a challenge. To bring about substantial changes and improvements, we have to work hard to make it a reality. We’ve all encountered the desire to want something, only to shift away from it once we realise how much work is involved.
Luckily, our brains are highly malleable. Neuronal plasticity allows our brains to adapt and shape itself to the stimulus we present it. In the case of coaching, it’s bringing about new habits, new behaviours and new ways of thinking.
Working with a neuro coach provides an extra step of that equation – they’re there to hold you accountable. Tasks and activities are set to offer a real challenge and aid you through the course of change. This change is necessary to push your brain into working at its best capacity.
Facilitating Insight
Standard coaching can fall into many traps if the coach drives the agenda and creates a rigid structure. For the coachee, many benefits arise when they can focus on themselves and raise the agenda naturally.
Without that ability, the coach may focus on the wrong areas or spend too long tackling a problem or challenge where un-needed.
Taking a look back at the previous point, a challenge is needed. If we remove the coachee’s requirement to communicate their thoughts, goals, aspirations and more, we remove the ability for them to build new neural links to these actions and behaviours.
Benefits
Life coaching focuses on a wide array of potential goals. These can stem from relationships, professional life or through other, specific mental obstacles. These, however, are not to be confused with more specialised coaching. For example, focusing solely on progressing your career, without a connection to your general life, requires a career coach’s aid. Despite this, brain-based coaching can be applied to any discipline, so long as the coach themselves has a great understanding of the brain and neuroscience approaches.
By implementing a neuroscience focus, you can expect to see the following benefits:
A Deep understanding – Not only of the problem you are facing and the solution needed but also your brain. You’ll gain a more in-depth insight into your own prefered way of learning, how you are hardwired and an understanding of how your brain functions to deliver specific responses. While finding a solution to your current problem, you’ll learn how to work with your brain to develop a solution for future issues.
Heightened resilience – the first step to building resilience is to understand that it is a muscle that needs to be worked on regularly. Some of us may have strong emotional resilience due to life events, but that may not be the case for others. By taking a brain-first approach, you face the thoughts, feelings, and emotions behind your problem. First, overcome the problem and then find the appropriate solution, forcing you to flex those resilience muscles.
Improved clarity and self-awareness – Nothing opens our eyes more than facing our problems head-on. By understanding our brain, we can get a heightened sense of clarity behind our behaviours, actions and aspirations. Things no longer “just happen” instead, we can connect everything back to a core area of our brain and truly understand what is working in the background to create this effect. This self-awareness will be beneficial throughout your life whenever future problem surfaces.
Moving Forward to a Solution
Coaching is an avenue that must consider when they encounter an obstacle they cannot get around. Deciding on the best course of action in these moments can be difficult, especially when there are so many solutions present on the web.
Brain-based coaching can be one such solution, but the benefits far exceed that of a particular problem. After working with a coach who practices neuroscience, you’ll begin to understand more about yourself and how you think.
These experiences can be invaluable when tackling problems in the future, ones that would typically see you returning to a coach for a second, third or fourth time.
The ability to build our resilience and seek our solutions paves the way for life-changing opportunities to arise.
Is something in your life preventing you from building new habits?
Struggling to understand what’s on your mind and need guidance?
I’ve co-developed The 3-to-5 brainSystem Code™ – The Code that leads you beyond the surface-level approach of getting long term results. Reach out to me here, and we can figure out what’s holding you back.
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