Hello everybody, welcome to episode 95 of Optimal Living Advice, the podcast where we take any questions you might have about the many struggles of life and get them answered for you here on the show. I’m your host, certified life coach Greg Audino. Today we’ve got a question that I think is particularly effective for the helpers out there – people in positions to bring out the best in others. But it’s definitely a question that pertains to all of us as we’ll focus a lot on what it means to rebuild self-confidence dare we step back into the arena after some tough times. So without further ado, here’s today’s question…
QUESTION: “How can I build my self confidence after tough times to restart my old career as a health and wellness coach?”
Listen to Greg narrate this post on Episode 95 of the podcast Optimal Living Advice.
Focus on Main Goals
Short and sweet, I love it. This is a good question especially for someone who’s in health and wellness coaching, or about to get back into it, anyway. I understand it as a coach, therapists get it, psychiatrists get it. Pastors probably get it. Trainers. Parents, even. Being in any kind of role in which it feels particularly important to practice what you preach. There are many of them. So yes, this is a great question for accountability as a whole, isn’t it?
And I think that’s how we look at it to start answering this question, cause it’s sort of a similar set of rules for everyone who plays a big part in helping someone else become their best self. People who excel in this role and are most apt to creating even bigger change are those who exemplify what they hope to harvest in others.
So the first step for you is to really hone in on what purpose you want to serve as a health and wellness coach. What are the main goals you hope to help clients achieve? What do you want them to take from their experience working with you?
Take the answers to these questions and consider how you can start applying them in every situation in your own life. Is what you do tonight in line with what you want to offer your clients? Is how you talk to that person in line with what you want to offer your clients?
Start building self-confidence by deviating from behavior that doesn’t help you serve your clients the way you want to, whether it’s behavior that takes place in or out of your sessions.
What Have You Learned During Tough Times?
Now. You may be thinking to yourself, “Greg. I just said I’m getting through tough times, it’s very difficult for me to just live on purpose 24/7 right now.” I hear that! But what would you tell your clients in this time? What would you tell your past self in this time? If you’re anything like me, you’d probably remind them of all the lessons we learn in tough times, and how those lessons shape us and give us opportunities to be better.
The same applies to you with your coaching. What have you learned during these tough times? What lessons can you reflect on, and if you’re still going through the tough times, what skills are you actively building? Whatever they are, I bet they can be of use to you as an individual as well as to your clientele. I know we want to race through the tough times, but if we’re going to use their fuel most efficiently, we have to pay very, very close attention to them.
And you’re not alone on this. All the other people I mentioned and the countless I didn’t mention that are in “helper” roles so-to-speak, they deal with the same things. I should say we struggle with the same things. Being a health and wellness coach does not absolve you of having your own health and wellness shortcomings.
The Choice to Re-Calibrate
Therapists have still had traumas and bad expressions of their emotions. Pastors have sinned. Trainers eat candy bars and have bad form sometimes. I don’t even want to touch on my own, personal list. It’s ok for you to have your setbacks and not always practice what you preach, but you can always make the choice to re-calibrate and try as I mentioned a minute ago. If you’re expecting perfection, even at something you’re an expert in, you’re kidding yourself.
You’re also kidding yourself if your perception of yourself as a good health and wellness coach hinges on you being able to provide answers for everyone. Restarting an old career probably means that you’ve lost a step, which is perfectly fine.
Build your confidence by not only educating yourself on what’s changed in the industry since you were last working, but also refreshing yourself on subjects you haven’t studied in a while that are applicable.
Reflect, too, on effective strategies you used to deploy that will still work (as a matter of fact, many of them are likely to be especially beneficial for older clients who are more familiar with classic styles and ideas).
Build Confidence through Continuous Learning
And even after all that, you’ll probably still be a little slow out of the gate. But you will have prepared as much as you could ask for, both in studying and in your own life. And more importantly, there will still be some help you can provide to some people. Someone in your position does not need to be able to answer problems for the whole world. You’re still learning, just as I am, just as other helpers are, and just as everyone is.
No, you might not be able to help everyone. But you can help some people, and though it may not seem like much for you to talk to even 5 people in a week, it’s a lot to them, and in time, as you’re back in the game longer, the number will go from 5 to 10 to 15 to who knows? If you care enough to submit this question, you care enough to help people now and you care enough to keep educating yourself so that you can help more people.
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Thank you for being here today, everyone. I do hope you were all able to get something form this as always, and to the woman who sent this question in, I hope you can re-enroll as a health and wellness coach with a renewed sense of confidence in yourself, including confidence in the fact that you’ll inevitably have some catching up to do.
Doesn’t mean you’re not capable, though. Everybody, you know we encourage your questions. They’ve been really pouring in lately and we love it, so please keep drowning us. Things are looking great as we approach our 100th episode. So send your questions to us by emailing advice AT oldpodcast DOT com
We’ll take your questions there and do our best for you. We’re all done for today, so I’ll see you next time, friends. Take care of yourselves.
Listen to Greg narrate this post on Episode 95 of the podcast Optimal Living Advice.
