How can I make my life better instantly?

As the year ends and a new start is just around the corner, it is traditionally a time that many of us start thinking about making changes in our lives, goal setting and developing positive intentions for the coming year.

On average a quarter of the population will make New Year's resolutions, resolutions such as losing weight, quitting smoking reducing drinking, exercising more, living a healthier lifestyle, improving relationships, getting a better job, setting new goals and starting to relax more.

People are naturally more optimistic at the beginning of the new year, it’s a fresh start and they fully believe that they will stick to the resolutions and goals that they have set and will accomplish them.

Despite all these grand plans and ideas though only a small number of people will achieve their goals, with the majority of people giving up before January is out.

Why think about making changes?

With the evidence showing that many will fail, it could be argued that there is no point in setting resolutions or planning change, as failure is almost guaranteed.

Thinking about making changes though is positive and can lead to a change in mindset and ultimately more positivity in your life.

The examples below will illustrate why making a change can have a positive impact on your life;

• When you first set a resolution, you are automatically addressing an area that needs change, you are being honest with yourself about your current situation and identifying that you need to do something.

  It can help you put life into perspective and highlight where you should be focusing your time and energy.

• By making plans to change some area of your life, you are automatically starting the year off on a more positive note.

  You are optimistically looking into the new year. This positivity can be a great motivator and can drive you forward towards more positive actions.

• By deciding to make changes in your life, you could be opening yourself to possibilities and experiences that you had never thought of before.

• It can improve your mental and physical well-being.

How working with a Life Coach can be your best option

Once you have decided to make a change, the next obstacle is sticking to your intentions. This is the point that most people will fail.

Although the need and desire are often there, the mental willpower isn’t. Working with a life coach can be your best option as you are accountable to somebody else and not just yourself!

A life coach can give you the tools and resources to see your goals through to the end.

Core features of Life Coaching

• Guiding you and supporting you to achieve your goals in an authentic way

• Listening to what you say and reflecting to you in a way that understands your way of thinking and helps you to change

• Motivating you to take decisive action.

How Life Coaching works

Coaching is all about getting you from where you are now to where you want to be.

A life coach will be there to aid you in improving your career, health, emotional and physical well-being, relationships and day-to-day living. Coaching sessions will be tailored to your needs and specifications.

The first session will be to ascertain the goals that you have usually using the SMART method, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Making sure that your goal is the right one is the start of your coaching journey.

Choosing something specific means going into detail, if you want to lose weight, state how much.

Work with your life coach to cut away any vagueness and get as specific as you can.

Measuring your progress is essential, and that again is where working with a life coach can help.

You will have someone to be accountable to not just yourself. Being able to measure your progress will push you to continue with your journey. Be sure that your resolution or goal is achievable otherwise, failure will be assured from the beginning. If you want to lose weight set an achievable target within an achievable time frame.

The goal must be relevant to you, are you resolving the right reason? make sure that the goal is for you and not for other people. Your goal must be time-bound for it to be successful.

You need to give yourself enough time to make the goal achievable but set a deadline so that you have a target to work towards.

A life coach will ask you the right questions to get you directly to where you need to be, giving you the best tools to get there.

They will encourage you, help to identify any self-limiting beliefs that you have and help you to overcome any obstacles and challenges that may stand in your way.

You will discover what inspires you and what areas in your life may be blocking you from achieving your goals.

A life coach will give you a different perspective on your life and will help you to view your life with a clearer, more balanced perspective.

This is a partnership that is there to help you reach your chosen goals and to help you on the road to self-discovery and growth.

As you go through your coaching journey, your coach will check your short, medium and long-term goals and will make sure that you are still on track to achieve them.

Throughout the coaching plan, your coach will keep you motivated so that you stay on track.

This means staying true to your values and core beliefs whilst helping you dispel self-limiting beliefs and thoughts that will hold you back.

Tools that your coach provides are there to help you reach your goals, this could be through positive thinking, journaling, practising mindfulness, meditation or using CBT.

When goals are reached then your coach will be there to celebrate your victories as well.

How to really change your life 19 easy ways

1. Discover your “why” for making changes in your life

You need to fully understand why you are wanting to make a change before you begin. If you don’t fully understand the “why “ of your goals you won’t be able to make a successful change.

Understanding why you want to make a change will give you the clarity and direction needed to bring about change.

2. Make a decision to bring about change in your life

Change will only happen once you have decided to change. Once the decision has been made, then you can go about planning the course of action needed to bring the change about.

3. Be prepared to step outside your comfort zone

Change can often be messy, unsettling scary and unpredictable. These are all feelings that are going to be on the other side of your comfort zone. You need to be aware of this and prepared to step outside of your comfort zone to bring change into existence.

4. Discuss and recognise the significant areas of your life that you want to change

You won’t be able to change all of your life at once. You will need to look carefully at all areas of your life and discuss which one you need to address first.

A coach can give you the tools that you need to fully understand this.

5. Design a plan with your coach for change

Working with a coach can be the best way to design a plan for change in your life.

They can offer you the clarity and subjectivity that you will need and also offer you the motivation and accountability to see your plan through to completion.

6. Recognise the obstacles and how you can overcome them

Any plan can through up obstacles as you work through them. If you acknowledge this in advance and start to work through different scenarios beforehand, you will be far more likely to be successful, as you can plan different strategies for overcoming them.

7. Allow flexibility in your plan for unforeseen circumstances eg illness, etc

Plans should always be viewed organically. They should never be set in stone, you should be able to change and adapt them as you move along. Life can often throw up curve balls that will need to be worked around, such as illness, and family problems. lack of funds and minor setbacks.

Be flexible in your planning to accommodate any unforeseen circumstances.

8. Make a commitment with yourself and your coach to your plan

One of the major benefits of having a coach is that you have someone to whom you are accountable. When you commit yourself, you can sometimes feel at liberty to break it.

Having a coach makes it harder. Therefore commit yourself and a coach if you are serious about fulfilling your plan.

9. Get started

Plans will never be realised while they live just in your head. Once you have an idea make sure to get started. Even if it is just small steps at the beginning, once you have begun you will often be amazed at the speed at which a plan can take off.

10. Become a time management master

“Time is the master of all things”. I am sure this is a quote that you have heard on many an occasion and it is certainly one worth mentioning here.

Mastering your time will give you a far greater chance of success. Those who don’t master their time are at a far greater risk of achieving nothing in life.

11. Develop your self-belief and self-confidence with your coach

Working with a coach can really help you to master your self-belief and self-confidence, two tools that are of great value when planning and goal setting. A coach can help you to become the person you want and need to be.

12. Avoid distraction and stick to your design

A coach is well-placed to help you stick to your plan for change by helping you to avoid distractions. Everybody can become distracted from time to time but if it is at a stage where it is starting to interfere with the change that you want to make in your life, then you need to hire a coach to help you work through this.

13. Reassess and re-evaluate your progress on an ongoing basis

Coaching sessions can help you to reassess and re-evaluate the progress that you are making on an ongoing basis.

A coach can point out any tweaks or changes that you need to make and can help you to see the overall picture more clearly and the direction that you are going in.

14. Keep yourself focused on the now with the practice of mindfulness

If you are someone who tends to find that your mind drifts away from the present, preventing you from focusing on the task at hand, you can work with your coach on the art of practising mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a very simple, yet effective tool that they can talk you through that allows you to learn to focus on the here and now making you more productive and change more attainable.

15. Start the practice of a gratitude diary

Many coaches will discuss the appliance of a daily gratitude practice to help you bring about change in your life.

Gratitude helps you to establish all of the things that you have to be grateful for which can help with your mental attitude towards bringing about change.

16. Declutter Your Life

Work with your coach to help you to declutter your life. If you are finding it difficult to concentrate and bring about change, having a good clear out, physically and emotionally could be just what you need. A coach can keep you focused and determined in this area.

17. Start an exercise plan

Developing an exercise plan with a coach can help many areas of your life to bring about positive change. Not only can it help you to get fit, lose weight and become fitter and stronger, but exercise is also good for your emotional well-being, can help you mentally and is a great way to socialise.

18. Develop a winning morning routine

The start of your day can set the tone for how the rest goes. Work with your coach to set a winning morning routine.

Whether it is studying in the morning, exercising, eating a healthy breakfast, spending quality time with loved ones or just leaving on time without being stressed and rushed.

A winning morning routine can work wonders for bringing about positive change in your life.

19. Make your health a priority

Without your health, you really don’t have anything so you really need to make your health a priority. This is an area in which working with a coach can really bring great rewards and change.

A coach can help you to set plans and goals to make your health your number one priority in life, despite everything else that you have going on in life.

Benefits of Life Coaching

Whilst the benefits of life coaching will differ from person to person, some of the most common benefits are;

• Identifying self-limiting beliefs and working to dispel them

• Identifying goals and achieving them

• Reaching a good work/life balance

• Personal and professional growth

• Improving relationships personally and professionally

• Achieving fitness and health goals

• Improving the quality of physical and mental well-being

• Identifying core values and beliefs

• Reaching career goals

• Improving communication skills

• Developing a positive mindset.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for real change in your life, then using the 19 powerful ways above can help you to change your life immediately using a coach.

Ultimately, working with a Life Coach can help you reach your true potential. It can help you break through self-limiting beliefs and become the person you truly want to be.

It is an investment in your life that will continually repay you and could well be the best investment that you ever make.

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If you have any thoughts on working with a life coach please comment and share below