As a Certified Wellness Coach, our clients look up to us. As strange as this may sound, they actually think we have it all together. And that, my friends, opens up a door of opportunity to have an even bigger impact in their lives…
I’m writing this just after New Year’s, when “resolutions” are in vogue (at least for another week or so). However, the concept applies year around. We all have gaps. We all have areas (I hope) in which we’re working to improve. We all can benefit from setting and pursuing goals when done correctly. In a recent post, we highlighted the Fn (F5) = A as a strategy for insuring function was included as a critical part of goal setting. We won’t repeat that here, but you may want to revisit that here if you didn’t see it the first time around: https://www.catalystcoachinginstitute.com/2013/12/27/your-secret-to-success-in-the-new-year/ .
The opportunity that you have as a Certified Wellness Coach is to share one or more of your goals with your clients! Don’t make your time with your client all about you, and be careful not to accidentally “one up” your client with a goal that may make their seem insignificant, but do share that you’re going through the same process you’re asking them to pursue. In terms of the “one upping” danger, you may want to avoid your area of expertise when sharing goals. For example, if you’re focusing with a client on starting a consistent walking program, you may want to avoid sharing your struggles with training 20 hours/week for an upcoming Ironman triathlon :-). However, sharing a goal (and the struggles you’re working through) around family or education or similar categories can make you seem more “real” to your clients (and it may even give them some ideas!).
As such, I’ll get this started (this is Brad Cooper making this post today) by sharing with you some of my F5 Goals for 2014. I haven’t addressed the Fn portions here due to space, but would encourage you to be sure to include them with your own goals and those of your clients:
- Faith: In addition to some personal growth goals in this area, I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a leadership role with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and am looking to see the local Endurance team grow to 75+ members in 2014.
- Friends/Family: I’m crazy in love with my bride of 21 years, but our schedules can get a little crazy at times. So for 2014, I’m planning on getting us out for a REAL date at least twice/month!
- Fitness/Fueling: After competing in several Ironman triathlons over the past few years, 2014 will be the year of the marathon if all goes well. Targeting a sub-2:43 at Boston in April. Then will add in the swim/bike in May to quickly transition over to triathlons and try to sneak in a decent performance at the USA Triathlon National Championship mid-year. If the body cooperates, looking to knock on the 2:40 door at a year-end marathon in November (hopefully NY).
- Financial: Running our own business, this one can have some external forces impacting things from year to year. However, regardless of those, we have set our 2014 course on continuing with the 10-20-70 strategy: Donate 10%+, Save/Invest 20%+ and live on 70% or less of our income.
- Field of Play: Since I’m fortunate to have my personal “Field of Play” fit nicely into the Fitness category, I focus this one around the professional arena. I’m blessed to be in a role that allows me to wake up each morning with a skip in my step and hope in my heart, and want to keep it that way. We just completed our 2013 Annual Review/2014 Annual Strategy process and are excited about the year ahead. I won’t bore you with all the details here 🙂 but will simply mention that I’ve set goals here based on stepping further outside of my comfort zone on a new pursuit and enhancing my own weekly and monthly planning strategy going forward.
Does that help? At a minimum, it’s a reminder that we all have plenty of room for growth…
Here’s to a fantastic 2014.
