What is it about Autumn that invites us to consider change?
Autumn is a season of transition; the temperature changes, there’s a decrease in daylight and nature replaces the abundant flowers with fruit. Autumn can also be a season of rebirth and renewal. It can be a time to adopt a fresh outlook on your life – no longer distracted by the summers’ long evenings you can actually commit to a chosen path and anchor it.
For change to occur that has meaning and is authentic, it’s necessary to evaluate and understand the ‘here and now’. Great results start with great questions and often the most challenging questions are the ones we ask of ourselves. At Change Grow Succeed we have devised 6 Killer Coaching questions to provoke your thoughts to help kick start a newer and better version of yourself this Autumn.
Question 1: Evaluate the year so far, what’s going well for you? What’s not working?
Take stock. Autumn is traditionally associated with harvest so take the time to appreciate how far you’ve come during 2018 and note the seeds that have come to fruition. Taking stock is a necessary process to ensure your behaviours and activities are aligned with the goals you have set. Remember, the first stage of any change is to face where we are right now, as we cannot change what we don’t acknowledge.
Question 2: If you saw yourself in 3 years time living the same life, how would that feel?
If this image is not a positive one for you- what needs to change? What do you need to start doing or crucially, what do you need to stop doing? This question helps us to create a vision for what we want for ourselves in the future. Certainly, it assists us in evaluating if we are moving in the right direction.
Question 3: What are you like when you’re at your best? What are you doing?
How often do you engage with the activities that you love doing? How could you do them more often? I often task clients in transition to “reflect on the last time they had fire in their belly” and invite them to note what they were doing. This process prompts clients to bring conscious awareness into their day to day activities for example; at work- emphasis your strengths- don’t fix weaknesses. It’s far more lucrative and fun to leverage what your good at instead of attempting to fix chunks in your armour. Focus on the better use of your weapons instead of constant repair. Why? You will multiply and yield higher results.
Question 4: What gives your life meaning?
This may sound like an obvious question but bringing conscious awareness to what puts meaning into our life is crucial in determining our priorities. We are products of a very dynamic environment and it’s important to appreciate that what we needed from life 2, 5, or 10 years ago may have significantly changed to now. For example the arrival of children, a bereavement, or general life experience can all alter our view of the world. Taking time to understand this helps us to gauge whether we are on the right path or not.
Question 5: If you could be a role model to yourself, what would you do?
The whole notion of a role- model gets us thinking about who and what inspires us and crucially, why they inspire us. Being a role- model to ourselves challenges us to evaluate our behaviours and intentionally make some changes. Perhaps we want to change how we respond under stress, it can be helpful to examine our triggers and our patterns of responses. With greater awareness comes the power of choice. Where the mind goes, energy flows.
Question 6: What’s the best thing that could happen to you next year?
This final question invites us to think about 2019 and introducing visualisation, encourages us to think about something that we want to achieve, do or complete. Napoleon Hill said that “A goal is a dream with a deadline” so, visualise where you plan to be this time next year. Imagine that it has been a fantastic year for you both personally and professionally. Now, make a note of what you accomplished (in 2019) and explore how you might achieve this.
At Change Grow Succeed, these are the 6 killer coaching questions we have identified to re-wire your thinking and get you focused on achieving results. Good Luck!
Gillian McGrath is a Cork based Life and Business Coach and Master Trainer. For more information, go to www.changegrowsucceed.com
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