14 Ways to Change Your Behavior

I’ve shared before that there are three killer constraints that will absolutely destroy your success as a business coach.

No matter how skilled you are, if you struggle with any of these, it will be very difficult to create the business coaching practice you’re hoping for.

They are:

• “Pushover” tendencies: Difficulty persuading, convincing, and winning others over to your point of view.
• “Softie” tendencies: Difficulty evaluating and critiquing the work of others and carrying out crucial confrontations. 
• “Quitter” tendencies: difficulty persevering and following through on commitments in the face of difficulty. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. Just because you struggle with some of these tendencies doesn’t mean there’s no hope. I’ve worked with countless business coaches who have had to work hard to build the confidence it takes to succeed–both in terms of sales and coaching. The fact of the matter is that everyone has personal constraints. The process of growth simply means identifying, addressing, and removing them, so that you can reap incremental gains in performance.

And the best way to do that is to practice.

What are some simple ways you can begin to remove your killer constraints?

Try these exercises.

14 Simple Practices to Increase Your Confidence

1. Assert yourself in daily routine decisions versus deferring to others. For example, be the one to pick the place for lunch or dinner!
2. Give critical feedback that is direct and unambiguous.
3. Take up a directly competitive sports hobby where you are forced to compete and win.
4. When confronted with a moment in which your default is to defer, deflect, avoid, or quit, ask yourself “why?” at least five times to dig deeper and discover the emotional roots to behavioral patterns.
5. Create high-stakes accountability for non-performance of critical sales and business development activities. For example, commit to “bold-walking” (visiting) 100 business in 7 days or pay an accountability partner $500.
6. Use decisive language: “We can absolutely help you win!” versus “Well, we might be able to help you. I mean, I can’t guarantee anything….”
7. Roleplay Complimentary Coaching Sessions with various detailed scenarios and aggressive objection handling situations.
8. Take a stand-up or improv comedy class to learn how to “say yes” and think on your feet.
9. Celebrate every single win for an entire week, no matter how big or small–with your clients, your family, and yourself.
10. Genuinely encourage one person a day.
11. Pay it forward with a random act of tangible kindness every day for a month.
12. Create an accountability/competitive relationship with another coach and set daily sales and performance targets with a weekly financial pot (for example, $50 total – $25 each) and bragging rights.
13. Keep a daily gratitude journal in order to focus on all of the things you are grateful for in life — versus the self-critical and negative aspects of life.
14. Turn “NOs” into a game: if you can get 25 “NOs” within one month, you celebrate in a special way. This is much harder than it sounds!

Remember: you don’t have to hit it out of the park. The best way to improve is to approach it slowly but steadily–with daily practices and habits that change your behavior and therefore results. Pick one to start and see what a difference it makes!

And for more great ways to shift your mindset and maximize your results, download our FREE ebook, Secrets of a Business Coaching Rock Star.