Académique Documents
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COACH
How to do it
ISBN: 978-1463563707
4. Boundaries 98
PART 1: HOW TO COACH THE BASICS 20
5. Emotional Childhood 105
1. The Anatomy of an Issue 22
6. Money 111
2. Cause vs. Symptom 29
7. Questions 116
3. Holding the Space 35
8. Outcomes 124
4. Clean Thinking 42
9. Story vs. Fact 130
5. Be Prepared 47
6. The Model 52
I agree. Coaching is about taking healthy people and helping them make their good
lives awesome.
Much as a tennis coach works with a player to understand and analyze performance
both in practice and during a game, a Life Coach works with clients to understand and
analyze what they are doing in their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral life. The Coach
has an objective vantage point — a different perspective from where they can spot
what’s working as well as areas for change and improvement. This is as essential for a
well-lived life as it is for a well-played sport.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 6
If you want to become a Life Coach, it is
important you understand that there are
two major skills to be mastered.
1. First, you need to learn how to coach effectively by learning
the tools and practicing them in your own life as well as on
many willing clients.
2. Second, you need to learn how to run and market your small
business. It doesn’t matter how great a coach you are if you
don’t know how to attract clients.
This book introduces and discusses the first of these skills. The second is covered in its
sequel Life Coach, How to Sell it.
I want to be very clear that reading these books is not enough; mastery can only come
from consistent application and practice. This applies to all my books. Don’t just read
this book. Do this book!
There are many schools, and there are federations that claim to accredit them, but if
you look closely, as I did, you will see how important it is to question everything. The
International Coaching Federation (ICF), the organization you will most often hear about,
appointed itself as the governing/regulating body of the entire coaching community.
And as nice as that might sound, it doesn’t make it so.
ICF representatives claim that they are the “voice of the coaching profession.” I think they
are the voice of the people who take their training courses and become their members.
While the ICF accredits coaching schools, the ICF is itself not “accredited” to do so.
The ICF is violating an accepted professional standard with regards to the same
organization both certifying individuals and accrediting the schools from which
those individuals have gained their training.
The 2003 report, Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs, prepared by
the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (www.noca.org), states the following:
The certification agency must not also be responsible for accreditation of educational
or training programs or courses of study leading to the certification.
In other words, the ICF has no authority to accredit schools, and yet it claims to accredit
the schools and then certify the individuals graduating from those schools.
That being said, Thomas Leonard, who is responsible for creating this federation to give
his schools some legitimacy, was quite clever in attempting to bring some credibility
to our profession. I admire him and his accomplishments. I listened to his tapes and
enjoyed some of his ideas and his enthusiasm for coaching. I do agree that he is one of
the “fathers” of the coaching industry, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for
what he was able to accomplish in such a short time.
These are only two of the associations attempting to regulate and provide standardization
to the coaching industry. I have been a member of both but feel no loyalty to either.
Do your own research. Find out what works for YOU. Don’t look to some industry
standard because there isn’t one. Pick your school, academy, and association based
on what you want to learn and the quality of the teachers. The larger schools might be
a perfect fit for you, or you might prefer the smaller school’s approach. I don’t think one
is necessarily better than the other.
Since then, I have taken dozens of training programs and classes. Some of them were
interesting, but most left me bored and uninspired. In the end, I decided to open my own
small, private school that focuses on treating the unwanted cause of results and behaviors.
Since then, we have trained hundreds of coaches in the art of mind management, life
coaching, practice building, and self-coaching.
And let me also add that the number of hours someone has coached does not mean
they are an effective coach. It’s not the hours of coaching that make coaches effective;
it’s their natural talent, empathy, wisdom, and ability to hone in on what the client is
creating with their mind. Some students are able to do this after ten hours of coaching,
while others require much more practice. This point is made quite well by Rey A. Carr:
This is not measured in the quantity of coaching they have done, but rather in the
quality. The bottom line is that Life Coaching, our profession, comes with a tremendous
amount of freedom. But that freedom comes with the tremendous responsibility to be
accountable for the work you do with your clients. You will not be able to lean on any
association for your credibility, but then again, you shouldn’t need too.
They include
1. The Anatomy of an Issue
2. Cause vs. Symptom
3. Holding the Space
4. Clean Thinking
5. Be Prepared
6. The Model
7. The Model in Action
When you understand each of these components, you can clearly identify the problem
your client is experiencing and decide which category it fits into. Then you can use your
coaching inquiry skills to uncover the root cause of the problem and build a picture of
what’s going on in each of the other components. This is because our thoughts about our
circumstances cause our feelings, which cause our actions, which ultimately create
results in our lives. Let’s illustrate with a few examples.
Say the client is depressed (feeling). You know this is the result of something he or she is
thinking (thought) and that the depression (feeling) leads to certain behavior patterns
(action). Your clients will most likely not be aware of this correlation between their
thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
Is your most pressing problem a thought? - For example, “My boss didn’t
appreciate me; I can’t believe he fired me.” This is a thought because you can’t know for
a fact whether your boss felt appreciation for you.
Is your issue more of a feeling? - For example, anger may be what you are
experiencing when you think about your boss.
Is your issue an action or behavior? - Have you been lying on the couch drinking
beer since you found out that you lost your job? That would be the action you’re taking
because you’re feeling angry.
Or is your issue a result? - Having no income could be the result of lying on the
couch drinking beer and not working.
For example, my main focus as a coach is on Weight Loss Coaching. The symptom
my clients bring to me is obesity. This is a result that is caused by overeating
and underexercising.
I can treat this symptom by helping my clients find a way to stop overeating and start
exercising, but this will not be a sustainable solution. Instead I focus on what is causing
the client to overeat and underexercise. If you have been paying close attention, you will
know that the cause of these actions is always the client’s thoughts and feelings. We
must work from the cognitive and emotional level in order to permanently change the
behavioral level. This ends the struggle against the symptom exactly in the same way
that casting and healing a bone prevents the need for continued aspirin to alleviate pain.
thoughts
cause
EVIDENCE
feelings
cause
actions
cause
results
So we begin there.
Your clients will have tried to do this many times with the people in their lives. But
because those people are involved and not objective, they will react to what your client
says, rather than being able to hold the space for the client to experience and explore
what’s going on. As the coach, it’s your privilege to hold that space and not react.
You are the one person who can hear anything your client has to say without reference
to your own opinion. Your client can “act out” their negative emotions with you and
tell you their negative thoughts and secrets; and you can hold the unconditional space
where thoughts and emotions can be looked at, unraveled, and understood.
To demonstrate this, let me tell you about my client Sarah. She came to me in a seminar
and later became one of my clients. She was angry with me from the beginning. She had
a very painful story about how her sister had victimized her. She would sob through
every session. She would rage against her sister. She was miserable “because of”
her sister.
She was in a pool of despair — a mire of her own creation. I would not jump in with
her. I stayed out because I knew that from the ground, I could help her out of that pool.
“How you feel is a choice,” I told her. I explained that she could choose to feel any
way she wanted to feel.
“Then love her,” I replied. “That’s your choice. You can love her no matter what
she has done. No matter how long you have hated her. No matter whether or not
she deserves it. It’s your choice and you can do it for your sake.”
She was furious. I let her hate me. I let her play this relationship with her sister out
with me, and I loved her anyway. No matter what she said to me, I stayed. I didn’t take it
personally; I showed her that the whole story was just in her mind.
I do love my sister. I am very pissed at you for pointing that out. But, I
want to tell you that when I was crying and you weren’t consoling me,
it gave me a tremendous amount of freedom to let go of the hate and
cry. I knew you weren’t going to leave, you weren’t going to fall apart.
You were going to stay strong. And for some reason, even though it
made me mad, it was stabilizing enough for me to really go into this
issue. I’m still mad, but thank you.
You clean it up by first becoming aware of your thoughts and judgments and writing
them down. Notice what your judgments are, and then put them aside as you coach.
By having a “clean” mind as a coach, you can help your clients clean up their thinking,
which ultimately is...
2 Self Coach. Preparing for sessions isn’t just about getting your
papers in place and reviewing your notes from the last session. It’s
about being in place to hold the space for your client without being
distracted by what is going on in your own life. As coaches, this is
our responsibility. We must do the preparatory work to be available,
to be present, and to hear what the client is saying and what they
aren’t saying. It’s very difficult to do this if you haven’t cleaned out
the closet of your own mind first. Remove what’s “on your mind,” so
you can be there for your client.
The more you practice on yourself, the more you will be able to
relate to your clients. There aren’t really any new problems. We all
struggle with the same stuff. We don’t feel good enough. We want
more money. We want to lose weight. We want better relationships.
We want our life to be a contribution.
Then coach your clients until your brain hurts. Don’t be afraid
to practice. Don’t be afraid to over-deliver. Give them more than
they’ve paid for. Especially when you are first learning — coach
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 49
anyone and everyone who will let you. Be willing to make mistakes
— they are valuable teachers. Own up to your mistakes. And then
make more mistakes. Keep your energy positive, helpful, hopeful,
and future focused.
Here is the secret sauce to all great Life Coaching: “thought inquiry.” It means exactly
what it sounds like. Inquire into your thoughts. Pay attention to your mind.
There are many forms of thought inquiry and cognitive awareness techniques, and I
have studied most of them. Based on what I learned, I created a model that has changed
my life and the lives of thousands of my clients and readers. I introduced it to you earlier,
and now it’s time to get into some serious detail.
thoughts
cause
EVIDENCE
feelings
cause
actions
cause
results
Circumstances are the things in the world that are factual and beyond our control.
They include things like other people’s behavior, our past, and the economy. Most clients
believe that their feelings, actions, and results are caused by circumstances. They are
wrong, and this is one of the most common forms of self-induced suffering. Believing
that things we cannot control cause our emotions leaves us powerless to change.
Most of our clients don’t realize this. They think that the circumstance is causing the
pain, so they try to manipulate and change the circumstance. Our job as coaches is to
teach them that they can change how they feel by changing their thoughts. This does
not mean that they won’t talk to their husband about not leaving; it just means they will
do it from a place of empowerment and peace rather than from a place of manipulation
and desperation.
Notice that you can make yourself feel happiness right now by thinking about something.
Alternatively, you could make yourself feel sad right now by thinking about something.
One sentence thought in the mind creates that emotion.
For example, my client tells me in a session that she feels “desperate.” I ask her why.
She says it’s because her son is failing math (circumstance). Note that the reason she
is feeling desperate is not because her son is failing math. If this was the cause of the
emotion, it would make everyone feel desperate, and it doesn’t. So I ask her, “What are
you making it mean that your son is failing math?” She will give me her thought: “It
means he will never be successful.” That thought is the source of the pain, not the
grade in math. And the reason this is such good news is that she can change that thought
in that moment without having to change his grade. And from a better emotional state,
she will be able to communicate to her son without desperation.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 57
Actions are caused by our feelings or emotions. We act, based on how we feel. If we
feel motivated, we might do more. If we feel sad, we might isolate ourselves or look
for something to distract us from the sadness. If we feel anger, we might yell. Not all
emotions cause the same actions in everyone, but they do cause our actions. For example,
someone who feels anxiety might drink vodka, while someone else might eat too many
donuts, while still someone else might talk very quickly.
A person who feels genuine confidence will act in a way that is in tune with that positive
emotion. Someone who’s pretending to be confident is really acting from fear and will
ultimately get a fear-based result.
Many of your clients will not understand what drives their actions or
lack of actions. They will label it “lack of willpower” or “procrastination,”
but what is really going on is a repeated pattern of thought–
feeling–action. It is nothing short of life changing to help your client
understand that what they do is ultimately driven by what they think.
When we do our thought work, we simplify the process by using only letters to create a
working model. For example, if your client is feeling stressed (feeling), and you want to
help them figure out why, write out the model like this:
C:
T:
F: Stressed.
A:
R:
So, for example, let’s say the reason they give you for feeling stressed is that their son got
an F on a test. This is a fact. It is provable. So this would be put in the C line.
C: Son got F.
T:
F: Stressed.
A:
R:
Your client will believe that they are upset because of the C. But remember, C’s don’t
hurt. Facts don’t cause pain. There’s always a thought between the fact (circumstance)
and the feeling.
Your client will then give you the T (thought) that is causing them to feel stressed. A
typical response in a situation like this might be: He got an F because I am a terrible
mother and I don’t help him study enough because I am so busy.
C: Son got F.
T: I am a terrible mother.
F: Stressed.
A:
R:
Notice how the thought causing the client pain isn’t even about the son. It is about the
client. To help the client see this, you can then ask how she acts towards their son
when she feels stressed about not being a good mother.
C: Son got F.
T: I am a terrible mother.
F: Stressed.
A: Yell at him.
R:
C: Son got F.
T: I am a terrible mother.
F: Stressed.
A: Yell at him.
R: Spend no time helping him with homework —
just being“terrible” to him.
opportunity to
manage it.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 64
when we understand
how our minds work -
we can actively create
our experience.
- Brooke Castillo
client 1
In my marriage I used to make almost everything C: Married to a man.
mean that I was unlovable. If he came home late, it
T: I’m unlovable.
was because I wasn’t lovable. If he didn’t earn money,
it was because I wasn’t lovable. If he didn’t help me, F: Unworthy.
it was because I was unlovable, etc. To deal with the A: Lie, drink, and pretend.
intense unworthiness that permeated my life, I overate R: I’m unlovable because I
and overdrank. I lied. I pretended. I tried to cover up never showed up.
all of my unlovableness.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 66
When I found the thought: “I love me.” And really meant C: Married to a man.
it. And believed it. Something inside of me just clicked.
T: I love me.
His actions no longer meant something about me. They
no longer meant anything about my lovability. They F: Empowered.
meant only something about him. And I could love me A: Sober, tell the truth, and
show up fully.
no matter what. I started to tell the truth to myself.
And to him. I stopped overeating. I stopped blaming. I R: I love myself.
stopped overdrinking. I met myself. And fell in love.
This was very powerful for me because it helped me see what my business was and
what it wasn’t. Who he is, how he behaves, is his business. Thank goodness I don’t have
to be responsible for how he chooses to “be” in this world. My new thought allowed me
to detach. It helped me to stick to the facts and let the school decide whether he should
be coaching or not. And my daughter got to decide for herself whether she wanted to
keep playing on the team. That was just fr’awesome.
Has coaching changed my life? In a lot of real, concrete ways I imagine it’s changed my life
the way a felon’s life is changed when their sentence is unexpectedly overturned. Released.
Set free. I was a prisoner in my own mind, locked up in a story that never allowed me a
moment of peace. Now I create my own peace — because I can, because coaching gave me
the tools to do so.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 70
client 4
Here are some before and after models. Notice how this client changes her thoughts and
ends up with different results.
BEFORE AFTER
C: My life. C: My life.
T: I don’t know what to do T: I’m interested in learning
with myself. new things.
F: Depressed. F: Interested.
A: Sit on the couch, watch TV, A: Research classes and sign up for
and eat. classes. Take classes.
R: Not doing anything with my life. R: Learning new things and excited
about life
BEFORE AFTER
C: Class I’m creating. C: My life.
T: I’m afraid to do this. T: I know exactly what to do.
F: Scared. F: Confident.
A: Stuck. Not working on the class. A: Organize my notes and work on
the class.
R: Class is not completed; I’m
confused and scared. R: Class is completed and launched.
Excited about teaching this class.
Before I learned self coaching, lots of things in my life were hit and miss. I’d get excited about
something and go gangbusters to make it happen. But if I wasn’t inspired by something, I
was lost. I’d end up on my coach bored and feeling depressed. I didn’t realize that the reason
some things inspired me was because of my thoughts about it and other times I was feeling
bored because of my thoughts. I started taking classes to lose weight and that’s where I
learned about self coaching. Learning how to coach myself has changed my life. I know now
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 72
that if I’m feeling bored or lonely or depressed or uninspired, it’s only because of what I’m
thinking. I can investigate my thoughts with the self coaching model and choose to change
them. I can feel better about anything whenever I want. Self coaching has empowered me
to get off the couch and start my own business. I’m more inspired and productive than I
have ever been in my life.
client 5
I got a new boss. I hated her. I believed C: New boss.
that she was doing everything that
T: She is trying to take everything
she could to destroy everything I had away from me.
worked so hard to create. Every time I
F: Helpless.
spoke with her I cried, shut down or got
A: Cry, defensive.
defensive. I’m sure she thought I was
not effective. I’m sure she wondered R: I was giving her everything and
blaming her.
how I had achieved what I had achieved
based on how ridiculously she saw me
behave. I was unhappy every day.
That thought changed everything about how I interacted with her from that moment on. I
was strong, confident, focused. From those feelings I created amazing things. I
created the future (that I’m now living) that I want. The future I chose.
include
3. The Manual 8. Outcomes
4. Boundaries 9. Story vs. Fact
5. Emotional Childhood
I certainly can’t cover all the tools I have for weight loss in this short section, so if you
want more tools on helping your clients lose weight, make sure to pick up a copy of my
first book, If I am So Smart, Why Can’t I Lose Weight? For now, I will give you the broad
strokes of coaching around food and the body.
For many clients, this means disassociating or disconnecting from their body as often
and as completely as they can, so they do not to have to feel uncomfortable emotions.
And when they disconnect from their bodies in order to avoid their emotions, they no
longer have access to wisdom: that body wisdom that can keep them healthy and at
their natural weight.
• Boundaries
• Emotional Childhood
For example, if a client says she is frustrated because her husband won’t take out the
garbage, I show her that the reason she is frustrated is because of what she is making it
mean. Her thought about her husband not taking the garbage out is what frustrates her,
and she can change what she is thinking in order to feel better. This way, her husband
doesn’t have to take out the garbage for her to feel good. She has taken responsibility for
how she feels.
• Do you know that you have the option to unconditionally love this
person regardless of what they do or don’t do?
• What is stopping you from unconditionally loving for your own sake?
Ever.
Other people’s behavior has no impact on us emotionally until we think about it, interpret
it, and choose to make it mean something. No matter what people do, how they act, or
what they say, we don’t have to give them the power to determine how we feel.
For example, I had a client who hated her ex-husband and blamed him for everything
she was currently struggling with in her life. She would often say, “If it hadn’t been
for him, I would be successful and wealthy,” or “He is the reason I have no money and
no happiness.”
They had been divorced for twenty years, and she was still giving this man power in her
emotional life. She was letting her story about him — who he was and who he should
have been — cause her to be miserable.
I would ask her how it felt to think about him in this way, and she would say, “Terrible!”
I would then ask her why she was consistently choosing to feel terrible. It took her a
while to truly understand that this was her choice. She started to realize that hating him
had no upside. She started to let the story go and eventually focused on the areas of her
life that truly needed her attention.
I talk to my clients a lot about the “manuals” most people carry around. These are the
instruction guides we have for other people that list how we would like them to behave
so that we can feel good and be happy. Most people aren’t aware that they’re carrying
around these manuals, and they don’t see the pain that these manuals are causing them.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 91
Here are some examples of instructions that come from the Behavior Manuals my clients
have been carting around.
Friendship Manual
She should call me back when I call her.
She should remember my birthday.
She should invite me when she has a party.
She should write me a thank you note.
She should be kind and understand when I am frustrated.
She should support me.
She should listen to me as long as I listened to her.
She should come to the hospital when my father is dying.
She should ask me to be a bridesmaid, godmother, etc.
I spend a lot of time with my clients helping them understand this. I have them write out
their manuals for other people. I show them that the only reason they want the person
to follow their manual is so that they can feel good. And then I show them that the
only way they can feel good is to take responsibility for themselves and to stop giving
responsibility away.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 94
In essence, I explain that it’s like buying a new TV, handing someone else the remote,
and then complaining that you don’t get to watch what you want.
Inevitably, someone will always ask me if this means it’s “bad” to have any expectations
of other people. My answer is no. It’s not bad to want others to do things, nor is it bad to
even ask for something we want. But it is painful when we expect other people to “meet
our needs” or to help us “feel good.” That is our job. So ask away — just don’t make your
happiness dependent on whether or not others comply.
2. What do you believe the other person could do to make you happy?
When you drop the manual for people you love, you “allow” them to be themselves. True
intimacy comes from being with someone who wants you to be yourself and who wants
you to do what you want to do.
First, let’s start with what a boundary is. An emotional boundary is very much like a
property boundary; it delineates where I end and you start. It’s a way of “drawing a
circle” around ourselves and our behavior.
Here’s an example
The request Please stop yelling at me.
It’s not a way of controlling another person, so we can feel better. This never works, and
it is completely disempowering and separating. People do not like being controlled or
forced, and the truth is that an ultimatum is actually a boundary violation against the
other person.
On the other side of the spectrum, some clients do not want to set proper boundaries in
their lives because they don’t want to risk losing relationships. They’re afraid that if they
take care of themselves and tell the truth, they might make the other person angry.
So in order not to risk the other person “losing control,” they stay in relationships
that are based on lies, pretense, and resentment. This prevents any true intimacy in
the relationship.
we create an
environment where
relationships can
flourish.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 103
at the end of the
day, we are all like
children wanting
attention.
- Brooke Castillo
Emotional childhood is when grown adults have not matured past childhood in terms of
managing their emotions.
• Appreciating that we are the only ones who can hurt our feelings
and that we do that with our own thoughts.
An emotional child.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 109
money takes who you
are and what you
believe and amplifies it.
- Brooke Castillo
3. How would your life be different if you were given $10 million?
How would it be the same?
Often, I will tell my clients that I love money. I love it for me, and I love it for them.
This will take them off guard. It brings up resistance and a wonderful opportunity for
coaching deep-seated beliefs.
It’s one thing to have a client who isn’t making a lot of money and to help them find ways
to make more; but it’s a whole different life-changing experience when you can help
them understand WHY they aren’t making the money they want to be making in the
first place.
When we ask why, our clients have to go into their minds and find the meaning and the
intention that drives them. Many of your clients may have never done this before. It’s
one more step on their journey to consciousness and emotional adulthood.
Your clients will come to you and give you external reasons why they don’t have what
they want in their lives. They will blame their environment, the culture, their family,
and/or their boss. Coaching shows your clients that they alone have created what they
do — and do not — have in their lives.
Step one is always helping your client to become aware of their real thoughts
and feelings.
Clients will tell you the things they want to do, results they want to achieve, and things
they want to stop doing. As a coach, it’s essential for you to show your client the thoughts
and feelings behind their current actions and results. They need to see how they are
creating their current results with their mind.
then:
What is the action you want to be taking?
Alternatively, when I ask clients a positive question, they will answer with positive
thoughts. For example: “How have you been successful at this?” or “How can you enjoy
this process?”
The answers to these questions will be thoughts, so when we are looking to create new,
positive mindsets,
asking questions
is an awesome
tool.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 122
you are the story you
tell yourself about
yourself.
- Brooke Castillo
The first thing they are going to ask you is, “How?”
“How do I do it?”
The simple answer is by managing your mind. Everything starts with the brain and
the thoughts it thinks. The brain is going to keep thinking whether you manage it or
not. Those thoughts are going to create emotional states that will drive action at work,
at home, and at play.
Test it.
Think about your last project at work. Think about your thought about that project.
Now evaluate your results. 100% match? I thought so.
If you disagree, you haven’t found the real thought you were thinking. I don’t mean the
thought you wanted to be thinking, but rather the thought you were really thinking
about — what was happening and would happen.
This is what we, as life coaches, mean when we say you can achieve anything you “put
your mind to.”
First, you create a goal, then you align your thinking, and
then you take massive action to create evidence to prove it.
The work of aligning the thought with the endgame is essential. This is not an “affirmation-
think pretty thoughts” kind of philosophy. Instead it’s about being real and down to
earth. It’s about asking: “What do you think?” and “Is that working?” Or we can ask: “Can
we find a way for you to think about this that you really believe (no bull) and that fuels
your work?”
• I am capable.
Focusing on either of these thoughts over an extended period of time in the exact same
work environment will create completely different outcomes.
Both may be thoughts you believe. But one will bring anger — the other will bring
motivation.
When you start working with your clients to create outcomes or goals, there are important
factors to consider. First, what do they want and why? The why is key. Second, how do
they feel when they imagine this goal or outcome? Remember the emotion that drives
actions will ultimately determine the results. And finally, do they truly believe they can
achieve the desired outcome?
One of the most important things you will ever teach your clients is that facts don’t hurt.
The circumstances of our lives have no effect on us until they encounter the mind and
we attach meaning to them. We aren’t sad about someone dying until our minds register
the fact. The person dying, which may have happened days ago, has no effect on us at all.
They can die, and we can be laughing in that same moment because our minds are not
aware of what just happened.
YES.
When we realize that our minds cause our feelings, we can be much more in control of
our emotional lives. It doesn’t mean we won’t choose to be sad when someone dies; we
most likely will. But it does mean we can decide not to be mad when something much
less significant happens in our life.
Say your clients say, “Work stresses me out.” You can point out to them that it is their
thoughts about work that stress them out, and although they might not be able to change
their job in this very moment, they most certainly can change the way they think about
their job. And that will change everything.
We often believe our stories so deeply that we think they are facts. They are not. This is
fine — as long as the story isn’t painful or causing problems in our lives.
My mother-in-law does not respect me. She doesn’t love me. She wants me to be
fat. She can’t support me in my desires or dreams. Even when she knows what
I want for myself, she is always trying to sabotage me. It’s like I don’t even want
to be around her because of the awful things she does. Just this last weekend, we
went to her home for a visit, and she was so backhanded. So conniving. I know
my husband doesn’t even care. He doesn’t back me up when I feel this way, and he
refuses when I suggest we should confront her and stop visiting her. I think I’m
going to have to give him an ultimatum. It’s either her or me. He is a grown man,
and he needs to make this decision.
This is when I interrupted her story and asked her to retell me this story stating only
the facts.
She hesitated and then started retelling the story in pretty much the exact same way.
She then acknowledged that maybe she made spaghetti because her son loves spaghetti,
she’s Italian, and it’s one of her specialties.
I told her that either her original story or the latter one might be true, but what mattered
is not what was “true,” but what was not painful. What served her better? What served
the relationship better?
Whenever your clients bring you painful stories, separate out the facts. Show them how
they are creating their pain or their happiness by how they
choose to interpret
the facts.
LIFE COACH: HOW TO DO IT • © Brooke Castillo | 136
when i learned
about life coaching
i knew i had won
the career lottery.
- Brooke Castillo
I have journeyed into myself, as a coach and as a client, and that’s the only reason I am
able to help my clients journey into theirs. I have heard story after story from people
who don’t believe they are lovable, worthy, or important.
They can’t seem to understand how I can see them as lovable. I know how they feel.
I used to hate myself, and now I love myself. When someone loved me while I hated
myself, I didn’t believe them either. But as their coach, I can show my clients the way.
Join me.
As I finished this book, one of my students sent me an email detailing her experience
at one of our coach retreats in hopes that I would share it with anyone considering
becoming a coach. I thought it would be a beautiful way to end.
But I could not see or hear any of that. I was struggling. I found myself stacked on top of
two, maybe three coaches, my arms stretching to reach another coach leaning over the top
of the wall ready to pull me over. Suddenly I was thrust up toward the top of the wall. With
only the bottom of my feet in the hands of coaches, I had left the safety of the ground and
had not yet reached the safety of the top. I was in the unknown. It did not feel safe. I did not
trust it.
So many thoughts began swirling through my mind, stiffening my body. “You can’t do this,”
“Brooke will think you are stupid,” “You’ll be the only one who won’t get over the wall,”
“You are going to let everyone down,” and “See, you are not cut out to be a coach.” The last
thought stung. Later I would realize it was because at the time I believed it the most.
My body was not shorter or heavier than any of the other coaches. It was not too hard
of a task. I was not less intelligent or creative. I stopped realizing my potential because I
believed crappy thoughts that were all lies.
To stop believing the painful lies I had told myself for years is the biggest gift I learned in
coach training. It allowed me to begin living truthfully. To authentically coach my clients.
To trust myself. To be my best even when I was falling. To show up. Every time.
Oh and by the way — I didn’t hit the ground. When I surrendered, my body responded with
unbelievable lightness. My fellow coaches changed the direction of my body with such ease
that even today the memory gives me tingles. Before I knew it I was up and over that wall.
It felt like magic, but I now know it was the gift of realizing my truth.
If you would like more information on Brooke Castillo and her other works, you will find
it at: www.brookecastillo.com
Please stay tuned for the sequel to Life Coach, How to Do it. Titled, Life Coach, How to Sell
It, it will cover the business side of running a coaching business.
Michelle Kittell - For working the model so hard it hurt. Such an awesome student.
Kira DeRito - For being so smart and so quick. And so full of love.
Kris Plachy - For sticking with me from the early days and being so dedicated to this work.
Gaynor Levinsky - For saying the right, funny thing just when I least expected it.
COACHTO DO IT
HOW TO DO IT
C
www.thelifecoachschool.com
www.thelifecoachschool.com H
WWW.THELIFECOACHSCHOOL.COM
BROOKE CASTILLO
BROOKE CAST
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