Ed Batista, the creator of The Art of Self-Coaching course at Stanford Graduate School of Business, writes;
“Self-coaching is the process of guiding our growth and development, particularly through periods of transition, in both the professional and personal realms.”
But what does it mean to coach yourself?
Before diving deeper into what it means to coach yourself, I believe it’s essential to understand what coaching is exactly.
ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Coaches help to provide a systematic approach to developing their client's growth towards achieving their goals. In any coaching relationship, coaches make clear that while it is a collaborative relationship, actions towards achieving any goal(s) are the client's responsibility.
On the other hand, self-coaching is a self-guided approach where we take responsibility for the coaching process, setting goals and working towards achieving them.
You might not be aware, but you are likely already practising self-coaching.
If you are self-evaluating, identifying personal challenges and overcoming each challenge with an action plan, you are self-coaching. Self-coaching means taking charge of your life, tapping into your inner wisdom and resourcefulness to find solutions to meet your goals or overcome a challenge. It's a process of developing an understanding of who you are and what drives you and experimenting with various tools to help you move forward, professionally or personally.
In essence, when we refer to self-coaching, it means the practice of guiding our thoughts in a structured way and taking responsibility for actions towards achieving a specific goal.
It is a process where we cultivate our personal development, guided by our self-awareness and resilience, in identifying roadblocks or opportunities, allowing us to shift our thinking or course of action where necessary to move us closer to our goals.
If done well, self-coaching will allow us to:
- gain a better understanding of ourselves
- structure and organize our thoughts
- create a course of action that works towards growth or overcoming obstacles
- better manage periods of change and transitions
- be the best version of ourselves
I have been experimenting with self-coaching since 2019, and I believe that self-coaching is a necessary skill worthy of attention and development for any individual looking to overcome challenges, grow and develop themselves continuously in life.
