5 Best Life Coaching Exercises for Transformation (Plus How and When to Use Them)

How many of our clients feel unhappy or unfulfilled simply because they're not consciously living their values?

Our values influence what we do, how we think and how we feel about the world around us. When we do or see things that go against our values we feel sad, bad or get mad! And when we live life in a way that aligns with our values (congruently) we feel good—authentic, fulfilled and more content.

How to make this a transformational life coaching exercise:

The most transformative aspect of this workbook is the prioritisation of values.

We all know people who work long hours, rigidly focusing on one value like mastery or financial security, without realising that love and family is their real top priority.

Once people have prioritised their values and they become aware their focus has been in the wrong place, they have the opportunity to make change—and bring their actions into alignment with their values.

Who for: Use with anyone for any type of coaching.

When to use this life coaching exercise:

• It's great to use this coaching exercise reasonably early in a coaching engagement, as our values are extremely useful when making any kind of life transformation.
• When goal-setting, changing habits, making a big decision—or for anyone who wants to live a more authentic, meaningful or fulfilling life.
• This Values Life Coaching Exercise makes great homework—and can also be used in a workshop or a group coaching engagement.

For more on this and related life coaching exercises:

• See How to Identify Values—A Coaching Exercise in 5 Steps! (Values Workbook Overview)
• If you're a Career or Executive Coach you may also like the Identify Your Career Values Coaching Exercise & Workbook
• Find this tool in the Self-Discovery Toolkit

We are each unique, but which of our qualities do we most like about ourselves? What is our core authentic self?

Well this life coaching exercise, using a fun process of elimination with 3 bridges and a troll, helps your client identifies the 5 qualities they value most about themselves—what makes them unique.

When 'push comes to shove' which personal qualities will they refuse to let go of? And it's often not what they expect. In fact it's likely your clients will choose one or two qualities that surprise even them!

How to make this a transformational life coaching exercise:

To make this exercise transformative, we ask coaching questions that help our clients embrace and express more of their uniqueness in the world.

Real Life Example: This coaching exercise helped Jamie realise she'd been hiding her "wackiness" (as she called it). She chose to embrace this and began wearing more colourful and interesting clothes to work and on dates. Whilst it was scary to 'reveal herself', she felt more vibrant and alive. After a few months she felt happier and more confident. She believed her relationship with two of the quieter kids in her class (she was a teacher) improved as a direct result. And while some of her dates were a bit surprised by her outfits, she said "If someone can't handle my wacky clothes, they probably won't able to accept me either."

Who for: Any coaching client. Also great for executives and leaders.

When to use:

• Use this life coaching exercise with clients who've lost connection with themselves or who need a confidence boost.
• Use to help clients who would like to be more "authentic".
• Use with executives and leaders to help them connect with their unique leadership style! Find the 5 qualities they value most about themselves, and see how they can bring more of those qualities into their work.
  • TIP: When using with executives and leaders, you might like to swap out "Trevor the Troll" for a "Scary boss".

For more on this and related life coaching exercises:

• Read Discover The Qualities You Value Most About Yourself!
• Find this tool in the Self-Discovery Toolkit

A personal mission statement is a powerful life coaching exercise that helps our clients identify a set of "words to live by". It serves as a compass for clients, offering focus and clarity for their path ahead.

This is a motivational exercise that helps clients get clarity about what matters most to them in life. It can include what people do (or want to do), why they do it and what they stand for. Ideally, it defines their life purpose and can be shared in under 30 seconds.

How to make this a transformational life coaching exercise:

The process of creating a mission statement involves a lot of thought and consideration about what's really important to someone, what they believe needs to be different in our world—and what they intend to do about it. This in itself is powerful.

What makes this exercise transformational is when it's used to help our clients stay connected to their mission—and use it to inspire them to think and act bigger!

For example, when a client is making decisions or choosing actions, you can ask questions like, "How does this fit with your personal mission statement?" and "How could we align this with your mission for extra motivation and inspiration?"

Who for: Anyone, but particularly good for leaders of every kind eg. executives, but also teachers, parents, people with a social conscience and/or who like to volunteer.

When to use:

• Use this life coaching exercise when a client lacks a sense of meaning or purpose.
• It's helpful when goal-setting (priorities and what direction to take), and decision-making.
• Use to draw strength from when clients are facing challenges at work or in life.
• Use it to feed into values work and help people feel more inspired about their lives in general.
• Small business owners can use the Business Coaching - Mission Statement Generator.
• Makes great homework—and also a great workshop exercise.

For more on this and related life coaching exercises:

• Find this tool in the Coaching Tools Megapack and the small business version in the Small Business Coaching Toolkit.