Workshop Exercise for Stress Management: "Keep Your Balloons in the Air!"This is an extremely simple exercise that demonstrates how easily we can get overwhelmed, the value of teamwork and how stress builds up. It can be shortened by cutting out the writing on the balloon part. Note: Although the description seems long, it IS a quick exercise! Especially Good for: Groups of all sizes - especially large groups. Great for Everyone (especially Moms, Parents, Youth), Team-building, Energising, Bringing Fun to Stress, Time...
Why Mindfulness is the Coach's Super-Tool and our Clients' Super-Fuel | By Delaney Tosh CPCC, PCCPlus 3 Ways Mindfulness Practice Supports Coaching! For coaches, our presence is our power. It's what we strive to achieve in our coaching mastery. It's also one of the fundamental principles we help guide our clients towards. When present we are more aware, focused and calm. Yet many of us are distracted by our internal dialogue worrying about the past or future, and are not fully engaged in the here and now. The benefit to our clients of being...
3 Easy Mindfulness Exercises to De-Stress Your Clients | By Delaney Tosh CPCC, PCCA colleague once described her experience of a stressed, overwhelmed client as being "so caught up in a noisy vortex of competing pressures, anxieties and judgments" that the coaching sessions were getting bogged down. When our amygdala (the emotion processing and "fear centre" in the brain) becomes hyper-engaged, we lose access to the finesse of our prefrontal cortex (our "logic centre") operations. This means that when clients are "in the vorte...
How to Boost Mindfulness with Guided Meditation & Journaling! | by Lynda Monk MSW, RSW, CPCCAs a coach, I love using evidence-based tools and practices to support my clients (and myself) in achieving mindful awareness. I have found that mindfulness leads to greater feelings of well-being, balance, clarity and peace, and two of my favourite mindfulness practices are guided meditation and journal writing. While these practices are powerful on their own, this article offers an exercise for combining them for increased mindfulness, relaxati...
Holding The Focus | *AUDIO Podcast* | From Ben Dooley's Coaching Skills ForumThis month's "Coaching Skills Forum" call from Ben Dooley's Archive is on the sometimes challenging topic of "Holding the Focus". Ben is a Master Certified Coach, mentor coach - and a popular contributor to this blog. He lives to make growing as a coach fun! As an MCC and mentor coach he has helped innumerable coaches improve their skills and get ICF certified. We're big "Ben" fans here at The Coaching Tools Company! Ben Dooley, "Holding the Focu...
3 Top Tips To Avoid "Shiny Object Syndrome" (Your Biz will Thank You for it!) | By Ruby McGuireStaying motivated when you run your own business can be tough sometimes. You get to be your own boss - and there is nobody to be accountable to. Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Well, yes and no. If you need to get things done and you're constantly getting distracted, then your business can feel like a noose around your neck. Your work and life can blend together, and days run away with you with little or not much getting done. When you run your own...
Coaches: How to Create Work-Life Balance When You Love Your Job! | By Ruby McGuireBefore I start talking about work-life balance, I just want to say that I'm not entirely convinced there is such a thing - not when you love what you do... However, I still have the idea of work-life balance in the back of my mind when I'm planning, even though it's a challenge for me to step back. And when I talk to my clients, they also say that they love what they do - and that because they're so passionate about helping people the lines get s...
2 Simple Strategies to Attract New Dream Clients | By Ruby McGuireSo you're a coach, and you want to work with lots of amazing people, but there's a problem. You HATE doing that whole, "Will you be my client?" thing! First, to reduce some of the fear around reaching out to people to talk about them working with you, I want you to do a simple reframe: You're not selling anything... You're building relationships to find out if you can help someone! The best way to build a business is by connecting with people. Wh...
Be Authentic INFOGRAPHIC to Share | 11 ideas on How to Connect with YOU!This month we're looking at the theme of being ourselves - and being authentic. So we created this BE AUTHENTIC infographic to give you and your clients inspiration and ideas! If you'd like a brandable version of this infographic to use on social media, blog and more See Q2 (Apr-June) Graphics for Coaches here >> (includes a version of this BE AUTHENTIC! infographic plus BE CONFIDENT! & WHY HIRE A COACH!) How to share this BE AUTHENTIC Infographi...
GRAPHIC: 5 Questions to Help Set Boundaries!One of the most challenging things many of us need to learn to be happy and enjoy life more is to set boundaries - both with others and ourselves. A boundary is when we draw a line in the sand recognizing what we need - and ensuring we get that need met. It is about taking care of ourselves. Often this involves saying "no" to others or ourselves. But it can also mean standing up for ourselves, speaking out and defining what we will and will not a...
