Small Changes Make a Big Difference: Create Your Own Daily Success Habits With This Coaching Exercise!

We tend to overlook the importance of daily habits in managing ourselves and our lives. But, it’s often by making small changes to daily routines that enable our clients to make BIG changes in their lives and careers.

This coaching exercise helps (you or) your clients come up with five new success habits – a simple personal framework around which the rest of the day’s activities fall into place. The idea is to create an infrastructure so that no matter what happens – your client feels calm and assured.

When: This is a great exercise to do early on in the coaching relationship – to help your clients create a healthy and helpful framework in their lives and support the coaching process. You can give this exercise as homework, asking your clients to write out their answers, or simply use this as a series of questions that you ask verbally – in a session or workshop. Let’s begin!

Phase 1: Start by getting context for these new daily habits

1) List your Top three Priorities – in life – right now:

1. ___________________

2. ___________________

3. ___________________

2) List your Top three Stressors – in life – right now:

1. ___________________

2. ___________________

3. ___________________

Phase 2: Brainstorm Five (or more) habits your client COULD introduce

3a) What supportive daily habits – specific daily actions – could your client introduce?

Ask them to write out five or more daily habits that would support them – including their home, personal and work-life. These habits must be specific and measurable so they know exactly what to do, and can clearly say when they have completed the activity.

Sometimes it’s hard to know what is meant by specific and measurable, so you may want to give them some examples of specific, measurable supportive habits for example:

–            Have 15 minutes of silence or alone time each day

–            Connect daily with partner/spouse (five minutes listening)

–            Write all appointments down  in one place

–            Be at my desk by 8:00 a.m./leave by 6:00 p.m. every day

–            Take 10 minutes mid-morning and afternoon to recap where I am at

–            Drink six glasses of water a day

–            Eat lunch away from my desk

TIP: If they’re stuck, try asking, “Where do you sabotage yourself regularly?” and “What ideas do you already (perhaps secretly) have?”

3b) For each habit identified, ask your clients to write the benefit to them alongside:

1. ___________________  + Benefit

2. ___________________  + Benefit

3. ___________________  + Benefit

4. ___________________  + Benefit

5. ___________________  + Benefit

Phase 3: Commitment and Wrap-up

4) Ask your clients to pick three habits they will COMMIT to:

I will start ___________________ tomorrow

I will start ___________________ next week

I will start ___________________ next month

5) Finally, to wrap-up ask your clients, “Who do you need to BE to implement these habits?”

REMEMBER: It takes time and practice to implement new habits. They start as simple actions and gradually, as we do them regularly, they become habits. It can take anything from 21-30 days to implement a new habit – and it takes a few months to cement a habit. So remind your clients to be kind to themselves on the days they don’t remember – and just start again the next day!

“Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” Brian Tracy