Look around you. Everywhere you can see people performing better in their jobs, making smart career decisions and scaling the ladder of career success. But, what is their secret? The secret to becoming a better you is by hiring a life coach.

A life coach is a person who dedicates himself to addressing personal projects, business growth, and general conditions and changes in a person’s personal life and profession by examining what is currently going right, any challenges in the situation and henceforth, choosing a course of action to guide your life to what you want to become.

Unfortunately, many people don’t have the money to hire a life coach. What is the average man got to do then? Self-coaching? Yes. According to many experts, when you administer the right amount of professional coaching techniques to your own goals and experiences, you can be able to achieve whatever you want. You only need to apply discipline and dedication. So, how do you become your own life coach?

1. Meditate Deep Within Yourself

You cannot realize what you truly want if you do not know and understand what truly motivates you. You need to ask yourself;

• What do I really want?
• Why do I want it?
• How long have I wanted it? Is it to please me, parents or friends?

When you answer these questions, you will find out what really drives you and what you really want to achieve. This will prevent you from chasing the wrong things that will not make you happy, or something that you do not really want. Once you set your target on your new goal, you will realize immense happiness and satisfaction in whatever you want to do.

2. Examine Your Life

Once you have meditated and found out what you truly want, you need to examine and re-examine all areas of your life. Where do you currently stand? Why do you need to address all areas of your life? Because you wholly want to develop yourself as a person, rather than one area of your life only. At the end of the day, you should not develop your career at the expense of your family, or prioritize your family at the expense of your career growth.

You must know that your life is interconnected. Your relationships will affect your work performance. Your health and fitness will affect your relationships and work performance. To be the best version of yourself, you need to ensure that all areas of your life are running smoothly.

3. Set Personal Goals

Now that you know yourself very well, especially the areas in your life that need improvement, sit down, and write the goals that you want to achieve. How do you come up with goals? First of all, they need to be SMART. The goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. You also need to have a manageable size of goals. Two or three is enough. Too many goals will prove to be a challenge to achieve.

Once you’ve set the goals, then you need to develop a strategy on how you will attain the goals. You need to develop a plan and stick to it.

4. Honesty and Accountability

Stop lying to yourself. The truth might be hard to hear, but you need to hear it. Ask yourself what has been holding you back. Remember, if you are not true to yourself, you will not realize your true potential. But, be honest in a positive way. Look at mistakes as an opportunity for growth. Look at challenges as stumbling blocks that you have to overcome.

Stop with the excuses. Acknowledge that you are in firm control of your success and failures. Accept defeats and mistakes, and make resolutions to turn around these areas.

5. Rewards

Positive reinforcement is a must if you want to boost your confidence and set your sights to higher targets. The advantage of being your own self-coach is that you know the rewards that will motivate you. Make sure it is something fun and appropriate. You cannot celebrate losing one kilogram of weight by taking a vacation, but you do so if say you’ve finally joined a team of professional writers among some of best websites available. It can be a movie or an ice cream treat or spending time with your family.

6. Evaluate Significant Relationships

Who are the people that really matter in your life, and how is your relationship with them? Do they trigger positive or negative reactions from you?

You may realize that there are people that only trigger negative responses from you. You need to cut them off as they will only criticize you, limit you and weigh you down. Positive relationships, on the other hand, can provide you with an endless pond of ideas, inspiration, opportunity and positive reinforcement. Along, the way, cultivate and develop new, meaningful relationships.

7. Have A Support Group

You need all the support you can. It can be your family, friends or colleagues. This will serve as a great motivation to achieving your goal. But, this can only work, if you do not prioritize your work over your family. In addition, they will keep you focused on productive activities.

8. Re-Evaluate Your Initial Strategy

Chances are, you won’t get it right at the first attempt. Along the way, you need to re-evaluate and adjust your initial strategy. Unforeseen problems may arise and you will need to make new plans to overcome them. Unforeseen opportunities may also arise and you need to take advantage of them. You also need to assess your achievements monthly. If the strategy is not leading you there, you will have to re-evaluate.

Don’t worry about failing the first time. Sit down and re-strategize until you come up with a plan that works perfectly.

These psychological tools will enable you to better yourself. Try it and re-adjust until you come up with something that works for you. The most important thing is to believe in yourself. If you don’t, then you are guaranteed to fail.

Author΄s bio:  Diana Beyer is an experienced and self-driven specialist who is passionate about writing. She is always seeking to discover new ways for personal and professional growth.