How to Coach, Reward & Encourage Yourself

Everyone has goals and aspirations. No matter how much support and encouragement from others you get, you alone must make those goals happen for yourself. Without self-coaching and self-encouragement, your goals can feel enormous and impossible to meet. Rewarding yourself is also an important aspect when it comes to meeting your goals. It is essential to reward yourself whenever you accomplish your goals. This will inspire you to continue to reach your goals and to set your next goals higher.

Instructions

Coaching Yourself

• 1

  Think about the goals you want to reach the most at this time in your life. Be sure to set goals that match your personal aspirations, values and dreams. Striving to achieve goals someone else wants you to fulfil will make attaining them much more difficult, and you will obtain less of a sense of fulfillment if you achieve them.

• 2

  Write down your goals on a piece of paper or on the computer. Look at each goal one a a time and break it up into steps or objectives. Goals can seem enormous and intimidating; dividing them into a list of steps or small objectives, in which you can tick things off your list more frequently, will give you more motivation and encouragement.

• 3

  Create a system of tracking your goals. This may be a timeline, a calendar on you've written your goals, or a simple list. It is effective to set realistic deadlines for yourself for meeting your goals to keep you motivated. Create whatever visual tracking system that works best for you, and put it in a place where you can constantly refer to it to tick off accomplishments.

• 4

  Realize and accept that hardship and tough challenges will arise. Be mentally prepared for these struggles so that whenever adversity arises, you will not give up, but push forward. Understand that you will need to overcome these challenges in order to attain your goals.

• 5

  Learn from your mistakes. Coaches watch the mistakes the members on their team make and focus on fixing those areas accordingly. As your own coach of your life, you need to do the same. The good thing about adversity and challenging times is that you get to learn new things. Every setback only pushes you forward by making you wiser and stronger. However, you must have a positive attitude for this to work, and this comes from your positive self talk and your determination to persevere.

Rewarding Yourself

• 6

  Set up a reward system to help you accomplish your goals and celebrate once you've met them. First make a list of what you would like to do for yourself. It might be a night out with friends or family or going on a little shopping splurge. You do not need to spend money, though. A bubble bath or a day off spent relaxing at home can be just as rewarding. Whenever you have completed or achieved one of your goals, treat yourself to one of the items on your list.

• 7

  If you have any certificates or diplomas that show your accomplishments, display them where you can see them every day. It's important to recognize your own achievements and remind yourself how far you've come.

• 8

  Be honest with yourself. Although rewards are an important part of coaching and encouraging yourself to achieve your goals, if you reward yourself with something on your list without having actually completed one of your goals, it will hurt your self-discipline, devalue the institution of rewarding yourself and set you back on reaching your goals.

Encouraging Yourself

• 9

  Love yourself. Take pride in yourself. Believe in yourself. Be comfortable in your own skin. This is imperative because without loving and appreciating yourself for who you are, you will not be able to encourage yourself.

• 10

  Do not beat yourself up whenever you make a mistake. View your mistakes as learning experiences.

• 11

  Do not compare yourself to others, as this can hurt your confidence and bring you down. You will not improve yourself by comparing your abilities or achievements to those of others, but by comparing your abilities and achievements to your own self. Others aren't necessarily doing things right. It's okay to admire what someone else does, but admire what you do, too.

• 12

  Use positive self talk to coach yourself. According to Holisticonline.com, positive thoughts turn into positive feelings. Whenever you find yourself thinking negative thoughts about failure or giving up, stop thinking that way, even if you need to think about something completely unrelated rather than trying to think positively. Then try to turn your negative thoughts into positive ones by saying positive affirmations to yourself aloud. You might simply say, "I am thankful for this day." Or you might coach yourself to get back on track working toward your goal by saying, "I have what it takes to ..." or "I have the ability to make this a positive, productive day."

• 13

  Never stop or quit. Setbacks and hiccups will occur. When they do, stand back up, brush yourself off, learn from what happened and keep moving forward toward your goal.