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Being a successful life coach requires more than just a passion for helping others.

In fact, one of the most common mistakes coaches make is spending most of their time and energy on things that don’t actually impact their success.

They mistakenly think they can fulfill their longing for a career helping others by making a pretty website, going viral on social media, creating another lead magnet or freebie, or planning the perfect offer.

While those things can be important parts of a coaching business, your success as a coach ultimately relies on two things: 

1. Your ability to connect with and build know-like-trust with potential clients
2. The results you’re able to help your coaching clients achieve
   

Afterall, wanting to help people and actually being able to help them are two very different things!

Expanding Your Coaching Tool Chest for Even Greater Success

One of the greatest investments you can make in your success as a coach is to expand your coaches tool chest. The time and energy you spend in a great training program or learning new systems and tools of transformation will pay off dividends. 

The more you master and expand the coaching techniques you have access to, the more impact you can make on the people you serve…

And the better the results your clients experience, the more growth and success you’ll experience as a coach!

To help you expand your coaching toolkit, here are 5 of the best coaching tools for success from some of the top coaches in the industry!

Note: Not only can you use these tools for even greater results with your clients, but you might just find they can help you change your life as well!

The Best Life Coaching Tools for Success

1. A Vision-Driven Coaching Process

Lauren Brollier-Newton
7-figure coach & award-winning inspirational speaker

Before goal-setting and before creating an action plan, I believe truly great coaching starts with a vision. 

A vision is something totally unique to each client. It’s something they are absolutely in love with. And it surpasses whether they believe it to be reasonable, practical, or logical. Their vision is something that makes them feel more alive and gets to the heart of what they truly want, not just what they think they can have.

For instance, imagine a client has a health goal to lose 20lbs. Some coaches would try to support them in eating a specific diet and working out a certain number of hours per week. Some clients may lose weight easily this way, but others might struggle. With this coaching model, the client’s results are dependent on external behavior changes, external motivation, and habits that may not be sustainable.

But, by starting with a vision, we might discover that this client doesn’t just want to lose 20 lbs. They actually want what they believe would happen in their life if they were 20 lbs lighter! The 20 lbs isn’t usually truly motivating. In fact, when they talk about losing weight, they’re likely focused on all of the things they will have to give up, and how nothing has worked before, and anticipating frustration and difficulty.

When we guide them to a vision, we might discover they want to lose weight because they would love to play with their grandkids in a way that feels effortless. Suddenly, with that image in mind, the client is more internally motivated, more excited about their potential, and tuned into possibility. Their vision gets them out of bed in the morning, because it feels so life-giving!

2. The Brave Thinking Activation Process

John Boggs
As a 7-figure business & leadership coach, John has over 30 years of experience studying and executing leadership skills. He has worked with executives at the World Bank, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota Motors, The Marriott Corporation, Apple, Pfizer, Ford Motor Company, Coldwell Banker, and more. 

I see so many coaches struggle in their coaching sessions when a client feels stuck.

These moments are when less experienced coaches can be tempted to tell their clients what they “should” do, because they don’t know how to guide them to the truth and potential they already have within.

In my coaching career, I’ve learned that clients who think they’re stuck are often actually:

• Allowing limiting beliefs and paradigms to dictate what they believe is possible
• Looking for external validation about the “right” decision or next step
• Caught up in condition-based thinking and old stories about times they’ve tried and failed before
• Asking disempowering questions about the condition or situation they’re facing, like “Why is this happening to me?” or “Why can’t I get unstuck?”
  

But, I believe that the quality of our lives is reflective of the quality of the questions we ask. And how we respond in the moments we feel stuck is no different.

With the Brave Thinking Activation Process, we help clients (and ourselves!) get unstuck by starting with a great question. Some empowering questions I love are:

1. What can I do from where I am and with what I have?
2. What would I love?
3. Imagine a future version of your life in which everything worked out. How would that future version of you respond to the situation you’re facing right now?

Next, we work together to source as many possible steps forward they could take.

Finally, we sort and select the ideas that feel expansive, scheduling actionable steps they are committed to taking.

No matter how small or seemingly insignificant, taking a step moves energy and creates momentum. This is my favorite way to support clients who feel “stuck” – and it works for us coaches, too!

3.  Needle-Moving Keystone Habits

Jennifer Joy Jimenez
With more than 2 decades of experience as a 7-figure transformational coach specializing in health & wellbeing, Jennifer has been featured in publications like Self, Shape, Oxygen and Woman’s World, and appeared on Fox Business, NBC, CNN and more!

One of my favorite coaching tools to help clients create change is to help them find their needle-moving keystone habit.

Keystone habits are simple, joyful acts that can rejuvenate your soul in just five minutes. 

And, rest assured, this isn’t just wishful thinking. Researchers have discovered the power of “micro-habits” as ways to instill changes that make our lives exponentially better. 

I ask clients in my coaching practice, “What small, delightful habits can you weave into your daily life to spark profound change?” Examples of keystone habits include:

• 5 minutes deep breathing: Inhale peace and exhale stress
• 5 minutes gratitude journaling: Reflect on the blessings that that brighten your day
• 5 minute phone chat or VM with a friend: Connection brings joy
• 5 minutes of dance or movement: Our bodies were meant to move
• 5 minutes of stretching: Gently awaken your body and mind
• 5 minute guided relaxation: Let tension melt as you gain clarity
• 5 minutes reading your favorite book or magazine: Give your mind a break
• 5 minute walk outside in the fresh air: Nature heals even in small doses
• 5 minutes listening to your favorite uplifting song: Music is a miracle
• 5 minutes of journaling: Let emotions flow and feel immediately lighter
• 5 minute hot shower: Imagine healing light flowing through the water 
• 5 minutes of sun basking: Absorb the powerful energy of the sun
• 5 minutes guided meditation: Witness thoughts and sensations from your true center
  

After coming up with as many as they can think of, I invite them to choose those that excite them most. Then, to carve out a special time each day to embrace it. 

Trust me (and science) when I say, these five short minutes per day will make a huge difference in their lives. Like a hidden treasure, this small habit holds immense power to spark even greater transformation. 

4. 30 Second Morning Gratitude Practice

Mary Morrissey
Speaker, best-selling author, coach and consultant for over four decades, and the founder and owner of Brave Thinking Institute, Mary Morrissey has been featured on TEDx, PBS, The Huffington Post, SUCCESS, USA Today, CNN, & more. She has spoken three times at the United Nations, facilitated three different week-long meetings with His Holiness The Dalai Lama and met with Nelson Mandela to address the most significant issues our world is facing.

Of all the coaching exercises and tools out there, perhaps none are as impactful as gratitude. There is no shortage of research on the positive impact gratitude has on one’s personal development and mental health.

One of my favorite ways to encourage clients to generate a state of gratitude through a simple, 30-second gratitude practice.

In fact, this particular gratitude practice has been a part of my morning routine every day for nearly 20 years!

Each morning when you wake up, there’s a moment that you realize that you’re awake and alive. Maybe the sun woke you up, or an alarm clock, or your children or your pet jumped on your bed.

However you wake up, this awakeness is something to revel in!

As you start to wake up in the morning, verbally acknowledge that you are simply grateful for the opportunity to be awake and alive today.

Don’t let your feet touch the floor until you are in a state of gratitude.

These are some of the things I say to myself before I get out of bed and let my feet touch the floor. Feel free to borrow these phrases or come up with your own:

1. “This is not just another day of my life, this is a brand new day! And I’m going to make it an extraordinary day.”
   
2. “Nobody gets to think my thoughts today but me, or make my choices today but me. Today, I choose to be grateful for everything that’s in my life.”
   
3. “This is a unique, one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable, completely wondrous gift of life in my hands today. I am so grateful for this day!”
   
4. “I’m grateful to feel this gratitude for the opportunity to be alive, and for the ability to choose who I am going to be today.”
   

I know from personal experience that generating a state of gratitude will absolutely influence the type of decisions I will make, the opportunities I attract, and the kind of day I will have.

And if you, and your clients, take on this 30-second morning gratitude practice, it will absolutely create these same results!

5. Mastering Your Message

Mat Boggs
As a 7-figure love and relationship coach, Mat Boggs has been speaking, training, and coaching for more than 20 years. He is the co-author of the best-selling book, Project Everlasting, and has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Oprah & Friends, Showbiz Tonight, The Style Network, the Hallmark Channel, and many others.

I believe the first moment of transformation that you offer people as a coach is your message. And on of the most powerful tools you have as a coach is your signature story.

A powerful signature story will:

• Build rapport and connection
• Demonstrate authority and competency
• Ignite your audience to a new decision or action

Mastering your message is the easiest way to get the people you want to help to show up and say “yes” to their potential.

To help coaches do this with great success, I’ve developed a 5-step framework to craft powerful, signature brand stories that build connection and inspire action.  

1. Discontent or Despair

The first part of a signature story speaks to the discontent or pain that you help your ideal clients overcome. begin with a personal experience of the same longing and discontent your audience is experiencing. This part of your story grabs people’s attention, speaks to their own pain, and piques their interest about what happens next.

People will respect you for your success… but they will bond with you through your struggle.

2. Defining Event

The defining event is the catalyst to the decision that eventually helped you change your results. Bring your audience into the moment that everything shifted. What happened that caused you to act? Describe this moment and how it impacted you in as much detail as possible, including where it happened.

3. Decision Moment

Describe the moment when you actually decided to change. In this part of your signature story, you are modeling for your audience how you stepped up and made a choice.

Share any fears or reservations you had in your own decision moment. Remind your audience that great opportunities rarely come when it’s comfortable or convenient; that’s why so few people actually change their lives.

4. Discovery

The next part of your story bridges the gap between your moment of decision and the results you experienced. How did you discover the solution to the problem? 

5. Dream Realized

What results have you created from the program or system you discovered? The closer your results are to your ideal clients’ desired results, the more inspired they will be to work with you!

Your Message is Key to Your Greatest Success as a Coach

You might think that your message is just another marketing tool and has nothing to do with the success of your clients.

But, consider this…

Your message is not only the first moment of transformation you offer your potential clients, but it also:

• Builds trust and hope for potential clients by showing them what’s possible
• Introduces your potential clients to valuable solutions they may not have previously considered
• Highlights the importance of their longing and discontent as a sign of what’s possible
• Helps you, as a coach, better understand your ideal client and their pain points
• Empowers you to reach and connect with more people to make an even greater impact
• Connects you with your WHY to motivate and inspire you to pursue your dreams even in the face of challenges

If you’d love my help identifying and crafting your signature story and mastering your message to build the life coaching business of your dreams…

I want to personally invite you to join our next 5 Day Challenge!

These immersive, virtual events are designed specifically for aspiring and growing life coaches. They’re jam packed with valuable information and priceless insights learned from decades spent creating success in the coaching industry…

And it’s absolutely free.

Click here to join me at no cost!