Become a Better Version of Yourself

A Coaching Model By Adam Bakai, Personal Coach, GERMANY

How to Become a Better Version of Yourself

Have you ever felt that you want to achieve something, but you don’t really know how to get there? Have you ever experienced that you set a goal for yourself, you start working towards it with huge enthusiasm and energy, but slowly you are losing your motivation, your goal is getting further away from you, and in the end, you give up? You are not the only one. 80% of people never set goals for themselves. From the remaining 20%, 7 out of 10 people also fail to achieve their goals. _[1]

The good news is that you can still belong to the people who set clear goals, have a detailed action plan toward achieving those, and have structures in place that support them on the way. The following coaching model will give you a guide on how to get there.

The Process Become a Better Version of Yourself

1. Who Are You? Strengths and Weaknesses

Before setting ambitious goals and immediately improving all areas of our lives at once, it is essential to check where you are right now, what strengths you can build on and what weaknesses you should be aware of. With these, you can create a more realistic action plan for what you would like to achieve.

For determining your own strengths and weaknesses let’s use the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. With this model, you can find out where you get the energy from, how you process information, how you make decisions, and how your lifestyle is structured. Depending on your personality type, you will probably need a different strategy to achieve your goals.

Knowing what your strengths are, you will have a solid foundation for determining, what goals you can realistically achieve. Keeping your weaknesses in mind does not mean, that you are bad or unable to achieve something, it’s just a reminder for you to pay extra attention to those, in order to stay on track toward achieving your goal.

2. Goal Setting

Now that you know, where you are and you know your strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to set some goals.

• Specific: Have a specific goal in mind. Describe precisely what you want to achieve in your life.
• Measurable: Find a criterion that measures your progress towards accomplishing your goal.
• Achievable: The goal needs to be something you have the power to do. Do you have the resources and capabilities to achieve the goal? If not, what are you missing? Have others done it successfully before?
• Realistic: Ask yourself if it is possible to achieve your goal. Is the goal realistic and within reach? Is the goal reachable, given the time and resources? Are you able to commit to achieving the goal?
• Timely: Set a time limit as to when you want to achieve the goal and find a way to be held accountable for it.
• Exciting: A goal should be exciting and boost your spirits.
• Reach: A good goal should make you stretch your abilities, even scare you a bit and take you out of your comfort zone.

How will that particular goal impact your life? What will you do after achieving your goal?

Do you have any fears of achieving your goal and if so, how can you overcome those fears?

With the right motivation, it is more likely that you will remain dedicated, and you will reach your goal eventually.

3. How Does Your Environment Support You? “Take Out the Trash” (Blockers) And Create a Support System

Now that you know what you would like to change, it’s time to make a reality check. First, take a look at your living situation. Write down all responsibilities, activities, and any plans in the near future.

Think about your environment, how do the people or your current responsibilities support you? Are there any external blockers and if so, can you eliminate those? Who can support you in achieving your goal? If you have too much on your plate, it might be worth freeing up some time before aiming for your goal. Alternatively, you can also revisit your goal and change it if necessary.

Check your weaknesses from section 1. Are any of your weaknesses hindering you from achieving your goal? How can you use your support system to strengthen these areas?

How can you make yourself accountable for your actions? Accountability keeps you focused and dedicated to working towards your goal.

4. Creating an Action Plan

Let’s create a plan now for how to achieve your goal! Take one step at a time, you cannot do everything at once. Also, define when you’re done with achieving your goal (definition of done).

Include your support system in your planning. Ask for support, for feedback, for anything you find valuable. This is important for the times when you might give up or fall back. Instead, you can rely on your environment and it’s more like for you to achieve your goal.

Last, but not least, don’t try to achieve too many goals at the same time. In case you do so, you can easily get overwhelmed and you can fail at achieving your goals.

Instead, aim for one goal at a time,

5. Reflection Time

It is crucial that you reflect on your plan and your goals all the way towards achieving your goal. Should you realize that it is too easy or too difficult to achieve your goal, you should re-adjust those goals if necessary.

You might realize that the goal you set is not achievable anymore. Or it is not attractive to you anymore. Maybe your environment, and your life situation changed, and it became more difficult, even impossible to achieve the goal. In this case, think about what happened during your actions, what you did well, and what you might not have done well. Ask for support from your environment. Should you still end up at a dead end, it is worth revisiting your goals and changing those if necessary. With regular reflections and re-adjustments, you can make sure that you achieve something you will find satisfying in the end.

Guiding Material to Help You Become a Better Version of Yourself

Setting a goal to achieve sounds easy in the beginning, but still, most goals don’t get to be achieved. It doesn’t matter how eager we are to reach our goal, often we don’t even know what it is we want to achieve, and we ignore our environment or even our own weaknesses. Over time the difficulty of reaching the goal increases, and so does the pressure on us, while motivation sinks. Eventually, we give up and also feel bad.

With this model, you have a guiding material in your hand about how to set your goals, how to be more aware of what you are good at, what your weak spots might be, and how to include your environment. Throughout the whole process, make reflections and evaluate your actions as well as your goals. With regular reflections and re-adjustments, you can make sure that you achieve your goal and you will also find satisfaction in the end.

References

[1]https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/8259/fail-achieve-goals