Personal Coaching Can Help Create Behavioral Change
Posted on Fri, Apr 27, 2012 @ 07:30 AM
Breaking old behavior patterns and implementing new ones is a task that can be greatly enhanced with a personal coach. A personal coach is at your side as you struggle with new behaviors and will encourage and support you as you develop a new approach to success.
Why Is Change So Hard?
We’ve all seen it. A particular behavior causes us problems, so we make a concerted effort to change it. And the change works, for a while. Then we gradually slide right back into the old behavior and end up with the same problems.
Why does this happen? And why is it so hard for human beings to effectively change a behavior pattern for good?
The answer isn’t because we are weak or unwilling to change. It lies in brain patterns. These are the brain pathways that develop when we repeat a behavior over and over again. Each time we perform an action we strength the neuronic pathways in the brain, making them more efficient and easier to use.
The Interstate Highway in our Brain
A familiar behavior pattern is like speeding down the interstate on cruise control. Even though we may slow down or change lanes once in a while, we are still on the highway.
Changing an ingrained behavior means getting off the interstate and getting onto a back road full of ruts and bumps. Who wants to do that? It is so much less efficient. In order to create a new behavior, we have to slow down, try something new, and be aware of how much slower it is going to be, at least for a while.
Creating New Patterns
The key to real behavioral change is creating new behavior patterns. The only way to do that is to be intentionally different, even if (or especially if) it less effective. Your personal coach encourages you and helps you as you work on these new behaviors, making it easier to create the new pathways in your brain. And the more you repeat them, the more they become second nature—your new interstate.
