The Prosperity Agenda believes in a balanced Family-Centered Coaching environment where the coach guides the participant to agency. However, to be an effective coach, being able to regulate one’s emotions, behaviors, thoughts, and physical well-being is of utmost importance. Self-Management then promotes better personal and professional outcomes and is an essential part of the coaching process.
What is Self-Management?
Self-management is a crucial skill to keep a good work-life balance for the coach. Self-management is being aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses and managing both time and resources. It can be divided into four elements:
- Emotional Self-Management
- Physical Self-Management
- Cognitive Self-Management
- Behavioral Self-Management
Why is Self-Management Imperative?
Because of the high-stress, emotional environment human service roles providers, coaches, managers, and supervisors work in, these professionals often face emotional burn-out, physical strain, cognitive overload, and behavioral inconsistencies. Addressing these challenges then becomes paramount to both the coach and participant.
Establishing Boundaries
Coaches can begin a path to well-being by establishing boundaries between work and life. Empathy is an important part of understanding others at work, but there is a difference between emotional empathy and cognitive empathy. Emotional empathy is the ability to feel what someone else feels emotionally; this can lead to the coach feeling emotionally overwhelmed. Cognitive empathy allows the coach to recognize and understand the participant’s mental state without sharing the emotional experience. Boundaries not only protect one’s emotional health, but they also raise self-esteem, improve relationships, and provide the much needed work-life balance.
Maintaining Boundaries
Consistency is the key to maintaining firm boundaries once they have been set. One can do this by:
- Communicating Clearly and Consistently—regularly verbalize your boundaries to others. Use “I” statements.
- Prioritize Self Care—have a dedicated time for rest and activities that replenish your energy.
- Learn to Say No—politely declining requests that infringe on your boundaries is important. Practice assertiveness without feeling guilty.
- Seek Support—Look to mentors, colleagues, or therapists for help when maintaining boundaries becomes difficult.
- Set Time Limits—Have set times for work, family, and personal times. Honor them as much as possible.
- Monitor Stress Levels—Check-in with yourself to assess how well you are maintaining your boundaries and adjust as needed.
Practice Self-Care Strategies
There are many types of self-care strategies that, along with boundaries, will help alleviate emotional stress and work burn-out. Breathing exercises, reflective journaling, peer support, and physical requirements such as exercise, proper nutrition, and adequate sleep are only the beginning. Strategies such as mindfulness, time-management, and continuous learning strengthen the cognitive empathy muscle to contribute to a well-rounded self-care routine. As with any strategy, one must guard against inconsistency. Barriers such as time constraints, guilt, lack of motivation and external pressures can derail even the best plans for self-care. Be ever vigilant of these barriers, and actively work toward recognizing and overcoming issues as they arise.
Join Our FREE Webinar: Emotional Self-Management as a Self-Care Tool
Ready to avoid the sorrow of burn-out, deflect unnecessary work stress, and be a better, more effective coach? Join us for an engaging and insightful webinar where we will explore all of the facets of emotional self-management within the Family-Centered Coaching framework moving your coaching practice from the shadows to the spotlight.
June 20, 10 AM PST/1 PM EST
Register now!
https://bit.ly/FreeWebinarSelf-CarethroughEmotionalSelf-Management