I get surprised when I hear other coaches that I’m interacting with complaining about how their clients are losing motivation (!?), and especially when I’m asked:

‘What do you do when your clients lose motivation?’

My answer:

‘My clients do NOT lose motivation.’

Although they seem to find it hard to believe, since I became a life coach in 2015. I never had a problem with clients ‘losing motivation’. 

Firstly, I am very selective about choosing the clients to work with. I would only work with someone if they are ‘motivated’ in the first place to make the positive changes and/or achieve their goals. 

I was once having a discovery call with one potential client (who was notably having a ‘victim mentality’ and did not truly want to change herself of her life, but was just looking for ‘vent sessions’ and someone to ‘help’ her without her being willing to do any work whatsoever), and my sister happened to enter the room during the call to pick something up (I was not wearing earphones, as I would usually do if I was to expect anyone being in the room in order to protect the privacy of the person, hence she overheard a small piece of our conversation). Afterward, she asked me:

‘Weren’t you having a discovery call? Weren’t you supposed to persuade her to work with you? All I was hearing was you persuading her NOT to WORK with you?!?! 

I explained to her that she was not the right fit for me. Although I really needed money at that particular time, I did not want to work with someone who clearly was not ready to change and do the work it takes to achieve her desired goals.

As a coach, my role is not to be a crying shoulder for my clients, or offer them sympathy (tell them that ‘everything will be OK’, pep-talk them, hug them, and cry alongside them). My role is to help my clients get to the root cause of what’s holding them back, get the clarity of what they want to achieve and what strategy can help them achieve it, help them to get to the next level of their success and break through the self-imposed limits. I can only tell my clients that things can be OK and will be ok – if they change: their mind-set, their behavioral traits, the action steps they are taking, their energy, their strategy. 

As a coach, I wholeheartedly give my clients the guidance and support, powerful strategy, steps, and tools that can help them to change and/or achieve what they desire, but at the of the day, they need to do the work that is required from their end – be it changing their business strategy, being more visible online/in media, exercising regularly, delegating more tasks to their team, setting healthier boundaries, or whatever the required steps are. Hence, the clients that are not motivated to make a positive change/achieve what they desire from the start, will certainly not be ‘coachable’ and ‘motivated’ throughout the coaching process. 

Secondly, I always make sure that my clients are not overwhelmed. Time management is my ‘superpower’, and that is one of the first things that I address when I start working with any client. My clients are generally leaders on high level positions or entrepreneurs, and they are anyway overwhelmed with everything that they need to manage in their day. Having a coach coming over and adding ten extra things on their TO-DO list (even when these are the action steps for achieving their desired change or a goal) would not help them, but overwhelm them. I always knew in the back of my mind that if I overwhelm my clients, they will either burn out or ‘get back off the track’ really quickly, as they won’t be able to follow suit, and therefor I love to explore all the ways they can automate, eliminate, delegate, plan, and leverage their time. With powerful time management and work-life integration, my clients are able to carve out a lot of free time, and then they are able to work on their goals and achieving desired change without feeling overwhelmed. 

Thirdly, I work with my clients on a conscious, as well as subconscious level, in order to get to the root cause of their resistance and self sabotage (limiting beliefs, low self worth, subconscious ‘income ceiling’ or upper limiting). I’ve learned over the years that regardless of how powerful strategy I can give to the client, if they are having any subconscious block, limiting beliefs or lack of self belief, or low self worth, they will self sabotage in the process.

If someone does not truly believe that the goals they are working on are possible to achieve, they will naturally not feel ‘motivated’ to work on their goals (as they will consciously or subconsciously feel it is a waste of their energy and time). 

If someone does not believe that they are worthy/ deserving of success or what they desire to attain, they will self sabotage in the process.

If there are any underlying subconscious fears that someone is associating to the desired outcome, person will self sabotage in the process of attaining their goals.

For example, many of my clients were suffering from the impostor syndrome, or sabotaging the relationships with their ideal partners, because they were not feeling deserving of the success that they have achieved, or that they do not have ‘a lot to offer to such an amazing man’. Some of my clients were sabotaging their effort to exercise regularly, eat healthier, and lose weight due to subconscious fear of their partner being jealous (if they’d look very attractive) or ‘not being taken seriously by their inferiors as a tiny woman in their company’. Some CEOs and business owners were having a lot of issues with delegating the tasks in their company, due to subconscious trust issues, which were costing them a lot of money and time that they could spend with their kids and family, instead of micromanaging and doing the administrative work. 

Unless we get to the root cause of client’s subconscious limiting beliefs and fears, as soon the clients starts working on their desired goals and achieving positive results, the resistance will show up, and they will naturally ‘lose motivation’ and start hitting the ceiling. I firmly believe that my clients are able to achieve such amazing results, because I go very deep with my clients on identifying and reprogramming their limiting beliefs, changing their mind-set, and strengthening their self worth. Once my clients reprogram (any) subconscious blocks (that they may have), they can walk past the resistance and change for them is easy. I believe that’s why my clients often say to me: 

‘You made the change easy for me!’

‘I achieved more while working with you for 6 months, than on my own in last 6 years!’

‘I worked with other coaches before, but you were the only one who could really help me!’

After doing this work for so many years, I can state that unless the client is genuinely unwilling to do the work to achieve the desired goal, the only reasons why someone can possibly ‘lose motivation’ during the coaching process are: overwhelm and subconscious limiting beliefs and/or fears. 

If you want to make a powerful change and achieve something extra-ordinary, you need the coach who can not only give you the powerful strategy, but also help you overcome the subconscious resistance once it starts showing up to the surface. 

That being said, a coach cannot help someone who is unwilling to change, succeed, shift their thinking paradigm, and do the work that is required to up-level their life/mindset/career/business. I often say that coach is like a GPS – you’ll get the fastest roadmap coordinates to your desired destination and the guidance along the way, but you will still be required to drive the car. 

As the old saying goes: ‘The teacher comes when the student is ready‘. Are you ready? Click here to read about my signature life & success coaching program.

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