Engaging with a coach can help people in compelling ways.
Positive psychology-based coaches can help you build momentum toward life goals, vision, and purpose.
As a personal coach focused on well-being coaching, including the incorporation of approaches from applied positive psychology, I have observed a few primary things about human well-being.
Well-being is like the glue between the fabric of human lives.
Personal well-being can be dynamic and iterative. It is both a mindset and physical state. Also, it may take work to achieve. (Acknowledging that may be half the battle).
Ultimately, a few factors contribute to human health, happiness, and fulfillment.
Primary factors that influence your well-being are:
- Life vision & planning
- Self-awareness & regulation
- Application of personal strengths
- On the flip side, acknowledging & accepting personal weaknesses (plus, compassionately addressing them as need be)
- Systems & tactics to effectively respond to life’s stressors
- Balancing personal capacities with demands
- Alignment across life, family, and professional priorities
- Social skills, networks, & communities
- Understanding your best coping methods for when challenges or roadblocks arise (they will!)
- Self-compassion & -advocation
- Acceptance of others, circumstances beyond your control, and things in life that may not be well understood
- Lifestyle habits & behaviors that support physical & mental wellness
Current research on human well-being has indicated that prioritizing positive well-being through supportive lifestyle habits and addressing one’s mindset can contribute to more motivation, optimal functioning, and greater resilience in life. It may also help someone address negative thought patterns and make relevant adjustments, which can boost mental-emotional states.
Applied positive psychology is rooted in human well-being. The body of research behind applied positive psychology has examined human factors such as the following:
- how a person can best leverage personal strengths for growth goals and forward motion in life
- ways someone can cultivate healthy relationships to build stronger emotional well-being and happiness
- (ultimately) what makes someone thrive in life
One of the primary ways that you can obtain support in building personal positive psychology is through working with a trained coach.
Most formal training for professional coaches incorporates concepts from applied positive psychology and well-being sciences, but some coaches have completed dedicated training in these areas. These coaches will have more knowledge and experience with enhanced coaching applications to address personal well-being. Often, certified well-being coaches are also positive psychology-based coaches.
We elaborated in a previous blog post on what coaching is. Engaging with a coach can be a compelling way to address your self-care, personal and professional goals, life vision plan, and, ultimately, overall growth.
The distinct emphasis coaching places on personal and professional development is meaningful because it can help someone garner clarity, positive direction & momentum, self-awareness, resilience, and confidence in life.
The Journal of Positive Psychology has also published studies that indicate the impact of coaching on people’s coping skills, attitudes, goal attainment, and overall sense of well-being.
According to a recent global study on coaching, an estimated 43% of people who have used a coach reported that they would see one again. Also, close to 80% reported improved self-confidence and esteem as one of the top benefits from working with a coach (International Coaching Federation, 2020).
Other common feedback from people who have received coaching is improved communication skills, quality of relationships, work performance, decision-making, and work-life integration.
Whether you work with a coach, other trained professional, or via self-discovery methods, applications from positive psychology can help you identify and apply your unique brilliance, which is a combination of a person’s core skills, strengths, and character traits.
Furthermore, practical applications and exercises from positive psychology can help someone align personal strengths in relevant, meaningful, and effective ways.
Leveraging applied positive psychology in life may also help a person build positive relationships and communicate more clearly with others. It may also help to bring about a grounded perspective of personal circumstances and the world (perhaps you may think of this as a sense of positive contentment).
In closing, people are a combination of intersecting parts, including both internal and external variables. Modern adults often lead complex (and compelling!) lives.
Well-being connects the dots between the various parts. Addressing well-being is a way to bring in the whole person across a range of evolving circumstances. Dedicating attention to personal well-being through leverage applications of positive psychology can help someone up their game in life through personal regulation, performance, mindset, relationships, and more…
Would you like to learn more about what it’s like to work with a certified well-being coached formally training in applied positive psychology?
Ashley would love to meet you in an introductory coaching session. Coaching sessions are easy to schedule and available through virtual delivery. They are the best way to experience a small-dose of what it’s like to engage with a coach AND determine if coaching is a fit for you at the current time.
