My Favorite Coaching Question: What Are You Predicting?

Here’s a fun fact. Your brain wasn’t designed for thinking or creating or caring or even communicating. Nuh-uh. Your brain evolved for the sole purpose of keeping your body alive.

This fact may not be as romantic as the whole thinking, creating, caring, communicating thing, but it’s still pretty damn cool. Because the way your brain evolved to keep the rest of you alive was to become a super-duper, souped up prediction machine.

After all, how better to keep your body alive than by predicting every possible thing that could happen to it? The thing is though, all this predicting of bad stuff can really get in the way of life. Because 99.999999% of the bad things your brain predicts will never happen. And even if they do happen, they're most often not as bad as you fear they will be.

And this is why my favorite coaching question is, “What are you predicting?”

Stressed? What are you predicting?

Procrastinating? What are you predicting?

Not sure how to deal with a difficult colleague? What are you predicting?

Stuck on an important decision? What are you predicting?

Dreading a meeting? What are you predicting?

Afraid to ask for a raise? What are you predicting?

Avoiding the dentist? What are you predicting?

Can’t seem to get your butt in the gym? What are you predicting?

Terrible, awful, painful writer’s block? What are you predicting?

Once you understand the thing you’re predicting, you can evaluate the odds of it happening. Chances are, it’s not that likely. But if it is, you can plan for how you’re going to handle it.

So instead of living in a world of fear and avoidance, you can move forward with courage and integrity.

So, ask yourself… what are you predicting?

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