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Business and executive coaching tip - If you want to change your behaviour, then act it out first

16 Sep 2013

‘Being myself includes taking risks with myself, taking risks on new behaviour, trying new ways of 'being myself', so that I can see who it is I want to be.’ Hugh Prather

A great way to consciously try out a new behaviour is to act ‘as if’ you were a certain way or had a certain trait. By acting a certain way, your mind will start thinking that way – completing the belief-behaviour loop.

It’s important to point out that acting ‘as if’ is very different to ‘faking it’. Acting ‘as if’ is about consciously improving yourself and overcoming your fears – ‘faking it’ is about deceiving others to achieve a specific result; it’s used for short-term gain with no behavioural change.

To be more confident and successful, we need to try out new behaviours and develop empowering beliefs.

And your behaviour is the result of your state and your state is the result of three things:

1. What you picture in your mind
2. What you say to yourself
3. The way you use your physiology

Generating empowering beliefs exercise

1. Think of an empowering belief
2. Ask yourself:        ‘What would I have to believe in order to  succeed in this area?’
‘What resources do I already have, including past successes, which I can draw on?’
3. Now, close your eyes and imagine you’re watching a movie of someone who embodies this new empowering belief and confidence.       
4. When you’re ready, float up out of yourself and step into this person’s shoes in the movie screen. See what they do, hear what they hear, and feel what they feel.
5. Floating back into your present self, take with you as much of the feelings of this new belief and confidence as feels comfortable.   
6. Practise this visualisation enough until doubt turns to certainty!

This is tool used in career and executive coaching, and one that used at Lequin Leadership Development in our board coaching, executive and career coaching.

Who are Lequin Leadership Development ?
Lequin Leadership Development provide customer service training, executive coaches, business coaches, executive business coaching, coach training courses, coach training, coaching skills for managers, coaching culture programmes, board coaching, outplacement support, executive coach, coach supervision, executive coaching, talent management, change management, change management training, leadership coaching and leadership development.

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