Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf, and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills episode 260.

To really compete in the coaching industry, you have to be great at coaching. That’s why every week, I will be answering your questions, sharing my stories, and offering tips and advice so you can be the best at what you do. Let’s get to work.

Okay, coach, welcome to this week’s episode. I’m so glad you’re here, as always, and we’re just gonna dive right in because this episode is going to be short, sweet, and hopefully, super powerful. We’re going to talk about the 10 ways that you can reset anytime you are doubting yourself, doubting your coaching practice, struggling, having a bad day, having a bad morning, any of those times. And this is literally for anyone that is listening. Even if you’re not a coach, shout out. I know there are a few of you that listen that aren’t coaches, cause you let me know. This will help literally anybody.

But coach, specifically, I am talking to you. This is for when you just feel like nothing’s working, right? Have you ever had one of those days? I’m assuming you have because you’re human. I had a morning like that today. And so it really prompted me to think about this episode and to want to record it for you. And I just want you to know I get it. I’ve been there so many times. We’ve all been there. This is part of the human experience. So I’m going to give you 10 real strategies that I use, most of them super simple, that help me reset, that will also help you.

And before I dive in, I want to say this. Pick one that feels doable, maybe two, cause some of them can build on each other. Do not feel like you need to do all 10. And save this episode. Like literally, before you even listen, just go, save the episode right now because hopefully in this moment you are listening from a place of everything feels great today. Hopefully that’s the case. And from that place, what you can do is listen, you can take it all in, you can learn, save it for later.

And then when you are having that day, when you do feel like throwing your computer out the window or, you know, whatever version of that happens to you, you can remember this episode, you can come back and even though you might be a little foggy because you’re irritated and frustrated, overwhelmed, whatever it is that you are, you can remember, like, oh yes, I’ve already listened to this. Now I’m just gonna listen again. I’m gonna pick out the one thing that’s gonna help me today. All right? So let’s just dig in.

10 things you can do when you are doubting yourself, doubting your coaching practice, feeling overwhelmed, feeling frustrated, feeling like nothing’s working, or just in general having a bad day.

Number one, just check in with basic needs. Now, this is basic. It’s like, of course, but if you’re anything like me, sometimes maybe you’re deep in working and you’re feeling frustrated and things aren’t going great, but you just forced yourself to keep working. And if you’re again, anything like me, you might realize, like wait, when was the last time I had a snack? Like sometimes when I’m really in it, I realize, oh, maybe I’m just hungry. And like a little snack or meal is actually going to just completely shift everything, right?

So, have you had enough water? Have you had enough food? Do you need a snack? Do you need a nap? Do you need to stand up and stretch for a second? Do you need to just close your eyes and meditate for 30 seconds? Right? Like, just check in with your body, just your basic needs. I know it’s super simple, but sometimes spiraling is literally caused because you haven’t had enough calories or you’re dehydrated, and your brain just isn’t thinking as clearly as it could be if your body was well taken care of. So just first check in there.

Second thing, if that’s not enough, the basic check-in, maybe move your body. Check in with your body. How is it feeling right now? Would it feel good to maybe go for a walk, to stand up, and really do some stretching, right? Not just the 30-second stretch, but a longer stretch.

Do you need to dance around your kitchen or your house? Do you need to walk up and down your stairs a few times? Right? Like, what are some ways that you could just move your body right now that might feel good to you? This will really help you get out of your head, out of maybe those spiraling thoughts, and into your body.

And when you’re doing it, when you’re moving, pay attention to how the parts of your body feel. Like, let your mind focus on something else other than what you were just focusing on. Even just doing this for five minutes can make a complete difference. You can also, you know, if you’re like, I don’t know where to start, you could go to YouTube, find some videos that could help you with this, some five-minute stretching or dancing videos.

Put on some music, pop in your headphones, let your body move. Just go walk around the block or take your, if you have a dog, take your dog for a walk. If you have kids, see if your kids want to go for a walk, right? Like, just whatever you need to do, move your body. Again, sometimes that’s all you need to have a complete shift.

Number three, take a break, period. Give yourself permission to stop trying to overthink your way out of whatever it is that you’re facing right now. Sometimes, overworking or being overly tired, mentally tired, or worn out can just be the thing that’s creating more of the struggle.

And sometimes you just need a break, right? Like, give yourself permission. If you haven’t had a break in a while, if you’ve been working a ton or been overthinking a ton, give yourself a break. Your brain might need space to process without more and more input, right? Or to process without immediately coming to some kind of conclusion or making a big plan or making a decision or whatever it is that you’re trying to do right now.

Sometimes a strategic pause is exactly what you need. And I don’t mean avoidance. I mean, really, truly taking a break. There is a difference. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your business is step away for a while. It’s why, like maybe if you go on vacation and you come back, you feel, hopefully, energized, you feel renewed, you feel this new energy to do what you do. That’s the same idea here. In the break, you do whatever it is you need to do. Take a nap, lay down, but just don’t like take a break in quotes, but then let your mind keep spinning in all the things. Like, truly give yourself a break mentally and maybe physically.

Number four, do something creative. So let creativity fuel you in a different way. I recently signed up for a painting membership, which we’ll see how that goes if I actually do it very often, but what is very interesting about it is the live classes are during the day. And I kind of love that. At first, I was, oh, I can’t do that because, you know, whatever, I should be working. And then I was like, wait a minute, that’s not true.

Because what I have learned recently, I’ve been painting, I’ve been doing some more creative things, and creativity really fuels me and fuels ideas in my business. And it gets me out of the like figuring out exactly what’s next, exactly what’s going on in this moment, and just gives me some space, even if I’m not at all thinking about my business while I am painting or while I’m doing the creative activity, it does something different to my brain. That when I then come back to my business, I feel different.

So I decided, what if it’s okay that the live classes are in the middle of the day on a weekday? Oh my gosh, right? Like, what if that hour painting fuels the rest of my day, the rest of my week maybe. So something creative. It could be big, it could be a five-minute activity, or it could be an hour, it could be half the day, like whatever you need. Remind yourself that you are a whole human, not just a business owner. You are allowed to have other endeavors, other pursuits, other creative activities that fuel you.

Number five, create a quick win. Ask yourself, what is one small thing I can accomplish right now? What’s one thing that would feel like a win, even if it doesn’t feel like it’s the most important thing, right? Some examples.

Update one single thing on a sales page. The thing that’s been bothering you for a while, go update it. It’ll take a few minutes. You’ll have some dopamine. You’ll be feeling just at least a tad bit better afterwards.

Send an email that you’ve been wanting to send. Organize one Google folder. Organize, if you’re like me and you use your notes on your computer, and maybe sometimes you have 30 important like notes that are marked as important, and you’re like, wait, this can’t be right. How do I know if they’re important if there are 30 of them? Go clean those up, right? Like, just something like that. Organize your desk. Give yourself one quick win and allow it to be something genuinely small that you can just like check off. Yes, feel accomplished, right?

The next one, coach a client. This is what I did today. This is the thing that prompted me to record this episode. I was having kind of a shit morning. I’ll be honest. Just lots of things were happening that weren’t in my control. I don’t always love that. But then I had The Coach Lab call at noon, and I even shared with them, oh my gosh, you guys just turned my day around.

For me, coaching always, always, 100% of the time turns my day around when I’m having a bad day or bad week, a bad whatever when I’m in my head. Because it reminds me of my competence, it connects me to what I love to do. It also gets me out of my head and into someone else’s. It also gives me evidence that something is working, right? The coaching is working.

Now, for those of you that are new and you’re like, Lindsay, I don’t have clients, how am I supposed to do this? Find someone to coach for free. Go offer someone, anyone, 20 minutes of coaching. Your next-door neighbor, if you want. Or message five of your friends. You can even say, I need to get out of my head. I would love to do some coaching. Does anyone have one thing I can just help you with right now? Number seven, closely related to number six, help someone else. So kind of similar to coaching, but it can be more broad. And this relates back to last week’s episode. If you didn’t listen to the episode on community, go listen to that if you want lots of ideas on how you can do this.

But helping someone else, again, gets you out of your head, right? Helps you with, like, oh, I’m useful right now. It also, in a different way, could help you solve whatever it is that you are working on. By helping someone else after that, it might be like, oh wait, that thing I just helped them with, that could actually help me in this moment.

This could look like answering a question in a Facebook group or a community that you’re in. Sending an encouraging message to a friend or family member out of the blue or a client. Reaching out to someone you haven’t talked to in a while and just saying, hey, I miss you. Let’s chat. Whatever it is, like how can you just help someone else? This is such a powerful way always to get you out of your own spiral. Sometimes, just that short act can change things around.

Sometimes it might, you might need like, bigger, right? Helping maybe more than one person. If you’re in a community, if you’re in the coach lab or one of my communities, go into that community, see what’s going on, encourage people, coach on their posts, if that’s, you know, what you’re supposed to do in there. Tell them how amazing they’re doing. Give some shout-outs. Like, whatever it is, post your takeaways from the last week’s call. Whatever it is, like just go help someone else.

The next thing, you’ve heard me say this before, talk to a peer. Hopefully, you have a handful of peers or colleagues that you feel close enough to that you can just talk to, not for coaching, not necessarily for advice, but just to say, uh, I’m struggling right now, right? Like, sometimes just naming it, saying it out loud. Or a trusted friend or family member that isn’t necessarily a peer, but that you know isn’t going to try to solve it, or maybe just tell them ahead of time, I don’t want help solving this right now, I just need to say to someone I’m having a crap day. Just tell me it’s okay, right? It’ll kind of show you’re not alone, you have people there, it will create connection. That can instantly boost your mood.

Next one, number nine, go read client testimonials or wins or emails from clients, text from clients, anything you have from clients that are like, hey, this is working, right? It’ll just reconnect you with the evidence that you know what you’re doing, that you’re good at this. It gives you tangible facts, right? It’s their actual words, not just you and your head making up things.

Past results, of course, are not going to guarantee future results, but they will remind you of your impact. It will show you’ve done this before; you can do it again. Here’s why your work is important.

And speaking of your work being important, number 10, connect to your mission. So this is like a bigger one. I think this is one that like, when you’re really in it, when you feel yourself really struggling, literally on the days when you’re like, I maybe I’m going to quit, right? We’ve all had those days, too. Those are totally normal as an entrepreneur in my opinion, in my experience. Connecting to your mission will really help with this.

Why did you become a coach in the first place? Why did you become an entrepreneur in the first place? Why are you here doing what you’re doing? What does your past self want to remind you right now when you’re feeling however it is you’re feeling? What is the impact that you still want to have? It’s still there. It is waiting for you. The people are waiting for you. It reminds you why your work matters even when it feels really hard.

Okay, those were all 10. Some very simple, some a little more in-depth, but hopefully there was something there that will help you turn your day around, turn your week around. And notice one thing that isn’t on here is to coach yourself or get coaching. Of course, those are always options. Those are always amazing options. But they’re not always the right options.

Sometimes you need something else that isn’t that. Sometimes that can be too much, too much coaching, too much like keeping you in your own head, especially if it’s like self-coaching that you’re turning to. Sometimes you need something, you need to take a breath, right? Something outside of yourself. So that is why I’ve given you these 10 options.

Which one are you going to try first? Let me know. Message me, tell me. If you needed to hear this today, I don’t care if you’re listening to this two years in the future; I want you to message me. Find me on Instagram, send me a message, report a small win to me.

Maybe that will be useful, right? Like, just give yourself the tools you need to get out of your head and to keep going, to take the day off if that’s what you need to do, to come back later, take a break. Fuel your body, move your body, fuel your mind, so many different ways you can do this. This feeling will pass. I promise you.

And if it feels helpful, just know you’re not the only one experiencing this, even in this exact moment, you’re not the only one experiencing this. We all have bad days. We all have days where we just feel like our brain isn’t operating with its full capacity, that feel foggy, that feel however it feels. Wherever you are right now, just know I’m sending you all of the love. I promise you this will pass. You’re going to get through it.

And as a gentle reminder, if you need someone to remind you of this, The Complete Coach, which is my new membership, will be launching soon. These are the types of things that we will be addressing inside that membership. The things that sometimes will get you out of your head, not just coaching, not just thinking about your business, but thinking about how do you take care of yourself outside of those two things.

Okay, again, save this episode, come back to it, listen to it 100 times if you need to. I love you. I will talk to you next week. Goodbye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Mastering Coaching Skills. If you want to learn more about my work, come visit me at lindsaydotzlafcoaching.com. That’s Lindsay with an A, D-O-T-Z-L-A-F.com. See you next week.