Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf, and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills episode 273.

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.

Hey coach, I am so glad you’re here. I have a short episode for you today, but hopefully, it’s something that really feels relevant for you right now and not only makes you a better coach but also helps you integrate your goals into your year. And I know I’ve been talking a lot about goals, but with it being first the end of the year, now the beginning of the year, I think this is something on a lot of coaches’ minds.

But even if you’re listening to this in the future and it’s, you know, June or the middle of the year and you’re like, Lindsay, it’s not the beginning of the year. What are you even talking about? I think goals are always relevant as coaches.

So I want you to think about this. It probably feels quite familiar to a lot of you right now. As it is January of 2026, maybe you’ve set some business goals or some personal goals for this year. And now you might be saying things to yourself like, if I could just figure out how to… Like if I could just figure out how to sign clients, everything would be different. You know that energy, right? That like pressured kind of spinning feeling of I just need to figure this out.

And the way that maybe you say it to yourself or even say it out loud is kind of like the answer is going to fall from the sky. If you just think hard enough, if you just coach yourself hard enough. You think through 100 different strategies. You wonder why you don’t know this thing already. Like it should have already happened.

This year, when this happens, when you feel yourself in that spinning energy or that judgment of like I just need to figure this out, I want you to try something different. I want you to reframe what you think you need to figure out into something you want to learn. And I want you to get specific. Because here’s the difference. Figuring it out or that I just need to figure it out energy assumes the answer already exists somewhere and you just aren’t seeing it. You’re just failing because you can’t find it. But learning means the answer is built through doing. And you are the one building it. You are the one learning. You’re the one doing and experimenting.

So for example, if your main method for marketing is social media, think about what isn’t working currently and reframe it as something to learn. Like, I’m going to learn to create posts that fuel engagement and get people clicking. Or if you mostly sign clients by meeting people in real life, maybe it’s something like, I’m going to learn to attend networking events and invite potential clients to coffee chats and form a connection.

This works specifically because it gives you something to focus on. It’s not a nebulous, just I have to figure it out. It reminds you that it’s all learning. Literally as an entrepreneur, everything you’re doing that you’ve not done before, it is all learning and that’s okay. It’s not something you failed at because it didn’t come kind of hardwired into your DNA. It will give you a clear path and something to evaluate and look at and tweak and make changes and try again and evaluate and make changes and try again.

I’ve noticed over the years that so many of my clients, when they see the difference in this, they feel so relieved. I’ve coached so many clients on this recently and the shift I see in them is immediately noticeable during the coaching. They stop beating themselves up, their shoulders drop, and they’re able to move forward or say like, “Oh, right, here’s my next step.”

And typically they report back with results and further coaching on next steps. And this, of course, works beyond business goals. It works with any goal, anything you want to create.

For example, I’m so tired of my business bleeding into all of my personal time. I really have to get this figured out. Versus, I’m learning to arrange my days and finish everything by 4 p.m. so that I end each day in time for my kids to get home.

Can you see the difference? Right? One is like a judgment. Like I’m so tired of this happening. I’ve got to get it together versus here’s the exact thing I’m working on, the exact thing I’m learning to arrange my days and to figure out my schedule so that I finish everything by the time my kids get home.

And here’s a huge bonus, is this obviously works with your coaching as well. Right? So don’t just use this for your own goals, but you can use this for your client’s goals. When a client comes to you with that same spinning energy or you feel like they’re judging themselves and they’re like, “I just need to figure this out,” or, “I don’t know why I can’t stay consistent. I have to figure that out this year.” And you as the coach sometimes maybe feel that pressure to solve it for them, but you don’t know where to start because maybe in your mind, you’re like, yeah, you’re right, let’s figure that out.

Here’s where you can start. Help them get specific. What exactly can they learn that will move them forward? That way you’re not solving it for them. You’re not saying, “Well, okay, here’s the answer.” You’re helping them find their path.

Okay, now I want you to try. What is something you’re feeling pressured to figure out right now or that you’re judging yourself for or thinking, “Ugh, I should have figured this out by now,” or, “if I could only figure this out?” How can you reframe that into specific learning?

That’s all. That’s the episode. And if this is the type of reframe that you love, this is exactly the type of work we do inside The Complete Coach, which is my new membership that contains coaching skills, business strategy, and keeping your life intact while you build your business.

The doors are reopening in February and we’ll put the link to get on the waitlist in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here and I’ll talk to you next week.

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.