Wow, with um, daylight savings and the sun going down so much earlier, it’s 5 30 and it’s dark outside. But I have like my lights on in here for those of you who are watching on YouTube. You may even, maybe you don’t notice a difference, but I feel like I’m on set right now. And during the day when I pull the shades in my office, the lights are bright, but it doesn’t feel as bright.

Like, I literally This feels like far more intense than I want it to with these lights, um, but I do appreciate it because I feel like there’s less reflection coming from outside because my shades aren’t like blackout shades, so there’s less reflection on like all of my little background things. For those of you who are not watching on YouTube, I’m sorry, you’re like, Kasey, this is not even making sense because I can’t see what you’re talking about.

Um, Uh, I just wrapped up the final call, I’m recording this like mid November, the final call of the ninth cohort of the Health Mindset Coaching Certification, and when I tell you the final call, like, makes, it’s not like, is it nerves? Here, you guys can listen to me try to classify my own emotions. Going into that final call, I feel nervous, but it’s not nervousness, it’s, it’s excitement, I think.

Excitement that I’m wrapping up another cohort. Also just excitement to like send these coaches off into the world with their new skills when it comes to mindset and behavior change in psychology. But I really get so choked up at the end. Like it’s, it’s borderline embarrassing, but since I’ve spent, since I’ve spent many, many weeks with these students on these live calls, I’m at least like, you guys know me, so it’s okay that this is embarrassing.

But I cry every time. Like, I literally had, like, I knew I was going to have to record these podcasts right after that call. It’s like, this is gonna be bad. I’m gonna be in, like, some kind of emotional state going into this podcast recording. But at the same time, I, I’m so lit up right now because it was our final call.

And what’s just, like, so beautiful is that I end up getting so many unprompted testimonials and just, like, love for the certification and love for my teaching, which is great. Obviously, everyone loves to hear that the thing that they created is making such an impact, but For me, why I get so choked up and like, I’m gonna do my best to not do that now.

Um, I literally got on my Instagram stories after and was like, yep, I failed, I still cried. And then as I was describing why I was crying, I started to cry again. So I’m not, I’m gonna do my best to not do that here. But it really is just the The domino effect that it creates, because I know coaches don’t get the right education.

They don’t, they get taught everything about exercise and nutrition and all of the stuff in between, but when it actually comes to helping someone change their behavior and implement all of those things, and it’s just so, it’s so hard to even hear. Coaches. And I know because like, I’ve been there too. And I’ve, I’ve mentored hundreds of coaches at this point that they’re just so ready to throw in the towel with coaching altogether.

And even though it’s something that they feel so passionate about, they’re like, I cannot sit down in front of another client check in where I know that person has not followed through that. It feels like they’re not listening to me. I’m so frustrated because I have all of this education when it comes to nutrition and exercise and what have you, but I don’t actually feel like I get to use it.

Because I can’t even have, like, I can’t even get through to this person for them to get to the place where I can use all of this, like, advanced education that I have in these areas. And it’s just so tough to, to hear, because I know that there’s a solution. And the solution’s just not being given to these coaches, and that’s why the Health Mindset Coaching Certification was developed.

And then, you know, on the On the other side of that too, it’s like all of these clients that aren’t getting the help that they need because the coaches don’t have the tools and they feel like their hands are tied when there’s self sabotage and self limiting beliefs and all or nothing thinking. So the clients aren’t getting the help that they need and they’re probably fostering even more of a fixed mindset about their ability to be successful because they’re working with a coach who can’t even help them.

So then they feel like, well, it’s just me and like, I’m a lost cause. And meanwhile, the coach is getting frustrated and they’re developing a fixed mindset because they can’t help their clients and they feel like it’s me. I’m a lost cause. So everyone’s feeling like a lost cause. And I’m just out here trying to be like, come to me, come to me.

Let me help. Let me help this. Let me help this. Cause there is a, there’s a way. So anyway, I don’t need to go drone on and on. Cause you guys hear me talk about the importance of this stuff, literally every episode. Um. But I do want to share some really, like, tangible things with you today, and one thing that all of my students can very much attest to is how often I harp on the need, the necessity to ask more questions, to ask more and listen more than you are telling, and how often I harp on the It’s not just ask more questions, it’s ask more good questions, ask more questions that’s actually, that are going to guide your clients to come to solutions on their own, to boost independence and autonomy, to break through negative thought patterns, to develop a stronger relationship and connection, to ultimately just allow your clients to feel heard.

Those are the types of questions you should be asking. And we’re going to get into four specific types of questions that I view are really the most important categories, I suppose, that you need to be focusing on in your coaching practices. Now, I’m talking about coaching here. I’m talking about health and fitness coaching, right?

That’s my jam. It’s been my jam for a very long time. Um, but that doesn’t mean that this can’t be applied to other cases. Uh, for instance, I’m Not just a health and fitness coach, or an instructor, or a course creator, or a PhD in psychology, I’m also a business owner, and I’m a team leader, and I use pretty much everything that I teach you guys when it comes to health and fitness coaching, I use in my business when I am chatting with the folks that are on my team, and helping them also develop a growth mindset, and I Generally just feel better, be more productive, and everything in between.

So this can be applied to Yes, if you have staff, like a team, if you’re a business owner, or even just like with co workers or, you know, if you have, um, you’re working in like corporate world and you have like a, a small team that you maybe manage a couple people or something like that. I’m also thinking like with parenting and your kids, like this stuff can be applied everywhere.

Um, even just like supporting your friends and family. And knowing what type of questions to ask them to help them arrive at a solution or a conclusion that makes the most sense for them in a certain situation. So really, really important stuff. So with that said, the four different types, let me make sure I’m going to look down and read this so I don’t mess them up.

The four different types that I’ve categorized is exploration questions, Visualization type questions, evaluation type questions, and self determination type questions. And you guys have heard me say the word self determination a lot because it is kind of, um, At the core of autonomy focused type of coaching, so we’re trying to help our clients feel more self determined and more autonomous in their decision making, in the things that they’re doing, because that is what is best when it comes to behavior change and motivation overall.

So, We’ll get to that one last. I just started talking about the fourth one. So the first one is exploration. So these are questions that are open ended and require more than a yes no response. And in general, I would suggest more open ended questions than yes no type questions. Because if you’re just asking for a yes or a no, you’re not really getting much out of your client, right?

Like, how did you feel like you did well this week? Yes or no, right? Like, yes, I think I did well. Like, okay, and? Right? Versus, like, what I was about to say. It’s funny, I, I literally think in open ended questions it’s almost hard for me to come up with yes no questions. Um, like, how are you feeling that you, like, did this week, right?

So. asking in that way instead. So some examples of exploration type of questions. The first one is what allowed that to happen? So when challenges arise or successes are achieved, going back to your client and not just saying like, okay, no problem, let’s just try again next week, or that was really great, I’m really proud of you, move on.

Instead, Asking a little bit more about, like, if there was, like, a challenge or a setback, what allowed that to happen? So what, what showed up in this week that led to that challenge or setback? Or there’s always a reason that something unfolds the way that it does. What do you think that reason was? So we’re exploring more of what’s going on here.

And the same thing for successes. Like, I want to better understand what made you successful this week. What allowed you to achieve that thing? Like, tell me how this was possible. You should be so proud of yourself. I want to hear about this. And that will not only help them just hyper focus on the fact that they are making progress, that they’re seeing success, but to dive in and unpack like what made them successful is going to allow them to keep that situation more salient and allow them to be more likely to do it again in the future.

I don’t know if you guys can hear this, I hope not, but it’s very distracting to me. I think that there’s a car literally sitting outside my window listening to some form of heavy bass music. Oh my god, it is so loud. Okay, I gotta take a quick pause here to talk to you about something very important. Your coaching forms, you know, like your application form, check in forms, intake forms, you, my friend, are probably missing out on a huge opportunity here because most coaches see these forms as nothing but information gatherers, and I’m here to tell you they should be doing so much.

More for you, your coaching forms should be helping your clients shift their mindset and make behavior changes that actually last. And your forms really do have the power to do that. And I want to show you exactly how inside my recently updated and upgraded DIY workshop mini series, transform your forms.

This DIY program is a short series of video trainings from me where you’ll learn exactly how to use the science of mindset and behavior change in your coaching forms. So yes, we’re talking application form, intake forms, check in forms, and We’ll even dive into your sales calls and exit surveys. This is the easiest, fastest, and most affordable way to start including science backed strategies into your coaching practices.

So it’s no wonder, Transform Your Forms is actually my most popular DIY program. And now with these new updates, it’s even better than ever. Over 700 coaches have already picked up this workshop series. Check out the link in the show notes to learn more.

Can you hear that? I’m fist bumping for those of you that are, um. Not watching via video. But you probably can’t even hear it because these microphones are pretty good. But anyway, anyway, anyway. So the other type, like, another couple examples of exploration type of questions would be What went well or why do you think that that didn’t work?

So same kind of idea, right? Like, what allowed that to happen? What went well? Why do you think it didn’t work? We don’t want to only focus on fixing things all of the time, right? So When things do go well, we really want to pay attention to that, because, again, kind of, this, this is part of the original conversation that I was talking about with the, what allowed that to happen, but, Humans have a negativity bias, so we’re really good at focusing on what we do wrong and what needs to be better and what was our challenge and setback and what was bad about that situation.

We’re not so great at focusing on the positive things, so asking clients what went well, like, what did, what is the, the better half of the situation look like, can be really helpful, or But on the flip side, when something doesn’t go to plan, taking time to debrief and determine what to do differently next time is so, so, so crucial.

And I think so many coaches are so quick to just, like, sweep things under the rug. Like, okay, don’t worry, like, you got this next week because we don’t want to harp on the negative. And that’s fine, but there’s a way. To focus on what we can learn from a situation without harping on the negative, without making it, you’re actually making the negative positive by saying no problem, there’s a lot we can learn from this.

And I’m excited to dive in with you, like this is gonna be really good. We’re gonna debrief and talk about. Everything that happened this weekend. If you feel like it didn’t go super well, no worries, because if it didn’t go well, that’s going to give us so much information for you to do even better in the future.

See? See? So there’s a way to, excuse me, there is a way to Like, pick apart the negative in a positive way. Okay, so next type of questions are visualization type questions. Oh my gosh, I forgot to mention this. This, man, this podcast episode has been a little bit, like, squirrel, squirrel. But I did want you to know there is a freebie that I developed for you.

Because as I was putting together this podcast outline, I was thinking to myself, like, this is going to be great, they’re really going to enjoy the fact that I’m giving them, like, specific questions to ask their clients, but it’s not, to me, like, the best way to consume this type of content. Because, but I, hopefully you’re not driving and, like, whipping out your phone and typing down these questions in your notes app, like, please don’t be doing that.

And you don’t need to do that because I’m going, I made you a resource that you can download. So you can. See that in the show notes. It’s totally free. I’m putting all of this stuff into a PDF format so that you have that. You can go download it, you can grab it, and just right now you can just listen and pay attention to all of the other stuff that I’m saying sort of like around these questions.

So don’t worry too much about writing down every single question that I’m giving you because I have done that for you and it is a free resource that is included in the show notes. Okay. So, yep, definitely forgot to say that, but I’m glad I caught that now. Okay, so, second type of questions. Okay, so this next type and set of questions is visualization type of questions.

So, these questions Essentially just involve your clients or yourself, like you could be using these questions with yourself, absolutely, too, or anyone else in your life. Allows you to play out the, play out the script in a certain direction of a choice that you want to make, or just like the, the plan that you have for your goal setting process.

So, I like questions like How will your life change? What barriers do you predict? How will you feel differently? So, really trying to sort of, like, future pace and better understand, like, what is to come. If I decide to like go through this diet phase, or I decide to hire a coach, or I’m making this business investment, anything, right?

So how are you, how will your life change? Like when it comes to fitness coaching, I even kind of like putting this into an application form so that your clients are already starting to think like, How is my life going to change when I hire a coach or when I reach my goals? Like, what does that look like?

So really spending some time there, same thing with the other one that I said, like, how will you feel differently? Like, how is this actually going to impact you on a day to day like emotional level and how you feel about yourself? Like really go there, play out the script fully in that direction. But at the same time, we don’t want to just only focus on.

The, the feel good stuff, right. The barriers and the challenges and the setbacks that are inevitable, they are inevitable, my friends, in the, in the process towards. Your goals and achieving the things that you want to achieve. So I talk a lot about this in a previous episode on the WHOOP method. This is all based in mental contrasting, which is a concept essentially, number one, very well validated concept in psychology to help people achieve their goals.

And we don’t wanna just focus on like the positive visualization aspect, but also focus on the barriers and the challenges that are going to. Present themselves and spend some time there, like playing out the script in that direction. So when this barrier arises, what am I going to do about it? Or what are all of the barriers?

Are you even asking your clients that when they are working towards their goals? Like, what do you expect is going to come up? and make this difficult. Like, let’s talk about this now. So, visualization type of questions. Very, very good. Sort of these play out the script, future pacing type of questions. The next one is evaluation type of questions.

And these questions are really meant to determine readiness for change, which is so important. People. Your perspective clients. Your current clients, they’re all at different stages of change and stages of change. This is, it’s called the trans theoretical model is the fancy research term, but there are different stages that people move through as they work towards creating change and maintaining that change long term.

And your clients can move back and forth between these stages and it’s really important to be able to determine where your, where your clients are at. So I talk to my students about this a lot. Like when you’re creating content or your marketing and your sales process, you should be of the perspective that there are people in your audience who are at different stages of change and you need to be able to speak to all of them.

So So Cool. So, the questions I have here are, do you really want to change? Do you think you can change? On a scale of 1 to 10, how ready are you to change? And saying those out loud, I’m like, they probably sound so freaking basic, which they are, but here’s the thing. A lot of people. Like the idea of working with a coach, or they like their, the idea of going on a diet or pursuing weight loss or whatever, but how often are those people actually sitting down and asking themselves, am I ready to make the changes necessary to Receive this outcome that I’m looking for to achieve this goal.

Am I actually ready to make those changes? I’m not sure enough people are and that may be at the core of why so many people do end up unmotivated or inconsistent or what have you. And the next most important question after that is Even though they sound so basic, they are so important, is, do you actually think that you can change?

Like, they’re, these are such simple questions, but they’re so big. If you don’t actually believe that you can change, but yet you’re seeking out change, then you’re going to continue to run into barriers and roadblocks, and that barrier and roadblock would be your fixed mindset, because if you don’t think that you can, then you ultimately will not.

This is actually like one of the first things historically I’ve always asked my own health and fitness coaching clients. We’ve had the mindset discussion day one of obviously you’re here because you’re hopeful. You think that this is the answer to whatever health and fitness goal, pursuit that you’re after, that we’re going to help you achieve that.

And you’re correct, we can, but only if you actually believe that you are capable of doing that. And having that discussion with clients right off the bat. And then potentially taking it that one step further with the, on a scale of one to 10, how ready are you to change? And I love scaling questions. I know I’ve talked about scaling questions in the podcast before, but asking someone to assign a number to how they’re feeling can provide so much more insight than just a yes, I’m ready to change or no, I’m not.

So. And also, like, one person’s 7 may be very different than another person’s 7, so asking them to expand on that. If you’re an 8 out of 10 on your readiness to make changes, what would it take to get you to an 8 or a 9? Or, I said eight, right? A nine or a ten. But also, at the same time, if you’re an eight on the scale of readiness to change, why aren’t you a seven or a six?

Like, tell me why you’re ready. There’s, like, so much power in some of these questions. Okay, and the last category I have here is self determination type questions. So these are questions that boost autonomy in our clients. And I, like, This could be a drinking game on this podcast, the number of times I use the word autonomy and say how important it is to help build autonomy in our clients.

So, how this can sound is, can I suggest some ideas? Before I share my thoughts, what do you think about it? What do you think we should do? Gosh, I just, I read all these questions back and I’m like, they’re so basic but they’re so powerful and that’s what’s so cool. Um, so, can I suggest some ideas? And I know it seems, it seems kind of weird to be the coach and be the expert and be asking for permission to share your ideas with your clients, but the more you can get buy in from your clients, the better.

And especially if it is something that they feel like they’re struggling with or they feel like they’re not capable of doing, asking permission first rather than just telling them what to do is always going to work better. Always. So, and you can also kind of put these together. I know I said, um, like, what do you think we should do?

Or before I share my thoughts, what do you think about it? All of these type of questions where you’re trying to help your clients be in the driver’s seat and help them be the ones who are making the, coming to the conclusions, coming up with the solutions, making the decisions. That’s what we’re really trying to do here with these self determination, autonomy supporting type of questions.

So, and they could be combined in a fashion of like, Hey, I have some ideas for you, but before I share those, I’d love to hear what ideas you have. Or, can you tell me about a time where you went through something like this in the past and what you did about it? Then and just any sort of way that you can get more buy in and help your clients be in the driver’s seat because even still like if if someone’s feeling maybe they’re giving you like a little clients are giving you a little bit of pushback on doing something or going in a certain direction, but you really are like I feel like this is going to be really good for them to ask them.

If you can share those ideas first, so hey, I have some thoughts, I have some directions of where we can go, but ultimately, you know yourself best, you’re the expert on your life, and what’s going to work well for you. Is it cool if I share these ideas? I know they’ve worked for other clients in the past, but it’s totally cool if you don’t want to go that direction.

So then they go, yeah, like I want to hear those ideas, I’m down to hear those, I’m, you’re getting buy in from the person. So then you share those ideas, and even if, Even if they wouldn’t have been super down for those ideas maybe to begin with, they are going to be more open minded because they said, Yes, I want to hear your ideas.

They are bought into at least listening to what you have to say and having an open mind for that time period. Not to say that you, like, I don’t think you should be going out there and suggesting things to your clients that they don’t want to do. That’s not necessarily what I’m saying here, but We’ve all been in those positions where we’re like, I think that this could work really well, but I’m just like not sure if they’re going to be down for it based on maybe past experiences or just like them feeling like down in the dumps with their progress or it could be anything, right?

So if you’re wanting to really be cautious. But make sure your clients are still willing to listen to you. The more permission asking and buy in getting that you do, the better. Okay. Those are the four different categories. Obviously, there are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of different questions you could be asking your clients that can help support from a mindset behavior change and psychological perspective.

And What’s really beautiful is that once you really just under, start to understand human behavior, decision making, and like the science behind this stuff, it’s a lot easier to start to come up with those questions on your own without it just having to be like a plug and play from, from me, like from this podcast or the PDF download that you’ll find in the show notes with all of those questions in there.

So. Just remember that there’s, there’s so much to all of this, and it really, as much as I love doing episodes like this, or sharing content, or giving you guys quick, like, plug and play, templated stuff, type of stuff that you can, like, so easily insert into your coaching, just remember that The power really comes from the understanding.

And the reason I can do anything that I do, or my students can, is because they understand client psychology and human behavior. And that, like, having that baseline level of knowledge allows you to just, like, go off in so many other directions and feel so much more confident in your coaching. That was the best compliment that I got from a handful of the coaches when we wrapped up the call today, was just how much more confident they feel in what they’re doing.

I just, I love what I do, guys. I really, really do. And thank you. Thank you for giving me a place to sit here in these super bright lights. I keep looking at them and I’m like, stop. It’s like, don’t look at the sun. Um, thank you for giving me a place to share all of this and support you. I’m just feeling super, super grateful as I am all of the time, but extra grateful today as we’re wrapping up the, the ninth cohort of HMCC.

And as you’re listening to this, it’s probably February. Probably February and we are opening up the spring and the 10th round of the health mindset coaching certification, the spring round of 2025, the 10th round, it’s a big deal. We also have a lot of changes coming to the, to the platform where we’re hosting the program and just like so much, so many upgrades coming in 20, 20 to 2025 in general.

So if you’re interested at all. The link is always in the show notes to add yourself to the waitlist, so you’re getting details on when enrollment opens, and you also get five free lessons as soon as you add yourself to the waitlist. So, waitlist plus five free lessons, it’s a good combo. And of course, my DMs are always open if you have any questions, comments, concerns, additions, what have you, I’m there.

Thank you again for being here, and I’ll see you next time.