Gaining self confidence is important to us all because from time to time we all get ours dented, which is why I have put together a simple strategy for building your self confidence - just follow these steps below:

• Remind yourself of previous successes.

Have a think about when you last did something well or were sucessful and take some time to think about the strengths and the skills you used. By doing this exercise it will give you an opportunity to praise yourself. Write down a positive statement that supports your strengths and skills.

 
For example, I am great at communicating because I smile and I always have a positive frame of mind towards all of my clients. Start telling yourself this affirmation of your good qualities at least 3 times daily until you firmly believe in your qualities.

 

• Picture a successful future for yourself.

When you set future goals it is important that you visualise what your success will be like. To do this you should build into your vision as many of your senses as possible because the richer the vision the more likely success will be achieved. Think about how success smells – ‘the sweet smell of success’, or how it tastes – ‘taste the victory’, or how it feels – ‘you feel your victory’, or sounds – ‘I can hear the applause ringing in my ears’, and how does it look – ‘I can see my great achievements clearly’. You could also paint this in your mind in full colour or draw a mind map or create a picture on a piece of paper. This will be your future goal so design it the way that suits you best.
 

• Reframe past mistakes

‘If at first you don’t succeed try and try again’. As a friend or a parent you would tell someone else to pick themselves up and have another go. As one door closes another one opens. Starting to look at past failures as critical learning means that every failure leads towards your final success. What would you do differently, how would you improve what you have done before, what areas of development are needed?

 

• Creating self-confidence by using goals

SMART goals will help you achieve. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed.

Achieving goals is a powerful tool to boost your confidence. Firstly, set your future goals - the life goals - the ones that you described in detail and are linked to your positive statement. Then set some short term goals that complement your life goals. When you achieve these short term goals it will make you feel good. By feeling good you will become more confident and then be able to set more goals and so a positive reinforcement of your strengths is set in place.

You have now put in place four steps to help you build your confidence - you have focused on your strengths, you have reminded yourself of these by building positive statements about yourself, you have looked at past mistakes and reframed them so that they become learning opportunities and finally you have some goals to achieve that will build your self esteem and confidence. 

So walk tall, feel proud and smile.

If you want to know more about goal setting and what a useful tool this is - for both yourself as an ADI and your client - then come along on our next BTEC 4 course in Newport Pagnell on September 17th. 

‘I think its OK to do 35mph in a 30mph speed limit'  

How can coaching help overcome this common problem?  

 An essential coaching ingredient is the ability to develop rapport and trust so that your client can be honest with you without the fear of being judged and told you must not do that. If a client says, ‘I think its OK to do 35mph in a 30mph speed limit’

If you immediately say, ‘That’s against the law, you shouldn’t do that!’ the likely outcome is they won’t do it again while they are with you or on any type of driving test. The problem is what will they do once they have left you. Giving people the opportunity to explore their behaviour in a safe learning environment will help give drivers the ability to self-evaluate and develop a level of emotional control. To be able to do this they must be allowed to think freely and work out safe and sensible solutions so they can develop themselves in a post-test environment.

  Coaching though isn’t easy – not if you want to do it well. You may have experienced a common answer when rapport has not been successfully established - you know the one ‘I dunno’
 

 However, coaching someone successfully can be a profoundly rewarding and inspiring experience, especially when you see the benefits for yourself and your clients.
 

I have some questions for you to ponder on below:

 - What makes a great coach?

   - What skills and attributes do you already have?

 - Which ones do you need to develop?

 Coaches have a number of important skills, including: 

• Listening
• Communicating
• Questioning
• Feedback
• Emotional intelligence and intuition

Developing these skills helps to develop trust. To be a great coach it is essential to develop self-awareness by developing our own emotional intelligence.

 Emotional intelligence is made up of five elements:
  

1. Self-Awareness – This is being able to look inward, think deeply about your behavior, and consider how it aligns with your moral standards and values.
  

2. Self-Regulation – This determines how far you can control your emotions, feelings and impulses.
  

3. Motivation – People with high emotional intelligence know how to delay immediate gratification in exchange for long-term success. By focusing on building this skill, you can coach others to do the same.
 

4. Empathy – Empathy is putting yourself in other people’s shoes, and understanding their perspectives better. This trait is incredibly important in coaching.
 

5. Social Skills – People with high emotional intelligence know how to build and maintain good relationships.

If you are interested in developing your essential coaching skills then the BTEC Level 4 Professional Award in Coaching for Driver Development is just for you.

To enrol now just click here - we have an easy payment plan that starts from as little as £25 per week. If you book now we will include Practical Teaching Skills for ADIs, co-authored by our co-Managing Director Susan McCormack. 
Book now to get this special offer which is available for our next course in Newport Pagnell on Thursday 17th September.