“We all must figure out what’s true
about ourselves, and then use the
strategies that will work for us.”
CW: How can
understanding the science
of habits help coaches
better serve their clients?
GR: When we understand how
people may be different from
us, or like us, we can do a better
job of tailoring our message to
their needs. I think that coaches
have a particularly important
role to play for Obligers. Obligers
need external accountability to
meet their inner expectations
for themselves—and working
with a coach is a terrific way to
get outer accountability. The fact
is, with external accountability,
Obligers do a terrific job of
keeping their habits; without it,
they struggle. Over and over,
people have said to me, “Now
that I know I’m an Obliger, I’ve
figured out how to give myself
external accountability, and for
the first time, I’m managing to go
to the gym/paint regularly/take
my medication/bring lunch from
home/start my business.”
CW: Our theme for this
issue of Coaching World
is business development.
Every coach wants to grow
his or her business, but we
know that many struggle
to make this happen. How
might a coach apply the
principles in Better
Than Before to business
development?
GR: There are 21 strategies, so
lots of possibilities:
• They might use the Strategy of
Monitoring, to see how much
work they’re actually doing to
grow their business (we often
over-estimate how much we
do helpful things).
• They might use the Strategy
of Accountability to hold
themselves accountable for
meeting certain targets or aims.
• They might use the Strategy
of Pairing: “I can only shower
on a day that I make 3
networking emails.”
• They might use the Strategy
of Abstaining: “I will never
visit Facebook from my home
computer again.”
• They might use the Strategy of
the Clean Slate: “I just moved,
and my habit in my new home
office is that I’m going to start
the day by making the phone
calls that I need to make.”
• And so on!
When it comes to
habits, are you an
Upholder, an Obliger a
Questioner or a Rebel?
Find out by taking Gretchen
Rubin’s Four Tendencies quiz at
www.bit.ly/HabitsQuiz.
17
• They might use the Strategy of
Foundation to make sure that
their self-command is high. It’s
hard to make demands on
yourself when you’re exhausted
and hungry, and your desk is
stacked high with paper!
Coaching World
By contrast, Questioners need
answers to their questions, so
the role of a coach would be less
about providing accountability
and more about laying the
groundwork of research and
explanation for why it makes
sense to follow a particular
course of action. Questioners
want to know why.
And for Rebels—well, Rebels can
do whatever they want to do.
A coach can play an important
role in reminding them of their
identity and of what they want
so that they have the desire to
follow through.