Category Archives for "coaching"

Maybe it’s because I have just finished trying to read Friedrich Nietzsche’s work that I got to thinking about whether philosophy informs coaching. Philosophers tend to be deep thinking and, oftentimes, shy individuals who inhabit academic spaces like universities. I didn’t imagine they’d have much to say about high performance or good insight into solving […]

How to overcome limiting beliefs You are in a situation you find frustrating, you feel boxed in and without choices. What can you do? Your options are both internal and external – you can try to change the circumstance (stay/leave), or the people in the circumstance (convince/negotiate)… most of which in coaching we would call […]

Getting off the (mental health) spectrum: the power of neuroplasticity This article explores how: A mental health diagnosis is not a life sentence Pathologising is not the path out (cognitive redefinition is) Choice gives hope, hope can create a chance at freedom Dr Joseph Michaels, when visiting the facility where Hans Asperger was working with […]

  In a world chasing fame and fortune, it’s not such a bad thing to revise our plans for money, and perhaps even decide to have less. Most business people (especially stand-alone entrepreneurs – or ‘soloists’) struggle in their relationship with money. Why is that? And how can we get back to a place where […]

What comes to mind when you think of Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton? I’ll wager the images which come to mind are very different from Malcolm Turnbull or Bill Shorten. Both Trump and Turnbull are independently wealthy, that’s for sure but would a man like Trump ever be taken seriously in our political landscape? I’m […]

“No change, no degradation, no perversion… in any grade… has monsters half so horrible… as Ignorance and Want” Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol Have you ever drawn up a target or a goal, using the SMART formula, and pursued it with all your effort only to have the target elude you? Perhaps this gave you […]

Have you ever got, when you were stuck thinking on your feet in an interaction that really mattered? Have you reached for mindfulness tools, or confidence tools and found they didn’t deliver the solution? It turns out that beyond the standard suite of assistance we turn to in such times, we have a very powerful […]

Perhaps you know someone who is self sabotaging… experiencing a glass ceiling. Maybe you’ve tried a coaching approach and it hasn’t worked… your client appears to be stuck, or depressed and will not budge. You’re probably dealing with self esteem. As their coach, you might need to develop techniques and strategies for assisting them. Self […]

Work-life balance is important for our clients to achieve because the “life” part of the equation is the support environment for the “work” part. To get better performance at work, our clients need to enhance the environment they are coming from in order to cope with the stress they will face at work.  Getting this […]

The hacker community finds short cuts, fast and effective ways around the system. Hacking has now been applied beyond computers to biology, fitness, skills development and performance enhancement. My interest is in brain hacks – fast ways to create more permanent neuroplastic changes to the brain. Perhaps you’re attempting to hack yourself: playing Lumosity or […]

In my work, both consulting and coaching, the topic of health comes up frequently. Whether it’s an executive working on work-life balance, a client trying to develop the stamina to stick at their goals, or a friend who has hit upon some new research… health always promises to divide opinions. Reasons, motivations can vary wildly, […]

Have you ever wondered who you are, where you get your sense of self from? The answer is your unconscious self, and it may surprise you to learn that we’re largely unconscious beings. That all runs well most of the time, and is especially helpful when high speed physical responses are needed. But things go […]

Have you ever watched a champion tennis player get in the zone? He might bounce the ball three times, spin the racquet twice, cough and then… slam the ball. That athlete and thousands like him use a physical (somatic) process to build state changes (mental, biochemical and emotional) that cascade back down to a higher […]

Have you ever observed that one client appears to be very responsive to your coaching, and another is very reserved? They both get great outcomes, but one of them comes across as kind of resistant. It surprises you when, after the coaching, they say how profound it was – yet you never saw that reflected […]

Choosing a coach can be fraught with danger. The industry is full of wild animals: dodgy suppliers and non-accredited coaches roam the wilderness. This is a big investment of time, energy and finances so getting it right is really important. What can you do to carefully select the right provider? Here are our top nine […]

I woke up one morning and my stomach felt like it had been tied in knots. You know the feeling – the uncomfortable mass that sits there and just won’t go away. Anxiety manifests itself in other ways too… uneasiness, heart palpitations, sweaty outbreaks, sleeplessness, dizziness or nausea. Depending on the day that worrisome feeling […]

Have you ever sat in a pool till it was perfectly still? Was it really perfectly still? Try as you might, even the slightest muscle twitch sends ripples through the water. Our lives are just like that. We may try to isolate ourselves or convince ourselves that the choices we make and the things we […]

We’ve all been there.  Whether coaching a client or even in casual conversation with someone, we later reflect and ask ourselves:  “how did I miss that cue that could have taken me to the real issue?”  “How did I miss the inferences, the body language…how did I not hear what he or she was really […]

It is very easy to make assumptions about why people do the things they do and it is just as easy to be wrong in the assumptions we make. I was thinking about this the other day when I was reflecting on the journeys of my clients with eating disorders. I know many people who […]

Your success at building great rapport with clients and moving them to cause depends a great deal on your capacity to connect at heart level.  Recently I had my first coaching session with a new client in a Job Service Agency where I provide life coaching services to the long-term unemployed.  With closed body language […]

Have you ever had a sense that you don’t deserve the success you have experienced? Perhaps one day you will be found out and then you’ll get kicked out, or laughed at. This feeling only gets worse as we rise or succeed. Suzanne Mercier in an article about the Imposter Syndrome writes, “The syndrome is […]

If you are anything like me, some days are tough. In fact, some weeks or even months can be tough. Things don’t work out like you hoped, planned or even strived for. You begin to feel down or, dare I say it, even a little depressed. We all want to be successful, or at the […]

No one wants to end up on the wrong side of the law. Getting caught up in a legal battle is invariably expensive and the cost goes way beyond the hip pocket. It is time consuming, energy draining, emotionally taxing and can often be highly damaging to one’s reputation. Fortunately, as far as we are […]

“We are not offering a treatment plan or a therapy. We are offering options, choice and the possibility of planning a different future” Dr. Ian Snape, on the Nature of Coaching In today’s wellness focused environment we see more working together between medical doctors, psychologists and life coaches. And that’s great. I have a client, […]

How often do you hear people excuse their bad behaviour by saying, ‘it’s just the way I am’, ‘I’ve always been this way’ or ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’? The truth is, it really is just an excuse. If you are over 40 and you haven’t paid any attention to brain research […]

When I tell you that your mouth and your weight are directly linked I bet you probably think I am stating the obvious. In fact, you may even feel a little offended. Either way, my guess is that you have assumed that I am referring to the impact of the food you are eating. While […]

The Top 5 Issues of Being a Celebrity Guest Blog By Patrick Wanis PhD Celebrity Life Coach and Human Behavior Expert Have you ever dreamed about being rich and famous – about being a celebrity? Imagine the glamorous parties, the red carpet, flying in your own private jet to exclusive islands, being showered with gifts, […]

If you follow our blog you may have seen a recent Coach Mentor Podcast episode where the host, Robert Holmes was guest interviewed by Relationship and Celebrity Coach, Patrick Wanis about the neurological differences between men’s and women’s brains. These differences have significant implications for relationships because it affects the way men and women experience […]

Many people imagine the perfect life to be one where it is all smooth sailing, a tropical paradise, simple peaceful and fun. Unfortunately, that is not the way most of us experience life. Storms come, clouds block the sun, the wind whips us and things turn ugly – its just the way it goes. Life […]

We need to carve out our area of expertise for a number of reasons. Primary among them are to pitch our unique angle or take on things to media. Everyone is an expert in something, and we all have a story to tell. Becoming perceived by the industry as an expert has beautiful side effects […]

I have to admit that I have been a bit of a skeptic about some of the more abstract coaching technologies like Neuro Linguistic Programing (NLP). In my early days of coaching the majority of NLP ideas and concepts I encountered made little sense to me – in fact, it all looked a lot like […]

When I talk with people about why they want to lose weight, I’m constantly told, “I want to be healthy and happy” and I am not surprised – of course we all want to be healthy and happy. What surprises them is that I don’t really believe them. We are wired to pursue pleasure and […]

Matt Waldron has been a personal leadership coach for over 15 years. He has worked in a variety of executive leadership, program management and frontline case worker roles within the community service, whilst simultaneously building his private coaching business, SHIFT Life Coaching. Matt’s passion is to inspire, empower and equip people to unlock their potential […]

In 2012, Life and Leadership coach Kylie Cullinan extended her coaching skills by taking further training with Frazer Holmes Coaching. Since then she has contracted with us to provide coaching in employment agencies at Bega and Merimbula, and is thrilled to be able to be making a difference in lives of people who have faced […]

Have you seen the latest Jenny Craig advertisement? Magda Szubanski has come back to Jenny Craig again! You can check out her story here I agree with Magda on one thing… Jenny Craig works… but only when you are on the program. Weight loss programs like Jenny Craig rarely if ever result in permanent weight […]

Disagreeableness is an important psychometric, and forms part of one’s personality. People who are highly agreeable are basically people-pleasers – the typical second born bridge builder – the peace maker. People who are highly disagreeable basically don’t give a tinker’s cuss what other people think of them or their actions. I’m sure with a bit […]

Coaching in an organisation adds a layer of complexity to the stakeholder management and contracted agreement. Hear John Raymond from the IECL on coaching through complexity.

Worried about client expectations, changing goals and moving deadlines? Ann Whyte discusses coaching in the stakeholder triangle.

Check out Robert Holmes’ latest article (published in the most recent edition of the International Coaching News). Take time today to discover your very own secret sauce, and relish the fact that you are you!    

Are you sick and tired of trying harder and still getting the same results? In this episode, peak performance coach Jaemin Frazer shares his insights on harnessing the power of state and internal beliefs for creating powerful, effective and lasting change.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Christmas will soon be upon us. After the hype settles down, we will be into 2014, and some of us will make New Year’s resolutions. On this note, I want to share some great news with you: you CAN make amazing New Year’s resolutions that will have a profound […]

Your working memory can only handle 3 or 4 pieces of information at a time. This single idea has wide reaching implications for coaching, training, education and preparation of powerpoints.

Listen to Professor John Sweller, author of Cognitive Load Theory discuss how memory works and how to improve it in this interview with Robert Holmes.

Maintaining Your Motivation Fantastic tips on improving and maintaining your motivation! Neurology, motivation and coaching. Dr. Robert Holmes writes for Coach Link magazine (ICF Asia Pacific). Click here for the full article extract

How do you add value to your client… or even know what it is they value most? Dr. Roy Barton is Australia’s foremost expert on values management and managing values propositions. Robert interviews Roy about the importance of discovering values in your clients, and adding value to them on the way through.

Got trouble at home? Mixed up kids? Well “Don’t Bring it to Work” says Listen to Dr. Sylvia LaFair. Robert discusses the importance of dealing with origins and the learned patterns of behaviour (the relationship game).

A Hero’s Journey I recently hosted a webinar presentation on Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is one of the most powerful coaching tools I have come across, which results in great questions, often well timed in my client’s lives.

Build resilience into your business, strengthen your leaders. John Sautelle, one of Australia’s finest Action Learning coaches discusses the resilience model he is working with, and how to implement it in coaching.

How many times have you had a flat tyre? My father drove for thirty years and never had one, my brother drove trucks (22 wheelers) and never had one,  Mario my friend has had one in thirty years. I just had two in two days.