Category: SageCraft Life Coaching Novice course -The Basic 100

HOW YOU CAN BE A MIRACLE WORKER!

How does SageCraft Christian Life Coaching work to produce change? As a SageCraft practitioner, you are a Minister and a DISCIPLE MAKER. You fill the role of a “Spiritual Director”. Relying on God’s Word and the power of the indwelling Spirit of God (in both YOU and your Client) You can be instrumental in facilitating Change, Learning, Growth, and Achievement in your Life Coaching Clients. You can do it all with the Word of God, and some simple well-developed skills of conversation.

THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED ARE RELATED

A model, borrowed from Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, can help illustrate how God’s Word will influence every stage of your thinking processes. It shows the basic flow of thought and the accompanying emotional consequences. “A“, in the model below, begins with your perception and assessment of an activating event. (1st Something occurs, and then “B” you form a belief, and an assessment of that event/adversity, based on your beliefs.)

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ opens up a “Point in the Heart” (a Spiritual Perception) that begins to expand from the moment you open up your heart and invite Him to come in.

>Biblical Qualifications< for a SageCraft Christian Life Coach

Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you to will and to act to fulfill his good purpose.”. This verse is cause to rejoice! This verse tells us that from the moment we embrace the Gospel; from the second we repent and ask God to forgive us; from the exact time we ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into our heart, forgive our sins and save our soul, the Holy Spirit resides in us and gives us NEW LIFE. He then begins the process of transforming us into the image of God’s Son. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

Ultimately, your perception and assessment of “A” (the activating events) will be transformed. You (and your Client) will begin to view the events, or circumstances, from a more Godly, Biblical perspective.

AN added benefit, to YOU, as a SageCraft Practitioner, is that you can witness for yourself the transforming power of God’s work, in the hearts and lives of those you minister to. You will also have the satisfaction of a “Job Well Done” when you see the changes with your own eyes.

The goal of all Life Coaching, every tool, every skill, every model, every process, and every framework is CHANGE. The Client wants (or SHOULD want) to change from what they have currently, to something else that they believe is more desirable. Behavior change is the most important tool for changing one’s results.

“All counseling [and SageCraft Christian Life Coaching] has to do with changes in beliefs, judgments, values, relationships, behavior, and other such moral elements of life. Sin in human life has led to distortions of life in each of these categories” – Jay Adams

From the Book: “Ready to Restore-a Layman’s Guide to Christian Counseling”

The dominant model for the human change process today is known as the “TRANSTHEORETICAL Model”. (Below) This model summarizes stages in the overall process of changing human behavior. It maps out the stages that nearly everyone goes through to resolve “ambivalence’ toward change of every kind. As a Life Coach, this model can be quite useful.

“The Word of God CHANGES people. It changes their thinking, changes their decisions, and changes their behavior“-Jay Adams

It is referred to as the “TRANS theoretical model” because the prefix “Trans“(From the Latin meaning “across, over, or beyond.”) indicates that it goes above and beyond any single school of thought in Psychology, and it crosses the boundaries of all theoretical models.

It doesn’t matter whether you favor Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic, Rogerian Counseling, Operant Conditioning, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, etc. … or just plain ol’ commonsense CONVERSATIONAL CHANGE

SageCraft Christian Life-Coaching is also a “transtheoretical” process.-Rich Dallas Achology Certified Life Coach.

The model applies to any-and-all of them. It can be useful to you as a Life Coach. A person who is ambivalent about change may go through these stages quickly or slowly, but the idea is that they WILL go through, pretty much, ALL of them, no matter your school of thought. Just as in the example of the Kubler-Ross model of grief, the process is mapped out.

USEFUL LEARNING TOOL:

…DEVELOPED IN THE CONTEXT OF HELPING PROBLEM DRINKERS AND DRUG ABUSERS…IT HAS BROADER APPLICATIONS…LIKE LIFE COACHING.

This model was first developed in the context of clients who have substance abuse problems. It is readily adaptable to the Life Coaching process. Some of them were quite seriously addicted. It is widely taught by The US Government S.A.M.H.S.A. organization. Click on the image for their website. (Come back when you’re done!)

It was found that this model has much broader applications: The interesting thing is that this model applies to ANY kind of behavior change; Overeating, Smoking cessation, Life Coaching, Goal setting, Habit Change, even behaviors having to do with changing patterns of THOUGHT, and earning and saving money. The following article will provide you a more well-rounded introduction to this model:

This model has been discussed in several recent self-help books. It is described as a useful tool to guide your self-development. As a Life Coach, you might consider using it as an “orienting framework”. It helps you map out your client in the change process. You might consider printing the circular model out and committing it to memory.

Once that’s done, you can then ask questions of your client to determine what your client’s goals are, and where they are in the change process. Then you would use certain prescribed interventions for each stage, attempting to guide them through to the change process toward what they most desire. As a Life Coach, your task is then to help your client set a Well-Formed Outcome. That is a clear picture of what they want, as opposed to what they have.

Each of our brains is a “Cybernetic Goal-Striving Mechanism”. Once you’ve helped someone set A WELL-FORMED outcome, you’ve already started the change process – Rich Dallas – Achology Certified Life Coach

It seems obvious that a Life Coach should have a relatively high degree of Genuine Learning and Wisdom. But what is WISDOM? Through the millennia, the term has been hard to define. Philosophers have worked on the problem of defining what constitutes real “Wisdom”:

More recently, Academics and Social Scientists have studied what the elements of Wisdom are. More about that later.

EARLY 1970’s, I PRAYED FOR WISDOM:

My interest in Gaining Wisdom began in my early teens. I remember praying to the Lord to give me the Wisdom to direct my life. Much more recently, (40 years later) I was participating in a Church group. That was around 2015. A woman, whom I respect, challenged me and said: “Rich, I am going to give you an assignment, of sorts. I want you to research what WISDOM truly is.” I knew, even before then, that Wisdom and Truth are vitally important. They are critical to your overall happiness and success.

THIS WEBSITE IS THE RESULT OF MY RESEARCH ON WISDOM, AND IT’S APPLICATION TO THE PROBLEMS OF EVERYDAY LIVING. I CALL THIS APPLICATION, “SAGECRAFT“

Wisdom can enhance performance in your workplace, your organization, and your business. I have learned that Wisdom can soothe your anxieties, calm your fears, and lift you from depression. It can guide you in a new direction that can revolutionize your life. Wisdom can do this for me, for YOU and for those you love; –Rich Dallas-Author/Editor of SagePath.

In addition to defining Wisdom, and trying to gather it for me, I wanted to gain insight into how to help OTHERS apply Wisdom to their own lives. I have come to a couple of conclusions. What is Wisdom? MY definition is simple:

“WISDOM IS THE PERCEPTION OF TRUTH“

Wisdom is the ability to discern TRUTH about yourself, about others, about the world, and God. It is only by determining Truth, ALL Of IT, that you will ever have even the slightest chance at real, lasting happiness and success. Basing your life, or business decisions on anything else is to court disaster and mediocrity. You must look for Truth about your every situation, condition, thing, person, place, or process. And, if you are Wise, you will help others do the same

“Truth or REALITY exists outside of any human consciousness. It is “Mind Independent”. Truth is absolute. It is incumbent upon each of us to adapt our perceptions to that reality therefore, Wisdom is the Perception of Truth”– Rich Dallas

STRATEGIES FOR DISCERNING TRUTH

I was a Criminal Justice and Police Sciences major. I also studied “Introduction to Philosophy” in College. I’ve learned a lot through coursework in Logic & Critical Thinking.

I also have logged 650+ clock hours of education, in Mental Health, Counseling, and Life Coaching Studies. Certainly, that’s enough to have established at least a MINOR in Psychology.

I served as a Military Policeman, and later I was a Licensed Private Detective …

…I learned strategies and approaches to search out TRUTH, even when others are trying to hide or distort it. So, what is “Truth”?

“…Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality. In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, propositions, and declarative sentences.

“Most commonly, truth is viewed as the correspondence of language or thought to a “mind-independent world”. This is called the correspondence theory of truth.”– Wikipedia

LIFE COACHING TOOLS TO HELP OTHERS

I also concluded that to best serve others, in discovering Wisdom and applying it to their own lives, I needed some effective TOOLS to help them do so. I began to study this concept of

“Life Coaching”…>

WORKING THIS “CONVERSATIONAL CHANGE MODEL“

“The more you focus on “Change Talk and Solutions”, in your Coaching conversations, the more likely it is that your Client will be able to facilitate lasting positive change. “

D.A.R.N.C.A.T. is an acronym. It is another “Conversational Change Model”. Meaning: You can help people make positive, lasting changes in their lives, in the course of an ordinary conversation. This acronym provides a checklist of questions. This checklist gives you guidance for things you can ask your Client/Loved ones about. The strength of the D.A.R.N.C.A.T. model is in its planned structure.

“Both the “DARNCAT” (from Motivational Interviewing) and “MECSTAT ” (from Solution-Focused-Brief-Therapy) conversational models can provide a potent, effective Skillset for the aspiring Life Coach” -Rich Dallas- Achology Certified Life Coach.

Much like the “MECSTAT model“, the “D.A.R.N.CA.T.” model assists you in drawing out Change Talk from your Life Coaching Client. The more you focus on Change Talk, and Solutions, the more likely it is that your Client will be able to facilitate lasting positive change.

This model comes from Motivational Interviewing (MI) – By Miller and Rollnick). Motivational Interviewing is one of the more potent, Evidence-Based modalities, for Life Coaching out there. The DARNCAT model was originally devised as a checklist for professional counselors and therapists. They were working with people who suffer from addictions.

If you examine the questions in the D.A.R.N.C.A.T. model questions and give thought to the rationale for their use, you will see that the model is very readily adaptable to an extraordinary range of Life Coaching situations. – Rich Dallas-Achology Certified Life Coach

They needed a strategy to guide therapeutic conversations toward the decision to change stop using drugs. If you examine the questions and give thought to the rationale for their use, you will see that the model is very readily adaptable to an extraordinary range of Life situations.

There are similarities differences between the DARNCAT and MECSTAT models. You should get a feel for both.

GET ‘EM TALKING ABOUT CHANGE:

The more you get the client to talk about CHANGE, the more likely they are to do so. The D.A.R.N.C.A.T. Model will help you remember the seven types of change talk, that you want to elicit from your Life Coaching Clients.

These questions help direct your Life Coaching Client/Loved ones through the changes they want to make; the reasons why they want to make them, and the reasons they NEED to make them. The questions you ask a Client/Loved one, are arranged into coherent clusters.

The clusters evoke CHANGE TALK. Each cluster of questions is designed to help your Client resolve Ambivalence and indecision in their mind. They resolve the ambivalence about changes they want to make. Using the model, you can help this process along, systematically and gradually.

That way, you will be able to move from one cluster of questions to the next, and even back and forth between the clusters, without interrupting the flow of your conversation.

Look at the diagram below. To evoke and fuel discussion about change (What Miller and Rollnick call “CHANGE TALK“) the D.A.R.N.C.A.T. Model focuses on some key areas:

TRAINING TIP: AUDIO RECORD THE MEANING OF EACH LETTER IN THIS ACRONYM, SO YOU HAVE IT MEMORIZED. THEN, PRACTICE ON EVERYONE, WHETHER THEY PAY YOU OR NOT.

• D -ESIRE – Take the opportunity to ask the Client why they might DESIRE to make changes in their work or personal life. What do they have NOW? What’s GOOD about what they have now? ASK: What do you like about the way things are now? What change(s) do you need to make? Why would you want to make this change? What’s important to you about making this change? What specifically would you alter, or improve, in considering a change? Why do you want to make his change NOW? Asking: “Why … NOW“? presupposes they are going to make the change, and that they are going to do so, right away.
• A -BILITY – Discuss the idea that they do have the ability to implement change. Ask: Is it within your ability to make the change NOW? On a scale of 1-10, how much do you believe in your ability to make this change? What would it take to bring it within your ability to change, NOW?
• R -EASONS -What reasons might you have to make this change?
• N -EED -Why do you NEED to change? What need(s) would changing satisfy?
• C -OMMITMENT – Are you committed to getting results? What will the results look like? Will you decide to make these changes? How soon do you want this change to occur? How will you know that you have taken steps to ensure that these changes are occurring? What are you willing to do to make them happen?
• A -CTIVATION – Ready, Willing, and Prepared for change. This is purely an attitudinal and cognitive (Mental) choice/agreement/assent to the choice to begin working toward change.
• T -AKING STEPS – This component is about the ACTION steps that you need to take to affect real change. It is about BEHAVIOR. What steps could you take right now, TODAY, to move you in a positive direction? What actions will you take?

“Practice Life Coaching on everybody, whether they pay you or not.”

THE MEDICINE WOMAN SPEAKS:

I once visited a Wise old Woman who lived in a well-appointed woodland cottage in Hubbard Lake, MI (North Shore). I talked with her amount my recent diagnosis of Depression and Anxiety.

WISE CURE FOR ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION?

THE MEDICINE WOMAN SPEAKS:

The locals lovingly referred to her as “THE MEDICINE WOMAN”. That name was given her, because of her cultivation and knowledge of the medicinal value of the numerous herbs. She grew them in her garden. It was also because of her special brand of genuine, HARD-EARNED Wisdom. She said: “I don’t care what these so-called ‘shrinks” or Psychologists or Psychiatrists tell you. Most are over-educated nitwits. They remind me of witch-doctors; prescribing you all these anti-depressants. There is only ONE single cause of your Depression, Worry, and Anxiety”. She wrote on a piece of paper, with an arthritic hand, a list. She slid it across the table to me.

It said:

1. Self-Absorption
2. Self-Centeredness
3. Self-Aggrandizement
4. Self-Esteem
5. Self-Pity
6. Self-Loathing
7. Self-Degradation

With a glint of humor in her eye, she leaned across the table toward me and said: “Do you see a pattern here…SON?”… “You lack humility. Humility doesn’t mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself… LESS!…Even this stuff about the so-called “poor self -esteem” is a load o’ CRAP!! This Self Esteem is a DELUSION! It’s just another excuse to stay wrapped up in “ME! ME! ME!” Go out and serve others…be more concerned about what worries THEM, and you’ll have less time to ruminate over your so-called troubles. Quit yer’ whining. Your SO-CALLED ‘depression’ will fix ITSELF!”… “You’ll be fine”.

Yeah … that was my mother. It still took a while, and I still have my moments, but I have been OFF of anti-depressants for quite a long time now. Wise Advice.

Life Coaching Lessons at >SagePath< on Facebook

“IMAGINE YOURSELF HAVING LIVED TEN LIFETIMES”

…All in good health, and with the youth and vigor of a 35-year-old. Think of all you could learn; the knowledge you could gain and the Wisdom & experience you will have acquired. At that point, you would have learned everything you needed to know, and all the wisdom you required, to make your life “work”… (and work FABULOUSLY).

By this time, you will have traveled down every dead end, made every mistake, and committed every folly. You will have benefited from witnessing the missteps, setbacks, and obstacles endured by others. You will have tested every one of your “hair-brained”, nonsensical or immature ideas. You will have sorted out what just DOESN’T WORK in the real world, from that which DOES WORK. You will have divested yourself of all your unknowing self-deceptions. This is a plan for the development of Wisdom.

How much “WISDOM” could you acquire? What contentment could you create in your own life? How profoundly could you affect the lives of everyone around you for the better? What measure of abundance could you draw to yourself? What could you make of your life? What could you build? What relief, encouragement, and joy could your words of Wisdom create for your loved ones?

What if you could find a way to gather that wisdom in just a single lifetime?… HOW ABOUT HALF a lifetime?… One Quarter? There is a way. I call it: “Walking the SagePath” -Rich Dallas-Author/Editor of SagePath ON Facebook

LIFE COACHING AS A “PARAPROFESSION” :

Life Coaching is a PARA-profession, much the same as a PARA-Legal who helps an attorney, a PARA-Medic who helps an emergency room Doctor, or a Chaplain’s Assistant who helps a Pastor or Clergyman. You might conceivably function as a peer counselor, helping people with substance abuse or mental health problems. As an example, the local community college, where I live, has a 2-year “MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATE’S DEGREE” program, that prepares people for exactly that role. (Check out the required core “Psychology” and “Mental Health Associate” courses.)

The primary goal of SageCraft Christian Life Coaching is to facilitate measurable, lasting, positive change, growth, AND ACHIEVEMENT, in the lives, and business organizations, of those you serve, as a Life Coach. Without this ability to help facilitate real-world change, there is little purpose in engaging in any action, as a Life Coach. You will be little more than a “sympathetic ear”.

THE SAGECRAFT LIFE COACHING NOVICE COURSE-BASIC 100. This website, and the accompanying SagePath Facebook page, contains over one hundred basic techniques. They will help you become an EFFECTIVE Life Coach. THINK OF IT! This is a veritable toolbox full of 100 useful methods you can use to help your clients engage, change, and grow! Including:

1. Clear distinctions
2. Workable Techniques
3. Guiding Frameworks
4. Powerful and Effective Change Processes & Procedures
5. Convenient Worksheets
6. Effective Questioning Formats
7. Conversational Change models.

“GENERIC” COACHING SKILLS IN ORGANIZATIONS…IT’S ALL ABOUT DEVELOPING PEOPLE:

“Ideally, every Supervisor and Manager will have generic Coaching Skills. A cluster of these tools has been chosen to assist, organization managers, subordinates, peers, and superiors work more effectively together, sort out conflicts, solve problems, make decisions, and think more creatively.“ – Rich Dallas

“Basic Life Coaching/Counseling Skills” will be invaluable to you in any helping function. BUT, you must be able to produce measurable, real-world results for you Clients. This applies to you if you are a supervisor or manager of people. This is true whether you are a Peer-Support counselor (as I am, with a volunteer Veterans organization), an organizational manager, a Substance Abuse Mentor, or a Prayer Minister with a religious organization. With the right tools, YOU are the Life Coach, and the people you are helping are the “Clients”.

It DOES take experience in the real world. Once you gain some experience APPLYING these tools, there will be no more “Helping and Hoping“. You can have confidence and certainty that your efforts (your interventions) will be useful and effective.

SageCraft Life Coaching draws on a wide range of methods for change. I draw from Basic Psychology, Human Resource Development, Training and Education, Counseling, Sociology, Persuasion, Social Psychology, and Pastoral & Biblical Counseling. You will find, on this website, discussions on techniques and methodologies, similar to those found in the “Mental Health Associate’s Degree”, mentioned earlier.