Make habits actually stick for your coaching clients

Des Cooke

🔥

1h (edited) • Communities

This is a most common failure point in coaching:

Imagine your coaching client had a breakthrough. They did the hard thing.

...and two weeks later, they're right back where they started.

👉 It happens because the change wasn't “embedded”. It never became a real habit.

This brings us to the final, and most crucial, step of 𝗥𝗘𝗪𝗜𝗥𝗘: 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗱. This is where the actual "rewiring" happens.

If your client tries a new behaviour and you say nothing, that habit will wither and die.

You can't just plant the seed and walk away.

You have to be an Active Gardener. You have to water the new habit with intentional, positive feedback.

📢 Here's how you do it:

𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗥𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹.

If a client does zero minutes of exercise, don't ask for sixty. Ask for five. We need to build a staircase of successes.

The goal is to make the next step so easy they can't possibly fail.

𝟮. 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲.

If your client makes 10 sales calls and gets 10 rejections, that is a massive win. Because they showed the courage to do the uncomfortable task.

That's what you reinforce.

Instead of: "𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵!"
Try: "𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘶𝘯."

𝟯. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. By starting small and relentlessly reinforcing the effort, you are building an environment where the new habit is no longer something they have to use willpower for.

It's just what they do.

This is the final 'R' in REWIRE: R = Recode and Embed.

The Complete 𝚁𝙴𝚆𝙸𝚁𝙴 Model:

𝙍 ecognise the Fusion
𝙀 xpose the Frame
𝙒 ork with Discomfort
𝙄 dentify Value-Driven Action
𝙍 ecode and 𝙀 mbed

Look at a client you're working with right now.

What is the one habit they always start but can never make stick?

How can you apply “Recode and Embed” to help them this week?

Drop your thoughts below 👇

This is post 5 of 5 on the REWIRE Method.

This previous post in the series covers the 'I' in REWIRE

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P.S. If you want the exact tools of the behaviour analyst, the interventions, and the checklists to apply this entire framework with your clients tomorrow, check out the REWIRE Engine Workshop on Monday 4th May - check your time zone in the community here

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