The Journey of a Business Coach
Working as a Business Coach was harder than Thulani expected it to be. He felt exhausted after 2 sessions, and he was continually behind in his work. This was certainly not how his business was meant to run. Thulani engaged with a Business Coach to unpack his own methods of running his business, as well as to gain insight into how a successful Business Coach operates.
This was the start of a new chapter in his Business Coaching business. Thulani’s Business Coach encouraged him to take note of his routines and rituals. He realised that we all have habits, routines and rituals which we perform all the time without being aware of them.
Routines are a process-driven approach to behaviour and focus on the ‘what’. These are a sequence of actions which are often intended to turn good behaviours into habits. This means that the behaviour will become natural and Thulani won’t even realise he is performing certain functions[i].
Rituals, on the other hand, are a purpose-driven approach, which focuses on the why[i]. Rituals or ceremonies are specific actions that we perform that give ordinary tasks or objects meaning. Such as washing in a certain way, performing a wedding ceremony, or interacting with your clients along your own specified methodology. A ritual is something that is meaningful to you.
This made sense to Thulani. He started to notice how his day formed around his routines and the rituals he performed both in and outside of his business.
Thulani started to read up on the contrast between conscious and unconscious behaviour. He learnt that there is a very broad spectrum of rituals and routines that can become habits through learning[ii]. He also discovered that neuroscience provides significant insight into why rituals and routines work[iii]. Neuroscientists have identified the brain mechanisms which form rituals and routines[iv]. Some of these include the activation of a reward system, the formation of habit pathways, and creating neural networks which are then associated with certain behaviours.
This intrigued Thulani as he discovered that his reward system would be activated when something that is meaningful to him happens, such as achieving something that he wanted. This activation releases the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is associated with motivation and pleasure.
Thulani realised that by continually repeating an action, his reward system would form the habit by creating neural pathways which make these actions easier to perform[v]. Therefore, repetition of certain actions would lead to him automatically doing things unconsciously, because of these neural pathways.
When he read further, Thulani learnt that neural networks are neurons which store memories and form associations between behaviours and their associated rewards[vi]. This would allow his brain to link behaviour with a sense of satisfaction each time he performed that action.
Understanding how his neurological processes aided his formation of habits and routines, Thulani felt more at ease with the knowledge that the more he practised the behaviours he wanted to embed, indeed, the more these behaviours would be embedded.
With a keen interest in understanding neurological processes, Thulani read another blog from SA Business Coaches on “Skills of the Coach: Using Neuroscience”, from August 2022.
Feeling well educated and well equipped, Thulani spent time contemplating how he wanted to behave, what habits he wanted to form, and which routines would serve him best in his Business Coaching practice. He drew comfort in the fact that the more he did what he felt would enable him, the more his brain would reinforce this behaviour.
To learn more about becoming a qualified business coach, look at SA Business Coaches: Coach Training.
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