If you’re a highly sensitive person (HSPs) who signed up for life coaching services, chances are you already know it will require an investment of your time, energy, and finances. Naturally, you want to get as much out of your sessions as possible so you can make steady progress and feel like your investment is worth it.

Though your life coach can help you achieve your goals and gain momentum, how quickly you make progress is ultimately up to you. Here are a few things you can do before, during, and after your sessions to maximize the benefits of your sessions and fast-track your success.  

1. Before Your Session

Set Goals for Your Session Before Meeting with Your Coach

Sometimes it’s difficult to know what you want to work on for your session. If you’re like me, it can even cause a bit of stress when you show up to your coaching session without a clear agenda. Alternatively, you might be working through a coaching program where the topic of discussion is chosen for you (even in this case, your coaching sessions should always be open to deviation, depending on your needs as a client).

Either way, it is helpful for you if you have at least an idea of what you’d like to explore. This means you will be able to get to your results quicker, and oftentimes all it takes is setting a few minutes aside to think it through.

If what you want to accomplish in your session hasn’t materialized yet, then jot down three to four things that you think you’d like to discuss. HSPs tend to overthink and overanalyze everything. Couple this with our tendency to doubt our ability to choose the right direction, and we can quickly confuse ourselves. When you trust in the coaching process and allow your coach to ask questions that cause you to think and provide feedback, you will be able to work together to narrow down what’s most important for you to explore.

Create a Safe and Comfortable Coaching Environment

This is a huge one for HSPs! We tend to notice every little detail about our environment, which also means we can get easily distracted. For example, if the room is too cold, the sweater you have on is itching your skin, or your pets are jumping in your lap, it will be easy to get distracted.

Take time to be sure your space is clean, free of potential distractions, and comfortable. This way, you can be truly in the moment, think clearly, and get the full benefits that coaching can offer HSPs.

Utilize Grounding Techniques and Self-Care

Coaching sessions are more effective when you can quiet your mind enough to explore your wants, needs, and emotions deeply. Coaches ask lots of questions and help you see your circumstances through a different lens, so it’s helpful to start your sessions with a clean slate.

Grounding techniques and self-care rituals you might consider implementing before your coaching sessions include:

• meditation

• breathing exercises

• gentle stretching

• listening to music

• taking a short walk

• lighting your favorite candle

These actions will help you get your mind off the outside forces in your life and focus on yourself.

2. During Your Coaching Session

Communicate Openly with Your Coach

As an HSP, it’s important to find a coach with whom you feel comfortable sharing your honest feelings. To be clear, you should never feel pressured to open up in ways you’re not comfortable with. If your coach asks you a question that makes you uncomfortable, say so, and ask to move on. (Remember — the session is for you!)

It’s helpful when your coach knows if you’re going in the right direction together or if you need to pivot. As HSPs, this can be difficult since we might fear a negative reaction from our coach, but honesty will help them guide you toward a better solution. If you’re holding back or not exploring the matter fully in a way that helps you best, you might not get out of the session what you would if you were otherwise open and honest.

Seek Accountability and Take Action

One of the benefits of life coaching is working with someone who holds you accountable. If we are doing things for ourselves, chances are we won’t accomplish much. It’s when we share our goals with someone who cares about our success that we feel a stronger need to achieve them.

But this only works if we’re completely honest with ourselves and the actions we’ve taken (and not taken). To hold yourself accountable, set specific deadlines and commit to follow-up actions so you and your coach have benchmarks established to track your progress.

Also, be honest with your coach about your setbacks so they can help you avoid them in the future. Remember that it’s about progress, not perfection.  

3. After Your Coaching Session

Reflect on and Utilize Lessons Learned

After a coaching session, it’s easy to get up, walk away, and go on with things as usual. Take a moment to review what you’ve discovered about yourself:

• What was the breakthrough that impacted you most during the session?

• What was something you learned about yourself or your circumstances?

• What are the next steps you’ve committed to taking and how will you accomplish them?

This reinforces what you’ve learned and will help you remember what you’ve accomplished and committed to doing between sessions. It also gives you a moment to write down important points or ideas you might have glossed over or missed altogether.

Be Consistent with Your Commitment Over Time

Real change and progress come with time, and consistency will be your greatest friend! Even a little progress each day can add up to big changes in the long run, so do what you can to keep at it. Personal growth is a journey that requires a long-term commitment.

Make a daily checklist or journal about your progress. Also, be sure to reward yourself for all your hard work. HSPs aren’t big fans of a lot of change at once, so as long as you keep your efforts up — even a little bit each day — the progress might not be as jarring, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be profound.

Continue to Get the Most Out of Your Life Coaching Journey

When you’re well-prepared and engaged in the coaching process, you can achieve your goals, overcome your challenges, and experience personal growth even faster. For HSPs, change can be especially difficult. To get gentle support on your journey from fellow HSPs who understand, sign up for your free discovery session and discover if our coaching services are a good fit for your needs.