Coaching is both a science and an art, guiding clients or patients to achieve their goals through support rather than instruction or lecturing. As a clinical dietitian, I’ve written extensively about health, food, and navigating the holidays. But from a coaching perspective, the approach is entirely different—it’s all about you. A coach doesn’t dictate or assume your goals but rather helps you discover and achieve them. Coaching during the holidays, therefore, becomes a reflection of your personal aspirations, just as it is throughout the year. The question is: do you have specific goals for the holiday season? That’s for you to decide.
Let’s explore some common themes people often face during this time of year:
• Health: Holidays are often associated with stress, overindulgence in food and drink, feelings of guilt, and the promise to adopt healthier habits after the New Year.
• Finances: Financial stress is another hallmark of the season, with increased spending followed by resolutions to improve financial stability, set goals, and create actionable plans.
• Personal Growth: Many make promises to themselves or their loved ones—whether it’s getting married, buying a new home, saving for a major purchase, or making lifestyle changes to manage growing responsibilities.
• Family: The holidays often inspire commitments to spend more quality time with family, strengthen relationships, or even start a family.
In essence, the holidays represent a pivotal period for celebration, reflection, and planning. They prompt us to revisit missed opportunities, reevaluate past goals, and identify new ones. This
season also brings heightened self-awareness about our self-worth, security, and overall well-being. However, for many, the year ends with feelings of frustration, unfulfilled dreams, resentment, or disappointment. In response, we often substitute those emotions with optimism, hope, and the resolve to embrace a fresh start.
This is where coaching becomes invaluable. Coaching helps channel the energy of this reflective period into actionable goals and plans. In my book, Ready, Aim, Excel, I emphasize a straightforward approach to goal setting: make your goals GREAT. Goals should be:
• Grounded in your values so they remain meaningful and sustainable.
- Realistic—achievable within your abilities.
- Exciting enough to motivate you throughout the process.
- Attainable and tangible, so you can celebrate the success of achieving them.
• Timely, aligned with what you can realistically accomplish now.
The natural next question is: how can you identify such goals and ensure success? This is where a coach plays a crucial role. Coaching helps you uncover your true potential, define your capabilities, and align your goals with your strengths. Using structured tools and powerful questions, a coach can help you map out a clear, achievable path to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be.
Goal setting is highly personal, and while failures along the way can teach us valuable lessons, coaching offers a proactive approach that minimizes setbacks. Coaching helps you understand yourself better, establish realistic goals, and craft a roadmap for success.
This is the beauty of coaching—it combines self-discovery with practical strategies:
1. Identify who you are.
2. Set meaningful, achievable goals.
3. Develop a clear, actionable plan to achieve them.
Wishing you all a joyful, purposeful, and fulfilling holiday season. Happy Holidays!
المؤلفة: Zeina Ghossoub El-Aswad
العربية 
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