What works for me might not work for you. Let’s find something that does work.

I was practicing coaching on another coach today and had a problem that was familiar to me:

Motivation that starts strong in the morning and drops quickly over the course of the day.

I have chronic pain and deal with the same problem. It’s tempting for me to prescribe for him to go do what works for me, but I’ve made that mistake before, so I didn’t.

Instead, I asked him, “Has anything worked for you before?”

He has ADHD, I do not. I can recommend ideas for him to experiment with, but I can’t know what is going to work for him.

What does this have to do with communication?

Don’t assume you know what the other person is thinking, or what would work for them, ask them questions to verify.

• Has anything helped you in the past? (looking for bright spots)
• Could you do that now?
• Have you tried ___? How did that go?
• What do you mean by that?

Josh