[1]Natalie Hankins is a life coach certified by the Robbins-Madanes Center for Strategic Intervention and the Life Coach School. She is also the proud mom of 2 adult children with special needs. She is passionate about helping moms prioritize themselves so that they have the energy for everything they want to accomplish in their lives and careers.
Positive thoughts will move us forward and motivate us to take action
In my first conversation with Robin, she shared that she was primarily focused on serving her community and raising her children with special needs. I definitely noticed that her life was centered around giving to others. Through the coaching sessions, we talked about the importance of prioritizing herself, so that she has the energy to give to others as well as herself. One tool that I taught Robin to help her prioritize herself is the daily thought journal. It’s so important that we are aware of the automatic thoughts that come to mind every day, because only positive thoughts will move us forward. We can have up to 60,000 thoughts per day, but 80% of them are negative according to the National Science Foundation. It’s important to focus on positive thoughts, because only positive thoughts motivate us to take action. Robin realized the importance of prioritizing herself and has set a goal to participate in a 5K in the fall. I helped her to visualize herself having achieved this goal. Visualization is another tool we can use to accomplish our goals, because our brains don’t know the difference between what’s real and what we imagine. Through visualization, we can enjoy having accomplished the goal, and become the person who accomplished the goal, which is an important part of the journey. She is now focused on her future vision of a healthier version of herself who has the time and energy to take care of herself as well as those she cares about. She knows that in order to continue to have the energy to care for others, she must first fuel herself.