Coaching Plan: Personal Health, Behavior Change, and Goal Setting

This essay presents a reflective coaching plan focused on achieving personal health goals. The author aims to become healthier by adopting a structured approach to behavior change, specifically targeting weight loss and improved lifestyle choices. The essay begins by outlining a SMART goal-setting plan, detailing specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives. It then delves into the theoretical underpinnings of the coaching plan, exploring the relevance of goal-setting theory, positive psychology, and the theory of change. The author reflects on a personal experience of change, drawing parallels between past academic challenges and the current health goals. The essay emphasizes the importance of clear direction, motivation, and evaluation in the change process. Furthermore, the essay evaluates the application of coaching techniques, such as SMART goal setting, positive psychology, and the theory of change, in achieving the desired health outcomes. The essay highlights how these theories can be applied to address the challenges of maintaining a healthy body and achieving goals. The essay concludes by emphasizing the significance of coaching in attaining specific goals and promotes the effectiveness of the coaching plan for weight loss and a healthier lifestyle. The essay draws on various academic sources to support its arguments and provides a comprehensive overview of the coaching plan, incorporating action plans and time-bound activities.

Running head: COACHING
Coaching
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1COACHING
To guide our growth and development, coaching is very important. The theory of
coaching is highly critiqued in light of the practices and principles of Positive Psychology
and how they aid to effective coaching. There are several different types of coaching models
that help in understanding the coaching intervention from a systems perspective (Garvey et
al., 2017). With the same, it also helps in understanding the need for “structure: in the
interaction in between the client and the coach. In this paper I am going to present a reflective
essay on discussing one a personal change that I want to make and propose a coaching plan in
relation to the change that I want to achieve. The change that I would like to make is
becoming healthier. I shall be analysing my personal experience of change by taking into
account the different theories and models of behaviour change in coaching. I shall also be
evaluating the relevance of different theories and techniques of coaching in order to achieve
the change that I want to achieve. Lastly, in this paper I shall identify and plan an effective
structure for a coaching session in order to achieve my goal. It is to note that the main aim of
my paper is to develop a coaching plan by making use of the tools and methodologies that are
covered in the unit material.
The personal change that I would like to make: Today’s life is fast paced, where
personal care is an issue, neglected by most of the people. Being a part of such a century, I
feel taking care of personal health is vital in terms of leading a quality and healthy lifestyle.
However, hard work pressure makes it difficult for me to lead a healthier lifestyle. Hard
working schedules leaves no time for physical exercises, through which I can be healthier.
Keeping in mind the increased obesity, I have developed the goal of being healthier.
Coaching plan: The following is a coaching plan, which would help me to become
healthier:
Specific I intend to improve my health by drinking 2

2COACHING
litres of water and by eating 50 grams of
proteins on a daily basis.
Measurable I intend to lose about 20kgs of weight by the
end of May, i.e., within 6 months, by
increasing my level of activities and
exercises and decreasing my intake of
calories.
Achievable I would gradually reduce my intake of
sugary drinks per week so as to completely
end the consumption.
Realistic I would improve my lifestyle by making a
well-conscious food decisions during each
meal while ensuring consumption of more
vegetables and protein.
Time I intend to achieve my ideal weight by the
end of May 31st.
Table 1: SMART criteria for the targeted goal
The role of goals and clarity of direction while planning change: Setting goals are
very important while planning any change. It serves the four primary functions- facilitating
the planning of change, providing direction and guidance, motivating and inspiring
individuals and helping the individuals in evaluating and controlling his or her performance
(Greco & Kraimer, 2018). Goals and clarity of direction while planning change promote the
planning for determining how the goals would be achieved (Martin & Elliot, 2016). We
human beings set goals for satisfying a particular need and therefore goals could be
motivational and also encourage us in increasing our performance. I personally feel that goals

3COACHING
are something that takes us forward in our life and they are like the oxygen to our dreams.
They are the first steps to our journey that we take and are also the last one. It is hence very
important that we realise the importance and significance of the goal setting and apply it in
our life for attaining our goals (Senko & Tropiano, 2016). Furthermore, it is also to note that
goals and clarity of direction while planning change gives us focus (Grant & Stober, 2006).
Life without a goal or target is literally pointless. It is just a waste of effort and energy. One
can have every potential in the world but having no target, no aim, no goal and no focus,
those talents and abilities are useless. Also, the sense of direction in our mind helps us to
focus on our goal and target. They allow us in measuring our progress.
My personal experience of change in light of theories and models of behaviour
change in coaching: I used to be a mediocre student in my school days and because of getting
very low marks in my academic subjects, there were several class mates of mine who used to
bully me in school. At times, I used to neglect their pranks but one day I realised seeing my
elder brother that the competition after passing out from school is very severe. My brother
was a very talented student and he passed out his grade 12 with 98% of marks but still, he had
to try hard to get admitted in the most reputable high school. This opened my eyes for life
time. I set a goal of improving my academic result in every examination. I was nervous
because I was never this studious. I then applied the goal setting theory in my practice of
coaching. It was introduced by Locke’s pioneering research on motivation and the goal
setting in the late 1960. It comprise of the concept of establishing SMART goal (specific,
measurable and time targeted). It had featured as the main component of theory personal
development literatures as well as the business language. As per Welsh and Ordonez (2014),
90% of the field studies and laboratory involving the challenges and the specific goals
resulted to the higher performance than did easy or no goals. In order to elicit specific form of
behaviour from others, it is very important that we have very clear cut view of what is been

4COACHING
expected from us. I realised that setting goal is very important as it is helped me in focusing
my attention towards the activities that are goal relevant as well as diverging my mind from
the activities that are goal-irrelevant. It is also stated by Jones, Woods and Guillaume (2016)
that the higher our goals are, the more effort we would induce to achieve them.
Hence, I applied positive psychology theory to my goal. As per Katsikis, Kostogiannis
and Dryden (2016) the theory of positive psychology lays emphasize on our strengths instead
of our deficits or weaknesses, while focusing on the ways for optimising the well-beings
instead of just removing the pathology. It has helped me in promoting the balanced
empowerment of my strengths in order to give me more objective view of myself. In this
way, it helped me in changing my negative behaviour. It is a very important model due to the
fact that there are certain strengths in all of us that are not good either by excess or by default
like positivity (Connor & Pokora, 2007). Being too positive could make us believe that we
are invulnerable and it could ultimately lead us to take many risks in our life. Also, it is to
note that being extremely negative could destroy the happiness of our lives. The Positive
psychology theory and research has been applied across many domains, from education to
coaching. Furthermore, according to Doyle et al. (2016), this model consist of five elements
(PERMA) which helps in creating the foundation of a good and flourishing life and they
include- a) positive emotions b) engagement c) relationships d) meaning and e)
accomplishments.
With the same, I had also used the theory of change model that was emerged from the
field of theory, program and program evaluation. As per Parsloe and Leedham (2016), the
theory of change is a model or tool that links- what we do, what we are targeting for the
results, why and how we are planning to do it and what we expect to achieve. It is something
that structures our thinking and helps in providing us with a platform for understanding and
measuring the outcomes for improvement and learning. It is to note that according to

5COACHING
Reynolds, Palmer and Green (2018), a strong theory of change is Meaningful, Plausible,
Achievable and Testable (MPAT). The main components of the theory of change include a)
need statement, b) target population c) core program components d) outcomes d) hypothesis.
Gregory and Levy (2013) in this context have also stated that the theory of change is very
important for the evaluation of the success for many different reasons. While developing a
theory of change on the basis of a good theory, we could be better assured that the
programmes that we are delivering are provided right and have right activities for the planned
or desired result.
The relevance of theories and techniques of coaching to the change that I would like
to achieve: I feel that adherence to a particular pattern is important for providing the coaching
in an efficient and effective manner. The best goal setting technique in the practise of
coaching is that of the SMART goal setting technique. The term SMART stands for
(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based). I have used this technique to
bring in a very clear structure into the goals of coaching. Every goal comes with a well clear
and verifiable elements rather than a vague resolutions (Passmore, Peterson & Freire, 2013).
As I have already mentioned that I have set a goal of being healthier. In order to achieve it, I
have decided to first control my body weight. This goal of mine is specific, measurable,
achievable, relevant and time constant. Furthermore, I have achieved a very powerful growth
by means of combining the strengths of my intuition and building in accountability of life
coaching (Lee, 2013). I have also researched back the solutions of positive psychology. By
raising my own awareness of my unconscious habits and learning to see or perceive my life
from a more objective perspective, I chose how to wish to live my life. There are several
exercises like that of the self-compassion letter that has allowed my in learning to silence my
own inner critics as well as motivate myself without constraint criticism. Moreover, the
theory of change has helped me in planning, making participation and planning the evaluation

6COACHING
process that is used in the coaching practice. It shows how I expect the results to be over the
short, medium and the long term as an outcome of my work. Moreover, through this, I have
defined my goal of becoming healthier and then work out the steps needed to
actually accomplish it, in an iterative, democratic manner.
Hence, from the above discussion it is to conclude that maintaining a healthy body is
not that easy and is also not that difficult if we have a proper coaching plan to attain that.
Coaching is very important in terms of attaining a particular goal. Also, coaching is the best
attribute which accumulate a person’s success. Undertaking goal setting theory, in terms of
being healthier, is a planned and reasoned behaviour, in terms of losing weight. Here, I can
bring the behavioural theories into the discussion. Along with this, cognitive learning theory
finds an important place in the assignment, as it is related with the personal development.
Application of SMART goal theory, theory of change and positive psychology has helped me
to expose appropriate approach towards the goal of becoming healthy. Action plan of losing
weight by reducing the calorie intake would be my prime action towards fulfilling the goal of
attaining a healthy lifestyle. Time bound activities, towards weight loss would be effective
for me in terms of achieving positive outcomes.

7COACHING
References:
Connor, M., & Pokora, J. (2007). How can I use the framework in coaching? In Coaching and
mentoring at work: Developing effective practice (pp. 103–118). Maidenhead,
England: Open University Press.
Doyle, J. P., Filo, K., Lock, D., Funk, D. C., & McDonald, H. (2016). Exploring PERMA in
spectator sport: Applying positive psychology to examine the individual-level benefits
of sport consumption. Sport Management Review, 19(5), 506-519.
Garvey, B., Garvey, R., Stokes, P., & Megginson, D. (2017). Coaching and mentoring:
Theory and practice. Sage.
Grant, A. M., & Stober, D. R. (2006). Introduction. In D. R. Stober & A. M. Grant (Eds.),
Evidence based coaching handbook: Putting best practices to work for your clients
(pp. 1–14). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Greco, L., & Kraimer, M. (2018, July). Goal-Setting In The Career Management Process: An
Identity Theory Perspective. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2018,
No. 1, p. 15563). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Gregory, J. B., & Levy, P. E. (2013). Humanistic/person-centered approaches. In J.
Passmore, D. Peterson, & T. Freire (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of the

8COACHING
psychology of coaching and mentoring (pp. 285-297). Chichester, England: John
Wiley & Sons.
Jones, R. J., Woods, S. A., & Guillaume, Y. R. (2016). The effectiveness of workplace
coaching: A meta‐analysis of learning and performance outcomes from
coaching. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 89(2), 249-277.
Katsikis, D., Kostogiannis, C., & Dryden, W. (2016). A rational-emotive behavior approach
in life coaching. Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies, 16(1), 3.
Lee, R. J. (2013). The role of contracting in coaching: Balancing individual client and
organizational issues. In J. Passmore, D. Peterson, & T. Freire (Eds.), The Wiley-
Blackwell handbook of the psychology of coaching and mentoring. Chichester,
England: John Wiley & Sons
Martin, A. J., & Elliot, A. J. (2016). The role of personal best (PB) goal setting in students'
academic achievement gains. Learning and Individual Differences, 45, 222-227.
Parsloe, E., & Leedham, M. (2016). Coaching and Mentoring: Practical techniques for
developing learning and performance. Kogan Page Publishers.
Passmore, J., Peterson, D., & Freire, T. (2013). Passmore, J., Peterson, D., & Freire, T.
(2013). Introduction: The psychology of coaching and mentoring. InThe Wiley-
Blackwell handbook of the psychology of coaching and mentoring (pp. 1-12).
Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons.
Reynolds, R., Palmer, S., & Green, S. (2018). Positive psychology coaching for health and
wellbeing. In Positive Psychology Coaching in Practice (pp. 143-162).