CoachDrive

SOMETIMES YOU NEED A COACH TO PROVIDE HELP AND SUPPORT TO MAKE CHANGES

With all our Drives it requires people to take personal responsibility but sometimes we don’t have the answer. We can get into a vicious circle of events that slowly get to us and bring our confidence down. If you look at some goal orientated activities these can provide valuable insight into how people deal with change:
Passing a driving test – the percentage of people passing a test is very high, this could be for two reasons: one, there is a driving school and teacher and two the rewards of passing your test and driving a car are immense.
University – even though students have to pay many do not make the final exams. Therefore the Universities have created mini exams and assignments along the journey to make it easier.
Losing weight - we start a diet then stop and yo-yo month to month. We lose 3 to 5 kilos and then put it back on. Joining a slimming club or teaming up with colleagues improves your chances of success.
Keeping Fit - something triggers the emotion and we join a gym or we buy a bike. Generally, it is short-lived and we park the bike in the garage because we use the excuse, we are too busy. Alone the failure rate is a lot higher. Joining a club, or colleagues or even a sponsored walk pushes a person to get fit and keep going.

This Drive is all about getting help. If a person wants to help themself and they have done all the research and knowledge but could do with an expert to help them then finding a life coach could be the answer.

Here are some initial thoughts about coaching. GO!

Here are some facts and statistics about coaching. GO!

Changing our lives to improve is harder than we think – we are creatures of habit.  See more  GO!

See some definitions of coaching and how it differs from other disciplines. GO!

See some different types of coaching. GO!

See whether you should get a coach. GO!

See when you are more likely to want a coach. GO!

See the benefits of having a coach – there are more than you think! GO!

See more about life coaches. GO!

See the relationship between life coaches and other professionals. GO!

See other alternative therapies. GO!

If you’re a visitor to our site you can join and download information, assess your own health and create your own action plans, and even contribute to our site.  GO!

We have a video and some testimonials. GO!

See what you can do next.. GO!

We have some additional information and stuff on this subject. GO!

Some Initial Thoughts

life coach

Life coach

This Drive is all about getting help. If a person wants to help themself and they have done all the research and knowledge but could do with an expert to help them then finding a life coach could be the answer.

Facts About Coaching

The ICF Global Coaching Client Studies (commissioned in 2009, 2010 and 2012 and confirmed by PricewaterhouseCoopers), dealt with companies which introduced coaching for their employees.

of people
1 %

showed improved self-confidence

of people
1 %

reported improved relationships

of people
1 %

demonstrated improved communications skills

of people
1 %

said they had a better work / life balance

Transforming our lives is sometimes harder than we think

Humans are real creatures of habit. Ever moved things around in the kitchen and they find yourself when it’s done going back to the old place where things were kept. Driving is habit forming and many people sometimes can’t even remember getting to work on a morning, because its our subconscious that is doing most of the driving.

Breaking a habit Is often hard or even impossible for some, as any smoker or heavy drinker..

Learning a new skill- musical instrument or language again it’s a small percentage of people who have the will power to do it alone and maintain it. Most people do it with a friend or join a club.

New Year resolution – don’t let your new change be like a New Year resolution and fizzle away within hours or days.

To change an old habit, you have to create a new habit in your brain to run alongside the old one. This new habit will eventually take over the old habit. If you have a coach or are part of a group or team then it makes the change happen more easily and last longer.

coaching definition

What is coaching?

Coaching is one form of support, alongside joining a club or support organisation, looking on a relevant website, therapy or mentoring.

It applies to people who want to get better or make a significant change in their lives, and also to companies who want their staff to improve.

It takes elements of consulting and also elements of therapy. It differs from therapy in that it looks forward rather than backwards. It’s true that coaching shouldn’t be used to fix mental illness, but you can’t say that only people in therapy can have mental issues.

Financial coaching - There are specialists in the financial services world now that help people plan their financial situation, assets, liabilities, mortgage and debt as well as investments. These people are qualified specialists and charge a fee or commission for their service.
Physical Coaching or Personal trainer – These people usually live at the gym and provide help, guidance and support about fitness, nutrition and wellbeing. Its important to check the credentials of these individuals as many have been just gym enthusiasts and taken an NVQ in fitness. They may be experts on fitness but don’t possess the qualification for nutrition and wellbeing.
Mental health coaching of life coach - These individuals provide a wide range of coaching services from deep dive analysis to simple life support hints and tips. See below about the different types of people.

Are there different types of coaching?

A Definition of Coaching
Coaching aims to produce optimal performance and improvement. It focuses on specific skills and goals, although it may also have an impact on an individual’s personal attributes such as social interaction or confidence. The process typically lasts for a defined period of time or forms the basis of an on-going performance style.

What is mentoring?
Mentoring tends to describe a relationship in which a more experienced colleague shares their greater knowledge to support the development of someone less experienced. Mentoring relationships tend to be longer term than coaching arrangements.

Different types of coaching
You can get support or coaching for individual goals, such as stopping smoking, losing weight or reducing your drinking. Companies can also get coaching for their employees. This can be in particular areas (e.g. sales, conflict). There are also ‘Life Coaches’ where everything is addressed.

Why get support - do you need a coach?

We all learn and change in different ways. Knowing your own or preferred style is really important if you’re going to do something that lasts and is permanent. Some people like to study first and to understand all the options and facts. Some people get straight into it and start the change. Some people are influenced by external factors such as TV, radio, news articles, social media, work colleagues etc..

Whatever you prefer as a style of change the key question is can you maintain the change until a new habit is formed and maintained? All the Drives in YouDrive are about you, be it as part of financial, mental or physical health. Having support or a coach often helps. Coaching can require a significant cost outlay but if the outlay means you can turn around your physical or financial situation – e.g. give up smoking, then the benefit of the habit change pays for the extra support in coaching.

For those who cannot afford a personal coach then there are lots of support groups. Some charge a fee to join or attend such as weightwatchers but many of the government support lines for stress or advice on losing weight are free.

Whatever you prefer to do weigh up the costs versus your will to do it by yourself. There is no point in starting something if you know deep down your willpower isn’t strong enough to do it, so join a club, team, support group or get a coach.

When do I need a coach

That depends on the individual really. Some people know themselves and perhaps know they lack will power to see things through, then a coach is ideal from the start. Some people do the analysis and get more knowledge on their specific life issues and choose a coach for one specific area to support them. People and coaches unfortunately choose a coach and then attempt to get advice on other areas or issues that are perhaps outside the expertise of the coach in which case they are merely giving their opinion rather than expertise.

Once such area is nutrition. What we put in our mouth’s effects all of our body and mind and how we function and think. It is always best to get advice from a nutritionist.

Having a general review is important to get things in order
Some people may need a generic coach to help a person prioritise their changes and issues. You may find that tackling a few issues may resolve other issues so it’s best to have a general life review with a life coach to start with to make an initial assessment. Doing this could save you a lot of money on an ongoing basis.

A life coach may be able to help you prioritise your issues and desires into who does what and when. The life coach will be able to advise on other specialist help you might need.

What are the benefits of having a coach?

There are many but listed below are a few. It does depend on which life coach you use and does depend on how long you use them for. Also how committed you are to making a change in your life.

A study by the International Coaching Federation (IFC) discovered that 80% of people who hired a life coach reported an improvement in self-confidence.

We are often consumed by our own opinions, life experiences, and way of thinking. A life coach can provide a new and often helpful perspective on things.

Being fully aware of your impact on others and recognizing your flaws, strengths, and unique personality attributes is an extremely challenging adventure. This is the art of self-awareness.

Self-awareness requires a strong capacity for introspection and reflection, something which a life coach can help you work towards. In fact, one study found that 67.6% of coaching clients experience a higher level of self-awareness.

Benefits of life coaching – Balance

The concept of life balance is different for everyone, but it often refers to a happy, peaceful, and harmonious relationship between your physical and cognitive being, as well as the major areas of life.

One of the benefits of a life coach is to identify what balance looks like for you and define action steps to achieve more balance in your life.

Relationships are the glue that combines individuals with society and provides shared fulfilment in life. From marriages to friendships and beyond, strong relationships are a critical contributor to happiness. According to the same ICF study mentioned previously, 73% of people who hired a life coach improved their relationships.

We all have dreams in life, but very few people crystalize these aspirations into tangible goals to systematically accomplish. A major benefit of life coaching is being able to define your life goals and create a concrete, doable plan to achieve them.

Benefits of life coaching – Happiness

True happiness is somewhat of a mystical experience and for most people, it’s hard to imagine a life that is forever happy. At the end of the day, happiness is intrinsic, it’s a feeling that is unique to the way you feel inside. By defining life goals, creating balance, and committing to a better version of yourself.

Are you clear on what your purpose in life is? Again, this is a very individual and internal fire that burns within. It’s your passion, dreams, skills, and weaknesses all bundled into one. It’s your direction in life. Clarity of purpose is vital if you want to pursue your dreams.

Finding that one thing you love more than anything else and doing it every day is a large contributor to happiness and satisfaction. Having clarity of purpose unlocks insights into what this may be.

You will have an ally that holds you to your word and ensures those goals get pursued and projects are completed.

Many of us spend too much time comparing ourselves to others and focussing on what we perceive to be our flaws.

Helps you identify a view of your strengths and weaknesses, helping you understand your areas of greatest opportunity.

…and put a plan in place to eliminate or reduce their impact on your goals

To be open-minded you need to appreciate that there are different ways of doing things and varying perspectives on life other than your own.

72% of people who hire a life coach improve their communication skills, according to the IFC study mentioned above. Better communication is one of the primary benefits of NLP life coaching.

Everyone has the same amount of time in the day, but some people use those 24 hours more efficiently than others.

As well as looking at the positive aspects of life, such as your purpose, goals, and potential, life coaches are armed with a series of techniques that can help you eliminate or reduce negative thoughts that hold you back.

By minimizing negative thoughts and embracing your strengths you can start to overcome fears that have been restricting your ability to achieve your dreams.

You can work with a life coach to brainstorm ideas and unearth creativity that is sitting dormant in the depths of your subconscious.

When bad habits are embedded in our day-to-day life, they diminish our ability to perform. Working with an impartial third-party will help you determine what these habits may be and learn to eliminate them.

Our values are those deeply held principles that influence our behaviour and motivate us to do things both large and small. Given the sheer influence of life values on every action, being aware of what they are can revolutionize the way we live and perform.

Setbacks and roadblocks can derail the best of us. One of the most sought after benefits of life coaching is to sustain the discipline and maximum effort during challenging times.

Despite thinking that we act rationally, most people make decisions based on emotion or entirely subconscious processes. With a deeper understanding of how the mind works, you can reframe the process of decision-making so that it becomes simpler and wiser.

If you’ve ever been to a job interview it’s likely that you have been asked how well you take feedback from others. While most people would like to think that they are open and willing to accept feedback or criticism, in the heat of the moment their emotions take over.

Rapport is a connection between individuals or a group that enables those people to interact and communicate effectively. For most of us, rapport is seen as an uncontrollable force that we either have with someone or we don’t.

Work with you to create and execute a plan for improving your physical well-being or losing weight. A healthy body often results in a healthy mind too.

Stress is a common occurrence for a large portion of the population. Financial burdens, career-related issues, or personal relationship problems can result in mental instability and stress-related health concerns.

life coaches not the same

Are life coaches all the same?

The answer is no they are not.

The difficulty can be when looking at coaching is you may have a range of issue across a spectrum of skill areas. People have a habit of choosing a coach who serves one issue and often then provides best guess personal views on other issues. It’s like ask a builder who specialises in building a wall to do your plumbing. We have seen instances whereby personal trainers are offering nutritionist advice or fasting techniques without having studied the subject extensively.

The Dark Side of Life Coaching is that many people set themselves up as coaches based upon their own life experience.  They may well have taken exams and courses to become a mental health or life coach specialist.

In our experience a large number of professional coaches and medical professionals chose this career path because they themselves have suffered some form of life issues. 

What is difficult to work out is if they are fully over their own life issues whilst coaching others about their life issues. Their perspective on life is often distorted by their own mental thought process and view of life.

Coaching is an unregulated field. Practitioners do not need degrees specific to coaching. They also do not need certifications of any kind.

Coaching, in general, has grown into a billion-dollar industry. It attracts people from various backgrounds, educational levels, and experience.

Choosing the right coach for you is about personal choice, their experience and can it help you and do you get on well.

What is the difference between a life coach and other professionals and how do I know which one is right for me?

People often think getting a coach is all about improvements but that’s not true. Many people in serious debt can get a life line from a financial coach. Equally a person suffering from mild Anxiety will find a life coach useful as often anxiety is an effect of life issues.

Some people may have deeper issues and problems that require more than a coach and may need a very experienced medical professional such as Psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists etc.

Definitions
A life coach can help you with all aspects of life including life’s issues such as anxiety, depression and stress.

nutritionists provide evidence-based information and guidance about the impacts of food and nutrition on the health and wellbeing of humans or animals. It is important that nutritionists have a good understanding of the scientific basis of nutrition.

Psychologists study and help treat people’s cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behaviours. One of their main goals is to evaluate and understand their clients’ thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. They go about this by: Identifying behavioural and emotional patterns.

Psychotherapists help individuals who are experiencing emotional and psychological difficulties to understand their problems and make appropriate changes to their lives.

Psychiatrists treat people suffering from mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, addiction and personality disorders. They can also offer help and guidance to help clients cope with bereavement, marital or family problems.

There is a wide difference on how these professionals provide the service

As you can see there is a lot of skills cross overs between the different professionals. In our experience they also seem to fit into a number of categories in terms of how they deal with clients.

Some professionals seem to have pursued a university career and tend to be quite theoretical. They often lack life experience and empathy towards real life cases.

Some professionals love labels and want to box your condition into a category or condition and then follow a text book remedy or solution.

Some professionals have retrained from their original career because they have experienced a life trauma or mental health issues and by training in the subject has helped them get a better grip of life. One may question if these people have actually overcome their issues.

Some professionals have no qualifications but have a lifetime of life success and can demonstrate they have dealt with similar issues in their lives and survived.

Other alternatives of coaching and therapy

On the road to changing your life you will come across all sorts of methods, treatments, techniques all advocating wellbeing changes such as reiki masters, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, hot stones, acupressure, homeopathy, energy therapies, aromatherapy, yoga etc.

If it works for you in helping you improve your wellbeing then go for it.

For visitors

Why don't you join us?

You can register to join us as a member, when you’ll be able to download our stuff and comment, or as a YouDriver when you’ll also be able to check your health and set up your own action plans to make some improvements.  If you’ve already registered, sign in below. Or let us know what you think.

Google CEO says that everyone needs a coach

Google CEO says that everyone needs a coach

This video from Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, expalins his views on coaching – not just in business, but generally. 

"A life coach does for the rest of your life what a personal trainer does for your health and fitness."
Elaine MacDonald
Canadian activist
“All coaching is, is taking a player where he can’t take himself.”
Bill McCartney
American Football Player & Coach
“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”
henry ford
Henry Ford
Ford Motors
“I can help, but in the end it is up to you”
David Kirby
Success Coach, Author
“Be the author, not the reader, of your own life.”
Paul Gibbons
Author - Reboot Your Life

Next Steps

It doesn’t matter what stage  you’re at – it’s important to be the best you can be.  At the end of the day it’s about taking personal responsibility – You Drive!

It’s really your choice. You can find out more information about the subject, or see other institutions that can help by going to Support. There you will find organisations, training, coaching, self-help courses and other items to support your personal change. We have also started developing a panel of experts to provide info, advice, help and support. 

Get Support

There are times when you need some help to meet your aims –  a helping hand. That might be  an organisation that can provide you with some help,  some specialised information, a particular book or tool to help, or just getting some background reading material.

We have a lot of items which appear on our Drives and other pages, which you can go to by clicking on the picture or link.  Some contain affiliate links and we may receive a tiny commission for purchases made through these links.

If you know of anything which could help you or our other visitors then please click the button on the right, which will take you to a Contacts page where you contact us.

Experts

We are compiling a list of experts who can provide advice, help or specialised services.  You will be able to access these experts from anywhere on our site you see our ‘Experts’ symbol.  Click the green E to see what our Experts list will look like, with a couple of imaginary ‘experts’ added!

More Information

Scroll down to see more information on this Drive. 

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More information

365 Ways to Be Your Own Life Coach

2nd edition: A Programme for Personal and Professional Growth – for Just a Few Minutes Every Day

Offers a life coach programme. “I believe the best coach for you is you, and I aim to give free rein to that person. This book will show you exactly what you need to do to turn yourself into your own life coach.


Go to Amazon

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

 The No 1 Sunday Times bestseller Hardcover

‘Sound wisdom, easy to gulp down. I’m sure this book is already helping lots of people. Great work, Dr Julie’ MATT HAIG, bestselling author of REASONS TO STAY ALIVE


Go to Amazon

You Coach You

The No.1 Sunday Times Business Bestseller – How to Overcome Challenges and Take Control of Your Career

What I love about this book is that it gives us the tools to guide ourselves and know that change and our true value is within us all’ Mary Portas


Go to Amazon

The Lazy Genius Way

Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done

Being a Lazy Genius isn’t about doing more or doing less. It’s about doing what matters to you.

“I could not be more excited about this book.”-Jenna Fischer, actor and cohost of the Office Ladies podcast


Go to Amazon

How to Master Your Monkey Mind

Overcome anxiety, increase confidence and regain control of your life

– ‘An excellent book that will be of great benefit to those who feel lost and overwhelmed. Don Macpherson has a gift for guiding us gently back to the path.’ DAMON HILL OBE, 1996 Formula One Champion


Go to Amazon

BT offer a range of courses free

Become a health and life coach in 6 months with Health Coach Institute

The Coaching Academy offer a range of courses

Stuff you might want on coaching

Now you’ve read about coaching you might want to make a bit of a statement.  Have a look at some stuff below we think has some humour value!  We may make pennies on commission, but that’s not the point really.  Click on the image to see more details.

Cute Life Coach T-Shirt

Available in many colours and sizes, for men, women and kids.

Go to Amazon

life coach tee shirt

If At First You Dont Succeed Try Doing What Your Coach Shirt T-Shirt

Available in many colours and sizes.

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coach tee shirt

Funny Novelty Men’s My Death Will Be Caused by Being Sarcastic T-Shirt

Available in many colours and sizes.

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sarcasm tee shirt

Baby Yoda Drinking Coffee Mug

Coffee Spenled Backwards is Eeffoc Just Know That I Don’t Give Effoc Until I’ve Had My Coffee Coffee Mug Tea Mug 11oz

11 ounce durable coffee mug. Ships protected in its individual box.

Go to Amazon

eeffoc mug

All areas of health are interlinked

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Find your initial focus

You might think that physical, financial and mental health are quite separate, and for some people they are. However, often a problem in one area has a knock-on effect on others. Losing your job can lead to anxiety and depression, which can turn you to drink and impact your health.

You might have a severe issue in one area but that can lead to problems in other areas, and the people treating you for the first problem won’t be equipped to deal with these linked issues.

For example, doctors and nurses can treat you for a physical problem but can’t advise you about your job or finances.  Nor for the anxiety that comes with it, apart from prescribing some drugs, which might or might not be the best solution.

We encourage you to take a holistic view – we look at all areas and offer support across the whole spectrum.

health areas interlinked

Even this view of health is simplistic, as you’ll discover later if you go down that route.  You might want to consider overall health, or wellness or wellbeing, which include additional types of health, such as occupational health (how you are in your job).   Then there’s happiness and quality of life – how do these fit?

If you’re interested in that, click the link here to see more information.

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How to Master Your Monkey Mind

Overcome anxiety, increase confidence and regain control of your life

– ‘An excellent book that will be of great benefit to those who feel lost and overwhelmed. Don Macpherson has a gift for guiding us gently back to the path.’ DAMON HILL OBE, 1996 Formula One Champion

Go to Amazon

monkey mind

The Lazy Genius Way

Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done

Being a Lazy Genius isn’t about doing more or doing less. It’s about doing what matters to you.

“I could not be more excited about this book.”-Jenna Fischer, actor and cohost of the Office Ladies podcast

Go to Amazon

lazy genius

You Coach You

The No.1 Sunday Times Business Bestseller – How to Overcome Challenges and Take Control of Your Career

What I love about this book is that it gives us the tools to guide ourselves and know that change and our true value is within us all’ Mary Portas

Go to Amazon

you coach you

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

 The No 1 Sunday Times bestseller Hardcover

‘Sound wisdom, easy to gulp down. I’m sure this book is already helping lots of people. Great work, Dr Julie’ MATT HAIG, bestselling author of REASONS TO STAY ALIVE

Go to Amazon

told me before

365 Ways to Be Your Own Life Coach

2nd edition: A Programme for Personal and Professional Growth – for Just a Few Minutes Every Day

Offers a life coach programme. “I believe the best coach for you is you, and I aim to give free rein to that person. This book will show you exactly what you need to do to turn yourself into your own life coach.

Go to Amazon

own life coach

Health Areas in Domains

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Domains

We break down the overall concept of health or wellness into ‘bite-sized chunks’ that we can actually do something about.  The first level we call health domains. 

We like the Life of Wellness site and we have chosen the following domains.

1. Emotional Wellness: Awareness and acceptance of feelings
2. Spiritual Wellness: A search for meaning and purpose
3. Intellectual Wellness: Recognition of your creativity, knowledge and skills
4. Physical Wellness: Need for physical activity and balanced nutrition
5. Environmental Wellness: Positive awareness and impact on your environment
6. Financial Wellness: Debt reduction, cash flow balance or financial future planning
7. Occupational Wellness: Personal achievement and enrichment from your career
8. Social Wellness: Contribution to your community

Health Areas

Within each domain, we have included a number of health areas. These are specific issues that you can tackle.  Within each health area, e.g. Depression, we have built additional information and exercises which you can do to help in the area. You can create your own Action Plan to address this area, and see

Emotional: Anxiety, Compassion Fatigue, Depression, Gambling, Laughter, Narcissistic, Personality Disorder, Sleep, Stress

Environmental: Environmental Issues, Greenness

Financial: Debt, Family Finance, Financial Planning, Financial Wellness

Intellectual: IQ, Personality, Procrastination

Occupational: Jobs for Different Personality Types, Retirement Income, Work Life Balance

Physical: Alcohol, Disabilities, Dizziness, Drugs, Fitness, Food Preferences, General Health, Healthy Ageing, Illness, Nutrition, Sleep Apnea, Smoking

Social: Communication Skills, Communication Styles, Domestic Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Love Partnerships, Mental Abuse, Parenting Styles, Sexual Addiction

Spiritual: Are You Sensitive, Mystical Guidance, Spirituality

Each health area has supporting information and its own questionnaire.

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Understand Health

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Physical, financial and mental health

One definition of health is:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. 

The NHS define health as: ‘We use a broad definition of health that encompasses both physical and mental health, as well as wellbeing. This means we are not only interested in whether or not people are ill or have a health condition, but also in how healthy and well they are.’

We believe we also have to consider financial health, as this can easily impact physical and mental health. Click the button to see an example of how these are connected.

 It gets more complicated…

What is Health? How about Wellness, Wellbeing or Happiness?

The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) define Health as a state of the overall mental and physical state of a person; the absence of disease. They define Wellbeing or wellness as a way of life that aims to enhance well-being and refers to a more holistic whole-of-life experience which also includes emotional and spiritual aspects of life.  We expand on this definition of health to include financial health and mental health, to make it synonymous with wellbeing or wellness.  

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Health domains

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

We break down the overall concept of health or wellness into ‘bite-sized chunks’ that we can actually do something about.  The first level we call health domains.

We like the Life of Wellness site and we have chosen the following domains.

1. Emotional Wellness: Awareness and acceptance of feelings
2. Spiritual Wellness: A search for meaning and purpose
3. Intellectual Wellness: Recognition of your creativity, knowledge and skills
4. Physical Wellness: Need for physical activity and balanced nutrition
5. Environmental Wellness: Positive awareness and impact on your environment
6. Financial Wellness: Debt reduction, cash flow balance or financial future planning
7. Occupational Wellness: Personal achievement and enrichment from your career
8. Social Wellness: Contribution to your community

wellness wheel

Health Areas

Within each domain, we have included a number of health areas. These are specific issues that you can tackle.  Within each health area, e.g. Depression, once you have subscribed we have built additional information and exercises which you can do to help in the area.

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See which domains you should address

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Having established that we use 8 domains, you need to understand which you should concentrate on.

The 8 are:

  • Emotional
  • Environmental
  • Financial
  • Intellectual
  • Occupational
  • Physical
  • Social
  • Spiritual

 

You can take a questionnaire, which scores you in each domain.  You can decide which domains you are strong in, and which you need to improve.

Another analysis shows which domains you should look at, but also which domains you want to look at.

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Locus of Control

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  • We want to help people in all aspects of their health  – physical, financial and mental. We also provide detailed explanations of how overall health (or well-being) is measured.
  • We believe these things are often linked, so we try and address health holistically. We are building templates, questionnaires and exercises to help you identify what’s important to you.
  • We think people should try and take responsibility for  of their own health as much as they can.  See below for what that means.

People look at things differently.  Some people believe things happen to them, while others believe they can influence what happens to them. Technically this is called the ‘locus of control’.  People can have an Internal or external Locus of Control

So how do you see things?

Psychology Today have a 15 minute test which gives you a summary of your position you can buy the detailed results if you want to.

My Personality Test have a 10 minute test which gives you a summary.

People tend to take more responsibility (locus gets more internal) as they get older.  However, external isn’t always bad – for example if you are physically unable to do some things you can accept it and focus on the things you can do.  This American video explains the concept and gives examples of how this can affect relationships.

locus of control

Internal

  • More likely to take responsibility for actions
  • Tend to be less influenced by others

External

  • Blame outside forces for what happens
  • Don’t believe they can change their situation themselves

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Add your attitude to change - see how you view changes in your life

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Do you need to change?

No matter how healthy you are at the moment, the chances are that there are some areas you could improve. It may be that you have a real problem in one or more areas, and you would like to make some improvements.

At YouDrive we accept that there are many different degrees of ‘not wellness’ in a large number of different health areas, ranging from physical illness such as covid-19 through mental illness such as anxiety through to financial problems like debt.  We try and help where the problem ranges from ‘slight’ to quite bad’ – after this expert help and intervention may be needed.

However, especially in these times, we have to try and make these changes ourselves, possibly with some help from others, whether remotely or face to face.

The thing is, to make an improvement we have to change some things.

This involves changing our behaviour in some respects, and that’s not always easy.

Henry Ford, the creator of the assembly line, is quoted as saying “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.  

henry ford

Another way of looking at this: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – attributed to Albert Einstein.

Consequently we need to make some changes.  The problem is that we have already developed a lot of habits, some of which we need to break and replace by better ones.  Some of our bad habits have become entrenched, and the bad results they create in turn engender further bad habits to develop – in effect the bad habits can feed on themselves.

We need to understand how we can make changes and stick to them, and that’s what this part of your health profile is about.

It will involve some learning, through reading, some videos and some additional information and also seeing how you react to change currently.

It will also ask you to consider whether you feel you are in charge of your future, or whether you feel it’s all fate.

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Assess your overall health using a health questionnaire

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At YouDrive we try and help people improve their health. We use ‘health’ but we understand there are other terms such as wellbeing or even happiness that reflect how we are doing in our lives – if you’re interested in the different definitions and ideas see our page on the subject.

We want to help whether you have a particular problem – physical, financial or mental – or if you just want to improve some specific part of your life or just make some improvements overall.

You’d be surprised, but there has been a serious amount of scientific work done in this area over the last twenty years.

So first we allow you to assess your current health (or wellbeing, or happiness).  We do this by questionnaire.  Which one is determined by the type of person you are:

  1. You understand yourself well and want a quick overview of your health and wellness, and will drill down in any areas needing work
  2. You want to do a more detailed assessment and then focus on areas you’re already aware of
  3. You want to look at the whole situation in more detail across all the health domains.

By the way, we take your privacy seriously – we collect information that you choose to provide but we de-identify it as much as possible and will never share it with anyone without your explicit consent.

You can then drill down into some specific areas and there are more questionnaires to see your situation in these particular areas.  We provide you with specific information and refer you to other potential aspects of help. Our next step is to build a personalised action plan – for now we will make a suggestion for you to develop your own plan and then after a time you can see whether this has had a positive impact by retaking the test.

In future we will be engaging with medical and behavioural specialists to devise action plans for individual people with specific situations.

We have an overall questionnaire which you can complete which will assess your current state.

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Values, Attitudes and Beliefs

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We all have our beliefs, attitudes and values – these have developed throughout our life based on who we are and what we have done. Let’s look at what these are.

The University of Reading explain: “People’s values, beliefs and attitudes are formed and bonded over time through the influences of family, friends, society and life experiences. So, by the time you’re an adult, you can hold very definite views on just about everything with a sense of “no one is going to change my mind”.

The combination of your personal values, beliefs and attitudes are your moral principles that guide you in life and affect your behaviour. However, your views can wildly differ to others and in an institution such as a school, these beliefs may be counter to the values of the school, child development or indeed the law.” 

Let’s look more closely at the differences between beliefs, attitudes and values.

Beliefs

These come from real experiences – we think our beliefs are based on reality, but in fact our beliefs colour our experiences; also, an original experience e.g. when we were a child is not the same as what’s happening now. Beliefs can be moral, religious or cultural and reflect who we are. They can be rational (‘it gets colder in winter’) or irrational (‘I am never going to make something of myself’).

Attitudes

This is an immediate belief or disposition about something specific. It is a recurring group of beliefs and behaviours aimed at specific groups, people, ideas or objects. They will normally be positive or negative and we will always behave that way to the target group. Examples of attitudes include confidence (I can or can’t do something), grateful (I an entitled to / grateful for XXX) and cheerful (I am generally happy / miserable).

Values

These are things (principles or qualities) that we hold in high regard or consider to be worthwhile or right / wrong. They are formed by a belief related to the worth of something – an idea or behaviour. Some values are common (e.g. family comes first, the value of friendship) or cultural (which the whole community have – see video at Study.com here)

The theory

Links to Wikipedia

Expectancy Value Theory suggests you balance your beliefs about something with the value you attach to it. The Theory of Reasoned Action suggests that beliefs and evaluation about behavioural outcomes determine attitudes, and intentions lead directly to behaviour.

Beliefs

Expressions of confidence – can change over time

Attitudes

Learned predispositions to something – are subject to change

Values

Ideals that guide our behaviour – Generally long lasting and often need life changing experience to change

Iceberg demonstrating implicit and explicit bias – from Owlcation

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A Butterfly Life: 4 Keys to More Happiness, Better Health and Letting Your True Self Shine

Times of change can be a challenge, no doubt! Whether it’s a relationship breakup, job loss, or being diagnosed with a serious health issue. Or you may WANT things to be different, but it feels a little scary or overwhelming. The butterfly reminds us change can be beautiful, even necessary, in order to realize our full potential and live our best life.