Ed Batista

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The Art of Self-Coaching


CONTENTS

1: Beginnings
6: Resilience
2: Change
7: Vulnerability
3: Attention
8: Unhappiness
4: Emotion 9: Success
5: Happiness 10: Endings

OVERVIEW

This page is an ongoing work-in-progress where I link to a series of posts that will ultimately be compiled in a single volume. (Not all of this material will be incorporated, and significant gaps remain.) It also includes a history of my work on this topic.

The title refers to the course of the same name that I designed and launched at Stanford's Graduate School of Business in 2015, and the chapter headings correspond to each of the classes in the 10-week course.

A wide range of additional materials on these topics can be found in my course archive, including my Stanford syllabus, class slides, and links to related readings by other authors; links to the section in my archive for each class are included below.


CHAPTER 1: BEGINNINGS

Lifeguard Chairs by Seth Anderson swanksalot 4215424034 EDITPhoto by Seth Anderson

Learning How to Learn

Self-Coaching Is SOCIAL

Neuroscience, Joyful Learning and the SCARF Model

How Great Coaches Ask, Listen, and Empathize

Scott Ginsberg on Asking (Better) Questions

Hammering Screws (Bad Coaching)

A Challenge to Leaders: Help Others Self-Coach

Coaching, Advice, and Feedback

Coaching and the Cult of Done

Coaching Is A Journey

Coaching Your Employees (HBR Webinar Video and Summary)

Dysfunction Isn't Heroism

Better Working Relationships

The Map Is Not the Territory

Safety, Trust, Intimacy

Taking the Plunge (Safety, Risk, Learning and Growth)

Experiential Learning Revisited

Experiential Learning Cycles

Class 1: BEGINNINGS in my Stanford course

 


CHAPTER 2: CHANGE

Icebreaker by ezioman 2096480108 EDIT 2Photo by ezioman

Why Change is Hard

Building Blocks (A Tactical Approach to Change)

Voltaire and Patton on Perfection

Babies, Bathwater and Goal-Setting

Aim High...Enough (Self-Coaching and Goal-Setting)

Conversations with Ourselves (Self-Coaching and Self-Engagement)

Corn Mazes and Mental Models

The Meaning of Mindset

Setbacks, Mindset and the Fundamental Attribution Error

Failing Forward (Learning from Mistakes)

Learning from Mistakes

The Dip: Seth Godin on Strategic Quitting

Conscious Competence in Practice

Suspension of Belief

Measuring the Infinite

Think Small (The Value of Micro-Goals)

Three More Horsemen (How We Self-Sabotage)

Importance vs. Urgency

Show Me Your Calendar and I'll Show You What You Value

Attitude, Behavior, Cognitive Dissonance and Authenticity

On Change: Inclination, Motivation, Action

Double-Loop Learning

Class 2: CHANGE in my Stanford course

 


CHAPTER 3: ATTENTION

Hawk (Sea Eagle) by Philip Bird 9452482861 EDIT 2Photo by Philip Eagle

Don't Just Do Something, Sit There! (Mindfulness for Busy People)

Attention Surplus Disorder (Anxiety and Distraction)

Growth, Profitability, and Return on Attention

What Are You Paying Attention To?

You're Not Multi-Tasking, You're Half-Assing

The Marshmallow Test for Grownups

Rubbernecking (Stop Wasting Attention)

Spending Attention

Why I (Keep Trying To) Meditate

Happy Workaholics Need Boundaries, Not Balance

White Bears and Car Crashes (Thinking About Thinking)

Adult Thumb-Sucking

How to Think (More on Open Space and Deep Work)

Racing Up the Ladder of Inference

When Heuristics Go Bad

Class 3: ATTENTION in my Stanford course

 


CHAPTER 4: EMOTION

Emotions Happy Sad by Jill M jm_photos 3923389533 EDITPhoto by Jill M

Antonio Damasio on Emotion and Reason

To Stay Focused, Manage Your Emotions

Talking About Feelings

Perception and Understanding (Self-Coaching and Self-Awareness)

Emotional Mountaineering (The Three Tasks of Coaching)

We're Leaky (Emotional Signals and Cognitive Dissonance)

Tiny Gestures (and Emotional Bids)

Taking the Leap (Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty)

Leadership, Decision-Making and Emotion Management

Rest Isn't Always Fun (and Fun Isn't Always Restful)

Coaching and Emotion Management

Investments, Not Indulgences

The Importance of Yellow Lights

Seneca on the Importance of Rest and Relaxation

How to Fight a Fire (Self-Coaching in a Crisis)

How Leaders Create Safety (and Danger)

Learning to Yield (Navigating Tough Conversations)

Comfort with Discomfort

Class 4: EMOTION in my Stanford course

 


CHAPTER 5: HAPPINESS

Joy Jump Happiness by Marina del Castell marinadelcastell 8759235322 EDITPhoto by Marina del Castell

Understanding "The Pie Chart" in The How of Happiness

Activity Fit Diagnostic

VIA Survey of Character Strengths

Gratitude Checklist

Catalysis (Self-Coaching and Self-Intervention)

The Big Picture (Self-Coaching, Values and Vision)

Sage Cohen and Peter Drucker on Rapture and Excellence

Let Your Freak Flag Fly: David Rendall on Uniqueness

Comfort Struggle

Feeling Sorry for Yourself?

Class 5: HAPPINESS in my Stanford course

 


CHAPTER 6: RESILIENCE

Rock Climbing by Adam Kubalica magnezja 9534445251 EDIT 2Photo by Adam Kubalica

Ignoring Bandits and Building Resilience

Failing Forward (Learning from Mistakes)

On Learning from Mistakes

Learning from Mistakes

How to Feed a Monster (Leading In Elite Organizations)

Surviving in a Toxic (or Merely Dysfunctional) Culture

The Definition of Pain

Authentic Leadership and Your "Crucible Story"

Class 6: RESILIENCE in my Stanford course

 


CHAPTER 7: VULNERABILITY

Skydiving by Philip Leara philleara 7246542376 EDIT 2Photo by Philip Leara

Brené Brown, Vulnerability, Empathy and Leadership

Safety, Trust, Intimacy

Conscious Competence in Practice

The Strategic Importance of Empathy

What I Learned in Touchy Feely (This Time)

Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups

Phil Stutz on Taking Risks

Crying at Work

Class 7: VULNERABILITY in my Stanford course

 


CLASS 8: UNHAPPINESS

Facepalm by Jes mugley 2594318333 EDITPhoto by Jes

How I Read Stoicism

The Obstacle Is The Way

Pain, Suffering, and Hedonic Adaptation

The Layer Cake of Working Life

On the Shortness of Life

Marcus Aurelius, 3,000 Years and the Present Moment

Pema Chödrön on Being Thrown Out of the Nest

Pema Chödrön on Patience and Letting Go

Pema Chödrön and Mario Andretti on Control

Pema Chödrön on Patience

Viktor Frankl on Love, Suffering and the Meaning of LIfe

Appreciating Life at Point Reyes

Surviving in a Toxic (or Merely Dysfunctional) Culture

Time Horizons

You Make Me Feel... (On Language and Responsibility)

Technology and Unhappiness

A Little Perspective

Keeping It Together When Things Fall Apart

Class 8: UNHAPPINESS in my Stanford course

 


CHAPTER 9: SUCCESS

Success Kid EDIT"Success Kid" © Laney Griner, used with permission

The Trap of Competition

This Is Water

Stop Trying to Be "Good Enough" by "Getting Better"

I Love Myself (Self-Coaching and Acceptance)

Living in the Tension (Self-Assessment and Self-Acceptance)

Peter Drucker on Excellence, Careers and Planning

Early Stage Survival and Later Stage Success

The Layer Cake of Working Life

Happy Workaholics Need Boundaries

Learning to Say "No" Is Part of Success

Doing Less, Leading More

Alain de Botton on Status Anxiety

Adventure, Tragedy, Comedy

Realizing the Futility of Life

Class 9: SUCCESS in my Stanford course

 


CHAPTER 10: ENDINGS

Wave Goodbye by striatic 2144933629 editPhoto by Striatic

William Bridges on Transitions

Are You in the First Half...Or the Second Half?

A Checklist for Someone About to Take on a Tougher Job

William James on Habit

The Art of Saying a Professional Goodbye

Spiral Learning and Flow States

Karl Weick on Renewal

On Growth and Renewal: An Update

Thankfulness

Learning From Sisyphus

Class 10: ENDINGS in my Stanford course

 


HISTORY

The chapters above parallel the sequence of topics in my Stanford course, but the organizing principle has evolved considerably over the years:

2009: My first Self-Coaching Guides on Communication, Leadership, Motivation, Change, Learning and Happiness.

  • Operator's Manual, a way of thinking about these six topics.

2010: Self-Coaching Guides, One Year Later

2012: Self-Coaching, a revised approach addressing the following topics:

  • Overview of Self-Coaching
  • Self-Engagement
  • Goal-Setting
  • Self-Awareness
  • Intervene and Act
  • Self-Assessment
  • Values and Vision
  • Accepting Ourselves

2013: Self-Coaching: An Overview, a more concise restatement of my 2012 framework.

2014: I was given the opportunity to design a course on this topic at Stanford, and the process of designing that curriculum led me to the sequence of chapters above and the title The Art of Self-Coaching.

2015: The Art of Self-Coaching at Stanford GSB, a presentation of my initial curriculum to students who were considering taking the course.


Lifeguard Chairs by Seth Anderson swanksalot 4215424034 EDITPhoto by Seth Anderson

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