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Self Coaching 101

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Self coaching is about feeling better. It really is that simple. Everything we do in our lives is because we want to feel better. When we give-it feels good. When we help others-it feels good. When we accomplish something-it feels good. Whenever we feel bad-we are usually seeking a way to feel good. The reason we want to feel good, is because it is our true nature. Alignment with our spirit-our true essence-the God within us feels good. It feels peaceful, joyous, honest, abundant and free. Through coaching ourselves we can feel good much more of the time. By coaching ourselves we find what is not working in our lives. We find that trying to change the external circumstances to change how we feel is impossible. We learn that fighting our emotions or trying to deny them only makes them bigger. We find that our thinking is the most important thing we can pay attention to in order to feel better now. By taking a peek into our own minds we can find the cause of all our suffering. We can see how we block our joy with outdated and untruthful thoughts and beliefs. By just being in this place of awareness we have aligned with our true nature and can observe the patterns of our lives. Hiring a coach can be an amazing experience. Having someone who is already "outside" of your mind give you a different perspective to consider is often the first step in change. But ultimately, it is the process of shifting your own perception with your own awareness that will create non-dependent freedom. This is why I feel so strongly about learning how to apply these simple self coaching tools in your own life and on your own mind. If you are willing to do the work now-it becomes a way of being. You will step into a life that is lived with awareness and consciousness because each time you feel any negative emotion you see it as a signal to coach yourself and realign with the true essence of you. Self coaching 101 teaches you the basics of how to do this. And the basics are enough.

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2008

61 people are currently reading
799 people want to read

About the author

Brooke Castillo

13 books64 followers

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5 stars
163 (50%)
4 stars
103 (31%)
3 stars
41 (12%)
2 stars
6 (1%)
1 star
9 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for Kristie.
47 reviews1 follower
September 17, 2015
Brooke Castillo is a brilliant coach. If you are a person who has lived through traumatic experiences and can't seem to get over them, this is the book for you. Much like Tony Robbins, she is using techniques of mind management. Teaching people to be in the driver seat of their own life, and not allowing external circumstances to influence how they feel about their life.

If a person is willing to do the work, it's deep work, and not the easiest. Emotions and a little bit of frustration comes out of it, because getting past your own thoughts is the hardest thing to do. Once I'm finished with Tony Robbins Awaken the Giant (recommended by Brooke), I plan to read this book again and really get to work.

Profile Image for Leandra.
256 reviews2 followers
August 14, 2018
I listen to Brooke (the author) regularly on her podcasts which have had a huge impact on my life. I now have read her book. She teaches the model.

Circumstance - what facts or occurrence are happening - these are facts of situation
Thoughts - what are your thoughts on the circumstance
Feeling - what feeling is being generated by your thoughts
Action - what behavior are your displaying as result of your feelings and thoughts
Result - what is final result of Actions

She teaches how to have an intentional model and unintentional model. I have learned to think through my circumstances instead of immediate reacting. The key to the book is actually do the exercise. The model shows exactly what you are thinking....it gives you self awareness. If you can catch what you are thinking, then you can start to manage your thinking thus managing your feelings to get the actions and results you are looking for.
Profile Image for Deb.
1,578 reviews20 followers
August 2, 2020
I purchased this book from Amazon because I've been listening to Brooke Castillo's old podcasts on YouTube. I started with her first podcast and now I'm on number 78. I plan to continue listening to all of them. They are amazing. Castillo is a very talented teacher and thinker. Unfortunately, I'm not as impressed with this book compared to her speaking abilities. Also, I can tell she must have learned a lot between when she wrote the book and when she began the podcasts. The podcasts are so much better and full of much more valuable information. Her words have truly changed my life for the better.

An interesting thing to me is how she lists some of her important "teachers" toward the beginning of the book. Then she mentions them throughout the rest. I like that she gives them credit for some of her ideas. I like how she has clearly captured their styles. She used their teachings to formulate her own model. She has done an excellent job with this. Because of her podcasts, I have also recently read books written by some of her teachers. It was fun for me to recognize how she has incorporated their teachings.

I guess I was hoping to get more from the book than I've been getting from the podcasts. Unfortunately, the book is not even close. It is an extremely simplified version of her teachings. She has so much to offer. I wish I had a summary of everything I've learned from her so far from her podcasts. This book is not it.

At the same time, in this book she shares true and worthwhile information in a simplified way. Having the information in book form is definitely better than not having it. I'm glad I own it and may use it as a simple reference. It is full of worksheets that may or may not come in handy. However, it seems it would be almost as simple to write out the elements of the model or to even more simply do them mentally as I get better at practicing them.

I agree with other reviewers that say this book could have used an editor or two. It appears to be self published.

Bottom line: Brooke Castillo deserves 5 stars for her teachings. They are truly amazing. Sadly, I'm giving this book 3 stars because even though I liked it, the way she presents her work here doesn't do her justice or come close to how much I value her podcasts.
Profile Image for Jessica.
35 reviews2 followers
September 14, 2020
Amazing book! I love how concise and clear it is. I admit, if I hadn't already been working on myself and reading many other materials in the past decade, I don't know if my brain would have been ready to receive these valuable tools, but it's incredible and it's already working for me. I feel incredibly empowered.
And, almost as proof to me of its efficacy, as I read I would have an epiphany and journal about it and then read the next section where she would teach that very thing, though in her own, special way.
Different people in different places of life will find this work more challenging, and perhaps dig their heels in against it. But, if you make yourself a little vulnerable and try it, taking the risk of really seeing yourself, I think everyone could benefit from the model and the detailed descriptions within.

One last note: I know some people criticized that the information was available for free on her website before and why pay for this book if that's the case, but it's no longer online. She does talk about it in her podcasts, but this book is invaluable IMHO, rather than wading through and trying to force it together yourself. And also, pay the lady for the gift of these amazing tools, OMG! XD
Profile Image for Leslie Didier-Paquin.
60 reviews1 follower
November 30, 2015
I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for growth and improvement. Brooke has a very straightforward, honest approach in her model and it is easy to learn and apply. Check it out, worth the read and likely re-reads.
Profile Image for Hannah.
91 reviews
October 11, 2016
Love Brooke's teachings!!!

Her self-coaching model is life changing!!! I absolutely love her podcasts and listen to her daily. She radiates positivity! You'll want to check her out!
Profile Image for Maryalene.
447 reviews4 followers
October 28, 2020
This was a DNF for me for several reasons, not the least of which was its embrace of the Law of Attraction. It was all a bit too woo-woo for me.

While I am a huge believer in the power of positive thinking (just ask my daughter), this book seems to advocate creating a Pollyanna-esque alternative reality in which you only think good thoughts. The author mashes together the work of a number of a different authors to create a model in which you always think a positive thought about your circumstances. This positive thought, in theory, eliminates negative feelings and triggers action that bring about good results.

I gave up on the book at about the midway point because shoving down your negative thoughts seems about as healthy as burying negative feelings. The author doesn't seem to realize that negative emotions can be tremendous motivators and positive action can come out of negative thoughts and feelings. Not that we want to wallow in negativity, but I think being realistic is important. Sometimes, your friend really doesn't respect your time, and it can be beneficial in the long-run to acknowledge that rather than push the thought aside and replace it with something more cheery like "she must be busy."
Profile Image for Deb.
542 reviews5 followers
June 24, 2017
This book has some good advice about how changing the way we think about a circumstance can change our feelings about it and the actions we take, and the ultimate results we get. The author lays out an easy to-follow model that clearly shows how we can actually change things in our life by changing our thoughts about them. I tried doing this with several circumstances in my life, and it really does work. As we change our thoughts about a circumstance to something more positive, our feelings about the circumstance can be altered. We can then alter the actions we take and the results we get. This book is worth reading and Brooke Castillo's model of self-coaching is worth trying, for anyone who wants to happier, more positive and get better results to life's challenges.
Profile Image for Aubree.
1,272 reviews12 followers
November 11, 2019
Unfortunately this is not a great book which is too bad because the information in it is life changing and invaluable. It was full of errors, not well written, and the structure was sometimes poor. It needed an editor desperately. HOWEVER, if you are already familiar with Brooke Castillo’s work whether via Brooke herself, Jody Moore, or another life coach this is a good guide to have written information to refer back to and it does have some worksheets that could be helpful. If you are new to the life coach model I suggest you start with the Life Coach School podcast or better yet the Better Than Happy podcast rather than this book.

I did read this aloud with my husband and we were able to discuss it which was helpful and fun.
Profile Image for Brooklyn.
49 reviews1 follower
May 29, 2018
I did life coaching with Jodi Moore (Bold New Mom) for 3 months last year and learned so much! The author of this book, Brooke Castillo is Jodi’s mentor so I was excited to read this book. I believe our thoughts have so much power, so even if this work may seem a little hokey, I know when I do it that it makes a difference. If I wasn’t familiar with the CTFAR model I probably would’ve spent more time reading the book and learning about each part, but working with Jodi for 3 months made this book more of a review. I highly recommend if you’re ready to take charge of your life and stop blaming other people/circumstances for how you feel!
71 reviews1 follower
January 29, 2021
I can see the appeal of the book and Castillo's work, but it didn't particularly speak to me.
If I were going to oversimplify it I would say it's basically a step-by-step guide/framework for being an optimist, with a dash of principles I typically associate with Buddhism: separation of mind/thought from the self, cognition rather than circumstance as the source of suffering, and awareness of one's thought/action chain.
While I didn't find it to be the most empowering or inspiring thing I've read, I don't regret reading it as it has given me another tool in the toolbox with which to work on my self.
Profile Image for Jenifer Paredes .
3 reviews1 follower
January 31, 2020
The self coaching method described in the book ( and based on other teachings such as Byron Katie's The work), is life changing. It's powerful because it's a practical, simple method that you can learn on your own to become aware of your own stinking thinking. Rather than just efforting toward being more positive, this method shows you how to excavate and then modify thoughts. Byron Katie's www.thework.com combined with this method, is a powerful path to self-awareness, and I use it with all my coaching clients.
Profile Image for Nicole.
17 reviews32 followers
October 13, 2017
Brooke Castillo introduces a powerful and straightforward model which readers can use to put all circumstances and thinking and emotions into a framework to make changes. I recommend this book to those who are ready and willing to observe their behavior and emotions - and are interested in making changes in their life. The changes can be small or large - the model introduced in the book can address all sizes.
Profile Image for Florin.
10 reviews
October 10, 2018
Brooke provides and excellent model which you can apply in every part of your life and different situations. All the inputs of the model are detailed and exemplified so you the reader can create your own understanding of the model. You clearly must be open to change to applied this model, if you are in a negative area of your life, you can easily question everything that it is shown in this book, and that it cannot be applied.
564 reviews5 followers
April 10, 2020
Achieve a higher level of success in business and life by implementing these 100 self coaching strategies. Truly inspiration and insights that transforms your mind, your business and your life. Karen Briscoe, author and podcast host 5 Minute Success
33 reviews1 follower
December 23, 2020
I love the model described in the book and I love Brooke's energy. The book suffers somewhat from the common problem with repetition though but it's not as bad as many other books.

Overall, strongly recommended for aspiring coaches and self-help junkies alike.
Profile Image for Rozz Dyett.
17 reviews
October 16, 2017
A very quick to read book with a simple idea. Change what you think if you want to change the results. The book is good in that it tells you straight that this is not always easy to do.
Profile Image for Veronica.
312 reviews4 followers
March 24, 2018
Read this on the advice of a coach I’m working with. Good insights on creating positivity in you life starting with your thoughts.
141 reviews
June 13, 2018
A helpful, easy-to-understand book, which taught me a lot, although some parts didn't relate to me as much.
Profile Image for Ann.
105 reviews1 follower
November 1, 2018
The method seems to make a lot of sense.
Profile Image for Ragan Balzer.
203 reviews
January 28, 2019
This is going to take a lot of practice, but I like the concept. We really have no full understanding of the capability of the mind.
48 reviews
October 19, 2023
This book is excellent. I learned her techniques and use them both for my own development and with all my clients
216 reviews5 followers
June 21, 2013
helpful personal account with tools to apply
Profile Image for Barbara.
374 reviews16 followers
June 8, 2016
Started, never finished. Abandoned because I wasn't getting much out of it, repetitive to things I've already read and worked with.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

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