4 Character Strengths to Help You Thrive as a Life Coach after COVID-19 | Life Coaching Certification

As we are amid unprecedented times, we wonder how we will ever adapt and even thrive in the new normal that is inevitable after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic has passed. As a coach, you are passionate about guiding your clients to success and happiness but also want to sustain a viable business. If you take this time to build and refine the best character strengths to use in unsettling times, the period of recovery and revival can be a lot smoother. If you’re not a coach, read until the end to find out how to receive your life coaching certification from the Jay Shetty Certification School.

What are Character Strengths?

Studies of character and virtue have shown us the profound impact of these attributes on human behavior, performance, and motivation. Maximizing our strengths (instead of focusing on our weaknesses) are powerful roots in which we can establish success.

According to the pioneers of the concept, Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, character strengths are the combination of individual positive traits that differ from person to person. They are the routes or ways to express and actualize the six virtues of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

Within those six virtues are 24 distinct character strengths. Although each of the character strengths has a role in helping people flourish under challenging circumstances, we’ll focus on four that I believe are most useful in times of recovery.

#1 Creativity

If creativity is among the top of your strengths, thinking of new ways to do things is part of your personality. You are not satisfied with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.

One way you can develop the skill of creativity is to make time every day to think creatively or find new ways to do activities such as writing poems or using an everyday household object in a new way.

#2 Perspective

If perspective is one of your top strengths, you tend to look at the world in a way that makes the most sense to others and yourself. Although you may not think you are wise, your friends probably think you have this attribute. They value your perspective and often turn to you for advice. Perspective is an essential building block of coaching as it empowers you to view the client’s situation objectively and work toward the best solution.

To develop this quality, research quotes on wisdom, find one that resonates with you, and then rewrite it to make it unique for you and refer to it often to reaffirm its meaning. Try to think of ways that you can live more faithfully to that quote. You can also identify someone you think is wise and read their biography or watch a film about their life. Explore how their experience can guide your decisions and actions.

Studies of character and virtue have shown us the profound impact of these attributes on human behavior, performance, and motivation. Maximizing our strengths (instead of focusing on our weaknesses) are powerful roots in which we can establish success.

#3 Perseverance

If perseverance is one of your top strengths, you work hard to finish what you start. After all, obtaining your life coaching certification has involved time and energy. You continue to pursue your mission as a coach despite the presence of challenges, difficulties, and discouragement. To build and refine the strength of perseverance, select a role model who exemplifies this attribute, and determine how you can follow his or her footsteps. It can be somebody you know and admire, like a mentor, or someone you’ve never met like a statesman or celebrity. Read their life story and accomplishments and note the approach and actions that they took to make a difference.

#4 Kindness

If your character strength of kindness is well developed, you are kind and generous to others. You are never too busy or self-absorbed to do something for them. Thus, perhaps when you were working towards your life coaching certification and juggling other responsibilities as well, you found time for the others around you because of your inner kindness. In fact, you find pleasure and pride in doing good deeds for others, even if you do not know them well. Your heightened sense of empathy, moral reasoning, and social responsibility motivates you to help others in difficult times. 

To exercise your strength of kindness, perform a random act of kindness each day, for example, helping a stranger, complimenting a coworker, or buying a treat for your partner. Make it your mission to say kinder and softer words to people when interacting through email, writing letters, or talking on the phone. For instance, when answering the phone, smile and express delight to hear from the person on the other end of the line.

Final Words

With these simple exercises to build creativity, perspective, perseverance, and kindness, you become better equipped to help clients and others when their lives have been turned upside down. You can assess your own character strengths here to know which strengths to emphasize and those that you can develop further.

We have designed the program at the Jay Shetty Certification School to develop these character strengths among our students. Our mission is to train enough certified coaches to have a positive impact on communities worldwide by spreading their knowledge and care as far as possible. This way, we endeavor not only to help society recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but to thrive for many years to come.

If you’re looking for receiving your life coaching certification with us, please book a call with our enrollment advisors and discover if you are ready to start your journey: https://jayshettycoaching.com/