What Coaches Can Learn From Glee’s Rachel Berry

For those of us who follow Glee, Rachel Berry is a person who you either love or you hate, and these sentiments can flip flop, week to week.

At times she is tied up in herself, a true self proclaimed “diva”, and the majority of the time, looking out for her best interest and her future of becoming a star.  But she is also driven and ambitious, successful, and dedicated.

Despite having flaws that turn many people off, there are a few things she does well, and as coaches, we can learn from. These actions are her use of daily affirmations, positive self talk, and looking out for her well being.

 

Let us all learn from Rachel!

 

 1)   Daily Affirmations- In numerous episodes we learn that Rachel wakes to inspirational music and steps onto her exercise machine (one example of well being, daily exercise) with a quote, goal, or photo in front of her that drives her towards excellence.

We can take a page out of Rachel’s book and use music, exercise, and written reminders to start the day off. Here are some other ideas:

• Use Adjectives That Empower- Use such adjectives when speaking or writing about your daily affirmations. Many lists of empowering and positive adjectives can be found on the web.

•  Use Mini Exercises- Practice mini exercises daily. Here’s an example; If you want to become a more concise speaker to your team, practice as if you were speaking to them, using the exact concise terms that you would use (this also helps to rid your vocab of negativity that you may use with your team).

•  Use Role Models- If you have a mentor or role model, say to yourself how you will be like them. What is it about their personality or what do they do that you want to adopt?

2)   Positive Self Talk- “You may laugh because every time I sign my name I put a gold star after it, but it’s a metaphor, and metaphors are important. My gold stars are a metaphor for ME being a star”. –Rachel Berry

The majority of us are our own worse enemies and critics. Have you ever taken note of how you speak to yourself about yourself? Would you ever use such negative language about your best friend or a stranger? If not, why would you treat yourself with hostility and disgust (be honest, we really do beat ourselves up)!

Here are a few steps to turning negative self talk into positive self talk. We need to be our own best friends!

• Become Aware of Your Self Talk- This is the first step. Many times coaches do not even realize the negativity that they keep in their heads and spew out in their own mind about themselves. Start to recognize what you say to yourself, keep a journal. Write it on a post it note, look at it, and then write a positive thought under it. Fold the post it so you cannot see the negative.

•  Do a Self Assessment of Your Self Talk- What are you saying in your self talk, are you mainly negative or mainly positive? Does it depend on what situation you are in? Are you negative in certain competitive or stressful situations?

•  Ask Someone You Trust to Tell You The Truth- Find your most honest friend that will tell you really how it is and ask them about the self talk that is going on in your head.

•  Change Your Self Talk- Use the example above. Other ideas, write out positive self talk cards that you PRACTICE, that’s right, practice; when negative self talk creeps in, use a physical act, like snapping your fingers, and follow it with positive self talk; surround yourself with positivity and positive people, try to distance yourself from negativity.

3)   Take Care of Yourself- Get enough sleep, fuel your body with the proper nutrients, exercise and meditate daily, love those around you, and make time for yourself.