Coaching for Strong Habits

in 2023

Habits are powerful. Once developed, they become automated, meaning that we perform them with a minimum of cognitive energy and attention. This can benefit us if the habit is productive -- but can be tough to shift if the habit is problematic. 

Coaches can help students intentionally build strong habits to start this new year. One of Dr. Art Costa and Bena Kallick's sixteen Habits of Mind is "thinking about your thinking," or metacognition. Students who have the opportunity in a coaching session to reflect on their academic and self-management habits are more likely to understand whether those habits serve them. Then, based on what students discover through this reflection, coaches can use questioning to move students through the metacognitive learning cycle of planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Ask questions that encourage students to:

• Reflect on their time-management, study, and task-management habits

• Determine whether their habits empower or hamper them

• Plan changes that they anticipate will make a positive impact

• Monitor the progress of the changes they are working on, and shift if necessary

• Evaluate the effects of new or changed habits after they become more automated

• Celebrate the benefit of their efforts