Coaches may not share students’ college-specific responsibilities and challenges, but they too experience the paradox of choice. Being able to select our most curated and perfect choice from a huge selection should make us all happier, right? However, as research has repeatedly shown over the past two decades, there is a point of diminishing returns, past which the more choices offered us, the more cognitive energy it takes to think through them all. This creates stress that can persist beyond the decision point as the brain continues to noodle over whether paths not taken could have been better. This stress robs cognitive load that could be spent in more productive ways. 

In the context of the work of academic coaching, the stress of making choices can create two different issues: 

1. During a coaching session, a coach can wonder and worry about which questions to ask and which direction(s) to take the conversation. This can put the coach more in their own head than in the conversation, and the coach may struggle to ask questions that emerge organically, perhaps resulting in a disjointed experience for the student. 

2. After a coaching session, a coach can experience negative self-talk over questions not asked and opportunities not taken during the time with the student. In this case, the coach loses the chance to see what came out of the session that was useful and may not see that they can revisit a path not taken in another way or at another time. 

Often the first situation leads to the second, compounding the frustration for the coach and the lack of benefit for the student. Whether one or both occur, the result is that the coach cannot fully express their skill, and the student cannot fully benefit from the time.

Coaches, turn your skills toward yourselves, for the good of maximizing your productive powers. Ask yourselves one or more of the following questions:

• In what type of situation do I get wrapped up in overthinking my choices – during a session, afterwards, or both? What would I identify as the cause? 

• When have I set aside extra choices without fixating on them, and allowed a “less is more” experience that resulted in a productive session with a student? How can I do that again, and more often? 

• How can I notice overthinking during a session? What action can help me refocus on the student in the moment? 

• If I experience negative self-talk after a session, how can I process it in a way that helps me learn and change for the future? 

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