Within three months of Learning Goals coaching with Tom I began to change long standing self-sabotage patterns that were making it impossible for me to be successful. 

After six months of coaching I now have  enough permanent teaching commitments to make an adequate income doing what I love and what I’m best at.  I know it won’t be long before I’m making an excellent income."

-- M.A. Marina del Rey

The social psychology research of Carol S. Dweck and her colleagues over the past 30 years reveals that about half of any group of people respond with the above-described success characteristics when faced with difficulty, challenges or failure.  These researchers call this a mastery oriented response.  

More significantly, the research also reveals that the other half of any group of people is more likely to respond to challenges, failure, and tasks that require a lot of effort, by giving up or avoiding the task completely --- with a helpless response.  Obviously the mastery oriented response is the more functional orientation and more likely to lead to success, and we would all prefer to have those characteristics.  Unfortunately the research also indicates that the tendency towards either the helpless response or the mastery oriented response arises very early in life with the development of implicit theories about our selves.[1] 

Fortunately the research also contains hope and guidance for how to counteract the implicit self-theories that lead to the helpless response.  Learning goals coaching is based on this research.

When you learn how to respond to the difficulties and challenges in your life with the mastery oriented response of learning goals, you will have more:

• Success and achievement in the areas of your life where you want to be successful
• Satisfaction, effectiveness, mastery in your goals
• Creativity, learning and growth
• Flow and peak experiences
• Self-competence and self-confidence
• Happiness
• Fulfillment

Some of the many symptoms and manifestations of the helpless response are:

• Procrastination
• Fear of failure
• Giving up very quickly on difficult projects
• Avoidance of tasks, projects or goals that require a lot of effort
• Only doing things you know you can succeed at
• Avoidance of risk or trying new things
• Passivity
• Underachievement
• Lack of success in life
• Mediocrity
• Not following through on projects
• Limiting beliefs about oneself and one’s abilities

Healthy coaching can help you develop learning goals and the mastery oriented response

• Learning goals = self-responsible
• Learning goals = self-esteem
• Learning goals = self-efficacy
• Learning goals = self-empowerment
• Learning goals = self-fulfillment