
66 THE SECRETS OF SUCCESS IN COACHING
client to repeat the story – as many times as is necessary to
really pull out every nuance of what they were thinking, feel-
ing and doing at each of the five points on the timeline. You
are looking to help the client identify the point at which the
first trigger occurred. The aim is to show the client that, in
most cases, the failure point does not happen at the point of
unwanted action, but much earlier. With the example above,
it’s not when the doughnut is being eaten, but is perhaps
the choice to walk down a specific street or deciding not to
eat breakfast that morning. It is about understanding th