Here are 3 more common mind traps that life coaching can help you become aware of and overcome.
1) You don’t change your mind once it’s made up. One of my favorite quotes from my wife’s grandmother “A wise man changes his mind, a fool never does.” It actually comes from a Spanish proverb, but I heard it from her 
Here are some other good ones:
Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
- John Kenneth Galbraith
When a man you like switches from what he said a year ago, or 4 years ago, he is a broad-minded person who has courage enough to change his mind with changing conditions. When a man you don’t like does it, he is a liar who has broken his promises.
- Franklin P. Adams
Small step: Try to consider ideas even if you don’t end up accepting them, and don’t be afraid to change your mind.
2) You don’t make the effort to understand an issue from other people’s perspectives. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey called habit # 5 Seek first to understand, then to be understood. In that chapter, he describes the principles of empathic listening & communication.
Small step: Practice emphatic listening with your loved ones, then extend to others.
3) You apply labels to yourself that may limit your options. When you apply labels to yourself that shape your identity, the labels may take on a life of their own, limiting your options and what you are willing to consider.
These labels are things like I’m a … Democrat, Republican, moderate, scientist, believer, liberal, conservative, employee, entrepreneur, Christian, Muslim, American, French, supporter of the military, peace activist, Bush-lover, Bush-hater, etc.
Read this article to see how labels can be limiting.
Small step: Rethink some of the labels you apply to yourself. Are they really serving you?
As I write this post, I’ve realized that while I think I am fairly open-minded, I can still strive to do better. How about you?
We must dare to think unthinkable thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world.
- James William Fulbright, US Senato
