Workbooks are fun yet effective tools for coaching sessions. When combined with coaching conversations around the same focus areas, they can lead to deeper insights.
Coaching workbooks are also highly versatile; they can be used with various frameworks in virtually all coaching niches.
Read on to learn about what they look like in practice and some resources of free life coach workbooks. As someone who fills hundreds of pages of journals each year, I’ve also included some of my favorite free and paid workbooks I’ve worked with myself to bring to your coaching sessions.
What is a Life Coach Workbook?
A life coach workbook is a structured tool that helps clients set goals and reflect on their situation. It can enhance your coaching process by providing clear frameworks tailored to clients’ specific areas for growth.
Clients can benefit from using workbooks in several ways. They can gain clarity on their life visions and plans, understand their strengths and challenges, and monitor their growth.
The coaching exercises and assignments in workbooks also keep clients engaged and motivated between sessions.
[ Read: The Top 8 Coaching Tools That Actually Work For Client Transformation ]
Coaching questions can be used during a conversation and in a workbook, depending on what’s more conducive to your client’s growth. Reflective writing often leads to deeper insights, especially with clients who are more introverted and need more time alone to articulate and organize their thoughts.
For example, you can discuss a particular topic in your session and then send your client a simple workbook to reflect on it. This allows time for their insights to integrate and spot patterns that weren’t evident at first.
If your client struggles with living in the present, you can explore ways to help them be more embodied in your session and then share a gratitude coaching exercise with them.
Beyond a set of questions, you can also use coaching exercises and models in your workbooks. This can help clients visualize their situation better and add more nuance to their reflection process.
You can use life coach workbooks in various settings, including your one-on-one and group coaching sessions, your workshops, or as a homework assignment.
How to Create a Life Coach Workbook
Here are some simple tips on creating and sharing your workbook with your coaching clients.
Define Its Purpose
Start by identifying what you want your clients to achieve with the workbook. Outline the desired outcomes, such as a clear idea of their life vision or learning from a negative event in their past. Knowing the end goal will guide the content and structure of your workbook.
Define Its Format
Choose one or more coaching exercises, models, action items, and questions that align with the workbook’s purpose. Consider the time it will take clients to complete each section to ensure it is manageable.
If it’s quick, ask them to fill it out in your session. If it takes longer than ten minutes, consider giving it to them as a homework assignment.
Design Its Layout
You can create your workbook in Google Docs or use a simple design tool like Canva. Incorporate your logo and color scheme to make it visually appealing and consistent with your branding. Leave enough space for clients to write their thoughts and responses.
Add a Little Extra
To make your workbook pop, you can incorporate additional elements like inspirational quotes, diagrams, or illustrations to make it more engaging. This touch helps clients connect more deeply with the material, which can lead to more significant insights and reflections.
Make It Shareable
Decide how you’ll share your coaching workbook with your clients. You can print it, send it as a PDF to their email, or share it as a Google Doc. You can even upload it to their profile on Paperbell to make it easily accessible, along with all the other materials in their package.
Free Life Coaching Workbook Template
Ready to create a workbook for your coaching clients? Here’s a template you can use to turn your coaching exercises into worksheets they can fill.
This example of a life coach workbook will help your client reflect on their future vision. You can adapt this reflection process to any coaching area your client is currently focusing on.
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It’s particularly handy at the beginning of a new coaching process with a client as it provides a more clearly defined focus for your work together.
Free Life Coach Workbooks
Here are some free resources with popular coaching tools you can download for your next session.
The Coaching Tools Company
The Coaching Tools Company offers various workbooks and life coaching tools you can use in your business. These include customizable exercises and templates for various coaching areas, such as goal-setting worksheets, wheel of life assessments, and vision board templates.
Mindful Coaching Tools
Mindful Coaching Tools provides a wide range of free coaching resources tailored for mindfulness and personal development.
These worksheets and exercises are a great addition to your business and can support clients in stress management, mindfulness practices, and emotional resilience.
There are even meditation scripts, gratitude journal templates, and mindful breathing exercises to enhance your sessions.
The Coaching Space
The Coaching Space is another excellent resource for worksheets and helpful coaching tools. From practical coaching exercises to worksheets, it’s a platform worth digging into when planning your sessions and workshops.
3 Unique Workbooks to Use With Coaching Clients
Life Journal by Prophsee
Prophsee offers beautiful journals in print and digital formats that inspire creativity and intentional living. Founder Ana Juma’s vision is to embrace the art of conscious writing and rediscover the joy of flipping through pages in a digital age.
The Life Journal is based on positive psychology and has reflection prompts that inspire meaningful insights. Though these 13-week journals aren’t specifically designed for coaches, they can make an excellent workbook or even a bonus added to your coaching packages.
Self Authoring
Self Authoring is a unique platform designed to empower individuals through structured self-reflection and goal-setting. You can integrate its Past, Present, and Future modules as a workbook into your coaching practice.
This tool facilitates deep introspection, helping clients process past events, clarify their values, and envision their future. It can also give you a framework for meaningful discussions and actionable insights in your sessions and make excellent homework assignments.
Year Compass
Year Compass is a transformative tool to reflect on past accomplishments, challenges, and future aspirations as you transition from one year to the next. As a coach, you can incorporate the structured exercises in Year Compass into your practice to help clients recognize where they stand and get a clearer vision for their next chapter.
You can also apply the exercises in Year Compass to encourage intentionality throughout the year. The insights that arise from this workbook make an excellent basis for client work, particularly identifying growth areas and future goals you can work towards in your sessions.
Envisioning Exercise
Which area of your life is the biggest focus for your personal development right now?
On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with what this area of your life looks like right now?
What would the ideal future look like for this area of your life? Write or draw what comes to your mind. [LEAVE MORE SPACE FOR THIS]
What are the 3 biggest milestones you’ll need to reach to realize this vision?
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
What are some possible obstacles that may arise on your way there? What do you need to learn to overcome them? Who can help you in this process?
What small action can you take right now as the first step toward your vision?
