Coaching Based on Cognitive Science

I have chosen to be a professional coach and advisor for my lifetime goal, who can guide them to leap the faith.

i originally started to study coaching stemmed from the belief that a coaching approach might be effective as a management skill to manage my 350 UK staff in the temporary staffing business.

I naturally felt that management practices based on Japan's success experiences would not work well in the UK, as the market environment, laws and regulations, language, and culture are different from Japan.

Some people emphasize "empathying with feelings and active listening" very much, valuing maintaining relationships and prioritizing listening so as not to compromise relationship. However, from my extensive global experiences, I felt that the empathy alone wouldn't suffice in truly fulfilling responsibility to the business and its members.

Upon encountering coaching principle based on Cognitive Science, I realized that the followings are truly keys.

-        Genuine your desires that aren't driven by a sense of responsibility or a need for recognition.
-        Understanding how to utilize your mindset power to generate performance naturally without efforts.

I discovered that once these are understood, the power of the mind works in such a way as to unleash the potential of the future.

The Future Self You Want to Be

What kind of person do you want to be in the future?

In coaching based on cognitive science, it's believed that when you can vividly imagine your desired future with an immersive sense, the inherited functions of the human brain will guide you towards that goal.

Remember to set your goal with your own honest heart. Ideally, you should set goals across multiple themes, such as work, hobbies, family, human relationships, knowledge, and societal contributions. You don't need to compare yourself with others. It's fine to start by considering what you desire for yourself – an "ego" without worrying about what others think. What's crucial is being true to your genuine "real feelings."

And what's essential is "goal-setting"?.

First of all, starting setting or creating your own goal is important, as those are extremely seldom to be found or given.

Secondly, when setting goals, there are two essential elements to be satifsfied;

1. It should be your genuine desire ("Want to").
   It should not be an obligation to fulfill or a need for recognition or appreciation from stakeholders, superiors, or colleagues (i.e., avoid to be scolded or wanting to be praised). These are called "Have to" desires. You have to find your genuine "Want to" desires, something you want to do even if very important persons in your life, like parents, family, friends, or authoritative figures, will advise against it. It is somethimes something you can not stop doing even if you don't know the reasons why.
   

2. Outside of the "status quo"                                                                  
   First of all, it's essential to define what the "status quo" is. The status quo doesn't just refer to the present situation but also includes "the future that can be predicted if things continue as they are." Thus, even if a goal is very hard to achieve, if it can be reached within this foreseeable future, it's considered a "goal inside the status quo". For instance, if fresh employees want to become a department head within 10 years, faster than their peers, even though this goal exhibits great ambition, it is still inside the status quo because it's something that can be achieved  in the present context.

Please set big goals; so big that you're really unsure about the processes and don't know the ideas on how to achieve them. Stay true "Want to" desire, and set goals that are outside of your status quo.

Efficacy: Self-assessment regarding the future self

The power required to achieve a goal is "Efficacy." Efficacy refers to the "self-condifence in your future self."

As mentioned earlier, a goal should be something outside the  status quo for which neither the process nor ideas to achieve are clear. However, the efficacy makes you believe in oneself to be capable of achieving such high goals. You might wonder how to possess such confidence. Yet, I believe everyone has had experiences where, despite oppositions from many people around you, they've pursued what they wanted, feeling "I can do this" – showing high efficacy. This unexplainable confidence is called "efficacy." Whether the outcome of such a challenge was a success or failure doesn't matter. The crucial aspect is that you believed in your future self.

Let me share an experience when I had high efficacy.

When I was 25, I resigned from a major Japanese audit firm where I had worked for three years. Despite barely speaking any English, I was determined to become a businessman working overseas, believing, "I want to work abroad, and I can do it." With this resolution, I studied abroad at an English language school and simultaneously searched for job opportunities in the U.S.

At that time, I had set a rule for myself: if I ran out of the 2 million yen (US$20K) I had saved up, my challenge would automatically end. I gave myself a time limit of one year. Back then, I inexplicably believed, "I should be able to get a job in foreign countries within a year." As a result of this leap of faith, I was hired locally by the largest audit firm in the US, located in Los Angeles.

In hindsight, I realize I did some not-normal things. In the city where I studied abroad, I approached audit firms right after school in the afternoon, asking them to let me work as a volunteer. A very generous partner, who was an expatriate from Japan, took me in, and I was included as a member of the audit team for their client visits.

Now, I laughingly recall thinking, "Why could volunteering be accepted in a serious profession like accounting?" However, my unexplainable confidence (Efficacy) was high, and I directed all my resources towards my goal.

Mr. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, was enamored with the iPhone and the potential information revolution it could bring. Even though he didn't own a mobile company at that time, he sought a meeting with Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs did not take his proposal seriously as Mr Son did not own any mobile business at all then. After the meeting with Steve Jobes, he went on to acquire Vodafone and astonishingly secured exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in Japan. Such episodes about Son explains it very well how important the efficacy is. For most people including me, even imagining going to meet someone like Steve Jobs without even owning a mobile company is unthinkable.

By the way, the confidence one has about their current state is called Self-Esteem, which is the opposite concept of Efficacy. For instance, being confident about your current position in the company (whether you're a CEO, an executive, etc.) doesn't challenge the "outside of the status quo" goals. Instead, it leads you to be very protective with the  status quo, which can hinder the pursuit of your goals.

What's essential is to have a positive self-assessment (Efficacy) about becoming the "future self" you aspire to be.

Self-Talk: Inner Dialogue

One effective way to raise efficacy is through "Self-Talk".
It is believed that people speak to themselves tens of thousands of times a day, consciously and subconsciously. Moreover, since humanity has evolved to avoid failures for survival, a significant portion of this self-talk tends to be negative. Before I studied coaching, I would tell myself things like, "I don't want to fail" or "I'm not good at presenting in front of people." Especially in Japan, people tend to make negative self-talk to themselves. This negative inner dialogue constrains oneself and leads to avoidance of action.

Now that I understand the importance of self-talk, I consciously transform the aforementioned negative self-talk into something positive.
"I am always gaining both success and experience (even if I fail)."
"Everyone gets nervous. As long as I'm prepared, it'll be okay."

Self-talk that promotes it called "Affirmation". Here are some examples:
"I always stay to be true myself."
"I may not be native in English, but I communicate my feelings sincerely."
Since self-talk is a dialogue you have with yourself, it resonates directly with your heart, gradually enhancing your self-efficacy.

When you make a mistake and catch yourself saying negative things like "I messed up," it's beneficial to immediately reframe the self-talk to something like "That wasn't like me. (So, next time it'll be alright)."

Imagine vividly the person you want to be and the accomplishments you've made, and engage in self-talk daily. This amplifies immesiveness of your future self, break throught the present self.

Now, I'll provide additional explanations for some terms, so that everyone can apply them to themselves.

RAS and Scotoma

RAS stands for Reticular Activation System. It refers to the "information gathering filter" that the brain possesses.

Why does the brain have the RAS?

There's an infinite amount of information surrounding us. If the brain were to take in all of this information, it would become overwhelmed. Furthermore, if we had to analyze all of this information to make decisions, we would never be able to take any action (related to the AI "Frame Problem"). If we couldn't react when attacked by dangerous animals, we would become extinct. The function of the RAS is to filter and collect only the information that is "necessary and important" for the individual.

So you may now understand, when the criteria for importance change, the information that comes through the RAS filter also changes.

I have a son. Until I had a child, when walking in Shibuya, New York, or London, I was never conscious of the presence of babies. But the moment I had my child, what was important to me changed, and I suddenly noticed that there were many people with babies in strollers. I also became conscious of things like the gaps and hollows of the roads.

There's also a term called the "Cocktail Party Effect." Even at a party with many guests, if there's someone you're attracted to, haven't you experienced distinguishing their voice among the many other voices?

Scotoma: The Counterpart of RAS

The term that pairs with RAS is called "Scotoma" (blind spot). It refers to information that exists but is not perceived due to being excluded by the RAS filter. In the examples provided above, the babies in very busy city, that were unnoticed before having a son, and the voices of strangers at the party that were not retained due to Scotoma.

Now think again the reason why setting Goals are so important

Without setting a goal, the perceived importance is low, causing information related to the goal to be hidden by the Scotoma and thus unseen. However, once a goal is set, the Scotoma disappears, making the information more noticeable. This is referred to as the activation of RAS.

To trigger this activation of RAS, the goal must be outside the "current status quo," and commitment (a sense of responsibility) to that goal is essential.

If the goal is within the status quo, the brain cannot identify the difference between the present situation and your persuing goals, and the Scotoma remains unchanged. Furthermore, the brain functionally and regrettably loves to be lazy. Only by committing to a goal, having a sense of ownership, does the  importance level change. The RAS then activates, and the necesssary information becomes visible.

Comfort Zone

Lastly, let's discuss the concept of the "Comfort Zone."

The Comfort Zone is a state in which one feels secure and safe, and it's the optimal condition for sustaining life.
For instance, the body's comfort zone in terms of temperature is around 36°C. In extreme cold, our heart rate increases, and in extreme heat, we sweat involuntarily. This is because the brain commands the body to maintain the temperature at 36°C. The brain does this unconsciously, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Think of humans as creatures who wish to remain in their comfort zone for the sake of preserving life.
Thanks to this the body's functioning to keep comfort zone, our breathing never stops without any conciousness during sleeping.

This can also explain the  weight very likely rebounds after dieting. If you restrict your foods for several days and step out of your comfort zone, the brain perceives a nutritional deficiency. It then prompts you to increase food consumption, aiming to return to your comfort zone. As a result, one might gain even more weight. In cognitive science, this powerful force to revert you to the comfort zone is called "homeostasis."

The concept of the comfort zone can also explain why, in soccer matches, teams tend to have better winning rates in home games compared to away games. When playing at their home stadium, players feel a higher sense of psychological safety, enabling better performance. In contrast, when they play at the away games, they feel outside their comfort zone, which might unconsciously make their bodies tense up.

The very powerful force that pushes one back to the comfort zone is a function for the preservation of life, and it's  as intense as the gravity to pull back a rocket to the earth upon attempting to leave Earth's atmosphere.

In cognitive science based coaching, we aim to shift the comfort zone toward the future state, harnessing its power. By doing so, we can leverage the power of the mind/ homeostasis to achieve our ambitious goals.

During sessions, we cultivate a sense of presence in the future world. Consequently, the brain recognizes the "future self" as the "real self" with immersiveness. This represents a state where the comfort zone has been shifted towards the future. With this, homeostasis begins working towards achieving our goals.

For instance, when I decided to go to America, I always imagined my future self as someone who can "confidently debate with Americans," or "enjoy parties with foreign friends, discussing life and philosophies." When I could shift my comfort zone, I began to see the internationally-fluent English speaker as my real self. Homeostasis started working, making me feel uneasy with my inability to speak English, which naturally made me invest time in improving my English.

Furthermore, it's understood that the brain cannot maintain two comfort zones simultaneously. Life doesn't function in a way where one day the body's temperature is set to 35°C and another day to 37°C. Similarly, someone with heights phobia won't suddenly not be afraid of heights one day. Since it's impossible to have comfort zones for both the present and the future simultaneously, the key lies in creating a comfort zone oriented towards the future.

When you understand how to use your mind, your brain works to capture information and push you towards your goals. This becomes a powerful force that unleashes great potential.

Summary / "Heart Bell" and Unleashing Potential

Looking back on my life, whenever I was in situations where I couldn't make immediate decisions, I made them based on my "heart bell." The "heart bell" refers to the speedy and loud beatings in one's heart.

I don't feel tense about things I believe it's okay to fail at. For instance, if I'm told to run 100 meters in 10 seconds, I don't believe I can do it and would give up from the start.
The same goes when there's no sense of urgency. If I'm told to run in 30 seconds, I feel it's easy and don't feel particularly tense.
However, if, for example, I'm told to just barely do it in 15 seconds, and I imagine being watched by family or a large audience, a sense of urgency arises, and my heart's bell rings loudly.

When your heart's bell resonates loudly regarding some goal-related decision, it indicates that you are on the "edge" of the palpable feeling of what you "truly want to achieve," which is a great opportunity for growth.

I love the phrase "Unleash Potential."

Everyone's brain functions are powerful. I would be delighted if people could understand that, when armed with the knowledge of the mind's mechanisms I've described above, infinite possibilities open up for everyone.