Self-Coaching: Freeing Yourself from Prejudices and Knowing Your Values

Preparing the Mental Ground: Prejudices

Before effectively embarking on the practice of self-coaching, it is essential to perform a mental cleansing beforehand: you need to get rid, as much as possible, of your prejudices.

Prejudices act as distorting filters; they bias us, condition us and, unfortunately, do not always do so in a way that is beneficial to our growth or well-being.

What exactly is a prejudice? It is nothing more than the action and effect of judging something or someone before knowing them thoroughly, based on preconceived ideas.

This mental preparation is indispensable to approach self-coaching with the necessary openness and objectivity.

Origins of Prejudices: Experience and Stereotypes

Our prejudices can have various origins. Sometimes they are based on past experiences, experiences that have led us to draw certain conclusions, often generalized, about how things work or what certain groups of people are like.

At other times, our prejudices are based entirely on stereotypes: simplified and widely accepted social constructs that do not necessarily correspond to reality, but which we internalize and take for granted without questioning them.

An example might be the idea that "people in a certain profession are all the same".

Throughout life, we accumulate a whole series of prejudices, and freeing ourselves from them is one of the best steps we can take to grow.

The Hindering Impact of Prejudices

If we analyze it carefully, we will realize that prejudices only succeed in hindering our rational behavior.

They prevent us from thinking and eva luating situations and people objectively for ourselves.

They act as mental shortcuts that spare us the effort of analyzing each case individually, but at the expense of accuracy and openness.

As soon as you free yourself from your prejudices, you will be in a better position to work on your values, but not before.

Why? Because you need to think about your values in a free and totally honest way, and prejudices prevent you from that freedom, because they are the ones who dictate to you what to think.

The Fundamental Importance of Knowing Your Values

Once we have cleared the field of prejudices, we can address values. Why is it so necessary to know our values in self-coaching? The answer is simple: to make conscious decisions about our own lives.

If you are clear about your core values, those non-negotiable principles that govern your internal compass, indecision decreases, because you know exactly what is most important to you.

Knowing your values also allows you to eva luate to what extent your current life is being consistent with them. To build a happy and fulfilling life, this consistency is essential.

If you violate your values or relegate them to the background, it will be difficult for you to feel fulfilled, because you will be neglecting what really matters to you.

Reflection and Active Challenge of Prejudices

I invite you to take time to reflect on your own prejudices. Think about the difficulties you are facing today and identify what specific biases might be perpetuating them.

For example, if you have difficulties in your social relationships, you may detect thoughts like "people are always judging" or "it's impossible to trust others".

Once you have a list, reflect on each one and counter them with concrete examples from your own life