What Have You Unlearned This Year?

2025-12-31

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This final episode of the year is a reflective exploration of unlearning. In this final episode of the year, I spend some time with the idea of unlearning as making space for something new to emerge in our coaching. I look at unlearning not as erasing old patterns, but as creating the conditions for new responses to emerge. Much of what coaches struggle with in training, mentoring, and supervision is not a lack of knowledge, but difficulty letting go of control, performance, over-reliance on technique, or the need to be helpful in...

This final episode of the year is a reflective exploration of unlearning.

In this final episode of the year, I spend some time with the idea of unlearning as making space for something new to emerge in our coaching. I look at unlearning not as erasing old patterns, but as creating the conditions for new responses to emerge.

Much of what coaches struggle with in training, mentoring, and supervision is not a lack of knowledge, but difficulty letting go of control, performance, over-reliance on technique, or the need to be helpful in familiar ways. This episode looks closely at how those patterns form, what keeps them in place, and what helps loosen them safely.

In this episode, I explore:

Why unlearning is a necessary part of developing presence, listening, and relational responsiveness
The difference between knowing something cognitively and being able to embody it
What experienced coaches often need to unlearn as they move toward greater mastery
Qualities that support an unlearning mindset

The episode closes with a set of reflective questions you can use to look back on the past year not in terms of what you’ve learned, but what you’ve let go of, softened, or stopped doing in your coaching.

If you’re ending the year in a reflective mood and thinking about how you want to grow next not just in skills, but in how you are as a coach, this episode offers a gentle place to pause before the new year begins.

Coming up next:
We start the new year with a practical focus on how to define clear and meaningful measures of success for a coaching session, especially when clients bring topics that feel big, vague, or abstract.

Enjoy Other Free Materials:

Free Coaching Course for People Leaders: upthinkcoaching.podia.com/basic-coaching-skills-for-new-leaders
Mock ICF Credentialing Exam (PCC, MCC) from UpThink Coaching:
podia.com/mock-icf-credentialing-exam-pcc-mcc
PCC Marker Demo: upthinkcoaching.podia.com/pcc-marker-demo-session

Next ICF-Accredited Coach Training Programs (designed for coaches who want to work at depth): Spring of 2026, exact dates TBC

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