Believing in people helps them to dream bigger and do more than they could on their own—that’s what a coach does. When you believe in a person, it helps them overcome their own self-doubt. And because self-doubt drains away your energy, it is one of the biggest obstacles to dreams. It is easy to let our doubts shortchange our dreams and limit them to what seems manageable with our current resources. But we grow in the course of pursuing a God-given dream—so we need to dream in terms of our potential, not our present. Here are several ways to challenge those who thinksmall to dream bigger:

Dream Bigger by Asking for More

“What if you really stretched yourself? What about going for double this impact, or even ten times as much?”

Dream Bigger by Removing Failure

“Imagine that you couldn’t fail—that you knew God was behind you on this. How big would you dream then?”

Dream Bigger by Envisioning the End

Visualizing the fulfillment of a dream in detail is highly motivating. Often if you spend time there, the client will find the courage to think bigger. “Imagine it is ten years down the road and this dream has come true. Imagine yourself in that place, and describe it to me: what does your typical day look like? What are you doing? Who is with you?”

Dream Bigger by Requesting Faith

“Can I challenge you to push this beyond your current abilities? What if you made it something that requires God’s hand for success? If you truly believed he was with you, what would you do?”

Tony Stoltzfus is a best-selling author, leadership coach, master coach trainer and director of the Leadership Metaformation Institute. Additional information on this topic can be found in Tony’s book, The Christian Life Coaching Handbook.