Life Coach

# CLAUDE.md — Life Coach
> Version: 2026-02-17 | Difficulty: beginner

## What Your AI Can Now Do
- Walk into every session prepared — client history, open commitments, and suggested questions ready in 2 minutes
- Send warm accountability check-ins between sessions without writing each one from scratch
- Track which coaching tools create real breakthroughs and which ones fall flat across all your clients
- Run a structured goal-setting session with values clarification built in
- Spot when a client is disengaging before they ghost — based on patterns across your practice

---

## Quick Start
1. Paste this file as `CLAUDE.md` in your coaching project root
2. Create your first client folder: `coaching-practice/clients/[name]/`
3. Add your go-to coaching exercises to `coaching-practice/tools/`
4. Run `/session-prep [client]` before your next session to test the workflow
5. After the session, save notes in `session-notes/` — Claude uses these for future preps

---

## About Me
Life coach working with professionals who are successful on paper but unfulfilled or overwhelmed. Typical client: 30-50, mid-career, at a crossroads. 15-25 active clients, 50-minute weekly sessions, 3-6 month engagements. Approach is strengths-based and action-oriented with attention to underlying beliefs.

---

## Pre-Built Commands

| Command | What It Does |
|---------|-------------|
| `/session-prep [client]` | Builds a session brief: last session recap, open action items, emerging patterns, and 2-3 powerful questions |
| `/goal-setting [client]` | Runs values clarification first, then builds vision statement and 3-5 SMART goals with first actions |
| `/accountability-check [client]` | Drafts a short, warm between-session check-in that acknowledges progress and asks about commitments |
| `/intake [client]` | Creates new client folder with intake form, values sort template, and initial goal structure |
| `/engagement-review [client]` | Mid-engagement summary: progress against goals, pattern shifts, and suggested recalibration |

---

## How Claude Connects to Your Tools

| Tool | Why You Need It |
|------|----------------|
| Google Workspace | Client scheduling, session docs, intake forms, and shared goal-tracking sheets |
| Memory | Tracks client goals, breakthroughs, patterns, and session-over-session progress |
| Resend | Sends accountability check-ins, session summaries, and resource links between sessions |

### Setup
```bash
# Required in .env
GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CREDENTIALS=your-credentials
RESEND_API_KEY=your-api-key
MEMORY_STORAGE_PATH=./memory
```

---

## Coaching Rules
- **MUST:** Ask, do not tell — "What would it look like if...?" beats "You should..." every time
- **MUST:** One coaching question at a time — stacking questions lets the client pick the easiest one
- **MUST:** Never rescue silence — count to 7 before speaking. The breakthrough lives in the pause
- **SHOULD:** Follow the energy — if a client lights up or shuts down, go there. The agenda can wait
- **MUST:** Commitments must be specific: "I will [action] by [date]" — not "I will try to be better about..."
- **SHOULD:** Celebrate progress before pushing for more — acknowledgment fuels momentum
- **SHOULD:** Share personal experiences sparingly and only when it genuinely serves the client
- **MUST:** Refer out when you see trauma responses, clinical depression, or anxiety disorders — you are not a therapist

---

## Project Structure
```
coaching-practice/
  clients/
    [client-name]/
      intake.md             # Initial assessment and presenting concerns
      values-sort.md        # Values clarification results
      goals.md              # Active goals with progress tracking
      session-notes/        # Dated notes from each session
  tools/                    # Coaching exercises
    wheel-of-life.md
    belief-audit.md
    ideal-week.md
    fear-setting.md
  templates/                # Reusable session structures
    discovery-session.md
    goal-setting-session.md
    review-session.md
  resources/                # Articles and worksheets for clients
```

### What These Folders Mean
- **clients/** — One subfolder per client. Claude reads intake, values, goals, and recent session notes before every prep.
- **tools/** — Your coaching exercise library. Claude suggests exercises from here based on what the client needs.
- **templates/** — Session structures you reuse. Claude follows these formats when helping you plan sessions.
- **resources/** — Things you share with clients. Claude can recommend relevant resources during session prep.

---

## Automation

| When | What Happens | If It Fails |
|------|-------------|-------------|
| 24 hours before session | Auto-generates session prep with notes, patterns, and suggested questions | Open the client folder and review the last 2 session notes manually |
| Session notes saved | Extracts commitments and stores them for next session accountability review | Manually highlight commitments in bold when writing notes |
| 3 days after session | Sends accountability check-in message via Resend | Run `/accountability-check [client]` manually and send yourself |
| Client hits 90-day mark | Triggers mid-engagement review with progress summary | Run `/engagement-review [client]` at the 90-day mark |
| Two cancellations in a row | Flags client as potentially disengaging | Review your calendar for clients with gaps over 2 weeks |

---

## Gotchas
- **MUST:** Never coach toward your definition of success — their values, their goals, their version of a good life
- **MUST:** Use `/goal-setting` only after values clarification — goals without values do not stick
- **SHOULD:** When a client is stuck, go to beliefs before behaviors — the block is usually upstream
- **MUST:** Do not let accountability become policing — check-ins should feel like a friend who cares, not a boss tracking deliverables
- **SHOULD:** The presenting problem is rarely the real problem — "I need better time management" usually means "I cannot say no"
- **SHOULD:** If you feel emotionally drained after a session, check your boundaries — you may be holding something that belongs to them

---

## Memory & Learning
Claude builds context over time:
- Each client's values, goals, and what motivates them
- Commitments made and whether they followed through
- Recurring patterns and blind spots across sessions
- Which coaching tools and questions created real shifts
- How each client's self-awareness evolved over the engagement

To save something important: just say "remember that [fact]" in conversation.
To review saved memories: use the `/memory` command to open the memory editor.