Knowing What to Do Is Not the Same as Doing It: Why Health and Well-Being Coaching Matters More Than Ever

October 5, 2026
By Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., MCC, NBC-HWC

Most of us already know many of the things we should do to improve our health and well-being.

Think about your own experience. Although you may do more than most people to live a healthy lifestyle, it is still an ongoing challenge, isn’t it? Most of us alternate between meeting our goals and slipping backward.

If you are reading this, you are likely managing your self-care more than the average person. Most likely, your clients struggle because they do not have the ongoing support and structure of a wellness coach.

Exercise regularly. Get enough sleep. Eat nutritious foods. Manage stress. Maintain meaningful relationships. Find time for activities that give our lives meaning and enjoyment.

Yet knowing what to do and actually doing it consistently are two very different things.

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Consider how often a physician tells a patient to exercise more or lose weight. The patient probably did not first learn that exercise was most beneficial during that appointment. Similarly, most people experiencing excessive stress already know that taking breaks, sleeping more, practicing relaxation, and setting better boundaries might help.

The challenge is usually not simply a lack of information. The challenge is turning knowledge and good intentions into sustainable behavior.

That is one of the reasons health and well-being coaching has become such an important specialty within professional coaching.

The Need Is Significant

The health challenges facing Americans are substantial. According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis, 76.4% of U.S. adults — approximately 194 million people — reported having at least one of 12 chronic health conditions in 2023. More than half, 51.4%, reported two or more. Even among adults ages 18 to 34, nearly 60% reported at least one of these conditions!

Of course, health and well-being involve much more than the presence or absence of disease. Our clients may be struggling with stress, insufficient sleep, lack of exercise, burnout, work-life imbalance, social isolation, unhealthy habits, or simply a sense that they are not functioning as well as they would like.

Many of these concerns have something important in common: changing them requires changes in everyday behavior.

This is where coaching can make a unique contribution.

Why Advice Is Often Not Enough

Imagine a client who tells you:

"I know I need to exercise, but I never seem to make it happen."

The natural response of many medical professionals, or friends, may be to offer suggestions. Join a gym. Walk at lunch. Hire a trainer. Put exercise on your calendar.

Those may all be good ideas. But an effective health and wellness coach becomes curious before becoming prescriptive.

What would becoming more physically active make possible for you?
What kind of activity have you actually enjoyed in the past?
What gets in the way?
On a scale of one to ten, how confident are you that you could follow through on this plan?
What would make that number one point higher?
What is the smallest step that you would genuinely be willing to take this week?

These coaching questions help by instead of trying to persuade a person to follow somebody else's solution, we help the client develop greater motivation, confidence, self-awareness, and ownership.

This distinction is central to professional health and wellness coaching. The National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching describes the work as an evidence-based, client-centered process in which coaches help clients use their own insights, strengths, and resources to develop self-determined goals, take action, and create accountability. The coach serves as a partner in behavior change rather than simply directing the client about what to do.

Does Health and Wellness Coaching Work?

An expanding research base suggests that well-designed health and wellness coaching can make a significant difference.

A systematic review and meta-analysis examining 30 studies of health and wellness coaching for people with chronic illnesses found improvements in quality of life, self-efficacy, and depression at various follow-up periods. The researchers also noted limitations in the available research and called for more standardized and longer-term studies — an important reminder not to overstate what coaching can accomplish.

Another systematic review examined whether improvements lasted after health and wellness coaching ended. Of 28 studies included in the review, 25 found outcomes that were partially sustained, fully sustained, or continued to improve in at least one area measured.

This issue of sustained change is particularly important.

Most of us can change almost anything for a few days. We can start a diet on Monday, exercise enthusiastically for two weeks, meditate for several mornings, or decide that we are finally going to stop checking email at 10:00 at night.

Maintaining the change is harder.

Good coaching helps clients understand not only what they want to change, but also their motivation for changing, the strengths and resources they can draw upon, the barriers they are likely to encounter, and how they will respond when they inevitably get off track.

Health Coaching Is About More Than Physical Health

One reason I find this area so interesting is that well-being cannot easily be divided into separate compartments.

Our physical health affects our emotional well-being. Stress affects sleep. Sleep affects energy and decision-making. Relationships affect both happiness and resilience. Work affects stress, meaning, finances, relationships, and even physical health.

This is also why positive psychology provides such a useful foundation for well-being coaching.

Positive psychology asks questions that extend beyond "What is wrong?" It also considers: What helps people function at their best? What contributes to meaning? How do strengths, positive emotions, relationships, accomplishment, resilience, and purpose contribute to a satisfying life?

For coaches, these are extraordinarily useful questions.

A client may initially come to coaching because of stress or a desire to lose weight and eventually discover that the deeper issue involves priorities, relationships, values, work, or a loss of meaning. Another client may begin by wanting more energy and discover that small changes in sleep, exercise, boundaries, and social connection affect almost every aspect of life.

Well-being coaching gives professionals a framework for having these broader conversations while remaining within an appropriate coaching scope of practice.

An Important Specialty for Experienced Professionals

Health and well-being coaching can be especially valuable for professionals who already work with people.

Psychologists and other mental health professionals can add a coaching approach for appropriate clients who are focused on growth and behavior change rather than treatment of a psychological disorder.

Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals can develop additional skills for helping patients translate healthcare recommendations into action.

Executive and leadership coaches frequently discuss concerns involving stress, resilience, energy, sleep, exercise, burnout, and sustainable performance.

Human resource and organizational development professionals are working with organizations that recognize that employee well-being affects engagement, retention, productivity, and leadership effectiveness.

And professional coaches can develop a well-being specialty that expands the range of clients and issues they are prepared to address.

Importantly, health and wellness coaches do not replace physicians, dietitians, psychologists, or other healthcare professionals. The National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) scope of practice makes clear that health and wellness coaches do not independently diagnose medical conditions, prescribe treatment, prescribe exercise, develop meal plans, or provide psychotherapy. Their distinctive contribution is helping people make self-directed, sustainable changes in behavior.

Helping People Close the Gap Between Intention and Action

I believe one of the most satisfying aspects of coaching is seeing a client move from "I know I should" to "I am actually doing it."

Sometimes the change is dramatic. More often, meaningful change results from a series of small decisions that eventually become new habits.

The client starts walking three mornings a week.
They establish a more consistent sleep schedule.
They begin protecting time for relationships that matter.
They find a better way to respond to stress.
They use their strengths more intentionally.
They become clearer about what they want the next stage of their life to look like.

Together these changes can substantially affect a person's quality of life.

For professionals who find this work meaningful, specialized education in health and well-being coaching provides an opportunity to become much more knowledgeable about the science of behavior change, motivational interviewing, readiness for change, positive psychology, strengths, stress management, mindfulness, healthy lifestyle behaviors, and evidence-based approaches to supporting client well-being – and earn a new sought after recognized credential.

Our 75-hour Positive Psychology Health and Wellness Coaching Certification at the College of Executive Coaching was developed for exactly this purpose. The program is approved by the National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching and provides the coach education needed as part of the pathway toward the National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) credential. It integrates health and wellness coaching with positive psychology and extensive opportunities to practice these approaches with feedback.

Our next program begins soon.

For professionals who want to help people live healthier, more satisfying lives, this is an especially meaningful area in which to develop greater expertise.

Because helping someone know what to do can be valuable. Helping them actually make the change can alter the course of their life.

Learn more about Positive Psychology-Based Health and Wellness Coaching Certification.

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