Hey, ! Today’s lesson is a rehash of a post I wrote for my gym’s website quite a few months ago that I thought you all needed to hear. It wasn’t all about nutrition, so I’m tweaking it a bit for our purposes…
Stop trying so hard.
That’s it. You can stop reading right now. That’s all there is to conquering whatever your goals may be…
Hey! Why are you still reading?
You want more? Okay, I’ll expand…
Show Up
Show up. Every day. Show up so minimally that no one even notices.
Pick something that will lead you even the slightest bit closer to your goal.
That you know you can dominate, but it’s too easy.
Let’s use our nutrition habits…
They’re too easy, right?
Good!
Sometimes people want the whole answer up front.
“Tell me what to do, in all of it’s immaculate detail, and I’ll do it!”
But that doesn’t work for the long haul.
We start strong.
We fade eventually.
There’s a better way!
Momentum.
The hardest thing is to show up, or to start.
But once you do, and you create some success right off the bat, it fires you up for more.
So we add a little more- like veggies for two weeks, followed by protein for two weeks.
“But what about carbs and fats???!”
In due time…
What if even those initial habits are too big?
We are all fitness professionals. We’re probably a little easier to coach on this stuff than most.
This will happen with your clients though…
“Veggies? I hate veggies.”
Well then don’t start there. Remember IT NEEDS TO BE EASY.
You could start them with paying attention to how their body feels after they eat. That’s it.
Tired?
Bloated?
Energetic?
Wonderful?
Write it down. We’re done here.
Whatever you choose, don’t over-complicate it.
Do a little more
Not right away. Be easy for a bit. Crush those two weeks.
Using the example above, have your clients stop eating/drinking the things that make them feel like crap.
Have them do this while continuing to write things down. React to what they feel.
Too easy? Good.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day”
– ancient French proverb
Keep the cycle going
No matter what, continue to show up. Continue to make tiny changes. Tiny changes earn interest.
Imagine if they made 20 tiny changes over a year…
I don’t want to make their list for you, but just think-
“What tiny changes can I make, that will make all the difference?”
Have your clients do those.
They want you to think it’s hard
Everyone is trying to sell you something. 21-90 days to whatever your goal is. It’s all B.S.
I’m sorry- but that stuff is not you, nor is it your clients.
Ask yourself this one question.
Can I see them doing this for the long haul?
No? Then why waste their time now?
Now, that’s not to say that some of these things can’t be a good challenge now and again.
But don’t make them your fix-all.
Find the things that are too easy. The things that will make a difference over the long haul.
Most people I meet who tell me they’ve done those DVD’s with names that sound like torture are still not happy.
Or the diet where they could only eat “X” (← insert bullshit things here) for 30 days.
“Well, did those things change your habits for the long haul?”
No.
It’s too hard.
It wasn’t enjoyable.
“I was in great shape when I did that, but I’m worse off now…”
It doesn’t need to be like that!
So what can you do today?
How can you begin to work on habits with YOUR clients?
There is no cookie cutter approach that will work for everyone here.
For the nutrition program we run at my gym, we post a nutrition lesson every week.
We schedule individual coaching calls every two weeks.
We talk about what’s going well (client’s perception).
We talk about what has been a struggle (also client’s perception).
We discuss how to use what’s going well to build on and overcome SOME of what’s not going so well.
We set an “easy” habit for the next two weeks, and off we go!
Then the cycle starts over at the next coaching call.
Here’s a few things I’ve learned from this approach…
- If you make manageable goals (habits), people like to do more than you asked for. For example:
- Me: Jane Do, I want you to try and plan, shop for, and prepare just two lunches a week for the next two weeks. You’ve been doing great with dinner for this, so let’s build on that with JUST TWO DAYS.
- Jane: Okay, awesome, I can manage that!
- A week later running into Jane at the gym…
- Jane: Chris! Guess what!? I feel amazing!
- Me: That’s awesome! What gives?
- Jane: Well, lunch wasn’t as hard ONCE I STARTED and I actually planned, shopped, and prepared FOUR lunches this week!
- Me: Boom, boom, POW!
- No one wants to screw up.
- No, really. Talk to people, get to the bottom of what drives them. They’ll give you the answers you need to help them be successful.
- Connecting with your clients out of the gym is a game changer.
- I’ve learned things about how the gym has impacted them that I could have never imagined…
- Showing them that you care enough to do this seriously increases adherence. Increased adherence leads to better results.
Show Up.
