What did you think when you read the title of this article? Was it ‘finally an easy way to get the results I want’ or was it ‘yeah right. I have tried so many different ways to get in better shape. I know for a fact it isn’t simple”.
Whatever was your thought tells you your current mindset. It is either you want an easy way to get what you want and would like not to have to work harder than you need to, to achieve it, or you accept that only hard work and perseverance will make it happen.
Understanding how someone thinks helps you promote the right message to the right people. Even if the message isn’t true. It becomes true to the person you are saying it to.
Whenever you see a message that speaks true to you, think, is it actually going to do what it says or does it just reinforce my current belief system. If it is what I believe in, then it makes it true.
If your belief is one of instant gratification then you will search for information that gives you that result. And you will convince yourself that it is the best decision to make for you right there and now.
If your belief is that things of importance are not achieved easily, then you will doubt the information you are seeing and keep looking for the right answer to your question, “What is the solution to achieving the health I want?”
As a health coach that focuses mainly on long-term sustainable results, I am aware how attractive quick and instant results are to certain mindsets (and the people who promote them also know who they are targeting) and the thought of having to consistently work at something to achieve lasting results can be unattractive to the same people.
But is it wise to keep going down the same road but never really arriving at your desired destination? Would it make more sense to stop and wonder why you are never achieving what you want, but start looking for a more successful outcome?
I say to my clients “What works, works”. In other words, if what you doing is providing you with the results you want, then keep doing it. Even if it flies in the face of what everyone else is saying will work.
The only true way to understand what is the best way for you to achieve the results you want, is to experiment with different strategies. Trial and error. You will try something and it will work and you try something else and it won’t.
Whenever I get a new client I have no idea on how best to coach them. They are like a blank canvas. Till I get to know them and to understand how they think I can’t start to give advice, support and guidance. To do so would be unhelpful and would only serve my belief that I know what’s best for them. Which is the approach of health professionals selling quick fixes.
The thought of having to take your time and work through different strategies, in a world that is full of quick solutions and instant pleasure, can seem off putting. But countless stories of success are littered with failed attempts before success was achieved. Successful people will tell you that they didn’t achieve what they have now without first experiencing failure.
Failure isn’t necessarily instant. Failure might take days, weeks or even months to occur. You might be following a strategy that at first seems to be working, but in the end not give you the long-term result you hoped for.
So it’s how you perceive failure. Accept that it is likely to happen, and when it happens, use it to learn what to do better next time. Don’t give up and believe it’s not possible to achieve what you want. Just look for a better way.
This is what self experimentation is all about. You try something for awhile, if it doesn’t deliver the result you are looking for, then slightly change what you are doing, and keep tweaking it till you are happy with the result you get.
Of course don’t just blindly self experiment, find out as much as you can about what is the best way to achieve what you want, through researching and talking to people who have achieved what you want. Then adapt that knowledge in the best way for you and what works for you. Even if it won’t work for anyone else.
If you do embrace self experimentation, then you also need to embrace discomfort. Discomfort is the bedfellow of success. To succeed, you first must change what you are currently doing, and with change comes discomfort (stepping out of your comfort zone).
Just because something is uncomfortable, doesn’t mean it is the wrong thing. You must weigh up the discomfort you are experiencing with what you will end up achieving.
If the amount of value you place on achieving what you want is less than the amount of discomfort you experience, then you will stop and stay in your comfort zone, waiting for a less uncomfortable solution to come along.
So if you want to achieve a better body shape or anything of true value, start with researching what it will take to succeed, self experiment different strategies, embrace the discomfort of change and accept you might fail along the way and use it to learn what to do better next time.
Ok, it’s more than one thing, but it did make you read this article though.
Whatever you do, don’t stop trying to achieve what you want. Life, like your health, is on a continuum. You are even getting better or getting worse. You choose what direction you want to go in.
Your Health Coach, Chris