I woke up the other morning, bursting with anticipation, almost like a shiny-eyed kid on Christmas morning. It’s consultation day!, I silently cheered to myself. I had an appointment booked with a woman who wanted to talk about nutrition and how she could change up what she was currently doing.
I always get really pumped about the prospect of connecting with a new person, who is on the cusp of taking the leap to rediscovering or redefining their health, happiness, and sense of fulfilment. So many people are stuck in their sad status quo and never do anything to break free. I love, love, love the potential of helping those bold enough to take action to do something new, challenging, growth-promoting, and transformative.
Unfortunately, not everyone does a deep dive into my website before they book a session and often what they think they’re going to get is simply a meal plan, a set of macros, some calories to count, or ideally, a magic pill.
It turns out that the person I had scheduled that day hadn’t done her homework when she booked and was surprised when I outlined my coaching method. It shocked her when I didn’t offer her a one-off solution. Instead, I explained, I would start by helping her create a unique vision of what her best self would look like and help her get really clear on why changing matters deeply to her. With her vision to ground her, we would reverse engineer that picture to identify the simple and consistent daily actions that she felt ready, willing, and able to put into practice to make her best self a reality.
Getting people to see the value in the type of coaching that I offer is contingent on getting them to understand that their success will be about more than just the food on their plate. That’s because I believe real, sustainable success comes when you confront your food mindset, your belief in yourself, your self-talk. This is the missing link and until this work starts, most people will have a rollercoaster relationship with their body and food, bouncing between short-term results and long-term disappointments.
I want potential clients to understand that when you change your mindset, you have the opportunity to change your life.
Getting people to see what life changing transformations are possible is the best AND hardest part of my consultations. What would it actually mean—what would it feel like—to truly be happier, healthier, and more fulfilled? How would your life be different?
Can you answer that for yourself?
If your brain is having a bit of a fit just thinking about the concept, you’re not alone. That’s because our human brains are wired for a default, safety setting geared towards identifying only what we don’t want. It takes work to get it to focus more positively and that’s why it can be really hard to articulate, with any conviction, what we DO want. On top of that, the fear of breathing emotion into a vision of what we DO want is all-consuming for some people. It is very risky to dare to dream about what might be on the better side of our now. What if we come up with a beautiful vision of ourselves truly feeling happy, healthy, and fulfilled, only to fail to ever move in the direction of that goal?
What I have learned is that if a person has no space in their brain to imagine what it could feel like to live as their best self, in the body they want, at peace with their thoughts and the way they nourish themselves each day, they probably won’t be able to see beyond just restricting the food on their plate. The coaching I offer is not going to be congruent with what they want, feel ready for, or think they need. It is SO outside their comfort zone. It feels downright scary to imagine changing, even though the key components of my coaching program do sound inviting: one-on-one support and accountability, increased knowledge, the acquisition of new tools.
But because they have failed over and over again in their pursuits of their nutrition and body goals, they can’t commit to the investment in self that my coaching requires—time, effort, and the desire to get comfortable with being uncomfortable that’s necessary for truly transformative outcomes.
I will tell you this though: the risk is worth it! If you don’t change anything, you change nothing. You will be doomed to the same sad status quo that has you staring frustratingly at your closet each morning, heavy and weighed down by another day of feeling blah. Until you change your behaviors, habits, and ultimately your belief in what’s possible, you will struggle to have sustainable success when it comes to your weight loss and body goals.
Those who have the courage to see beyond their daily norm and know they are the only ones responsible and able to make the change they desire, jump in with both feet. I can’t tell you how many times the people who are 150% ready just say, “When do we get started?” They know they are worth the investment. They have a clear, inviting vision of their future, and they are ready to move towards it. They understand that failure doesn’t exist as long as they keep trying. Bumps along the way are simply considered feedback and opportunities to get creative and try something different—never to give up.
What about you? What if this is your chance? Will you take it? Do you have the courage to dream?
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