I talk with people all day. I not only listen to what they are saying, but what they are avoiding. It's part of my profession to listen, hear, give feedback, ask questions, guide the person toward a healthier lifestyle. It's a balancing act sometimes. Between understanding and being firm. Between being gentle and being tough.
The hardest part is what I call being the mirror. Showing people themselves. Reflecting back to them what they are saying in hopes that they see the truth. It's not easy to do and it's not easy to have it done to you. It is important however.
When we see the truth of our actions then we can make the necessary adjustments. When we see our problems with weight management clearly we can fix them. When we see what works we can use that as a tool for change.
Change is easy. We even know how to change. It's knowing what to change that is hard. We keep fixing what ain't broke thinking that is our "trying". It's not.
To me it is an example of our resistance to change itself. We want the end result of change. A lighter, healthier body. A better outlook. More energy. Lower blood pressure...Whatever, the list goes on.
Take eating better. For whatever reason. Mostly it is about losing weight, but the reason is moot.
During the week, when are lives are dictated by schedules at work and home we tend to eat OK. We moderate our breakfasts, lunches and most dinners all week. But it's the weekend that we go into with reckless abandonment.
Monday arrives. We step on the scale and poof, all the work we did to lose that 1-3 pounds the week before is gone. So we work all week once again to lose the same 1-3 pounds. we repeat the same cycle again and again. The fact remains we repeat the same cycle again during the week and repeat the same cycle on the weekend expecting a different outcome.
When it doesn't go our way we give up.
One could take this scenario and adjust it to suit, such as I'm good all day until "late night".
But there it is again. We SEE the problem. Late night eating. Weekend over indulging. Then we fix the week. The week, the day is WORKING. It's the weekends and the nights that are broken.The problem is right before our eyes.
But we don't want to fix what's broke. we want to fix what's working. Resistance is another word for avoiding the truth.
Do we want to fix what is broken? No we don't want to NOT snack at night. We don't want to THINK about moderating ourselves on the weekends. In essence, we are resisting change.
We only want to fix what is working.
If we want to get healthier. If we want to do anything better than we are right now we have to look at what is not working and fix that. We have to see the truth. Sometimes it takes a friend, a colleague, a professional and yes your fitness trainer to hand you the mirror and show you the hard truth.
I see it all the time. Most recently I see it in business. Instead of learning and growing from what is working to fix what is not they squeeze and squash the good and avoid facing what is not. Eventually the healthy part of the business will fail to make up for the unhealthy part of the business. Eventually, the whole business will become unhealthy. All because the leaders were trying to avoid fixing what was broken by fixing what was working.
If I want a healthy business I must use what is working to fix what is not. Not the reverse.
If I want to be healthier I need to fix what is not helping me be healthy. It's as simple as that.
Don't fix what is working. Fix what is not.
The hardest part is what I call being the mirror. Showing people themselves. Reflecting back to them what they are saying in hopes that they see the truth. It's not easy to do and it's not easy to have it done to you. It is important however.
When we see the truth of our actions then we can make the necessary adjustments. When we see our problems with weight management clearly we can fix them. When we see what works we can use that as a tool for change.
Change is easy. We even know how to change. It's knowing what to change that is hard. We keep fixing what ain't broke thinking that is our "trying". It's not.
To me it is an example of our resistance to change itself. We want the end result of change. A lighter, healthier body. A better outlook. More energy. Lower blood pressure...Whatever, the list goes on.
Take eating better. For whatever reason. Mostly it is about losing weight, but the reason is moot.
During the week, when are lives are dictated by schedules at work and home we tend to eat OK. We moderate our breakfasts, lunches and most dinners all week. But it's the weekend that we go into with reckless abandonment.
Monday arrives. We step on the scale and poof, all the work we did to lose that 1-3 pounds the week before is gone. So we work all week once again to lose the same 1-3 pounds. we repeat the same cycle again and again. The fact remains we repeat the same cycle again during the week and repeat the same cycle on the weekend expecting a different outcome.
When it doesn't go our way we give up.
One could take this scenario and adjust it to suit, such as I'm good all day until "late night".
But there it is again. We SEE the problem. Late night eating. Weekend over indulging. Then we fix the week. The week, the day is WORKING. It's the weekends and the nights that are broken.The problem is right before our eyes.
But we don't want to fix what's broke. we want to fix what's working. Resistance is another word for avoiding the truth.
Do we want to fix what is broken? No we don't want to NOT snack at night. We don't want to THINK about moderating ourselves on the weekends. In essence, we are resisting change.
We only want to fix what is working.
If we want to get healthier. If we want to do anything better than we are right now we have to look at what is not working and fix that. We have to see the truth. Sometimes it takes a friend, a colleague, a professional and yes your fitness trainer to hand you the mirror and show you the hard truth.
I see it all the time. Most recently I see it in business. Instead of learning and growing from what is working to fix what is not they squeeze and squash the good and avoid facing what is not. Eventually the healthy part of the business will fail to make up for the unhealthy part of the business. Eventually, the whole business will become unhealthy. All because the leaders were trying to avoid fixing what was broken by fixing what was working.
If I want a healthy business I must use what is working to fix what is not. Not the reverse.
If I want to be healthier I need to fix what is not helping me be healthy. It's as simple as that.
Don't fix what is working. Fix what is not.
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