I was asked an interesting question today… What do I expect of my clients?
No Pain No Gain?
The subject of what I encourage and expect of my clients is probably a controversial one. You see, the more people I’ve worked with, the more I realise that what I thought was good practice in my earlier days wasn’t correct. In fact, let me be really honest here; It was so affected by this strange standard in the industry. the standard that you need to hit the ground running. Tackle it all at once and polish it each week. No pain no gain and all that BS,
But- and I know many will disagree here- although I think that method totally works for some people (arguably the people who don’t actually need my help) I think it can be quite jarring for others.
In fact, the people who come to me are usually already arriving with full cups, burning the candle at both ends and already completely overwhelmed etc.
So, let me ask you, how does it make sense to add more spinning plates when you already about to collapse?
You might say, those kind of people shouldn’t be taking on a major lifestyle change in the first place.
For some people that is 100% true. The kind of people who are just going through a busy spell at work or in life and can foresee a clearing coming up later on in the year. Sure, if they have bigger priorities, those are the kind of people I usually suggest to hold off and come back later when they are going to get the most out of the program.
However, for those of you whose life just seems a bit messy and tangled. sometimes the best thing for you is to get into a program which helps prioritise YOU more.
Most of my tribe are busy people. They are eager to learn and make a change. But they are very busy people.
So, If I’m given 12 weeks to support and coach you, I’m NOT going to weigh you down with 8 new lifestyle standards and watch you trip up over the same hurdle each week. Biting off more than you can chew is always going to be hard to swallow; there is no shame in bite-sized pieces.
Self compassion.
Quietly and carefully nurturing a new self image. If you made ONE easy change every week for 12 weeks. You’d have 12 STRONG habits. Tribe members are always surprised when I tell them their goal for the week is something simple like:
Week 1: Train – if anything else falls into place alongside this, fantastic. But this is your obsession for week 1
Week 2: Train and drink 2-4L water- EASY
Week 3: Train and drink 2-4L water, Keep a food diary and aiming to reach calorie goal – nothing more! No crazy changes to diet
Week 4: Train, drink 2-4L water, Keep a food diary, hit calorie goals OBSERVE your macronutrient goals, no unnatural changes
This may seem like baby steps but if I observe someone needs this approach then we usually start from grassroots as any new change will result in a improvement- their strength, shape and energy levels etc and this will spur them on further!
By Week 12 you may be the kind of machine who has cemented these habits for example:
>Trains 3-5 times a week
>Drinks 2-4L water
>Keeps a food diary
>Consistently hits Calorie goal
>Sleeps 6-8 hours on average
>Has a planned treat each week (may call this your cheat meal etc)
>Consistently hits Macronutrient goal
>Exercises self care consistently (Yoga, meditation)
>Eats a variety of veg, berries and fruit
>Self massage and mobilisation a few times a week
>Journal
>Celebrates the wins
Imagine the things you could do in all aspects of your life by living and breathing these habits with EASE!
Do you see now how that list can seem overwhelming. But the week by week was easy right?
I love the quote “If you asked me to fell a tree in 6 hours, I’d spend 4 hours sharpening the axe”
Your daily and weekly habits are the axe and your goal is the tree. Do you think you’ve maybe been going full whack at the tree with a blunt axe and tiring yourself out??
If you are experiencing this… I guarantee you will always trip over the same hurdles. Be kinder to yourself and sharpen your axe
Hope this helped you today!
Recognise yourself? Anything you had a wee lightbulb moment with I’d love to hear from you below. If this is something you’d like to discuss further or receive some guidance on book in for a Turnaround call. this is completely free and there is no obligation, just a look at where you are today and what direction you could be taking in your journey
Shiv Xx
