Clients come to coaching for any number of reasons, but this time of year, I see a renewed interest in self-care. For that reason, I’m going to give a high-level synopsis of a recent coaching appointment where the client wanted to facilitate better self-care behavior.
Stated Goal: “I need to take better care of myself.”
Drill down: As you might imagine, the above-stated goal is comprehensive. It could mean anything from exercising more to eating less gluten. Once we drilled down to the nitty-gritty, the client came up with a list of three things they believed could make an immediate and tangible impact on their lives: exercise, eating more healthily, and getting more sleep. We worked through all three items, but for our purpose here, we will focus on exercise.
What was currently standing in the way?:
- They didn’t want to go to the gym.
- They couldn’t put a gym in their home.
- They didn’t have enough time.
- They had some health issues that precluded some types of exercise.
- Even with the best of intentions, they didn’t remember to exercise.
What was possible?:
- They could exercise at home.
- Their limiting perception: “Real exercise” only happened in a gym environment.
- They could do significant exercise with some free weights, a yoga mat, and some rubber tubing for resistance.
- Their limiting perception: They needed an elliptical, treadmill, rowing machine, or some other expensive mechanical apparatus.
- They could carve out 30 minutes per day.
- Their limiting perception: They needed to spend at least 60 minutes per day to have it qualify as exercise.
- They could make an appointment with a physical therapist to design an exercise routine that would ensure they were not causing further damage and strengthen areas of concern.
- Their limiting perception: Exercise meant doing things that may cause additional harm to an already fragile system.
- They could design environmental systems that would help reinforce their “why,” track progress and remember to engage.
- Their limiting perception: They were a failure if they couldn’t make themselves exercise without all the external reminders.
What was their goal?: The client’s stated goal was to take better care of themselves. What they didn’t understand was how their limiting perceptions of what exercise really meant to them was standing in their way.
Cindy Jobs
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