You are the solution to your problems
As a Personal Trainer I had a client who not only insisted on training once a week but did nothing outside our sessions. After a couple of months they turned to me and said “ I don’t understand why I am not seeing better results”.
I had the unpopular task of pointing out; “Unfortunately 1hr with me is not going to cancel out the other 167hrs in your week. It takes more than one hour of exercise a week to get results.”
I also used to work as an Engage Advisor supporting people who had fallen out of work due to mental or physical health conditions. My job was to help them re-engage with life and employment. Clients would say “I come to you up to three times a week for 30 minutes yet my life isn’t changing at the pace I expect it to”.
I would again have to say “I am afraid life does not start and stop every time you walk in and out of my door. I am not the solution to your problems. You are the solution! I am only here to help and support you.”
I used to tell all my clients “The only secret to success is doing at least one thing EVERY DAY that could potentially change your life. Not once a week for an hour or 3 times a week for 30mins. Every day at least one thing, sometimes more but a minimum of one. Only then will I guarantee your life will change and your goals will be met.”
It was those clients, in both Personal Training and Engage, that followed this advice, who reached their goals and changed their lives.
It may be as simple as; a job or course application, a difficult conversation to resolve a problem. It could be starting; to build a network using Linkedin, a new food plan, an exercise class or to write a page of the book that’s in your head.
It doesn’t have to be everything at once… but it has to be something everyday that could genuinely result in change or step towards it.
I can’t say when it will happen; in a day, a month or a year from now…
What I can say is that watching crap tv, sleeping in, moaning to your family and friends, eating excess chocolate or living in the past is not going to help move you any closer.
It is true however that sometimes in life you have “sticking points”. Areas of your life you are unable to help yourself without support.
I had a friend who had ballooned from 16 to 24 stone and every time I would speak to him he would always say “ I am going to start playing rugby again to shift some of this weight and get back in shape” He would say this again and again over the course of a year. Until finally I had to say “Greg, I am sorry but if you were going to help yourself you would have done it by now”.
Now don’t get me wrong he still had to do all the hard work but he needed support to help him get there. So he decided to employ a Personal Trainer, Nutritionist and Therapist to help him. And over the following year he lost all the weight, went on to meet his now wife and to top it off his career began to fly.
Now, my friend was lucky enough to have the financial means to be able to employ a Trainer, a Nutritionist and Therapist. Giving him daily support to stay on track. But who really has the money to be able to afford this level of support?
However, it is paramount that we all invest in ourselves in some way, especially when we have “sticking points”… Like my husband says “we will pay for an MOT on our car every year and all the necessary work but we won’t spend the same on improving ourselves.”
If you have a “sticking point” and it is stopping you moving forward, think about finding support to help you move through it. It does not have to cost money but if you are going to invest in yourself, this sounds like a good cause to do so.