Become Your Best You

You have the power to make yourself healthier.

As a coach, I see clients on a daily basis who feel lost as it relates to their health. They’re looking for guidance, ideas, strategies…and most often, they’re looking for answers. Maybe this sounds familiar to you. You’ve tried different methods to approach your goals — fad diets, schedules for activity, new healthy products — but nothing sticks. “Other people have success, though, and they can tell me what to do. They have the answers.”

And yet, when they tell you the answer, you realize that their solution won’t work for you. It doesn’t fit.

Raise your [virtual] hand if this has ever happened to you:

You feel frustrated about a certain issue and decide to share this with a friend or colleague. After sharing, the person turns to you, and says something to the effect of, “You know what you should do…” followed by their version of the answer. And sometimes they’re right. That approach definitely makes sense. Most often, though, the thought arrives to mind: “They don’t really understand. That would never work. And here’s why…”

(Ok, put your hand down.)

People have the best of intentions. As someone who has been in public health and health related fields for my entire professional career, I understand the urge to “fix” things. Your friend has solved the riddle themselves, and they want to help you see the answer. The problem is that there isn’t one answer. Each person is different.

Before you get discouraged, this is good news.

Imagine if only one solution existed, but it didn’t fit into your lifestyle. For example, what if the answer to the question of “want to lose weight?” involved eating meat, but you are a vegetarian? Or what if the only way to get healthy was to run 5 miles a day, but you struggle with mobility issues?

Instead of searching for the answer, look instead for your answer.

This is really the crux of coaching. When a client comes to me asking for help with meeting their goals, we first define what it looks like to become a better version of themselves. We challenge vague statements like, “I need to lose weight” or “I want to get healthier” and turn them into tangible goals that hit on their fundamental beliefs of who they are and who they want to be. We work together to identify where they struggle, what they’ve tried, what worked and what didn’t, and how they can incorporate small changes into their lives that seamlessly and logically flow with their lifestyles.

During this process, clients recognize what they’re able and willing to change, and what will work for them as they strive to improve their health. Instead of quick fixes, fad diets, and restrictive habits, they recognize how to developing new, lasting, sustainable health habits. The difference lays in the specificity to the individual — they aren’t given an answer; they explore their motivations, values, and priorities to develop their own answer.

So, although it initially feels like more work, the key to change resides in finding the power within yourself to become the best version of yourself.