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Do You Really Need More Information?
Have you ever had one of those light bulb moments while you were coaching?
Last year I was on the floor working with one of our new clients, Kathy. About halfway through the session, she said something that has made me completely reformat how we do all of our nutrition coaching in the gym.
Like most gyms out there, we talk with all of our new clients about nutrition upon their sign up. Depending on their goals, we might go as in-depth as having them fill out a food journal for us to look at or we might just give them a basic ebook that outlines our nutrition guidelines.
Kathy and I got into one of our normal conversations about her eating habits and I quickly found out she was trying but could not seem to stay compliant with her meals.
This was starting to become a common occurrence with numerous members so I started probing a little bit.
“So Kathy, which one of our basic guidelines is the toughest one for you to follow right now?”
Her reply is really what started my wheels turning.
“To be honest, those looked pretty basic so I didn’t pay much attention to them. I have been reading up on adding intermittent fasting and chia seeds into my diet.”
I was shocked! While these things can be valuable, Kathy was totally neglecting the basics and chasing a more advanced approach. It made total sense as to why she was not getting the results she wanted.
Information Age
As we all know, we are living in the information age. You can go online and pretty much find out anything and everything that you might ever want to know.
Sounds great doesn’t it?!?
Well what if I were to tell you that if your clients are spending their time researching and looking up exercise and nutrition information, it could actually be taking them further from their goals.
So many people these days spend a ton of time searching for all the new cutting edge research on nutrition and exercise. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about learning new things and keeping current! Unfortunately, most of these people keep digging deeper and deeper while they disregard the basics.
They search for the new super food or that awesome new workout that is guaranteed to burn more fat. All the while they just assume that as soon as they find that one thing, it will lead them to their goals.
The problem with this approach is these people end up sitting on their butts for hours at a time reading articles or studies. This information is not getting them any closer to their goals at all, and in fact it is taking up valuable time that they could be using to actually get moving or cook their own food.
They feel like they are making progress toward their goal because they are reading about it. It makes them feel like a healthy person since they now have a lot of knowledge about food and exercise.
This is exactly what was happening with Kathy! I came to find out that she was spending almost an hour a night reading up on all the latest diets.
I also knew that in the past Kathy had told me it was really hard for her to bring her lunch to work because she did not have enough time to prepare her meals the night before. Spending all that time researching new diets was directly impacting her ability to prepare healthy meals!
Knowing vs. Doing
There is a huge difference between knowing and doing.
Most people know you should not smoke.
Most people know fast food is bad for them.
Does this knowledge lead to behavior change? Generally no!
Lasting sustainable changes take action, not knowledge.
Kathy would be much better off spending her time focusing on mastering the basics and doing them consistently. I think the basics generally don’t get that much attention because they are not sexy. They are not a new glamorous workout or diet.
The basics are generally not very easy either! I think this is one of the reasons that people shy away from them.
It was easy for Kathy to search for that one magic thing that she thought would lead her to her goals. It is much easier to read an article than get up off your butt, go to the grocery store and prepare healthy meals! But only one of these things will get you to the results you want.
If it was easy to be healthy and in shape, then we would not have the obesity problem that we have here in the US. If it were all about knowledge, we would all have six pack abs because we would know that eating vegetables is good for us.
Instead of focusing on obtaining more knowledge in your quest toward health, start with trying to take action each and every day. Consistent action is the only way that behavior change goals like these can be reached.
Do you want to know what the best exercise is? The one that you will do consistently!
What about the best diet? The one that is sustainable!
How Everything Changed
Based off of this interaction with Kathy, I went back to the drawing board and reworked our nutrition coaching.
Instead of focusing on providing more and more information to our clients, we switched to providing more accountability. We preached the basics and helped track to make sure our clients were doing these habits each and every day.
Guess what?? Results went up. Way up!
Instead of spending their time researching all the latest trends, we were getting our clients to do more grocery shopping, cooking and creating overall healthy habits. They did not always like doing the basics but bought in quickly after seeing the results!
Focus on Habits
I am guessing you might have had a similar interaction with one of your clients. You might have already come to this same conclusion!
My advice is to keep with it! Even if your clients complain about it being “too easy” stick with it! You are helping them create a sustainable lifestyle that will last them for years to come.
Setting up and nurturing these healthy habits is something that nobody else in their lives is doing for them. Generally their doctors are not talking about it. Neither are their family members.
How to Share Information With Your Clients
Even when we are focusing on habits with our clients, we still need to provide some information. It is just the type of information that is different.
Instead of sharing the details of the new, hot diet, share with them tips and hacks to make the basics easier and part of their everyday lives.
Maybe it is sharing a hack for meal prep so that they always have a healthy option available. Or maybe you talk about how to get more protein into their diet.
This type of information gives them the tools for ACTION. And that is what we want to focus on!
The other thing to do is provide more accountability for these actions. There are many different tools to accomplish this (I prefer our software Habit Catalyst!) but choosing the one that will be the most efficient and effective for your time will give you the best results long term.
When we combine dedicated ACTION, with ACCOUNTABILTY and a SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY we have the perfect recipe for change!
Respect the opportunity you have to change their lives for the better and make sure you leave everyone you have the chance to work with better than you found them!
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