My coaching until recently has been more fitness centered, but as my passion for habit change and mindset grows the more it takes a prominent role in my life as well as how and what I coach.
One of the main things I say to those I am coaching into healthy habits is that the beauty of the mindset and habit change strategies I teach is that they work on any goal, not just health goals! And now is my chance to prove that in my own life as I face the feelings of resistance that arise when I have to take action towards marketing myself and my business. In the past I have struggled with taking on the habits and identity of an entrepreneur Health Coach who needs to market herself to reach a wider audience and potential clients especially now that I am living in Mexico.
A key concept I have learned when it comes to integrating new habits more easily into my life as well as seeing progress quicker is to ensure that my thoughts, speech and actions are in alignment with what I want as much as possible. If one of them is out of whack my results become less consistent and I’m more at risk for self-sabotage and procrastination. Having anyone one of those aspects out of alignment sends mixed messages to your subconscious.
For example, your fitness results will come quicker and you will feel more motivated in general if you think about how you love working out. And if you don’t love working out, then focus on what about it you do love. Do you love the energy it gives you? How it makes you concentrate better at work? How proud you are of yourself after a good session?
When you talk about your exercise routine or healthy lifestyle to others, you should also focus on it’s many benefits and not what you are sacrificing. When you speak about your new habit to yourself and others make sure its always with what you GAIN from it in mind.
Lastly, take actions that support your identity as a fit person. Respect your exercise sessions, take your bike instead of your car, drink water instead of soda, take the stairs instead of the escalator.
To get your thoughts, speech and actions in alignment it will help to be mindful of the following: Your mindset, your skillset, your environment.
Working on your mindset in terms of negative self-talk, or any limiting beliefs you hold about yourself and your ability to achieve your goal will help bring your thoughts and speech into alignment.
Upgrading your skillset in the area you want to improve upon (at the level and intensity that is right for you) by taking a class, reading a book, watching tutorials, or getting a coach will increase your confidence and thus your motivation to take action. Being unsure of what to do or learning at a level that is too difficult for your current ability will eventually discourage you causing you to stop wanting to take action and self-sabotage will start again.
Being mindful of your environment to exclude distractions like junk food and social media and include triggers that will get you to take action, like laying your gym close out and making a healthy lunch the night before. Your environment should also include people who are on the same journey as you, who are supportive of you and who can encourage you is also important for taking consistent action towards your goals.
The principle of making sure my thoughts, speech and actions are in alignment have helped me grow immensely and is what I attribute to being a coach in a field I love, being in good shape, being self employed and being able to live in a paradise. But I now find myself at an impasse. II have reached the ceiling of this identity, it’s time for me to shed my skin and grow again. As you level up in life so do the challenges and this is why, despite knowing what must be done all along, I ‘ve been putting it off. I’d feel the resistance and find a “good” reason to self-sabotage and procrastinate.
It was when I reread my future vision for myself that I realized that there was no way I could ever achieve it if I didn’t expand my identity, and my limiting beliefs and my fears of failure or rejection in the public eye. One thing is for sure, my thoughts, speech and actions were NO WHERE near in alignment with my vision of my future self.
I took some time to reflect on how mindset, skillset and environment were affecting the direction of my thoughts, speech and actions and how it was triggering self-sabotage.
Old mindset: Constantly telling myself and others (affirming) that “I am not good at don’t like social media”, “I dont understand marketing”, “I only like to create content when I am in the mood”
New mindset: I find social media and marketing challenging because I don’t understand it YET, but I’m willing to learn and apply what I learn, and to reach out to a coach to help me break down the vague term of “marketing myself” into manageable tasks for a newbie without the budget to hire a marketing team.
Old skillset: NONE: The lack of knowledge and understanding about marketing fueled my lack of motivation. Yet I never took the initiative to TRY and learn, I just clung to my identity as someone who “doesn’t understand and therefore doesn’t like marketing”.
New skillset: Start small and work my way up. Now I consume videos and articles on marketing as a health coach. I am listening to a podcast on marketing for health coaches. I got a business coach to give me some next steps. All of which I have been acting on and seeing progress.
Old environment: Full of distractions that didn’t really serve my future goals.
New environment: I started doing co-working sessions with those who are also entrepreneurs and reading more on the topic. I also started a mastermind for health coaches wanting to progress in their coaching business.
So, if you find yourself procrastinating a lot, self-sabotaging, taking three steps forward and two steps back or engaging in negative self talk then there is probably an issue with your thought, speech and action not being in alignment which often can be remedied by making adjustments to your mindset, your skillset, your environment which will assist in helping you to continue taking consistent action with less resistance and self-sabotage.
Follow me on my journey as I use mindset and habit change techniques to stretch the limits of my old identity and grow my new identity as an entrepreneur health coach with the courage and perseverance to take the necessary steps to grow my coaching practice.
