Dropping Pounds in Hong Kong
Two months ago I ran a leadership development workshop for a group of young corporate managers. Towards the end of the workshop, they all got to develop their individual action plans. We talked about focus and the importance of only working on ONE thing at a time. Most people ‘try’ to work on too many goals at the same time and fail.
The participants eventually all identified one goal that they wanted to achieve within the coming 3-6 month. One of the male participants, James, was suffering from a busy lifestyle with too much junk food and too little exercise. In other words, he wanted to drop a couple of pounds and adopt a healthier lifestyle.
“Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake.” – Author Unknown
He was working on his goal with a colleague, Allan, who is a triathlete. Allan had plenty of advice for James on how what he could do to lose weight. They identified several behaviors within the key areas of exercise and dieting. They had been working for a while, when I checked in with them. I could sense that James was getting a bit overwhelmed by all the things that he could potentially change, and I had a few ideas too!
I explained that if he wanted successful and sustainable change then it was important to change only ONE area. In other words, if he ‘tried’ to start exercising AND changing his diet at the same time, he would most likely fail. The challenge is that many people watch programs such as the Biggest Loser where the participants make dramatic and multiple changes in several areas and they think they can do the same. But the problem is that on those TV programs, the participants are moved into supportive environment surrounded by coaches and experts with no or very limited access to temptations. That does not mirror the reality that most of us face…
Consequently, we need to narrow our focus and only work on one thing at the time. James took this advice and decided to change his diet while leaving exercise for later. He told his wife after the workshop, and his wife was indeed skeptical. She wanted him to start exercising too but James persisted. ONE Thing!
“Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” – Mark Twain
This week I met James again, and I had not seen him since the workshop. I looked at him and it was obvious that he had lost weight. He was very excited and he had been eager to show me. By changing his diet and nothing else, James had lost 12 pounds since the workshop, and his wife is impressed too.
James essentially narrowed it down to a few critical behaviors:
1) He stopped eating junk food and cut down on fatty oils and carbohydrates.
2) He replaced the unhealthy food with lots of fruits and vegetables.
3) He gets on the scale daily to ensure that he is on target.
Next is exercise! Fantastic!
So what is the point? Get focused as a laser beam and work on ONE thing! Pick the 2-3 daily behaviors that will make the biggest difference and do it!
Beat It!
Coach Bay
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