"What will you gain, when you lose?"
The Special K commercial asked this question at the beginning of the New Year's weight loss resolution season. It is a great question for coaches to ask leaders as well.
Imagine if on your job, you could magically slice away all the things that are keeping you from being 100% happy. What would that feel like? How would your posture change? How would you feel knowing that by losing you actually won? What would you gain?
The answers to these question is a part of the power that coaching brings to people's lives.
Who knows more about changing people's lives more than the folks at the Biggest Loser.
I am a huge fan of the Biggest Loser. I love the show because its contestants are always battling more than just the number on the scale. They are battling loneliness, guilt, shame, frustration, fear, hopelessness, inferiority, etc. The contestants choose to cope with all of those emotions with food.
As a leader, you may not be severely overweight physically, but you are probably emotionally and mentally overweight.
You have deadlines. You have fires that need to put out. You have people issues that you need to sort through. And oh yeah you want to have a life outside of work. You want to enjoy those things you love to do and be with the people you love.
But just like the show contestants, you are weighed down. You know you need help but you just don't know what to do.
As a coach, the show's greatest appeal is that it asks the tough questions. Questions that allow people to stop running and face the issues. I have a heart for leaders because they are in a tough spot. Who does the leader go to for help? There is this stigma that as the leader, you have to be strong, right, and productive....all the time! That is exhausting. Who has time for that?
So you pretend that you are fine at work. Like the trainers on the show, I help you get to root of what's really going on. I don't judge or color or sugar coat it. It is what it is. But until you face it, it will never change.
On the show, men and women alike come face to face with their demons and have to make a choice. Bob, Jillian, and Dolvett are guiding not doing the workouts. The contestants are doing the hard work, not only in the gym, but the mental and emotional work of figuring out why they weigh as much as they do. Those are tough question and you will not like the answer.
A coach is there to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. The coach can't do it for you but can give you powerful tools.
One of the motivational tools comes in the forms of very powerful questions. Question like:
What will you gain when you lose?
So answer or journal or draw...What will you gain when you lose self doubt and find your confidence at work? What will you gain when you lose a negative attitude and embrace a positive one? What will you gain when you lose the fear?
It is a powerful question and one that I hope you will actually take time to answer. Leave a comment below!
