Does a 25 Year Old Have What it Takes?

I am a Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. You probably don’t know what that means. 

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you are aware of health coaching, and maybe you even have an idea of what a health coach does, but no offense, chances are your best explanation is vague and inaccurate. 

Throughout my years as a coach, I have encountered a recurring problem. I experience it with clients as well as health professionals, such as personal trainers, nutrition professionals, and even medical doctors. 

People who are aware of the health coaching profession have a vague, yet confident understanding of what coaches actually do, and, in turn, behave in one of two ways:

• They assume the coaching role themselves, without any knowledge of, or training in conversational interventions, and oftentimes do not help their clients succeed

Or

• They do not believe coaching to be an effective and useful intervention, imparting their opinion on clients and people who may benefit from coaching

My views were further validated when I posted the following polls on social media:

• Can a 25 year old be a good Life Coach?

• Can a 25 year old be a good Health Coach?

• Why or why not?

The majority of people deemed a 25 year old to be an inadequate life coach, yet the majority also deemed a 25 year old to be an adequate health coach.

The most common reason was that a 25 year old is not experienced enough to give life advice but can obtain enough knowledge to provide health advice. For those who voted in favor of 25 year olds, their opinion was that a 25 year old can be wise enough to give good life and health advice. 

This data and feedback illustrates my point. People assume a coach’s job is to give advice, and this inaccurate representation of coaching causes people to inappropriately determine who can be a good coach, what constitutes good coaching, and if it’s even effective. 

In a nutshell, health coaches help people set the right goals, and establish the perspectives, habits, and routines that align with those goals.

As per my experience, the general public views coaching as a listen and prescribe process, similar to a conventional doctor/patient exchange. The coach listens to what the client wants to achieve, shares with the client all the information they know about the topic, and then provides the client with advice on how to proceed. This is a big misconception. 

“..the coach is primarily an investigator and question asker.”

In reality, health coaches take a client-centered approach to coaching. This means we collaborate with clients, as opposed to instruct, to figure out what goals are important, and how to accomplish those goals in a sustainable, enjoyable, and realistic manner. 

The client-centered approach makes perfect sense. Who is best suited to determine the goals and actions that are most realistic for the client; the coach (who is usually a stranger in many ways), or the client themself?

When client-centered, the coach is primarily an investigator and question asker. Their job is to be curious about their client's situation, ask powerful questions, and respond with reflections, affirmations, and feedback that provoke critical and progressive thinking by the client. 

“To bypass the client and go straight to the coach’s opinion rarely results in client action and sustained efforts.”

There is a time and a place for coaches to give advice, but it is almost always after first exploring the client’s knowledge, skills, and personal vision. To bypass the client and go straight to the coach’s opinion rarely results in client action and sustained efforts. There are times when the coach’s advice is not needed at all. And times when the coach doesn’t have an answer when the client needs one. At that point, the coach has to find additional resources.

A coach does not need to be personally experienced in what the client is going through in order to effectively help that person overcome their challenges. With all the things people experience in the world, how could that even be possible? 

So with that being said, can a 25 year old be curious about their clients situation and needs? 

Are 25 year olds capable of asking thought provoking questions, and responding in ways that promote further thinking and problem solving? 

Can they help their clients establish action plans, accountability systems, and provide support?

I certainly think so. 

For those who still think 25 year olds are too young to be a good coach (brain development is just coming to a close), I somewhat agree. Time spent on this planet is incomparable. With age comes wisdom and compassion, especially as it pertains to client outcomes and tendencies, but is it a requirement to be able to listen and respond with curiosity?

Personal Trainers, if your clients improved something about their stress, nutrition, sleep, or NEAT, how would that impact your training results? How might collaborating with a health coach help your clients and your business? CLICK HERE and let me know what your clients struggle with, and what I can do to help.

If you’re interested in signing up for coaching, what do you envision for your health in the future? How can working with a health coach help you be successful and maintain that success over time? CLICK HERE to learn more about how my 8-week coaching program can help you achieve more.

Comment below and let me know what you think about this topic. Does a 25 year old have what it takes? Tell me why you agree.. or why not! 

Thank you for reading!

Gerard

Create New Habits Without Lifting a Finger

A habit is a consistent craving and thought that leads to predictable emotions, actions, and behaviors. Habits are reflective of your old self. They represent the activities of your past, and predispose you to a foreseeable future. Good habits are the process by which we achieve long term goals. Bad habits do not align with what we hope to achieve. Society typically views habits as a physical phenomenon. Something you do, focused primarily on actions and behaviors. Rarely talked about, is the physiological impact of habits, and how we can create a new future before lifting a finger. 

Neurologically, habits are strong and steady electrical signals, wave types, frequencies, polarities, and patterns in the brain and body. 

From an endocrine perspective, habits are high resting levels and mobilization of hormones associated with chronic emotional states. 

From a genomics standpoint, habits are the expression or down-regulation of genes.

Habits are rhythms. Biological expectations. After a habit is formed, our body anticipates its occurrence. If you eat lunch every day at noon, by 11:30ish, your stomach starts releasing digestive enzymes, preparing you to eat and digest. If you go to sleep every night at 10pm, by 9:30ish, your brain releases melatonin to prepare you to sleep. Location, the five senses, and time of day all pool together to form associations with the habitual activity. The more associations you have, the more likely you are to engage in the habit. 

Example: If I am trying to form the habit of meditating, I will increase my chances of forming that habit by:

• Meditating at the same time of day (time)

• Meditating on the same couch (location)

• Meditating with the same pillows and blanket (sight, touch)

• Lighting a sweet smelling candle as soon as I sit (scent)

• Ringing a bell at the start and end of every session (sound)

• Leaving the candles and bell in clear sight next to my meditation couch (sight)

There are associations everywhere. Most of the time they go unnoticed by the conscious brain, yet influence our behaviors. Thankfully, we can control many of these cues, to weaken strong associations that are undesirable, and strengthen associations to behaviors we want to engage in consistently. By controlling your cues, you are controlling your subconscious, and improving your ability to create new, or discontinue old habits. 

As we know, habits are persistent cravings and emotions that lead to behaviors. These behaviors influence, or are influenced by, the expression or repression of genes that regulate cells, which regulate tissues, which regulate organs, which regulate systems. Genes alone do not determine anything. They are about potentials and vulnerabilities. Environment is the driving force that tells us whether a gene will be expressed to its fullest potential, or down-regulated and dysfunctional. 

Environment is typically thought of as the physical space around us, the people we spend time with, the culture we adhere to, the food we eat, the air we breathe, but it is also an internal state. Internally, our environment is our cravings, thoughts, and emotions, aka the root cause of our habits. Chronic stress, over time, has been proven to make us sick and diseased. Chronic stress is a product of thoughts and cravings. Chronic stress, therefore, is a habit. The beauty about this phenomenon is that if our thoughts can make us sick, our thoughts can also make us better. Our thoughts condition our physical body and drive habits. By focusing our thoughts, emotions, and intentions on a new and different outcome, we can change our internal environment, signal genes in new ways, and anticipate a new future. 

This type of internal work enhances our ability to make and break habits before we even lift a finger. It stacks the deck in our favor, and sets us up for success. When attempting to start a new habit, or break an old habit, consider first doing this:

1. Manage your external environmental cues in ways that support your new habit or weaken associations to the habit you wish to break.

2. Change your internal environmental cues through clear intentions, and elevated emotions:

   1. Utilize the meditation cues listed above, close your eyes, and:

      1. Identify exactly what you want to achieve

      2. How would you feel if you were to achieve it? (Grateful, accomplished, happy, healthy, proud)

      3. Place your focus on your heart, the area surrounding your heart, and the empty space surrounding your body

      4. Fill that space with your elevated emotions (grateful, accomplished, happy, healthy, proud)

      5. Feel it! 

      6. Stay there for a given amount of time (10-60 minutes)

      7. When you are ready to stop, do an extra minute

      8. Do it every day

Through this practice, you are changing your internal environment, and conditioning your body to a new mind. You are discontinuing the energy of old habits, and predisposing yourself to a new future. This work can enhance your ability to successfully create new habits, break old ones, and stop living in the past. It is time to create a new future.

Do you want more information on the science of this practice? Are you skeptical? Would you like guidance during this internal work? Dr. Joe Dispenza has introduced a new course that will give you the foundation on how to make this work. Follow THIS LINK to check it out.

Comment below and let me know what you think of this practice! Be sure to post and share it with others so that we can all raise our collective energy. Enjoy!