It is important to realize that the first steps are the hardest steps to take. There can be bouts with intimidation. There will be questions about your transformation.
Is this possible?
Can I do this?
Will I fail?
Will I quit?
More importantly, the real question is do I see any value in this?
Do I believe this could be me?
Will this be like every other time I tried to change my life?
Will I be great in the beginning, and lose interest as I go?
These are all real and valid questions.
Something I have been told is you can’t help others if you don’t know how to help yourself.
I say this due to a recollection from some of my life coaching courses. I had to write a vision statement for a client. I had to create and script a W.R.A.P. and present this to myself.
Sure, I admit this was awkward.
I was uncomfortable with the process, at first.
But the lesson was helpful.
I still find that clients struggle to answer the questions on their action plan.
“What to you mean when you ask me to create my home team?”
Or, “Who can I have on my team?”
The truth is there are no right or wrong answers. The plan belongs to the client, specifically, which means this is theirs and is about their wellness plan.
This plan is designed to go at the client’s pace.
However, I will allow myself to act as an example, and reveal the subjective nature of my approach to weight loss.
I was never a person who worked out in gyms.
I have different intimidations while at the gym.
Do I look stupid?
Do I look weak?
Am I doing this wrong?
Are people looking at me and laughing at me in their head?
Is this just a waste of my time?
I have limited this example to my efforts and transformation to physical fitness. Next, the following challenge is that I was sore all the time.
I laugh when I say this because I was told that this is the addicting part.
Really, this is the addicting part?
Hmm . . .
I humbly disagree.
Speaking as a person in long-term recovery from drugs and alcohol, I don’t think there needs to be a rehab center for people who are addicted to being sore. I am sure there are a lot of different addictions out there. But being sore?
No, this is not an addiction that I am worried about.
But, I had to find my reward. I had to train myself to tune out the rest of the world and focus on my efforts. I had to find a way to “accentuate the positive” as they say. Of course, I had to look and define my achievements by any means necessary.
I might not have been in the worst or the best shape. But I was too aware of the room.
I was too focused on other people who worked out in my vicinity.
I was too hung up on my insecurities.
Let’s be clear, it is easy to talk to convince or justify reasons to not work out. It is easy to slide back into old or lazy habits. Yes, there were plenty of times when I was in my car, on my way, and I was bitching and complaining to myself.
But in the end, commitment is commitment.
I never felt worse for honoring my commitments.
However, I felt awful on the days when I failed to see this through.
I can promise you that this became easier.
I can say that this became my habit. However, and as for becoming addicted to being sore,
my answer remains the same. No!
I think I could quit that part at any time.
So why the W.R.A.P.?
Each wellness action plan is scripted specifically to meet the need or the nature of the change or the transformation. This is all client or personally specific.
Professional action plans might ask different questions than an action plan regarding intimacy or relationships.
However, intimidations are important to list.
Setbacks, challenges, and difficulties need to be mentioned.
Our action plan needs to define our triggers so that we can create a way to adapt or overcome the obstacles ahead of us.
We have to start with our home team.
But remember, our teammates fill their role, which means the same as I would never ask a carpenter a medical question, I would not ask nutritional questions to someone who is not educated on the subject.
This is important:
There is the saying that too many cooks spoil a pie.
There is another saying about having too many cooks in the kitchen.
Too many chiefs, not enough Indians… and I say this cautiously with no offense intended.
But more to the point, there is only room for so many people on our team.
We need to focus and too many opinions or directions can be distracting.
We need to compartmentalize who we speak with.
We can speak to someone about our nutrition. We need to speak to doctors about medical questions. We can keep our fitness questions with a fitness trainer.
Understand?
In the efforts to make other changes, like professional changes, we can find mentors and coaches. We can create a small panel of teammates and designate each member to help us with specific character traits or business practices.
If this action plan is focused on intimacy or emotional transformations, we have to choose our team wisely.
Remember, you don’t have to go through this alone, and to add support, finding a coach or finding the right person to help with your plan can help the momentum of your progress.
Some questions on the W.R.A.P. might include:
Who would you like to include and have as your home team?
Who would be the first person you would discuss your intimidations with?
Do you have any doubts or worries about keeping confidence between you and the rest of your team?
How much time will you realistically spend on your transformation each day?
Who will you assign to make sure that you hold yourself accountable?
Will this person support and check in with you?
Will they make sure you are setting realistic and attainable goals?
Who will you speak to when you find yourself moving away from your daily tasks?
Next:
Thinking back on the previous questions, and looking at the people who you have assigned to be on your team, what is your belief that you will listen to your team when you are being confronted or having an off day?
This is all part of the W.R.A.P.
The great thing about creating an action plan is that it all stems from a discussion. The plan is living and breathing, which means it grows.
We can change the plan at any given moment. We can adjust our schedule. We can change our direction, if we need to. We can do anything that will help us reach our transformational goals and improve.
Improvement –
This is the name of the game.
We have to gather our achievements and successes and compile them together.
We have to find new ways to trigger the reward system because the mind is always looking to feel good. The mind always wants peace.
We want the reward.
We want validation.
Therefore, we can note down our achievements which will add up quicker than you think.
Ask yourself something:
What, if anything, would you like to transform, improve, or change about your life?
List this down for yourself.
Then start with your team.
Who is on your side?
Who would be there for you?
And, just in case . . .
if you find yourself in a similar position as I did and if you’re shrugging your shoulders and thinking, “I don’t know.”
Then don’t worry.
We can work on this together.
If you’d like to.
The Written Addiction 