About 7 years ago my wife Melissa and I hit rock bottom financially. Rock bottom might be different for everyone but for us it means well into six figures of non-mortgage debt, almost losing our house, and having our car repossessed. All money discussions ended in arguments.
Why am I telling you this? Well. I was with some fitness professionals recently and they were asking what steps we took to go from this dark place financially to a much better place.
As I thought about it and explained, I realized how similar the path we took is to the path our clients need.
Two things in particular stood out to me.
The first is we got help. In order to get help, we had to first acknowledge that we needed help.
We got connected with accountability groups, mentors, and coaches. We understood, based on our history, that we needed help. We obviously didn’t know what we were doing on our own.
People have always and will always do better when they enlist the help of coaches and mentors. Want proof? What do you think would happen if Usain Bolt trained without a coach?
A good coach isn’t so close to your situation like you are. This allows them to see what your next steps should be. They see things you don’t. We found that to be the case exactly. When people are in trouble, they always get the help of a guide.
The other thing we did was follow a plan. It was a step by step plan. What’s more is that it was simple. It wasn’t more complex information that we needed. What we needed was to have things simple and easily digestable. We needed to create little habits and have them build upon each other.
As you can see, it’s the same as weight loss and nutrition. The similarities are uncanny.
I hope my parallel between financial and physical health helps mobilize you to take action if you need to.
Would love to hear any thoughts you might have!
If I don’t speak to you have a happy New Year!
Billy Hofacker - Owner & Transformation Coach at Total Body Boot Camp - BS, CSCS