A Coaching Power Tool By Cheryl Colvin, Health and Wellness Coach, UNITED STATES
The Complacency vs. Movement Power Tool
Human beings can often experience being “stuck.” Movement for someone in relation to their limiting beliefs, repetitive bad habits, and a stalled position in both their personal and professional life can be daunting. This position of being stuck warrants being challenged by a coaching professional.
Coaches are trained and experienced in moving their clients from an impasse to a new way of thinking and being in their lives that can bring empowerment to the individual. Coaches want to see their clients move from fear spaces and failed mental systems that don’t serve them to spaces in which their goals are achievable. In order to become unstuck, clients must be willing to be challenged and confront their current perspectives.
What Is the Difference Between Complacency vs. Movement?
Complacency
The negative concept of complacency conjures an image of a person who is challenged to move towards a desirable goal. This person may have low self-confidence, fear, self-doubt, or perhaps need to see their situation in a fresh new light. Complacency can show up at any age for people and the consequences of thinking and acting in a static way can be a feeling of hopelessness.
For example, it is easy to talk about wanting to pursue a degree in coaching or any other professional degree but taking even a microstep can be terrifying for people. The danger in being complacent is often an individual is unaware of the deficiencies of this state of being. Though many people are happy to be complacent, there is a negative aspect of this state of being. Deficiencies of being complacent can decrease one’s own mental fitness and there may be a feeling of no longer being able to handle challenges. The world around us is constantly moving and changing and we have to learn to adapt to new situations. An activity as simple as taking a foreign language that provokes fear of new learning or trying tennis for the first time can give a person a renewed mindset and an overall renewed confidence. When we step out of our own comfort zone, we often see that we can accomplish a new task with the right approach.
Complacency can rely on habits that a person has developed over time that may or may not serve that person! These habits are hardwired in our brains and we do them over and over again. Habits take time to develop therefore it is important to step outside one’s own comfort zone and develop new habits. Breaking up with old habits takes time, patience, and discipline.
In 2015, I would describe my exercise routine as being stuck in a simple routine of weekly strength training and cardio fitness. I derived a great deal of confidence and satisfaction from feeling physically fit but I was complacent in my routine. I felt it was necessary to take on a new challenge but I was unsure what that was and needed a motivator. A good friend asked me if I was interested in doing a half marathon. I told her I was fit but not a runner and she said she was a runner but out of shape! Together we decided to begin our training for five months before the big day.
I began with a fixed mindset that thirteen miles seemed impossible. I told myself that I was going to do this and I would start with walking and then running for say ten minutes. Each day I took another step to increase my running time and build the miles necessary to endure the marathon. I operated with a personal mantra of “I can, I will.” With each step, I repeated this to myself and created my own cadence to this repeated mantra. It was important for me to instill habits of foam rolling, rest, and limiting my strength training to certain days per week. I made conscious choices with my fuel and recovery each week which led to my success.
After completing of the marathon, I was an empowered individual who shifted her perspective and moved from a place of complacency to movement. The experience of training for the marathon pushed me to dig down deep to a part of myself that said “I CAN.” I was responsible for this journey and the author of my story. What type of mindset would I need to have to be curious, accountable, and (pushed) to my physical limits? I answered this question by committing, assessing, and implementing movement toward this goal.
Movement
The mindset of movement is a “flipped” perspective as it emphasizes motion toward a desired outcome. When a person is working hard toward an outcome, they are creating momentum. It is easy to keep going and challenging yourself. The habits that you create each day toward your goals help you gain confidence in being successful. Visualization is a tool that can help a person realize that each action is directly proportionate to your results. Using my marathon training as an example, I visualized the finish line on that day. Each day I set a small goal to help me achieve my intended result. I kept a journal and recorded my mileage and diet. Day one of my training consisted of walking 0.5 miles and running 0.5 miles. I used the aforementioned mantra as a way to keep my mind balanced and hold me accountable to a place of doing.
The consequences of this “flipped” perspective allowed me to tap into my mental fitness and employ whatever it took to get to my goal. I had a grit and determination that was unwavering and the confidence I felt with each training day lit a fire for me to achieve my goal.
Movement in training for a marathon or creating a mindset to accomplish any other goals rewires people’s daily practices. Working to create a positive sense of how we think and act, can lead to a healthy, positive mindset. We are all prone to negative thoughts but using tools such as a gratitude journal, meditation, exercise, regular sleep, and time spent in nature can all lead to better mental fitness. It is a form of strengthening neural pathways by rewiring our brains for positive thoughts. We can break patterns of negative thought by discontinuing to feed them. We can reframe our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves with hard work.
I tested this power tool on my client in peer coaching. My client came to me with a goal to stop smoking cigars daily. He had become complacent about limiting his cigars to two per week which was his initial goal for our session. In the current moment, he was smoking one to two per day and he reached a point where he realized he had to make a change. We explored his values and feelings about smoking and his health goals. He wanted to take a step to improve his health and not be stuck in his current mindset of believing it was okay to smoke because it was only a couple a day!
He began with a feeling of hopelessness and a habit that he thought was unbreakable. I allowed him the space to discuss his reliance on smoking as a stress reliever and to be able to unpack his story. He wanted to move in the direction of one micro habit to begin his goal of cutting back on smoking. I asked him questions as to what makes him overwhelmed and what he can do in place of reaching for the cigars. How would this help him? What environment could he create for himself to diffuse the stress in his life? His growth came when he put one foot in front of the other each day. He allowed himself to take small steps instead of setting unrealistic goals right away. For example, instead of reaching for a second cigar he could get up and walk for ten minutes or drink a glass of water. The healthy habit of change had to be one that he created himself and was willing to hold himself accountable.
In conclusion, my ability to live my own experience with this tool will allow me to coach others to consider a shift in their own perspectives to achieve their goals. While we all can feel complacent and stuck in areas of our own lives, recognizing that we each have the capacity to move toward a small goal can empower people and retrain their brains to start seeking positive outcomes.