Unlike we are programmed to believe, health is not something given to us by our healthcare providers or predestined by our genes (these things matter but aren’t the whole picture).
Instead, cultivating wellness is a result of the daily behaviors we repeat the most.
Like the learning process for anything else, cultivating these new behaviors require a growth mindset and the acquisition of new skills. The key to developing confidence in your wellness skills is similar to developing confidence in any other area. My favorite model of what true confidence is comes from psychologist Russ Harris’ book The Confidence Gap. He describes the confidence cycle below.
Enter…The Confidence Cycle (or how to get good at doing anything)
Practice the skills
Apply them effectively
Assess the results
Modify as needed
Simple, not always easy. Thus, cultivating the nutrition and lifestyle habits to maintain health requires a bunch of little skills and habits that can be developed by anyone who is willing to engage in the confidence cycle. But, we first have to realize it is a learning journey and understand the process required.
Here’s an example from my own life. I’m currently working on shifting my cooking habits a bit. My goal is to find a way to have as much diversity of plants in my life with the least amount of effort. I have a lot of prior skills I can build on towards this goal such as the ability to find good recipes, basic nutrition knowledge, and basic cooking skills, but there are a few new skills I need to develop --- primarily how to batch cook the components of meals to use throughout the week. As expected, I have already had some failures in the process of change -- I’ve cooked too much in a batch cooking session and then unexpectedly went out of town and made things I didn’t love and then dreaded having to eat them. But with each” failure” there is an opportunity to access, learn, and refine my skills.
For some, they would need to start at a different place to develop a home cooking habit. Perhaps, they don’t have a well-stocked pantry and don’t have kitchen equipment. Maybe they have never really cooked and need some basic cooking skills. There are likely a handful of new skills required to meet any health goal you have.
Most health habits require a few skills. Things like cooking, moving regularly, developing a sleep ritual and morning routine. For any health change you’re making, the process may seem daunting simply because you are lacking a key skill that you aren’t even aware of. Simply identifying the missing skill and deliberately practicing it can unlock success that before was evasive.
Whatever place you are at, it can be extremely helpful to have a guide support you through the process of gaining confidence in your wellness skill-set. A health coach can be an amazing investment in building your wellness confidence.
Coaches help you go through the confidence cycle by helping you identify missing skills, giving you the resources to practice and learn them, and then systematically assessing the results until you reach your goals with confidence.
Let’s unlock your healthy living confidence. Click here to schedule a free coaching call.