Change talk and sustain talk are two important concepts in motivational interviewing. Change talk refers to statements that reveal motivation for or consideration of change, while sustain talk refers to statements that express a desire to stay the same.
Here are some examples of change talk:
“I want to lose weight.”
“I’m worried about my health.”
“I’ve been thinking about quitting smoking.”
“I’m ready to make a change.”
Here are some examples of sustain talk:
“I don’t think I can change.”
“I’m not sure if I’m ready to change.”
“I’m afraid of what will happen if I change.”
“I’m comfortable with the way things are.”
It’s important to recognize both change talk and sustain talk when working with clients who are considering making a change. By identifying and reinforcing change talk, you can help clients move towards making a positive change.
Here are some tips for identifying change talk:
Listen for statements that express a desire for change, reasons for change, or commitment to change.
Pay attention to the client’s body language and tone of voice.
Ask open-ended questions that encourage the client to talk about change.
Changing behaviors is difficult. Many barriers to change exist in both physical and mental paths. All individuals have their own composition of fear, education, environment, social settings, and time constraints that create different outcomes and building blocks for the same problems.
Precontemplation – At this stage, an individual is not yet aware or is unwilling to accept that a change is needed. They are likely hanging on to their current behaviors and have not yet found intrinsic motivation to change but may have pressure from other sources to make change.
Contemplation – The client has started to become aware that a change is needed, but they are struggling with the pros and cons of doing so, the amount of effort that may be required of them, or what they may have to sacrifice to see change.
Preparation – This is the stage where serious consideration starts to take place and even a desire to begin taking steps to make change. At this point, they are starting to think about what they can do to bring about change but may still be struggling with knowing where to begin. The desire for change is there.
Action – Here they start taking physical action, moving beyond the stages of mental effort to actually taking steps to implement the changes that, until this point, have only been considerations. For many, this will be the most difficult stage as it is the “first step,” so to speak, and where they will have to put forth the greatest commitment to keep momentum.
Maintenance – At this point, the client has been consistent with their new behaviors for at least 6 months (Rubak et al., 2005) and it is becoming an integrated part of their lifestyle. Getting here does not mean they will stay here, though, and, if they have not been focused on a sustainable approach, they are still at risk of relapsing to old behaviors.
Outcome goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They focus on the end result that you want to achieve. Process goals, on the other hand, are more general and focus on the steps that you need to take to achieve your outcome goals.
Outcome goals are important because they give you something to strive for. They help you stay motivated and focused on your target. Process goals are also important because they help you make progress towards your outcome goals. They help you identify what you need to do and how you need to do it.
The best way to set goals is to combine outcome goals and process goals. This will help you stay motivated and on track as you work towards your target.
Here are some examples of outcome goals:
Lose 10 pounds in 2 months.
Run a marathon in 4 hours.
Get a promotion at work.
Here are some examples of process goals:
Eat healthy foods.
Exercise 30 minutes a day.
Take a class to improve your skills.
By combining outcome goals and process goals, you can create a plan that will help you achieve your target.
OUTCOME GOALS
Outcome goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They are the end result that you want to achieve. For example, an outcome goal might be to lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks.
Outcome goals are important because they give you something to strive for. They help you to stay motivated and focused on your goals. When you have a clear outcome goal in mind, it’s easier to make decisions and take actions that will help you to achieve it.
Outcome goals can also help you to track your progress. When you know what you’re working towards, it’s easier to see how far you’ve come and how much further you have to go. This can be a great motivator to keep going, even when things get tough.
So, how do you set outcome goals? Here are a few tips:
Make sure your goals are specific. What exactly do you want to achieve?
Make sure your goals are measurable. How will you know when you’ve achieved them?
Make sure your goals are achievable. If your goals are too difficult, you’re more likely to give up.
Make sure your goals are relevant. Are they aligned with your values and priorities?
Make sure your goals are time-bound. When do you want to achieve them by?
Once you’ve set your outcome goals, it’s time to start taking action. Break down your goals into smaller, more manageable steps. This will make them seem less daunting and more achievable.
It’s also important to track your progress. This will help you to stay motivated and on track. There are a number of ways to track your progress, such as keeping a journal, using a goal-tracking app, or simply setting reminders for yourself.
PROCESS GOALS
Process goals are the steps that you take to achieve your outcome goal. They are the actions that you need to take in order to reach your desired outcome. For example, a process goal for losing 10 pounds might be to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly.
Process goals are important because they help you to make progress towards your outcome goals. They help you to stay on track and to make sure that you are taking the necessary steps to achieve your desired outcome.
Process goals can also help you to stay motivated. When you see yourself making progress towards your goal, it can be a great motivator to keep going, even when things get tough.
So, how do you set process goals? Here are a few tips:
Break down your outcome goal into smaller, more manageable steps.
Make sure your process goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Set deadlines for your process goals.
Track your progress towards your goals.
Reward yourself for achieving your process goals.
By following these tips, you can set and achieve your process goals more effectively.
Here are some additional tips for setting and achieving process goals:
Make sure your process goals are aligned with your outcome goals.
Be realistic about what you can achieve.
Don’t be afraid to adjust your process goals as needed.
Don’t give up! Even if you have a setback, keep going.
Thanks for listening to the podcast. I hope this episode has helped you to understand the importance of process goals and how to set and achieve them. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.
***We do not claim to be a doctor or anything of the like. This document is for educational purposes only. Any action taken by the reader is their sole responsibility and should be done with discretion. No claim can be made against Adagio FIT or its employees. If you ever have any questions, take them to your primary care doctor.***
Whether with a coach or a trainer or having no accountability at all, how many times have you “set a goal,” only to not reach it and then feel disappointed in yourself?
This has happened to most of us, even me as a coach, and the problem with goal achievement isn’t usually that we “failed” or “didn’t work hard enough” — it’s that our goals weren’t clear and descriptive enough to offer us an effective road map to the end result.
using the right coach can help you reach your goals this year
The goals that you set should be a helpful way for you to nail down exactly what you want to achieve and how to get there. Your goals should offer you ways to monitor your progress along the way. In this article, I’ll coach you exactly how to set yourself up for success.
Outcome-Based Goals
When most people set goals, they choose an outcome they’d like to reach. Outcome-based goals focus on the end-result, and are often number-oriented. These types of goals are very familiar to us, and they’re easy to identify. Losing twenty pounds, squatting your bodyweight, doing five chin-ups are all outcome-based goals.
Unfortunately, outcome-based goals sole focus is on the result, and these goals often leave out the most important details and step-by-step instructions. The most common experience in attempting to achieve an outcome-based goal includes:
Getting frustrated when it’s difficult to make progress toward your goal.
Feeling like you just have to “work harder” when you fail to reach your goal.
Starting to believe something is wrong with you when you work harder and still don’t reach your goal, and feeling overwhelmed with the process.
The good news is, you’re not a failure and there’s nothing wrong with you. Rather, your outcome-based goal has failed you and it needs some revamping. Here’s why.
Outcome-based goals don’t leave you 100% in control of achieving them.
The things you can do are to create the conditions and behaviors that make your outcome more likely. For example, if you have a goal of squatting your bodyweight, but you do random workouts and don’t have a training program that includes squatting or other exercises that might help you increase the amount of weight you can squat, part of your road map to goal achievement is missing.
Using a training program that is progressive, includes squatting as a main exercise, and that you do a few times each week consistently over a period of months will make it more likely for you to achieve your goal of squatting your bodyweight.
Outcome-based goals might be unrealistic or lead to feelings of overwhelm.
Sometimes outcome-based goals can feel really far away and although the end result is something you really want to reach, the process of getting there might seem insurmountable, especially if your road map isn’t clear.
For example, let’s say you’ve never exercised with consistency before and are really hoping to get in shape by starting to train and by changing the way you eat. Overhauling your life might include making sweeping changes to the way you exercise, shop and prepare your food, plan your daily, weekly, and monthly schedules, and how you prioritize your rest, recovery, and self-care.
This requires making a ton of changes, some of which probably aren’t realistic or sustainable if you’re just getting started, which feeds feelings of overwhelm. These feelings of overwhelm might actually be a barrier to even getting started.
Outcome-based goals don’t necessarily address the root cause for wanting change, which makes it hard to identify concrete steps that align with your value. Many of us assume that achieving a particular outcome will lead to increased happiness and satisfaction, which is often not the case. Just because you reach a goal you’ve set for yourself doesn’t mean you’ll feel satisfied with the results, especially if you haven’t figured out exactly why you wanted to make that change in the first place.
For example, some women want to change their body composition by losing a significant amount of body fat. When some women do achieve their goal, they still feel unsatisfied if their body doesn’t look or feel the way they expected it to.
They might feel shame because they were chasing a “look” that they thought would bring about a certain feeling or emotional state. They assumed that being leaner would make them happier. What they didn’t do was figure out exactly why they wanted to be leaner in the first place.
All of this seems frustrating, right? So what’s the solution? Set behavior-based goals that lead you toward a desired outcome.
Behavior-Based Goals
Behavior-based goals are a stronger alternative to outcome-based goals, and provide you with a roadmap of actions you can take that lead you toward the results you’re chasing. These types of goals put you in the driver’s seat and more in control of the process of reaching your goal. In fact, the entire focus of behavior-based goals is the process itself. This is how I coach.
By digging into exactly what you want to achieve (your outcome) and why it’s important to you, it’ll be easier to identify the steps that make goal achievement more likely.
If you know why something’s important to you, you should be able to evaluate what you’re willing (or not willing to do) to get there. This puts you in control of your actions and behaviors and gives you a systematic way of achieving your goal. The process of goal achievement should feel less overwhelming and more satisfying because you’re becoming the person who “does the things” to reach your goal.
This approach typically allows you to have a more positive mindset along the way because you’re consistently racking up small “wins” when you take each small step toward your goal. All of these things lead you to experiencing more success.
Big Rocks vs. Small Rocks
When looking to identify behavior-based goals, we suggest that you focus first on what we consider the “big rocks,” which form the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. Big rocks include getting adequate restorative sleep, drinking enough water, managing stress, eating nourishing food, moving meaningfully, and doing these things consistently. The idea is that if you can’t consistently practice these habits, then the “small rocks” (such as choosing to add cream to your coffee or not) won’t impact your ability to get results as much as the “big rocks” will.
On a side note, you want to make sure you aren’t loading your jar with too many big rocks or nothing will fit— make sure you aren’t spread too thin with too many behavior to dos. Also, as your coach I remind you that there will always be more rocks than can fit in your jar, so choosing wisely which rocks you want is important.
So, how do you set a behavior-based goal?
1. Identify Your Outcome Goal
Determine the long-range thing you’d like to achieve, and think about why it’s important to you. How do you think you’ll feel by achieving it? Does it align with the resources (time, energy, money, etc.) that you have available, and with your values and priorities? If so, move on to step two.
2. Assess What You’re Doing
Next, do an assessment of what you’re doing currently that is moving you toward that outcome. List things that might be challenging for you along the way, as well as the areas you are confident in making changes. Where are the opportunities you can make small, realistic changes that move you toward your goal?
3. Choose Next Steps
Create realistic, actionable behavior-based goals that lead to your outcome. Each of these little steps acts as a rung on the ladder that leads to your goal. Each step might seem small, but all together they take you closer to where you want to go.
4. Prioritize
Rank your confidence based on the frequency you’ll need to take each action and the resources you have. Prioritize the actions you’ll take first, and remember to make small changes one at a time.
5. Track Your Progress
Choose a method for tracking your behavior-based goals in order to monitor your progress. This may be a simple check mark in a notebook, or you may choose something like an app to keep track of your changes.
6. Start With The First Behavior-Based Goal
Start tracking one behavior-based goal. On a confidence scale of 1 to 10 you should feel like you are at a 9 or 10 out of 10 that you can complete that behavior. Track for two weeks and then evaluate for consistency. If you completed that behavior 80 percent of the time over the previous two weeks, choose a new action to start tracking.
If you didn’t reach 80 percent consistency with that behavior, do a check-in to assess whether it was really realistic for you. If it’s something you’d like to continue monitoring for a while longer, go for it. If it was originally unrealistic, scale it down to something you can definitely do.
Coaches’ Corner
As a coach or trainer, my clients come to me with their goals. It’s my job to help them translate outcome-based goals into actionable behavior-based goals.
I coach them to:
Figure out why that goal is meaningful or important to them.
Identify whether that goal aligns with their priorities and values.
Clarify and refine concrete and manageable actions they can take.
Manage their time by guiding where to place their energy.
As a coach, the process for taking a goal from outcome to behaviors looks like this.
As a coach, I will assess my client’s current training, nutrition, rest and recovery strategies. I’ll take a look at their lifestyle, work schedule, leisure activities, commitments, and weekly schedule. We discuss what they might be ready to change, as well as the barriers they might encounter.
Then we set behavior-based goals based on their outcome goals, and keep in mind that the actions they take to move them toward their outcome have a lot to do with “big rocks” and less to do with “small rocks.” Big rocks include getting adequate restorative sleep, drinking enough water, managing stress, eating nourishing food, moving meaningfully, and doing these things consistently. Big rocks move the dial, while small rocks are very small, nuanced actions that won’t make much difference in goal achievement unless the big rocks are in place.
As a coach and trainer we will start with small changes my client can confidently make first. I help them create routines to make these actions more likely. I stay involved throughout the process of goal achievement and evaluate their progress and help them through stalls in progress, over roadblocks, and problem-solving when they arefeeling challenged.
I help you through behaviors to get in the best shape of your life—for good.
With adagio FIT Training and Coaching, you’ll get the support, accountability, and expert education to eat and exercise in a sustainable way — without restrictive diets or spending your life in the gym.
Whether your health and fitness goals are to…
Get stronger
Gain muscle
Lose body fat
Improve your pull-ups
Have a safe and healthy pregnancy
Return to exercise safely postpartum
Heal your relationship with food
Balance your hormones/disorders
Increase your confidence
… or anything else, we’ll help you achieve them. You can experience life-changing results while eating and exercising in a way that actually fits into your life — instead of controlling it.
You’ll learn how to:
Improve your nutrition without giving up the foods you love
Exercise safely and effectively so you’re getting maximum results from your workouts without burning yourself out
Increase your confidence, love the way your body looks, feels, and performs — and enjoy your life more than you ever thought possible
And you’ll become the happiest, fittest, strongest version of yourself, one step at a time.
Interested in learning more? Join in a free, no-obligation consultation with Clarissa, our Female Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach by clicking below.
In my personal life I have been studying a lot about loss. In the next couple months I have some big changes coming up in my life as I have known it. I have felt such angst and stress about choosing these changes and implementing them that they have caused a lack of sleep and an inability to function well as a mother and coach.
For one thing, these future changes are my choice instead of something that is forced and two, I have never really done well with change. whenever we would go on an extended break or Holiday from school like Christmas, the first week back of school I would always get sick. This happened a lot in college. When the semesters changed and my routine needed to change, my body would get some sort of cold or flu, and I’d be down for the count and miss days of school. Even though I’m not in school now, whenever there are big changes or big events in my life or family life, I ramp up to them and then afterwards I get sick either mentally or physically.
On a side note, doesn’t this example show that our mental state can affect our physical state. More to come on those thoughts in an article soon.
So with me loving routine these changes have been ridiculously difficult to fathom and make. Therefore I have taken it to some of the doctors that I work with to talk to them about which changes and how much change I need to be able to heal and balance that with keeping myself mentally happy. I love where I’m at right now, but I recognize that some change is good and change will allow me to grow but also heal some health issues I am experiencing.
As I have talked with professionals about these changes my therapist brought to light a syndrome that we want to call the Tom Brady syndrome. It’s something I want to share with you today because it rang so true and felt was easily relatable.
training the mind
I’m going to assume that you know who Tom Brady is and if you don’t go and Google him. In a very short sentence he, being an amazing football player, retired from football and after a short time unretired from football and went back into the game.
As a top football player and a high-performance achiever I can only understand why he went back to football. He loves the dopamine rush and the 100% for filament that he gets from winning a game and being the top performer in his industry and Sport. One can only understand that retiring from that was a severe loss for him and probably caused mental sadness and emotions that he wasn’t used to having because he was so used to all the good emotions that he experienced while playing football and winning.
Interestingly enough, what has happened since he has gone back to the game are also interesting losses. his wife and he have gotten a divorce. His wife was his biggest fan and was a key contributor to his success as a football player. For example, she monitored every little bit of food that went into his mouth so that he was fueled properly and also was in charge of making sure he had boundaries so he could recover.Something else that has happened since coming back to the game, he’s losing.
So I want to discuss 3 points about the Tom Brady syndrome that you can see in what Tom Brady is going through right now.
The Tank
The first point is called the tank. The tank is where a professional is at the top of their career and due to age, injury, circumstances or other professionals coming into the same industry, etc, this professional starts to tank in their success rate and is not at the top of their game or career anymore.
With Tom Brady coming back out of retirement and losing all of these games is showing that he is starting to tank.
So the question for you is: should Tom Brady finish his career of football at the high or should he continue in football as he tanks and finish at a low? What do you think that would do to his mental health as well as the story that people will tell about him for years to come?
The next question there would be where are you at and your career? Do you think you have reached your Peak do you think you still have room to grow or do you think you are in the tank?
I have noticed in my personal Journey that due to the injuries and health problems I’m experiencing, I am in the tank. I have not been able to give what I used to be able to give and it has been discouraging and sad. I appreciated the advice that I received to not tank fully and exit at the low but to exit at the high.Honestly I think when we exit at a high we can look back with fond memories and there is closure.
The Acceptance
The second point is called acceptance. The acceptance is the concept that after we leave or turn away from our original trajectory and goal we might experience loss in the manner that whatever we do instead might not be as fulfilling as the thing we did first.
For Tom Brady, he probably should go out and buy a football team. That’s the closest thing that he could do to recreate the happiness that he experienced as the football player. However he probably will only be able to receive 90% of his fulfillment back compared to the 100% that he might have gotten as a player himself. That is part of loss.
It is good for us to recognize that in Los we may not be able to get back to the hundred percent fulfillment that we had. Very rarely will somebody experience something that is better than what they were originally doing when they were at the top of their game.
If you are aware of this you would be grasping for straws and probably looking outside of yourself for inner peace. Just like Tom Brady coming back out of retirement. He probably couldn’t find something that would fulfill him just as much as playing football did and he didn’t know how to handle that and sit with that. Then he has the consequence of losing his wife now because he chose to come back out of retirement and that is not what she wanted or was told would happen.
For me, I don’t know what is coming next after my changes but I do appreciate this concept. I used to dance ballroom at BYU and competed professionally and was doing very well. I stopped dancing because my body could not get pregnant due to how much physical work I was putting in to dance every day. When I stopped I experienced a severe depression for a long time. For years I couldn’t even watch the progress of my fellow dancers because I knew where I “should have been” in the dance world. I don’t think anything I have done in the dance realm since has been as fulfilling as being a competitor on the dance floor and winning. It still hurts 13 years later and now having an understanding that fulfillment might not reach capacity has helped me release the pain because of those expectations being replaced with acceptance.
The Vacuum
The final concept of the Tom Brady syndrome is the vacuum. And on a side note, I’m grateful for spell check, because I still don’t know how to spell vacuum without help. LOL.
The vacuum is where when you take something out of your life it will put a force into the universe that will pull something new into that empty space.
Tom Brady had a really big empty space because he had a very big, successful, Limelight career. Again oh, he didn’t have the tools nor the patience to wait for something else to come along to fill that space.
Along with that I feel like if we understand that there will be a vacuum we can be looking for opportunities and we can recognize that some opportunities will be good ones and some will be bad ones or destructive ones that will not help us.
When covid shut my job down as a group fitness instructor there was a big loss there. I was tumbled into this space that created a vacuum and needed to be filled. Some of the things that filled that space were good and I’ll talk about those in a second, but some of them were not so good. I didn’t eat well. I lost a lot of my discipline and my hope for the future. In fact, I think that I am still recovering from what that vacuum brought to me and what I chose. Now like I said, some of those opportunities were good ones. I ended up taking clients virtually during covid and really laid a good foundation to be a personal trainer and nutrition coach online. if it weren’t for covid and that loss I would not have had that space replaced.
Right now I don’t know what is going to fill the space from the loss that I am going to incur in the next couple of months. I was feeling anxious about that. There are a lot of what-ifs. But I am finding that because of the awareness that there is a vacuum I am handling the unknown a lot better. In fact, there’s a part of me that is really looking forward to what might open up for me in opportunities that are constructive and helpful to me and the next season of My Life.
So finishing up, let’s review the Tom Brady syndrome. The Tom Brady syndrome has three main facets. The first facet is the tank, the second is the acceptance, And the third is the vacuum.
Maybe you can look back on a couple of your losses and think about these three aspects. Then, being aware of these three aspects when you go into a new loss, which will happen because we are all mortal and human, maybe, because you have awareness of them you will be able to more gracefully and strongly handle your next loss in a way that will help you come out of that more refined and better.
At least that is my hope because I am seeing that work in my own life.
Last episode, #30, we introduced you to the Thought Model CTFAR as seen here:
You will want to listen to that episode before hitting this one so you know about the ins and outs of each of the 5 areas in the model. Because in this episode we work on how to apply this model and then change it to get the results in your life.
We’d love to dive deeper with you into this model. We offer a 30 min no pressure mini coaching session to anyone interested in changing their thoughts to get better results! Click below to sign up and get contacted on how and when.
On today’s podcast, I am giving you a look at a class we teach in our online mind + body training courses. It is on the abundance mindset. We truly create our reality by the thoughts and words we use and creating a sense of abundance or that abundance mindset will help us be happy and healthier!
If you love this insight into our classes, you can learn about the courses we offer with the link below. We have individual coaching and group coaching sessions happening.
Did you know we have an extremely amazing weekly email? I thought you might want to know. So today I am sharing with you a couple of my favorites to help you see what you can get each week. Plus our email gives you first dibs on new programs, classes and freebies. All because I love my listeners and readers.
If you love the podcast, you’ll love the email and can sign up with the link below –
Comparing is a dangerous game. Did you know we have a choice if we want to play. However, most of us get in the habit of comparing and we do it unconsciously.
In this podcast we are talking about comparison and bringing ourselves to awareness that we probably do it without thinking. When we become aware of our habit in comparing, then we are able to make a conscious choice if we want to engage.
I have heard many times in the past to choose not to engage in comparing. BUT you can choose to compare. As long as you compare fairly. When you compare fairly it takes a lot of the danger out of the game.
How do you do that – comparing fairly? Listen in below for the tools that I give for going through this process.
SHOW NOTES:
I am putting together Q&A for another podcast coming up in July. I’d love if you have any questions about comparing or any other subject we’ve talked about here on the podcast that you submit them below in the comments or you can email me at clarissa@adagiofit.com. I’d love to hear from you.
Heading into part 3 of our series on the Six Dimensions of Wellness, we talk about occupational, intellectual, and social wellness. The discussion leads to how it will look if you are on the bottom end of our spectrum and then what it looks like as we head up the spectrum to optimal wellness for each of these areas. Listen below the show notes OR go find us on iTunes.
If you want to take a look at the spectrum, you can click on the graphic below from episode 6.
I also talk about a new coaching class that is coming on May 23 this month! This month it is free too! If you want to read more about the class and sign up, click below.
Comparing is a dangerous game. Did you know we have a choice if we want to play. However, most of us get in the habit of comparing and we do it unconsciously.
Heading into part 3 of our series on the Six Dimensions of Wellness, we talk about occupational, intellectual, and social wellness. The discussion leads to how it will look if you are on the bottom end of our spectrum and then what it looks like as we head up the spectrum to optimal wellness for each of these areas. Listen below the show notes OR go find us on iTunes.
