How I'm Going To Change The World

ok ok it’s a bit of a bold statement but I truly believe that the only people that can change the world are those who believe they can do it in the first place.

So i’m putting myself out there in a big way over the coming weeks. I’ve been sitting on an idea for a few months now and it’s linked to my coaching business that I will be formally starting some time in March or April.

The reason I haven’t spoken about it until now is that I haven’t been able to fully articulate every single step yet. I have a rough idea of what I want to achieve but not the intricate details. But then I realised, i’m going about this the wrong way. I need to put this out there for people to see, read, engage with, and interact. I need my views to be challenged and for people to join me on the journey as we learn together.

In the coming weeks and months this blog will be a conscious stream of thought from me, while I try to articulate my coaching and life philosophy. I’ve always had my ‘why’ - which was to help other people fulfil whatever potential they have in their lives, but I was missing the ‘how’ - as in, how do I deliver it in a relatable and inspiring way. Well that has all changed in the last few weeks….

It started with a shift in my own mindset. I have over 7 hours per week of commuting time. For the most part I listened to the radio, lost in my own thoughts, usually inane ramblings of a hectic mind. But it was a chat with one of my running buddies, Adam, that changed all that. He put me on to Audible and listening to audio books.

So I started doing that instead of the radio and soon found myself “reading” a book per week on average. Suddenly my mind was ignited. The passion burned brighter than ever before and thoughts became easier to articulate. Ideas flowed and I would wake up each morning with another part of the jigsaw filled in. Like my unconscious mind was feverishly working on the puzzle whilst my conscious mind and body rested.

I listened to books like Atomic Habits by James Clear, the 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins, the 10X Rule by Grant Cardone, Start with Why by Simon Sinek and numerous others. Some were right up my street and some weren’t my cup of tea BUT I took something from every single book.

And that has lead me to this point. I have a starting model for a 5 step process that anyone can use in order to improve the quality of their life but more importantly, to improve the lives of others. And that is what i’m hanging my hat on here, helping people build towards a sense of purpose. Build towards something greater than themselves.

So this is less of a fitness or exercise plan and more of an all encompassing self care process. Will those going through the process get fit, get healthier and reach the targets they set themselves? Absolutely they will. But that will be a by product. Part of the process but not the end goal. The end goal is… well, we’ll get to that.

It’s important to me that this is not seen as a life coaching model. It may help you in every aspect of your life, but I cringe at the title of life coach. I am not qualified to tell you what to do with your life. No-one is. But the aim is to give you the tools, motivation and autonomy to take control yourself. I look at it like a kind of process we’re all in together. learning and moving forward. I learn, you learn, we all learn.

And now to the 5 steps and the theory behind them. I’ll be brief here because I want to break down each step each week. Research them. Engage with people about them. Refine them and perfect them.

The basic idea, believe it or not, was taken from Alcoholics Anonymous. I was listening to a book that said that most alcoholics relapse unless they complete all 12 steps of the AA programme. Even if they got through steps 1-11 they were still as likely to relapse if they were at 11 as they would be earlier on in the programme. But get to step 12 and the percentage of people relapsing dropped dramatically. Why? Because step 12 is all about helping another person struggling with the same addiction. In short it’s giving purpose and a sense of something greater than self.

And then it hit me. Why don’t we view exercise and fitness that way? As a vehicle to help and inspire others as well. And if we get fit and healthy ourselves along the journey, even better! I call it (or I think i’m going to call it) ‘Fit for Purpose’, which is a classic Alan Partridge play on words.

So now I have my big idea. My coaching philosophy, I need the other 4 steps to get to step 5 (Purpose).

The fact of the matter is that exercise is not accessible to everyone for a tremendous number of people. It’s not as simple as saying, “right, let’s get you out there running” and that’s it. That can work for those who are already motivated in that way. But for many people that’s like saying “go and climb Everest” when all they’ve ever done before is a brisk walk around their local area. It’s just simply too big of a jump.

So why is that? In short I believe it’s a combination of the environment we’re in, the view we have of ourselves, the habits (positive and negative) that we have and how interested we are in changing in the first place (which often comes from a place of anxiety rather than not wanting to change).

There are too many negative thoughts and actions for some people. They cloud the waters and make it very hard to see how they can improve their fitness and health. So much so that even starting any type of journey of change is too fraught with hazards and perceived negative consequences.

That’s why I believe that step 1 should be as simple as possible. It should be about turning us in to a person who has a bias towards taking action. No positive OR negative thought attached, simply action over inaction.

If we, as people can flick the switch in our heads that says “Do not hit the snooze button, just get up when the alarm goes off” then that is one way of creating action over inaction. There is no emotion attached to it. It simply is.

How about the type of person that can put their phone down at any time, if they feel like they’re spending too much time aimlessly browsing through social media? If you could learn to take action and put the phone down? It’s a simple task. Involving little emotional thought. But again it’s creating a bias towards action.

BIAS TO ACTION is step 1 in the process. A foundation for us all to build from and one that doesn't require us to analyse ourselves or our actions. There’s no negative or positive attached to it in the short term. It just is. Re-training your brain to obey you rather than the other way around. Too often we think we should do something, wait too long, then the urge or impetus is gone. Washed away by the brains need to protect us and keep us comfortable.

It’s only once you feel (you not me as a coach) that you’re in control and can rely on these small foundational habits, can you move on to step 2 in the process. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now I want to dig in to step 1 and talk about all of the things we can do to take back control. We’ll explore step 1 in more detail in the next blog.

Last but not least, am I saying I won’t be taking on motivated athletes that are further along on their journey? No, absolutely not. This process can be adapted for everyone and we can all learn and grow as people, wherever we are in the process. It could already be near step 4 or 5. I coach athletes to GB Age Group level, those trying to qualify for Kona and those on an entirely different health and fitness journey. And I love it. I just feel it’s time for us all to view our health and fitness in an entirely different way.

So if you’re on board and want to know more, I’ll be writing my thoughts down on the blogs as well as creating vlogs around it all over on YouTube. So get yourself subscribed. And if you want to know when these vlogs will be coming out, it will all be done via our Facebook page of the same name. So go join that too!

And your comments and feedback would be hugely appreciated. I want this to be something that grows and adapts over time with input from a community rather than simply my thoughts. I really hope you join me on this journey because I have to believe that this will change the world. I really need to believe on that scale.