investment

What’s your value?

This month, I’m taking a look in the rearview mirror at 2018 and a peek ahead at the road ahead in 2019. I invite you to hop in and take some time to reflect on and forecast on your own life alongside me!

It’s the food. And it’s more than the food.

In less than 10 words, one of my very first clients summed up the essence of Integrative Nutrition®. And she did it using “and” instead of “but,” so I knew I’d really made an impact!

(I liked her description so much, I made it my tagline!)

kale saladMost people start looking for a health coach because they want to figure out (okay, let’s be honest, they usually want to be told) what the best way to eat is: what is the magic diet to end all diets to lose weight, get their numbers into a reasonable range, etc.?

Predictably, by the third session, we’ve left secondary foods—the ones we put in our mouths—far behind and are deep into the primary ones—everything else that nourishes us (or doesn’t): relationships (including the one we have with time), career, physical activity, spiritual practice, sleep….)

In some cases, our focus on primary foods takes the focus off disordered eating so much that weight starts to drop almost unnoticed; in others, the client’s mindset shifts to where weight is not a priority, and when she gets around to thinking about it again, she knows she can manage it on her own—slowly, methodically, sustainably.

post-call questions

I generally speak with clients every other week: that amount of time seems long enough to practice a baby step—and not so long that they lose direction or start to panic if they’re struggling with the practice.

Beginning in 2018, after each call, I not only sent my clients a summary of our discussion: I also asked them to answer 5 questions. Both exercises help them reflect on the experience and cement some of their takeaways.

The questions are:

  1. What was going on for you before our call? How were you feeling?declutter your daytimer
  2. What did you find most interesting during our call?
  3. What did you find most difficult about the call?
  4. What is your biggest takeaway from the call?
  5. How did you feel after the call?

Irrespective of the answers to #1, which are often a litany of pain and frustration, the two most common responses I get to #5?

  1. Heard/Seen
  2. Valued

It says a lot about being a woman in the world today, doesn’t it? (Yes, it may say a lot about being a human in the world today, and I work almost exclusively with women, so….)

In a way, this exercise is a lot like the style of food journaling I encourage—not one in which we weigh/measure/count ourselves into a frenzy but one where we consider what we eat and how it makes us feel.

It’s easy to get lost in the crazy of our lives—a huge proportion of what I do with clients is asking them to pause, take a step back from any situation to get “a 30,000 foot view,” and to recognize how they’re feeling, how they want to feel, and what it might take to get there.

What are you doing on a daily basis, and how does it make you feel?

If it makes you feel awful, then why are you doing it, and how can you make a better choice?

investment

investmentLike many coaches, I offer a free initial consultation, which I call YOURstory. It’s really a chance for you to be heard (when was the last time someone asked you about what really matters to you?) and to get a taste of what it would be like to work with me as a health coach.

What it isn’t is a sales pitch; in fact, over the past year, I have started to decline to discuss what my coaching program costs on the YOURstory call, even if I’m asked.

Why? Because on the call, we usually decide on 1–3 very small baby steps for you to try out for two weeks, after which we either exchange emails or have another call to discuss how they went.

It’s a way for you (and for me!) to decide whether you’re really ready to make a lifestyle change.

Because as often happens with entrepreneurs, I’ve discovered that there are those who think they’re ready, and those who really are.

It’s not always those who are at rock bottom who turn to the health coaching option—the most successful clients are those who have one specific belief. It may be well-hidden, but deep down, they know that they have value.

My time with Liza is the single most important gift I’ve ever given myself.

Simply put, they see themselves as worthy of investing in.

It may sound harsh, but if you commit to drinking an extra glass of water before each meal for two weeks (yeah, it can be that little) and you don’t do it, how committed are you?

This simple step of test-driving for two weeks is a great way for me to prequalify clients: those who succeed and either get back in touch or respond to my outreach two weeks later are generally the ones who will succeed in the long run; those who don’t aren’t bad people, they’re not losers—they’re just not ready, and it makes no sense for me to take their money because they’re not a good investment of their money and my time.

priceless

In 2017, I wrote out my mission, vision, and principles.

vision

My work is grounded in the belief that we women can live happy, healthy lives, meeting all our obligations and honoring our own wildest, sweetest dreams.

mission

I support you— the woman 40+ who feels that the only way out of your overscheduled life involves a plane ticket, a wad of cash, and a change of identity. I coach you in identifying and interrupting the patterns that contribute to your overwhelm and in establishing simple, sustainable new habits that will help you not just survive but thrive in what—contrary to popular belief—can be the happiest, healthiest decades of your life.

I’m a sanity whisperer to the working wife and mother who feels under-appreciated, under-listened to, under-taken-care-of, under-valued, overwhelmed, overworked, overscheduled, and—frankly—OVER. IT. ALL. You’ll say goodbye to declining health, chronic stress, and overwhelm and land the starring actress Oscar in your own life after too many years of playing best supporting actress in everyone else’s.

Sorta Secret Sisterhood Logo

principles

my program is NOT for you if…

  • you think health and happiness are found in extreme diets and detoxes, pills and painful workouts, smoothies and silver bullets.
  • you are looking for a quick, temporary fix for your health issues.
  • you are not completely committed to making lasting changes that will help you thrive.
  • you’d rather keep living in a way that focuses only on others and puts aside your own dreams.

my coaching program is for you if…

  • you are ready to give your health and happiness the attention they deserve.
  • you are fully committed to making changes but just can’t seem to do it on your own.
  • you are sick of barely surviving and want to really thrive.
  • you are tired of living a lie and want to live the dream—your dream.

In 2018, I integrated those words into my practice in a much more authentic way.

And probably the biggest lesson I learned in 2018 was about my own value as a coach: for those who are ready—priceless.

Ready to invest in yourself? I currently have limited openings for 1:1 coaching clients beginning in January 2019. You can schedule a free YOURstory session by clicking on YOURstory on my booking page.