Lessons Learned

A wise man once told me that the three primary motivators for people are greed, fear and trust.

Greed: excessive or predatory desire, especially for wealth or possessions.

Fear: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

Trust: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

I just recently saw this adage come into fruition when communicating with a customer who we have been attempting to lead at a high level for over a year now. This individual is obese and has been unable to improve his body composition for a number of reasons. First and foremost, his average attendance of his booked sessions is about 50% (2 out of 4 weekly). Considering he isn’t doing any physical activity on his own 2 hours of exercise per week this obviously isn’t going to suffice. Another very important compounding factor is the individual’s lifestyle that includes very poor eating habits and the excessive consumption of alcohol in social settings. This is a recipe for disaster because he will have to work incredibly hard just to maintain let alone improve.

The following is an excerpt from an e-mail that Curtis sent to our team a while ago:

"When we are constructing challenges we think of the two primary motivators – fear & greed – we appeal to people's sense around both of these. When we hit an obstacle or road block – we determine why we are hitting it – customer realities / their story & dissect down to the exact things that are holding them back. When we come across someone that thinks & tell us they ‘can’t’, we tell them that they ‘CAN’ - and show them how. And...most importantly we never, never, give up...it is a relentless push to bring people to the victory of any specific challenge. And when we reach victory we must reward & recognize – if we don’t do this, we don’t connect the dots for people and are back to square 1 in terms of trying to get them to embrace another challenge. So at the end of every session and at the end of every day, ask yourself: Did I challenge that person to give their best during that session? Demand the best out of them - to push their limits (within safe parameters)."

Throughout the past year we have tried appealing to the aforementioned individual’s sense of greed (by establishing bets with rewards for success) and trust (completing events with him, spending personal time together outside of the training atmosphere). We have seen some success through these strategies but unfortunately it has been short-lived. A few days ago I received an e-mail informing me that the individual had a check-up with the doctor that didn’t go very well: serious health issues including high cholesterol and excessive fat surrounding the liver. This news was followed be a vow that this time he is going to be successful for himself and everyone that he is close to.

From this experience I have learned a few valuable lessons first hand:

Patience is absolutely imperative.

Different strategies work for different people.

It is only when an individual decides for themselves that they need to make a change when they will truly be committed. If actions are simply following orders or being carried out to please somebody else the ever-important element of intrinsic motivation is missing.