If you read no further and remember nothing else, commit the next sentence to memory. The two primary elements leading to behavioral change are importance and confidence.

Now for an exercise. Stop and think about something you want to change. Don’t pick the most significant change in your life, but something small: major hair change, making sure you clean the kitchen every night, etc. Why haven’t you done it yet?

Maybe you’re scared that if you go from brunette to fire engine red it won’t look good. Maybe going to bed is simply more important than a clean kitchen. See what I’m getting at here? Confidence and importance.

For the vast majority of high functioning people (like you all out there), the primary barrier to change is confidence. Most of us can look at a behavior, determine its level of importance and adjust accordingly.

For example, I would very much like to have a clean kitchen every night, but sometimes I leave the dishes in the sink. I don’t feel bad about this decision; I’ll get to it eventually. It is simply not important, so my behavior will not change.

On the other hand, my health is very important to me. Working out is important to maintaining my mental health more than my physical health. I will avoid doing other things to prioritize working out, particularly if I’m feeling stressed. I will change my behavior to make working out a priority. Makes sense right. Important = change, not important ≠ change.

Too bad this isn’t a simple equation (math!) The other variable is confidence. How many times have you invited a friend to come to CrossFit class and they won’t. They may value working out, they may value health, but there’s still no way they are going to try this awesome, high-intensity, constantly varied, functional movement workout.

Likely you’ve heard the reasons related to fear of what they will be asked to do and their ability to do it. That’s confidence my friends. Fear of failure keeps us from making behavior changes.

So here’s the full equation: importance + confidence = change. You need both.

I share all of this information because we are rolling out a nutrition program and most people fail at making nutritional changes because of fear.

People worry about the consequences of changing what they eat (what will I tell my friends? What will I eat at parties) or their ability to sustain the change (how will I pass up donuts at the office meeting?) Changing how we eat is hard, especially if you’re eating generally okay, trying to take it to the next level can be exceedingly tough.

So what to do? Own it, find a program that works with an accountability piece so that you can learn to making sustained change over time. The new nutrition program at CrossFit Recursive offers an affordable package with a program designed by a licensed dietian and implemented by a psychologist to assist you in achieving wellness.

For more information on the Nutrition Coaching Packages available, visit: https://crossfitrecursive.com/nutrition-coaching-program/

You can register right on-line and book your first appointment, or you can schedule a time to meet to talk about what program is best for you.

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