Finding the Why of Making a Lifestyle Behavior Change

As a healthcare clinician or a health & wellness coach, have you ever wondered why a patient/client is not following through? They attend the sessions and seem interested, but at follow-up sessions, they have not worked to implement any behavioral changes. As the professional, you might let this impact your own sense of competency: If I really knew what I was doing, they would be making progress. What am I doing wrong here? Or, often, we ascribe to them the assessment that they must be early in the change process and possess low readiness to change. We get frustrated, or angry, and contemplate terminating working with them.

     What if there was something that we had not considered? Motivation is unstable and cannot always move someone to change longstanding habits to become healthier. What works better is for us to get professionally curious, to learn what matters to the person, how they ground themselves in their values, and how becoming healthier can facilitate deeper/better living. How do they recharge/rebalance in adversity, and with whom do they share life? A few simple open-ended questions about meaning, purpose & spirituality can do that.

     Another simple change could also be: instead of asking you what you will do this week? Ask, “What will make this easy to follow through on?” Reduce friction in changing and increase their sense of clarity about what they are working on and why.