Funny how our behavior and attitude translate so seamlessly from one task to another. Funny…interesting…whatever term you want to use…we are remarkably consistent in how we approach situations, challenges, people, perceived threats, etc.…until we challenge our behavior and attitude.
Tracey Sewell, a Harris Coaching client from Texas, just experienced a light bulb going off in her head about just this very thing.
About six weeks ago, Tim “…challenged me about my ‘excuses’ and about being out of shape which likened my excuses in my business.” Sewell took the challenge.
She had taken off a couple of days from her OTF (Orange Theory Fitness) program and then two days off became three days off and three became…you guessed it.
Sewell wrote that she became “…discouraged about the uphill battle of getting back into (my OTF) routine and then fear followed its companion, paralysis. “
Then, Sewell’s brain lit up. “This…this OTF routine… is prospecting. The more days I skip, the easier it is to skip and then I get into (this space of) irrational fear and then, you know the rest…huge setbacks. “
You all know about prospecting and how tough that is to do but maybe you don’t yet know about OTF. It’s tough as well.
Orange Training Fitness, OTF, is a fitness program focusing on high intensity interval workouts that take peoples’ heart rates on rollercoaster rides. Done in two 30-minute sections for a total of 60 minutes, people wear OTF heart rate monitors that track their respective heart rate stats while they run/walk on a treadmill/cycle/row for a goal of achieving 84% or more of their maximum heart rate for 12-20 minutes of the first 30 minute part of the session. The other 30-minute part is dedicated to free weights, BOSU, stepping, etc. also while wearing heart rate monitors. Those stats are posted in real time on a giant monitor that everyone can see (if they want to) so there’s no disparity between someone’s perceived effort and their real effort. (Talk about built-in accountability…most of us usually think we’re working LOTS harder than we actually are.)
OTF is HARD. OTF makes people sweat. OTF makes people uncomfortable. OTF creates an oxygen deficit in the body that needs to be restored and it’s this oxygen deficit that burns calories. OTF works.
Back to Tracey. “This morning I went to a 6:15 OTF class and, believe me, I came up with LOTS of “reasons” not to go, however invalid, but I went…my OTF numbers aren’t off the chart like yours…but I’m grinding. Today, I pushed past the fear and the excuses.”
Sewell’s made the connection between OTF and prospecting. They’re both hard for her. They both make her uncomfortable. They both create an irrational fear in her that renders her paralyzed.
But now, she’s “grinding.”
Sewell says to T&J, “THANKS for the kick and the motivation. Looks like yo’all are transforming my business and my life.”
