At the Institute for Integrative Nutrition Conference in September, fearless leader Joshua Rosenthall had us do an exercise. He told us to turn to our neighbor and tell him/her where our business would be in our dreams by January 1st.
Mine was the following: "I will have 6 paying clients and will have given 2 paid nutrition talks by January 1st"...this was a huge dream, that I could not really imagine accomplishing.
Then, we had to tell our neighbor what we would reward ourselves with if we met our goal, and what we would punish ourselves with if we did not (had to be something really bad). Excuse me? You mean this is real? This totally freaked me out because I thought we were just brainstorming-not committing! But, I continued the exercise, because that's what students do....follow directions...right? Well, at least I wish that's what my students did :-)
Mine was the following:
1. If I reach my goal, I will treat Michael and I to a real relaxing vacation this summer, and will take July and August off of teaching.
2. If I do not reach my goal, I will not shop at Whole Foods or Atkins Farm (my FAVORITE, albeit, sort of decadent, places to shop) for all of 2012.
For some people, this "punishment" might seem silly, but anyone who has taken my classes or listened to me rave about Whole Foods' gluten free fare most likely "gets" how my world would be a whole lot worse by taking these places out of my life.
So, November rolled around, and I only had 2 clients and no talks. I decided I needed to hoard all the Whole Foods gluten free freezer items for the next two months because there was NO WAY I would reach this goal!
But then something happened. I became open to new opportunities and got out of my comfort zone. I worked with my smart and marketing savvy buddy to put on 3 Nutrition/Rowing talks, and got asked to book another Nutrition talk as a result. I started talking about my business to friends and colleagues, using the language that Joshua teaches without fear that I looked like I was trying to "sell" myself. I was just honest. I shared my struggles and my passion for helping others develop a sense of well-being. I committed myself to following this passion, even if it meant shuffling my own life around a bit to exercise less, sleep a little less, and spend more time on my new passion. Low and behold, it is January 20th, I have 7 paying clients and am meeting another potential client tomorrow. I have given 4 Nutrition talks and have another lined up for next weekend. I have written about my long history of personal struggles with food for an "ebook", which was received with love and support and encouragement by my colleagues, even though it was scary to feel so vulnerable as I try to act as a "expert health professional".
Through all this, I have learned that just by being myself....my imperfectly silly, crazy, disorganized, "real" self, I have built a business and feel more joyful and grounded than I ever have. I have been fighting for years, trying to uphold some sort of wall between my students/friends/clients to prove that I am an "expert" who knew the "truth" about nutrition.
Turns out that what I needed to do all along was say, "I'm Laura, I'm educated and I'm human. I have a PhD in Nutrition and am well versed on hundreds of diet theories and holistic health practices. I've been through the ringer myself, with a history of disordered eating, body image issues, and numerous injuries related to compulsive execise. If I can overcome that, you can too. I 'get' your struggles. Let's work together to see if we can navigate this crazy, messed up world so we can come out healthy and happy and live to our potential."
Now I jut need to decise where Michael and I will take our awesome summer vacation :-)
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