In a recent study, more than 2,000 older adults aged 60 to 86 were evaluated to determine who was more likely to be alive at the conclusion of the study. In the group that achieved greater longevity, one factor was significantly more important than any other.9 Are you curious as to what that factor was? Knowing about this factor also may help you enjoy a long life. In his new book, Curious?, Todd Kashdan, Professor of Psychology at George Mason University, reveals that the all-important ingredient to longevity in this study was curiosity. He points out: “Those who were more curious at the beginning of the study were more likely to be alive at the end of the study, even after taking into account age, whether they smoked, the presence of cancer or cardiovascular disease, and all the rest of the usual markers.” While he acknowledges that declining curiosity may be a sign of declining health and neurological illness, Kashdan believes that “there are promising signs that enhancing curiosity reduces the risk for these diseases and even the potential to reverse some of the natural degeneration  that occurs.” According to Kashdan, curiosity has a powerful effect on well-being and thriving.It is incumbent upon coaches to understand precisely what it is, its benefits for psychological and physical health, and how to best facilitate curiosity in our clients. What is Curiosity? Curiosity has received more than a century of psychological study and many definitions have been offered over the years. What all definitions have in common, however, is that curiosity is (1) a motivational state; (2) approach-oriented and; (3) associated with exploration. A good working definition of curiosity, offered by Kasdan, is: “The recognition, pursuit, and intense desire to explore novel, challenging, and uncertain events.” We are Wired to Be Curious Psychologists who subscribe to the intrinsic motivation tradition believe that interest or curiosity arises from the operation of evidence- based primal needs, such as competence, autonomy, and relatedness.1,8 Scientists also have focused on physiological explanations by studying curiosity patterns in the brain. They have discovered that the chemical dopamine is released from the striatum in the brain at a greater rate when a person pushes beyond the boundaries of the known, facing challenges, novelty, and uncertainty. There is also a greater release of dopamine when there is personal importance or meaning in the novel situation. This surge of dopamine prepares us to capitalize on these experiences by focusing our attention on the present, mobilizing our energy resources, and initiating approach  movements. What purpose does curiosity serve? Curiosity motivates us to be receptive to the happenings of the present moment, to be immersed in, explore, and investigate our surroundings. In the process, curiosity stretches our knowledge and skills, enabling us to meet new people and learn new things. In the long term, curiosity builds competence. Curiosity leads to well-being In cross-sectional studies, researchers who measured levels of curiosity consistently report a greater level of psychological well- being.5,6,10 Regarding physical health, as was previously mentioned, older adults with greater curiosity have been found to live longer over a 5-year period. Kashdan admits that the mechanisms linking curiosity to physical health, illness and mortality are not yet fully understood. He offers several intriguing explanations for why highly  curious people may live longer, such as “the process of neurogenesis stemming from continued novel and intellectual pursuits, a non- defensive willingness to try unfamiliar yet science-based health strategies, or the psychological benefits of evaluating stressors as challenges being guided by exploration as opposed to avoidance.” He suggests that “an examination of cognitive, behavioral, social, and biological levels of analysis will lead to promising avenues of when and how curiosity leads to desirable outcomes.” In Coaching Perhaps most important for coaching, curiosity promotes new ways of thinking and acting. Perspective change is the bread and butter of coaching. Kashdan writes, “People who feel curious challenge their views of self, others, and the world with an inevitable stretching of information, knowledge and skills.”4 Coaches know that this is an important route to meaningful change. Curiosity also helps in goal fulfillment. Kashdan and Steger (2007) studied people over the course of 21 days and found that people who were highly curious were more likely to persist in attaining their goals, even in the face of obstacles, and were also more likely to express gratitude to their benefactors. This led to higher levels of perceived meaning and purpose. Curiosity also can help our clients build neurological connections as they explore new experiences and seek out new information. Finally, according to Kashdan, curiosity leads to more efficient decision-making and helps us grow in our ability to see the relation- ships among disparate ideas, leading to more creativity. Conclusion It is not surprising that curiosity and achieving our best life have been found to be linked. Imagine life without curiosity. It would be a grim, boring existence. Our mission as coaches should be three-fold. First, we should be curious about curiosity, encouraging research in our field. Second, we should model curiosity for our clients in our powerful questions, active listening, and perceptive reflections. Third, we should facilitate curiosity, helping clients develop and use their curiosity to enhance their lives and their health, so that they can live longer, more fulfilling lives. Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column

The results our clients get from fitness training or wellness coaching are not just a higher level of health, fitness, and well-being. They also include change: change in behavior, thinking, and feeling. Yet, change is not always easy. A critical ingredient is potent and lasting motivation that comes from within and is based on immediate benefits or long-term rewards. To be human is to be ambivalent about changing something that one has struggled with for years or even decades, whether it is learning how to fully relax, loving to exercise regularly, enjoying veggies as much as ice cream, or listening to someone you care about with undistracted, mindful presence. The amount of energy consumed by this state of chronic contemplative struggle would fuel a small car. Do I or don’t I? Why can’t I just get it done? Surely someone will invent THE quick fix if I wait long enough. What a loser I am for being unable to stay motivated. How come I am not driven to be fit and well? Clients choose a “change supporter” in hiring a trainer or wellness coach in hopes of getting beyond the struggle. The rationale for this choice includes “I need someone to motivate me. I need help in staying motivated.” Yet as helping professionals we need to be careful to not take on ownership and responsibility for our client’s motivation. It is not our job to motivate our clients. Instead, it is our job to help our clients identify and sustain their own motivation. In Dan Pink’s new book Drive, he talks about the importance of internal or intrinsic motivation as what truly drives or motivates us to choose to change and act on it. When the motivation to change comes from within, based on heartfelt desires, rather than via external sources, like a financial incentive or urging by one’s spouse or parent, the likelihood of sustained success is dramatically improved. “Some doors open only from the inside.” — An ancient Sufi saying There is a wonderful story in the best- selling book on flow titled Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, written by Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi,1 (say Cheek-sent- me-hi a few times to get it down) about a woman with severe schizophrenia in a mental hospital. Her medical team had failed to help her improve. The team decided to follow Czikszentmihalyi’s protocol to identify activities in which she was motivated, engaged, and felt better. A timer went off throughout her day signaling her to complete a mini-survey on her mood, energy, engagement, etc. Her report showed that her best experience was manicuring her fingernails. So the medical team arranged for her to be trained as a manicurist. She began to offer manicures at the hospital and eventually became well enough to be discharged. She went on to live an independent life as a manicurist. For this woman, tending to fingernails and toenails drove her well. This is an amazing story exemplifying the power of motivation when it is intrinsic. The schizophrenic woman found the task of doing manicures to be enjoyable for its own sake, with the immediate reward of a pretty result and a happy customer. It is also likely that manicuring was something she was naturally good at, tending with care to the myriad details of shaping, polishing, and painting nails. By repeating this engaging and enjoyable task over and over again, her motivation and confidence grew by leaps and bounds, allowing her to leave the protective cage of the hospital and embark upon an independent life. The easiest way to help clients drive themselves well is to help them find activities they love to do, which use their strengths and are reinforcing, allowing them to feel better immediately or soon afterward. For example, helping a client find a way to move her body vigorously that she does not want to miss. Or supporting her efforts to discover healthy recipes that she has fun cooking. Or engage in mindfulness practices or before-bed relaxation techniques that she is good at and quickly lift the weight of the day. Unfortunately for most of us, the activities that drive us to wellness are not intrinsically rewarding. We may never learn to love to cook healthful dinners or work out in a gym or stick to sparkling water and crudités without dip at a party. The second most powerful source of motivation that drives human behavior is what Deci and Ryan, developers of self-determination theory, call “integrated regulation.” This type of motivation also comes from within, but relates to doing something because you desire its longer-term outcome, not immediate enjoyment and gratification. For example, your client gets his workouts done because they help him avoid gaining more weight. He goes to the extra effort to cook a healthful dinner to be a role model for his kids. He drinks less wine so that he feels more energetic in the morning. He lifts weights in order to build stronger bones to avoid the osteoporosis that led his grandfather to stoop. This second-best form of motivation requires more diligent attention. Your client needs to make a mindful, conscious choice to take the more difficult path at a given moment for a payoff that is not immediate. The easy choice is beyond tempting. Warming up a pizza rather than cooking a stir-fry from scratch. Skipping the trip to the gym, even if it is in the basement, in favor of sleeping longer. Answering a few more emails even though they are not life threatening and ignoring the dumbbells next to the desk ready for a set of bicep curls or deadlifts. Your client needs to shake her brain out of automatic pilot, summon and appreciate a picture of the desired longer-term gain, and consciously choose the healthier path over the immediate craving. It is clear from the evidence that there is not much point in your client getting off the fence and making another earnest attempt to change unless he has packed his motivational bag with activities that he loves to do for their own sake, or those he believes are can’t-miss investments – leading to positive returns for health and well-being, as well as performance at home and at work. Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column

In health care, experts are typically in the driver’s seat when it comes to patient care. As wellness coaches, we are keenly aware that this approach is not effective in fostering long-lasting behavioral change. For clients to thrive and achieve optimal health and wellbeing, they must get into the driver’s seat, both in coaching sessions and, ultimately, in life. Why Take the Wheel? According to proponents of the self- determination theory, navigating from behind the wheel is the most natural place for humans. We are self-determining beings, innately inclined towards psychological growth and development. We are happiest and most productive when we are in control of our lives. Richard M. Ryan, Ph.D., and Edward L. Deci, Ph.D., (2000) at the University of Rochester write, “The fullest representations of humanity show people to be curious, vital, and self-motivated. At their best, they are agentic and inspired, striving to learn; extend themselves; master new skills; and apply their talents responsibly. That most people show considerable effort, agency, and commitment in their lives appears, in fact, to be more normative than exceptional, suggesting some very positive and persistent features of human nature” (p. 68). Please Drive Me Yet many of our clients surrender the wheel to others, causing them to become stuck, unable to move toward their desired destination. They take what appears be to an attractive but unproductive detour, seeing it as the “easy way out,” avoiding responsibility for the direction of their own lives. Some choose to ride in the passenger seat, while, even worse, some sit in the back seat. Veering off course, they are no longer true to their own internal compass, and soon feel lost and discouraged. It is not difficult for coaches to differentiate between the drivers and the passengers. We have all seen clients who readily comply, doing what others say is good for them, such as taking their medications or eating broccoli. Others defy by resisting a request or advice. Either way, these clients are not acting autonomously. A coach will often hear: “My doctor is in charge, my genes are in charge, the experts and their prescriptions are in charge, my wife makes the health decisions, my job is in charge.” When other people or external forces are in the driver’s seat, failure is ultimately likely, especially for those who are trying to lose weight, get fit, or adopt any new habit. The best way for our clients to achieve their goals is to help them take their rightful place behind the wheel. We must encourage them to tap into self- motivation, which according to Deci and Ryan, “is at the heart of creativity, responsibility, healthy behavior, and lasting change (p. 9).” Our Core Drives Deci and Ryan’s theory of human motivation asserts that human thriving results from satisfying three motivational drives: the desire to be autonomous (making choices that are true to one’s core, not imposed by others or one’s inner critic); to be competent (using one’s strengths, becoming skilled in life tasks); and to be connected (doing things that support others). These core drives are alive in our clients when it comes to taking good care of their mental and physical health. As coaches, it is our job to help our clients recognize, enliven, and strengthen them. Coaxing Clients into the Driver’s Seat We can learn valuable lessons from the work of Deci and Ryan. First, it is important to acknowledge that, even as coaches, we are not able to motivate our clients. We can only create the conditions in which they will motivate themselves. Fostering choice will increase our clients’ intrinsic motivation. Taking our clients’ perspective not our own, we must encourage our clients to initiate, experiment, and assume responsibility. We must be willing to set limits while still supporting our clients’ autonomy — helping them discern where their rights end and the rights of others begin, while making sure the limits are as wide as possible and allow for choice. In addition, we must help them recruit sources of autonomy support outside the session. We also must be attuned to facilitating feelings of competence, which are crucial for intrinsic motivation. Look, I’m Driving! According to Deci and Ryan, humans have an innate need to feel competent. Yet, we may be driven by a negative belief we have constructed about ourselves and be swayed by our inner critic: “I am a loser or a failure or inadequate because I cannot lose weight, stay on a fitness routine, meditate longer than a few nanoseconds, or avoid doughnuts when they are put on a plate in front of me.” To combat feelings of inadequacy, our clients must be encouraged to be proactive, taking on optimally challenging tasks with our enthusiastic support. Cheering on our clients to success, we enable them to feel competent, energized, and motivated. According to Deci and Ryan, feelings of competence are crucial and, when accompanied by autonomy, lead to increasing accomplishment and learning throughout life. Conclusion If our clients are to achieve optimal health and well being, they must take charge of the wheel, figuring out what works for them as unique individuals so that it becomes part of who they are and non-negotiable. Coaches should encourage clients to act as though they are in the driver’s seat — to be the boss who solicits advice from the experts, then experiments, reflects, adjusts, and experiments again to arrive ultimately at the best choice for them. For example, “I want to walk three days a week because I can fit it in (the five days recommended by my trainer is too much). I am more relaxed and that helps me be more present and productive at work and home. I do not want to miss out on the benefits of my walks and I have backup strategies in place.” Seizing the wheel leads to authenticity and increased self-motivation. It fosters competence. It helps our clients build and sustain the energy and strength to handle whatever life throws their way—leading to a life of thriving and well-being. Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column

You may be familiar with the concepts of emotional intelligence, how well one handles one’s emotions, or social intelligence, how well one handles social interactions. I would like to propose a new form of intelligence – Body Intelligence or BQ. I collaborated with psychologist James Gavin at Concordia University in Montreal on this concept. We want to convey that how one manages one’s body is also an important form of intelligence, one that is neglected by the field of psychology and by many people in their everyday lives. Body intelligence is about how aware you are of your body (body awareness), what you know about your body (body knowledge), and what you actually do for and with your body (body engagement). This concept may sound new, but it is central to the work of fitness and wellness professionals, as well as to your self-care. Body Awareness Awareness is about being tuned into your body and its signals. It is about being awake to how your body “speaks” to you and what it is telling you, in a whisper or up to a yell. We often have many physical sensations that we ignore and hope will go away. Being conscious of the impacts that certain foods, physical practices, or internal and external stressors have on your body allows you to learn about what promotes health and vitality, and to make adjustments in the moment. The greater your body awareness, the more you are in control of bodily outcomes. Being attuned to the effects of that first cup of coffee gives you a base for choosing or refusing a second cup. Mindfulness, reflection, experimenting, and learning are important paths forward to greater body awareness. Body awareness questions include: 1.    When does your body feel good? Not so good? What do you attribute this to? 2.    What are the best and worst you have ever felt physically? How do you think this came about? 3.    How do you know something is wrong with your body? What signals do  you  interpret? Ways to improve body awareness include body scans throughout our days. Journaling and meditation are wonderful aids as are “stop-and-notice” practices. Cause-effect reflections involve noticing how you are feeling (good or bad) and reflecting on possible influences. Body Knowledge Body knowledge is akin to what scientists call “health literacy.” How much do you know about accepted evidence-based standards and guidelines for healthy bodily functioning? Knowing scientific facts is an important part of health literacy, along with an understanding of the actions needed to diagnose and treat physical concerns. But that is not enough, it is important to know our markers for health such as weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood levels of vitamin D and B12. We also need to know about what our bodies need to make us healthy and increase vitality, what supports our bodies to thrive, including habits of exercise, cooking, and eating, relaxation and recharge, sleep, and stress management. Body knowledge questions include: 1.    What do you think you have to know about your body to take good care of it? 2.    What is your pattern of checking in with health professionals for checkups, issues, or concerns? 3.    What do you know about healthy lifestyles and what is your formula? What should you eat and when? How should  you exercise? How should you sleep, recharge, and destress? 4.    What is your relationship to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, caffeine, and other addictive substances, and what would you like it to be? Body Engagement Even with high levels of body awareness and knowledge, engagement does not come easily. Engagement is about doing the best thing repeatedly until you need to switch to the next best thing. Engagement is commitment to intelligent action based on what you need at this point in your life. How can you configure your life so that your body fully supports your work in the world? Habits are hard to break and build and that is why the industry of professional health and wellness coaching is being developed. Change that lasts requires a solid foundation of self-motivation and self-efficacy to support our stretching beyond our comfort zones and experimenting with new habits. New habits are not just about engaging in healthy behaviors, but engaging in regular activities to bring body awareness to top of mind. Body engagement questions include: 1.    What habits do you engage in consistently that make your body feel better? 2.    How do you experiment when you are developing a new habit? 3.    What works best for you when you are developing a new habit, for example your approach to setting goals and experimenting? 4.    What life factors help you engage more consistently in a healthy lifestyle? 5.    What new habits do you want to develop as your next step? Conclusion It is time to consider body intelligence as an important domain for your personal development as a fitness and wellness professional, allowing you to thrive and serve as an inspiring role model for your clients and other important people in your life. What is your body IQ score? Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column

Every new year offers the opportunity to hit the refresh button and make a fresh start on something we have yearned to improve for a while yet have not achieved lasting success. We may have been motivated all year long to tackle the New Year’s resolutions we made, having the burning desire to improve health, happiness, and productivity.  We may have had the confidence – the well-grounded belief that we have the ability to be successful. Yet, for some reason, we did not bring our vision to fruition. This is a very common phenomenon. Having the Best of Intentions Is Often Not Enough Statistics show that a large number of New Year’s Resolutions are never realized. While the numbers vary from study to study, one thing is clear, people start the New Year with the best of intentions. Some write them down, others proudly announce them to friends and family because they feel certain in their hearts that they will be triumphant. Yet by year’s end, success has not been achieved. If they have the motivation and the confidence to succeed but do not, what is missing? Explaining the Gap between Aspiration and Goal Achievement Harvard psychologists Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey have spent years studying why our sincere best efforts to change often go awry. The authors are advocates of a theory called constructive-development. The constructive-developmental approach is a combination of two theories—constructivism and development—and describes how we make meaning or interpret our experiences over time. In his book, The Evolving Self, Kegan emphasizes the importance of meaning making in human development. Contending that making meaning is a physical, social, and survival activity, he states, “well-fed, warm, and free of disease, you may still perish if you cannot ‘mean.’” Kegan and Lahey employ this theoretical scaffolding to address why there is a gap between our aspirations and our ability to effect lasting behavioral change. They maintain that, without significant changes in the underlying meanings that give rise to behavior, it is very difficult for an individual to sustain new behaviors. Which is why behavioral change takes more than motivation and confidence. Overcoming Immunity to Change In their most recent book, Immunity to Change, Kegan and Lahey address the conundrum of unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions. They write, “When we make a New Year’s resolution, we look at the behaviors we seek to extinguish as bad; we look at the behaviors we want to amplify as good. But until we understand the commitments that make the obstructive behaviors at the same time brilliantly effective, we have not correctly formulated the problem.”1 According to the authors, desire and motivation are not enough. The only way to move forward towards lasting change is to discover the hid- den commitments we have that obstruct our behaviors—in short, the underlying agenda that is driving us when we should be in the driver’s seat. The authors argue that, in addition to our physiological immune system that works to preserve our biological equilibrium, we have a second kind of immunity—an immunity to change, which works to preserve the status quo. Our immunity to change is made up of hidden commitments that drive our behavior. We become “subject to” them to the point where they “have us” in their grip rather than their being an “object” of our thoughts. The authors believe that we must identify  these  underlying commitments,  which they call big assumptions, and objectify them, so that we are no longer subject to them. Only then can we achieve lasting behavioral change. How might this work in practice? An example is a client who may complain that no matter how hard she has tried, she cannot lose weight and that her weight is preventing her from finding an intimate partner. In reality, she may have a fear of losing the spontaneity of enjoying food that drives her to eat in an undisciplined fashion. Her underlying commitment to eat with abandon and pleasure trumps her conscious desire to lose weight. When this big assumption is brought to light, then she is free to choose which commitment she wishes to uphold. Now she can proceed towards lasting change by testing her assumption, such as eating a smaller portion size slowly and noticing that she does not feel deprived. Coaching for Change Tool In Immunity to Change, Kegan and Lahey offer a valuable approach that can be used by coaches to pinpoint and uproot issues to overcome immunity to change, thus releasing their clients’ potential for growth and success. They offer a five column chart that can be used with clients to determine: visible commitment, doing/not doing instead, hid- den competing commitments, big assumptions, and a first S.M.A.R.T. test—preparing to test the big assumptions. The authors write, “Our purpose is to put in your hands a new conceptual and practical means to unleash capabilities in yourself and your colleagues.” Their model delivers on their promise. Conclusion Behavior change is difficult, even with the best of intentions. A large majority of New Year’s resolutions are never realized. Yet, if we look beyond motivation and confidence to the hidden commitments that “have us,” and work to fulfill the marvelous visions and goals we have, we can make a fresh start for the New Year. Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column

Positivity Leads to Resilience Let’s revisit the connection between positivity and resilience. According to Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., the leading positive emotion researcher, positivity includes a wide range of positive emotions. The top ten in frequency are: joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, aw e, and love. Fredrickson and collaborators discovered the tipping point positivity ratio of 3:1, which is three positive emotions for one negative emotion.2 Above the tipping point, people are resilient. They have the resources to change and grow, and bounce back from adversity. Below the tipping point, people languish and fall into a downward spiral. Fredrickson’s research has shown that positivity is the main mechanism of action for resilience. Hence, a main determinant of resilience is the ability to foster positive emotions when we are swimming in a sea of negativity. So what forms of positivity might be in action for people and organizations in Japan? Positivity and Resilience in Action One of the most heartwarming aspects of the common reaction of people and communities to severe crises is the abundant outpouring of love , support, and connection. Crises often bring us to our knees and help us appreciate how our relationships with others are truly the backbone of our lives, to survive and beyond that to thrive. Taking time to help another, even ahead of one’s own needs, is nourishing for the giver and receiver. Another common response to crisis is a sense of deep gratitude and appreciation for one’s having survived a serious crisis. The value of material possessions slips away as we come to appreciate the gift of waking up every morning to a new day, new possibilities, and new learning. We may even feel awe for the amazing talents of humans to adapt and respond beautifully to enormous loss and suffering. Some will feel awe for the power and force of Mother Nature — even when she unleashes massive destruction in natural disasters. Faced with adversity, resilient people are in t e re s t e d , open, and curious, hunting for silver linings and ways to foster positive emotions as the fuel to put one foot in front of the other to rebuild lives and communities. Developing a sense of profound meaning and purpose is a rich vein of positivity — how can I make a difference, how can I use my strengths to help others recover and rebuild? How can I make lemonade out of lemons — to notice, amplify, and harvest the many lessons that emerge from a huge setback? When we make a difference individually and collectively, slowly, arduously, and patiently, we find pride in our accomplishments, which propels us to keep going. When we observe the courageous efforts of others who are close or distant, we are inspired further to continue forward progress. Hope for the Future Fuels Positivity and Resilience My observation is that one’s relationship to one’s future is a particularly critical source of positivity for our well-being. Hope for a better future is an important contributor to  our positivity and resilience. Hence, all of the positivity emerging from crisis already described — love, gratitude, awe, interest, pride, and inspiration — provides the positive energy that “hopefully” takes us to hope: a sense that better days are ahead and we have the resources to get there. And perhaps if we’re lucky, we can find small moments of the last three of the ten most common positive emotions — joy, serenity, and amusement — to find things to smile and laugh about, to be at peace with one’s self, and even feel a little joy from new beginnings.

One of the brilliant advances in the application of positive psychology to human flourishing relates to group performance and is a concept which emerged from a dynamic collaboration between two scientists, Marcial Losada and Barbara Fredrickson. This work was summarized in their 2005 paper: Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing. Losada has made an inarguable case for the pivotal role of positive emotions in successful group performance concepts, which can be applied to group exercise settings in support of both individual and group flourishing. Let’s start with the raw data: In the 1990s, Losada and his assistants painstakingly coded every single statement, moment by moment in chronological order, made in videotaped meetings of 60 teams in a large international corporation who were crafting business missions and strategic plans. The coding tracked three dimensions, which Losada predicted would be vital and interdependent, building on each other in either an upward or downward spiral: 1.    Was a statement positive or negative? 2.    Was a statement self-focused or other- focused? 3.    Was a statement based on inquiry or advocacy? Independently, Losada also identified whether these groups were high, medium, or low performers based upon a number of critical success factors. The Butterfly – a nonlinear dynamic system Losada validated a set of mathematical equations to capture the relationship among the three dimensions and calculated a new variable called connectivity, which measured how much each group member influenced the behavior of others (mutual influence) and how attuned and responsive group members were to each other. Losada ran the raw data through his mathematical model and voila, the butterfly graphs (Figure) came to life. When mutual influence reaches a critical level, a butterfly appears and grows. Then Losada’s breakthrough came, inspired by Fredrickson’s work on demonstrating the point into a positivity ratio or tipping point of 2.9 to 1. A tipping point that leads to flourishing rather than languishing of groups is above a positivity ratio of 2.9 positive emotions to every negative emotion. In the Figure, the first butterfly with the tall and wide wings is the data plotting of the high performance groups. The vertical axis of the left graph represents the level of positive emotions and you see that the high performance groups have high positivity ratios. Also on the left graph, the left half of the horizontal axis is a rating of open inquiry, while the right half is a rating of advocacy. The high performing groups’ butterfly has a wide wing span representing an outward focus and a broad and balanced range of inquiry and advocacy. For the exercise professional, this would represent creating an environment in which clients are encouraged to be creative, open-minded and supportive of one another if in a group setting. The mixed performance groups are represented by the second butterfly, lower positivity levels (below the tipping point), a narrower range of inquiry and advocacy, along with a more restrictive emotional space and less connectivity. For the exercise professional, this would represent creating an environment in which there is little emotional connection with and between  represent the languishing of low performance groups. No butterfly here, not even a little one. They are stuck in a cocoon of restrictive, distrustful, and cynical self-absorbed advocacy from the start, losing behavioral flexibility all together. For the exercise professional, this would represent creating an environment in which the agenda of the exercise expert takes priority of the needs of the client or group. Here are some of Losada’s discoveries about groups that also can be applied to the exercise professional in relationship with a client or group: 1.    Start by creating a positive and appreciative dynamic. Begin each session by asking about client successes, best experiences, and new hopes. This positive start builds the positive emotions needed to address challenges later. 2.    Allow yourself to open and broaden. Be aware of your limiting bias- es and assumptions about client stereotypes. Be curious about what’s new – what can you learn from each client and their experiences? 3.    Get out of the way of your personal need to control outcomes. Invite your client to explore her/his own motivation and agenda for change. 4.    Keep the ratio of positive and negative topics above 3:1. Make sure that 75% of your time together is focused on positive topics, asking positive questions, providing affirmations, exploring strengths, new possibilities, or success stories, and 25% is focused on more negative topics such as challenges and concerns. 5.    Be attentive to and build on the contributions and synergy of every- one’s strengths. Learn about your clients strengths and explore how to leverage those strengths for greater success. One excellent tool for identifying strengths is the Values in Action Character Strengths Survey  (www.viacharacter.org). 6.    Balance authentic, open-minded inquiry and exploration with advocacy of what you believe is the best approach. Your expertise is valuable but your client may learn more from self-awareness and insight that emerges from your carefully chosen questions and reflections. 7.    Grow perspectives to something bigger than self. Support clients in identifying how their individual changes will help them make a larger contribution, which they value personally, to their friends, family, col- leagues, and the world. 8.    Allow the system to be chaotic in the moment in order to flourish and easily absorb bumps and blows over time. Bring a belief in your client’s resilience to bumps on his or her path and in your working relationship. Engage the client in learning from every outcome, even when a goal is not met, by viewing every experience as a win/learn opportunity rather than a win/lose situation. Watch and enjoy how the butterfly combines beauty and subtlety to create an unexpectedly wonderful impact on your individual clients and groups. Originally published in Coaching Certified News Coaching Column

The human race has reached a point of information overload, or at least a point where people often feel so overwhelmed by daily demands that they risk their lives while driving for one more text or phone call. Some people consider the distraction epidemic the psychological equivalent of obesity epidemic. Fitness professionals are not immune to overload, perhaps at times you feel distracted, stressed, or disorganized. You may find it hard to bring your full attention to client after client, or shift your whole, undivided attention to family and friends when you are not working. In the new book Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life, to be launched January 2012 by Harvard Health Books and Harlequin, I team up with Harvard psychiatrist and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) expert Paul Hammerness, M.D., to describe six rules of order for using “top down” organization, or brain science to move from a state of frenzy to get to the big picture around the small and large domains of life. While you may sometimes be disorganized, your brain is not. The brain is a jewel of organization and structure, of different components working harmoniously together. Other models of “getting organized” begin with organizing your priorities, time, and surroundings—your desk, your household, rather than organizing your mind. The Organize Your Mind rules relate to brain or “cognitive” abilities that are embedded features in our brains, waiting to be switched on. Here’s a brief preview of the six rules and how you can use them to improve your energy, creativity, and productivity. Rule 1: Tame the Frenzy Before you can get focused, you need to get into control, or at least have a handle on your emotional frenzy, various negative thoughts and emotions that are buzzing around you. This frenzy impairs and overwhelms the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s CEO region, so that you can’t “think straight.” While an optimal dose of stress is a valuable state for stretching you to learn, too much negativity rapidly depletes your brain. Recovery is stress’s best friend, allowing you to rest and recharge so that you are ready to resume an intense and productive focus. Exercise your body, do a mindfulness practice, or choose the slow lane from time to time. These activities will help tame your frenzy, allow space for productive thinking and reflecting so that you can calmly regain your focus and perspective. Rule 2: Sustain Attention Sustained focus is now possible in your calm, grounded state. Stay connected to your intention: what is the goal of the moment, closely watching a client’s muscle alignment in a training session, or connecting with a loved one—what are you calling your attention to focus on? Keep your thinking on-track and your plans in place before engaging with distractions around you. Begin to maintain your uni-focus, one task or client at a time, and set aside all other distractions for a precious period. Rule 3: Apply the Brakes Your focused brain also needs to be able to stop, just as surely as a good pair of brakes brings your car to a halt at a red light. From time to time, move the spotlight of your attention on asking whether you should continue to focus on the task at hand. When a new piece of information comes to you in the midst of an important task, stop and consider whether this new data point now trumps what just was priority #1. To be able to stop is vital—a thoughtful application of the brakes, not simply succumbing mindlessly to either hyper-focus or distraction. Rule 4: Mold Information Your brain has the remarkable ability to hold various pieces of information it has intently focused upon, analyzed, and processed, and then use this information to guide future action—even after the information is completely out of visual sight. This brain skill of gathering and holding your “working memory,” allows you to simultaneously concentrate on the larger important task, while accumulating the data needed to better inform what you decide to do next. For example, you may think to yourself: “I asked my client to do x, then noticed y, and remembered  from a prior session, so I decide to switch to a new approach.” Be intentional in your self-talk to draw on your working memory so you can quickly run different scenarios through in your head. Think beyond one moment in time, asking: how has my client responded in the past, and how did that work or not work? Rule 5: Shift Sets The combination of a well functioning working memory with the ability to shift your full attention quickly from task to task, a state of mental agility, leads to creative leaps in thinking. Rather than rigidly following a linear path, of say writing an article or designing a new exercise program without stop, allow your mind to jump, even leap, by welcoming the input of distractions or seeking out distractions (searching the web, reading a new article, having a conversation with a colleague) to generate new insights and ideas. Cultivate lightness in thought, be flexible and nimble, and be ready to move your full attention completely from one activity to another in the service of making new connections. We are not talking about multi-tasking here. The brain is designed to focus only on one thing at a time. Multitasking leads you to an incomplete focus on all of the tasks, so that at the end of the day you feel you didn’t do anything beautifully. Shifting sets is about shifting your full attention completely from one task to the next, shining all of your brain’s resources on one activity at a time. Amazingly the task left completely behind benefits from the incubation period and when you return to it fully, new ideas will likely emerge. Rule 6: Connect the Dots Putting all of these “rules” together helps you stay on task in the moment, not succumb to distraction, and have creative ideas. It also moves you in the direction of connecting the dots, revealing a big picture and an organized mind in small or large  domains of your life. You may develop a clearer vision of what will work best for a client or a welcome, new perspective on where to direct your career. Following these “Organize Your Mind” rules allows you to push the on and off buttons of your focus with calm intention. Soon you will find moments, then hours, then days and weeks of calm, sustained focus, mastering your impulses, and enjoying mental flexibility, creativity, and connectivity. Say goodbye to distraction and say hello to the beauty of an organized mind. Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column

In this column, we explore how to coach a client, Alice, who is working out but not sticking to the workout program that you gave her. She is rushing through her gym program and seems to be neglecting all the things she does not like. Those things happened to be the most important parts of her program! Let’s consider what is driving Alice. Self-motivation — Alice’s power source Our first and primal drive as human beings is autonomy. We want to march to our own drummers, to be “the boss of me.” This drive is so strong that it triggers a deeply wired and very fast response to being told what to do— to resist or rebel—without a whole lot of analysis. Our knee-jerk rebellion is so powerful that it can lead us to do things that are not in our best interest. If you have teenage kids, you can appreciate how telling kids what to do for 13 years turns them into rebellious teenagers who are sick and tired of living a life with too little autonomy at home and school. We never lose our natural and spontaneous aversion to being told what to do, especially in response to a “know- it-all” expert who doesn’t fully empathize and appreciate what it’s like to walk in our shoes and what is important to us. Sometimes we are compliant with what an expert asks us to do in order to please the expert, avoid conflict, and stay out of trouble. But sometimes we are defiant; we quietly or loudly resist the authoritative expert and their control over our destiny. Alice likely doesn’t agree with you on what’s important in her workout and may not yet be interested or curious enough to deepen her understanding of how different exercises impact her physical strength and fitness. She simply may be rebelling against your insistence on what she should do and expressing her need for autonomy by doing what she wants to do. A coaching inquiry might include asking Alice open-ended questions, with a smile and not even a smidgeon of impatience, such as: 1.    What do you hope will be the benefit of physical strength and vitality for you? 2.    How will engaging in your workout make your life better? 3.    Would you like to brainstorm with me on how the various exercises in your work- out will contribute to the benefit of exercise in making your life better? 4.    What is working for you with the current workout and what is not? 5.    How can I better support you to realize the benefit of physical fitness? Your goal is to help Alice dig out and fire up her self-motivation, the kind that is future-oriented—why the exercises really matter to her and how they will make her life better later today, tomorrow, and in the future. You will help Alice discover and tap into her own future-oriented power source or drive to engage in the exercises she doesn’t like or seem to want to do. We inadvertently create resistance to  our  advice when we convey a know-it-all attitude through what we say, how we say it, our body language, and unsaid words. This can send a message which seems judgmental and autonomy-depleting to Alice, causing her to pull away and not open up with you. Really start to listen intently to Alice without thinking about what you are going to say next, or any other distraction. This will help Alice get the message that you really care about what it’s like to walk in her shoes, what matters to her most, and that you’re completely focused on her well-being, not on her compliance to your prescribed workout. The more genuine interest you show about what makes Alice’s life worth living and lights up her eyes, the more she will tell you about what matters most to her. Then a collaborative conversation on how her workout can make it possible for Alice to have a better life and will lead to a new workout design that Alice helped create, leading to her full engagement in a workout that she owns. Now she can march through her workout to her own drummer, a drummer that wants a bigger life, one made possible by a body which is fit, strong, and brimming with energy. Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column

In this article, we explore how to coach a client whose work responsibilities bring increased stress, leading to unhealthy food choices and overeating. First, let’s explore how stress leads to poor health choices. The brain’s region for self-direction, self-control, self-management, and self-coaching is the prefrontal cortex (PFC), behind our foreheads (the red area in the Figure), which I like to describe as the CEO domain of the brain. The PFC at its best appreciates and deftly manages our negative emotions, and drives our attention and focus so we are calm, organized, creative, wise, strategic, and productive. The conditions that enable optimal function of the prefrontal cortex include a calm, positive, and energetic mindset supported by a healthy, fit, well-nourished, and well-rested body. When we are tired, stressed, unfit, and poorly nourished, when our emotional weather report is negative or “cloudy,” the PFC is impaired. It struggles to stay in control and on top of distractions, impulses, and stay focused on doing a good job on the task at hand. A calm and energetic PFC can: •    Set overwhelm aside and enjoy a focus on the task at hand •    Stay focused on meaningful goals and a higher purpose, resisting temptations that are in fact “error” messages •    Recognize that cravings (checking texts, junk food, etc.) and negative emotions fade and go away like clouds in the sky •    Be self-compassionate and not indulge the inner critic •    Find the positive silver linings in stressors and negative emotions, thoughts, and events •    Detach from a negative emotional weather report to get a strategic perspective (“maybe I’m overreacting…”) A depleted PFC is hijacked easily by: •    Overwhelm caused by a daunting to-do list •    Cravings for “addictive” foods and drinks •    The negative self talk of a mean inner critic, triggering the inner rebel to make an unhealthy choice •    A negative emotional weather pattern, clouding the ability to notice and savor positive moments •    An overdose of stress, leading us to feel out of control How can you help your clients improve the function of the PFC and stay confidently in control, happily making healthy choices? Be a great role model, and suggest they experiment with one or more of the following and discover what combination of habits works best: •    Drive: Create a compelling vision and goal for the moment, the day, month, or year (e.g., to radiate energy and health) to bring to mind at the moment you have a choice to make, dozens of times each day. Design the vision and goal (e.g., picture, poem, or statement) so that it energizes you when you recall it and inspires you to make a healthy choice most of the time. •    Exercise: Over time, regular exercise leads to a strengthening of the PFC and its capacity to manage negative emotions and stress. •    Brain breaks: Take brain breaks where you allow your mind to wander, or move your mind’s attention to your heart through deep breathing, or move your muscles through a few stretches or strength exercises. Even 2 to 5 minutes of walking, stair climbing, or yoga poses will refresh the PFC. Nothing is better than a good night’s sleep, or even a catnap to hit the PFC’s reset button. •    Self-compassion: Turn your inner critic into your inner friend. Be kind to yourself. Negative self-talk is particularly depleting. •    Mindful practices: Take deep breaths or do short meditations to unhook the mind from the frenzy of out-of-control thoughts and emotions. Create mental pauses when making decisions on eating and exercise to give the PFC a moment to get back into the driver’s seat. Regular meditation also improves PFC function over time. •    Savor and cultivate positive emotions: Positive emotions were designed to be fleeting, like butterflies, in contrast with negative emotions, which move lightning fast and stick like Velcro. Positive emotions improve cognitive function, in contrast with the impairment caused by negative emotions. Cultivate a ratio of at least three positive emotions for each negative emotion (check out your ratio at www.positivityratio.com) so that you have the cognitive resources to manage or overcome the negative in your life. •    Connect with people you care about: The most powerful positive emotions “lighting up” our brains are those we share with others. Express gratitude for someone’s contribution to your life, do some- thing nice and unexpected for someone, or harvest and celebrate what’s going well with people you care about. •    Nourish your brain: Feed your brain a nice steady dose of glucose, enabled by a good balance of lean protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates. A well-nourished brain is a brain that wants to make healthy choices. Thankfully the field of neuroscience has caught up with the mind/body practices. Here’s to a world full of high functioning prefrontal cortexes—calm, positive, energetic, healthy, fit, well-nourished, and well-rested.

Today we explore how to work with a client who is not engaged in following evidence-based or scientific guidelines, including preventive tests, and is not seeking out reputable sources on the Web and beyond. Instead, s/he hunts down information and recommendations from non-reputable sources, while not listening to your well-informed advice. It goes without saying that those reading this article honor and respect the scientific method, are skeptical of recommendations that lack a scientific foundation, and stay within the bounds of evidence- based guidelines that are worthy of publication in a peer-reviewed journal or textbook. The construct of evidence-based medicine has been around for about 20 years and is a relatively new, but essential paradigm in exercise program design and implementation. We are taught to refrain from making recommendations that are not firmly rooted in well-designed research studies, the more the better. However, our clients may not be like us. They may not trust or respect science-based recommendations. Perhaps they think of themselves as right-brain types who didn’t enjoy science courses in their education, and value intuition and creativity more than the scientific method. Maybe they are frustrated with the limitations of the scientific method, which generates recommendations based upon aver- ages and bell curves that don’t seem relevant to their personal circumstances. They may be more interested in what complementary and alternative practitioners have to say because these practitioners treat people who have been failed by conventional medicine. Some are justifiably concerned about how medical guidelines change dramatically over time. Lively debates have emerged recently among scientists and in the media about the pros/cons of mammograms, PSA tests for prostate cancer, and the value of annual physicals. Not long ago high carb/low fat diets were the universal recommendation for heart health; this is no longer valid as the evidence for low carb/moderate healthful fat diets is now compelling. The landmark June 2012 JAMA paper on weight loss maintenance by Ludwig et al., has overturned the science- based wisdom that a “calorie is a calorie” when it comes to energy expenditure.2 It turns out that high carb diets lead to an average of 300 fewer calories expended daily than low carb diets, a critical issue for weight loss maintenance. No wonder our clients may have become cynical about evidence-based   guidelines. So how do we bridge the gap between our science-based wisdom and guidelines and our clients who don’t trust our science-based guidelines and resist our recommendations? 1.    APPRECIATE  WITHOUT  JUDGMENT The only way a helping professional can defuse resistance is to get fully onto your clients’ side of the fence. Get down from your expert pedestal and honor your clients’ biological drive for autonomy, to choose their own path. Inquire openly and without even the tiniest whiff of judgment or expectation about how they make decisions on what to do to protect and improve their personal health. What is their approach to investigating options, whose advice do they trust most, how do they weigh up their options and decide? What do they think about evidence-based medical guidelines? Perhaps they will share painful stories about how they or close others have experienced difficulties with recommendations of reputable health care providers. Validate and show respect for their perspectives with authentic sincerity, however uncomfortable that might be. 2.    COACH DON’T PREACH Once your clients trust that you appreciate and respect their viewpoints, bringing down the walls of resistance, you have created an opening to facilitate their finding a new and improved decision-making process. Move into a collaborative coaching conversation where you encourage clients to generate new ideas on how best to make health decisions, and get permission to offer your ideas and wisdom. While it’s tough for our expert minds to give up control of having the right answers, it is human nature for your clients to value what they discover more than what has been imposed. Allowing your clients to discover a better path for themselves will, in fact, dramatically increase your impact and your clients’ success. And the bonus is that they will be more likely to be interested in your best advice. Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column

Today we explore how to work with a client who has a strong desire to lose weight and has agreed to track her daily caloric intake and energy expenditure over the past two weeks. You sit down to review her chart she sent you before your next session and quickly suspect she is under reporting her daily caloric intake and over reporting her daily energy expenditure. Clients more often than not engage fitness professionals to help them lose weight, a primary reason for getting fit, strong, and flexible. In our larger world, where we face a tidal wave of weight gain, the exception, not the rule, is for a client to succeed in losing weight and keeping it off. So let’s first acknowledge that this is a very challenging goal for you and your clients. Start with a beginner’s mind, assuming that you truly have no idea about what will work or whether your client will be successful. One method that has been proven helpful to those who have lost weight is daily journaling of eating and exercise activities, online or by hand on a printout you provide. The starting point in a weight loss endeavor is often to help a client get a snapshot of the balance of intake and expenditure, raise self-awareness of eating patterns, and help you spot obvious areas for tweaking and improvement. Approximately 5% of human beings were born with a “signature” character strength of self-regulation, which means this group is talented at self-monitoring, self-managing, and self-adjusting rapidly when needed. Some of them are aligned with a movement called “the quantified self,” gaining self-knowledge through numbers according to the tag-line at www.quantifiedself.com. The left prefrontal cortex, the brain’s CEO of a good self-regulator, enjoys collecting and evaluating data and loves to make decisions based on solid analysis. I happen to be one of those precious few as I weigh myself daily using a scale with 0.1 lb increments, and immediately change my eating habits if my weight rises by a half-pound, even if that day happens to be a family celebration. For people like me, perhaps you, tracking and recording information like energy balance is an interesting and engaging challenge; we take pride in doing it accurately, checking calorie charts carefully, asking lots of questions, and we enjoy reporting our results and observations. The simple act of recording our intake and expenditure can lead us to lasting changes in our eating and exercise patterns as well as sustainable weight loss. Unfortunately 5% is a small minority. What happens to those of us who aren’t good at self-regulation, who dread tracking and reporting things like eating habits, medical information, and finances? When you are asked or decide yourself to take on a task that you aren’t good at, it’s not fun, it drains your energy, you are easily distracted, and your performance isn’t great. The polar opposite of self-regulation is the strength of living in the moment, indulging your impulses, eating what you want, being spontaneous, being creative, and relying on your “gut” to make decisions. Someone who is not good at self-regulation, or whose self-regulating brain region is exhausted or stressed out with life demands, may not pay close attention to filling out your beautiful energy balance chart, may take shortcuts, or miss recording important information, make mistakes, or even hide the real data from you and/or themselves. Hence, you find yourself in a difficult situation. You don’t want to start down a negative path by questioning or criticizing your client’s tracking and recording skills and efforts. Yet you can’t really trust the data as a basis for your recommendations. A part of you feels frustrated and impatient because your client didn’t deliver what you hoped, and make it easy for you to provide an exercise prescription based on established evidence based practices. So how do you move this partnership forward? 1.    LET GO OF IMPATIENCE AND FRUSTRATION First get yourself into a positive, curious, and non-judgmental mindset, and set aside any frustration or impatience that will instantly impair your partnership with your client. If you show even a speck of judgment or disappointment, your client will withdraw, perhaps already feeling badly that she didn’t do a great job on her tracking homework and now you made her feel worse. 2.    GET INTO A MINDFUL,  CURIOUS,  AND  OPEN-MINDED  MINDSET Explore your client’s experience with completing the energy balance chart in order to help her gain self-awareness. View it as a starting experiment, an opportunity to figure out what the best next step would be. Was it a helpful exercise? Was it challenging? Was it boring? Did she do it immediately or wait for a few days and try to remember all the food she ate and activities she completed? Did she take her time or rush to put something, anything, in each of the boxes? What did she learn? What might work better? Who knows what your client will say and where she will land, but she will appreciate that you were totally focused and engaged, without assumptions and judgment, on her welfare, her efforts, her strengths and weaknesses, and what would work best as next steps. The outcome is a mystery until it emerges. Maybe she will realize that she forgot about recording important information such as her snacks, or miscalculated the number of calories in a food type, and decide to have another go at filling in your chart. Or maybe she’ll decide that instead she’d like to replace her junk food snacks with fruit and nuts, or eat oatmeal and a boiled egg instead of a doughnut for breakfast, as a simple starting point. One of the best things about being a coach is that it is never boring and predictable. Everyone finds his/her own path with our intent and creative input. It would be great if the research gave us the answers, such as completing energy balance charts as an essential starting point. Yet, how dull our work would be if a standard formula worked every time. Originally published in ACSM Certified News Coaching Column