A lot of people like the idea of change. We like imagining what our lives could look like if we were different. Maybe we'd be more confident, less anxious, more disciplined, better at setting boundaries, more successful, healthier, or finally doing the thing we've been saying we're going to do for years. The harder part is figuring out how to change and how to sustain changes. That is where a lot of our enthusiasm tends to disappear.

Growth isn’t abstract. It shows up in very real ways in how you think, how you relate, and how you choose to act.

People say it all the time. “You have to do the work.”“He’s not doing the work.”“I’ve been doing so much work on myself.” But what is the work? What does it actually mean? I don’t think this is very clear. At least, it wasn’t clear to me.

A lot of people think change is hard because of the work itself, the habit, the routine, the new behavior they’re trying to build. However, in coaching (and in life), I’ve learned that the hardest part isn’t the actual work, but everything that happens before we start.