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.