Yesterday we were talking about challenges and what you need to make a great one for your patients.
When a challenge starts, there's a lot of people who are saying, “I don't want to start doing any exercise because I just don't know anything about any exercise.”
If you can just package it up and walk them through step by step, then they're probably more likely to do it long-term.
This happened to me once. I was cycling with a friend of mine.
He suggested, “Hey man, let's do this 100-mile ride.”
And I went, “100 mile ride? I can't even ride two miles.”
The 100-mile ride was nine months away.
So he met me in a parking lot one day and said, “Listen. All we're going to work on today is clipping in and clipping out of your pedals. And I just want you to be able to do that while turning, while going fast, while hitting the brakes, everything.”
Now, that isn't going to get me through a 100-mile ride, but it's one step in the right direction. So he worked with me on that.
Then he went, “All right. Now that you feel good getting on and off your bike, we'll ride a few miles here.”
It was basically a straight line but it had a few stop signs. He said, “I want you to just get used to what it's like to stop and go, and also what gear you need to be in.”
Well, it was maybe four lessons, and we were doing a 20-mile ride.
I was thinking, “Man, I can't believe how far I've come.”
And I'm so glad that he did those early lessons.
When he first proposed the 100-mile ride I was thinking there was no possible way I could ever do that.
After three months of riding, I thought “A 100-mile ride is something I can definitely train for.”
That's what you're going to do for your patients.
The goal in a six-week challenge is important because it'll help your patient start building those long-term habits that seemed out of reach before your six-week challenge.
You need to show them that those big goals aren't as far as they think. But you can only do that through little goals, which you're gonna help them build.