Do You Walk The Walk?

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I think there is a certain element of expectation when people meet me on a professional basis. As a Life Coach I don’t think they would be very impressed if I weighed in at 300 lbs, was smoking 2 packs of cigarettes per day and knocking back a bottle of scotch in an afternoon. I’m not saying that somebody couldn’t be a good coach whilst acting like that, but I think it’s a lot less likely they would get the chance to prove it.

I think walking the walk, acting as if, or whatever other description you want to place on this behavior is imperative if you want to gain and retain credibility. How confident would you feel dealing with the Toyota car sales person that drives a Honda? Would you vote for a politician that was caught avoiding taxes? How about moving hairdressers and noticing that the owner has a mullet and his assistant a pudding bowl cut that looked like it had been done by a blind man with 200 volts of electricity flowing through him? None of those examples necessarily prove anything, but I’m guessing they would all make you think twice.

Yesterday I was over at the Human Performance Institute at Lake Nona in Orlando. I was meeting with somebody in channel sales and talking about referring clients. A personal hero of mine, a guy called Jim Loehr, started the HPI. He co-wrote one of my favorite books of all time called ‘The Power Of Full Engagement’. He also authored an even better book called ‘The Power of Story.’ Both books have had a great influence on me and I would recommend either for anybody that wants to improve the quality of their life and also to understand the human psyche. See below for details.

I was just about to leave the institute when this tall, athletic looking guy walked off the tennis court dripping in sweat. It was none other than Jim Loehr himself. I was a like a 12 year old girl at a Justin Timberlake concert. I resisted the urge to throw my underwear at him, but I did ask him to sign a book that I had just been given. I had a brief chat with him and he seemed a very genuine and gracious person. Why am I telling you this? Here was a guy that obviously walks the walk. He teaches people about the four levels of fitness (emotional, physical, mental and spiritual) and you only had to look at him to know he lived what he espoused.

Most people like to think that they walk the walk, but how many of us actually do so all the time? I certainly have lapses such as a recent argument with my mother-in-law in which I insisted on telling her she’s wrong and it’s not important to line up all the forks in a row in the cutlery draw! What I should have said was that is wasn’t important to me. Who am I to tell her what is important to her? I’m a Life Coach; I should know better, I wasn’t walking the walk.

Think about what you have been doing for the last few hours. Have you been walking the walk? I don’t necessarily mean in your job if you have one, although it could mean that, but with your own values. If you strongly believe in honesty, have you been true to that? If you have a core value of love, have you been demonstrating that? If you aspire to great health have you been doing what’s necessary to move you toward that? If the answer is no, it’s not a problem. Simply realize without judgment that you’ve slipped back and resolve to start walking your own walk from now on.