David knew that he was a rule follower.  You give him a plan, and he will execute it flawlessly.  He did this in many areas of his life, but nutrition had not been one of them up until this point.  He wanted a meal plan.  He received a meal plan.  He lost 64 pounds over the next 15 months.

"Daniel" had tried many different diets with little to no success.  He would do okay during the week, but his day-to-day was too inconsistent.  Once the weekend would come, he chose to get rid of his stress from the week by going out for a night of drinking with his wife and friends on Saturday and then going to the bar on Sunday's to eat wings and drink beer while watching football games.  He was convinced that a meal plan would work for him.  Despite my attempts at convincing him that a meal plan was not the answer for him, he still was adamant that it was so I gave in.

The result?  The meal plan didn't work.  It was clear that it wasn't going to work after the first week.

In the first scenario with David, he knew himself very well.  Based on his behaviors in other areas of his life, he was confident that he could execute a meal plan as it aligned with who he is.  As a coach, I was more than happy to give him this opportunity.

In the second scenario with "Daniel", he was too ignorant of his current abilities (and also unwilling to be open to other ideas) to understand that the meal plan was not the answer.  Where David was confident that a meal plan would work, "Daniel" was HOPING that a meal plan would work. 

Being aware of our strengths and weaknesses will help us best carve out a path for success in our lives no matter what we're trying to achieve. 

More on strengths & weaknesses in a later post.  Stay tuned…