Sweat Leads to Change
There were 24 sets of eyes on me.
At that point in the training, complete strangers.
“Will you stand up with me, Reed, and show me what you were doing?”
No part of me wanted to stand up.
I wanted to stay in my comfort zone: sitting down, elbows and arms firmly planted on my desk, leaning into my computer screen.
Protected.
Poised.
In control.
Reluctantly, I stood up.
“What did it look like while you and your son were throwing rocks into the river?”
The loudness of the voices in the back of my head—my Saboteurs—was overwhelming.
Tucked away in my little home office on a Friday afternoon, I was sweating profusely.
Simply by being coached.
Simply by being asked really hard—really powerful—questions.
“What did it look like while you and your son were throwing rocks into the river?”
“F*ck it!” I told myself, and leaned in.
I started throwing imaginary rocks.
Timidly at first.
But, with each imaginary toss, the motions started getting bigger and bigger.
“And then I would grab a big handful of rocks, bend down while swinging my arms through my legs, and launch them all into the air. As the rocks splashed into the water, Ezekiel and I would raise our arms in the air in celebration.”
I was sweating.
But, there I was—a completely different me—standing in my office with my arms spread in the air while 24 people watched my rock throwing demonstration.
And, there I was playing at work.
It started off with a simple inquiry: “What do you want to be coached on?”
“I want to build more playfulness into my day-to-day work,” I told my coach.
And then, before I knew it, through a series of powerful questions that made me sweat, I was playing.
Change was happening.
Transformation was happening.
As my coaching session concluded, the entire class got to debrief the experience. One of my instructors, Eric Kohner, summed things up best:
"Coaching is not nice. Coaching is about transformation, and transformation is uncomfortable.”
And, the sweating—the discomfort—continued all weekend.
By the third day of my second course in a year-long coaching certification program through the Co-Active Training Institute, I was jumping off my office chair exclaiming to my peers and instructors, “I am the high-diving cannonballer who splashes life-changing smiles onto the faces of the crowd waiting around the diving well.”
This was a different person than the protected, poised, in-control guy who showed up on Friday.
Sweat Leads To Change
And, that’s it for this week.
Or, should I say, that’s my push for you as you go into today:
Do something that makes you sweat!
Pick something that makes you uncomfortable.
Pick something that stretches your comfort zone.
Say, “F*ck it!” and lean in.
And then simply enjoy the process of your transformation.
Wanna change?
Get sweaty!
