Random Acts of Traction

I was reading Gaping Void this morning. Hugh introduced the concept Random Acts of Traction. Now, sure, he is using this as a marketing term but let's expand the theme.

Random Acts of Traction (my interpretation): what really works for you when you are bumbling around trying to figure out what works for you.

Point is: There really isn't any telling ahead of time what is going to work to be in charge of your weight over the long-term. I can tell what you what has worked for my successful clients. I can tell you what I thought was missing for the clients who were not successful.

But for you in particular??? That is the point. Over the course of your time working on managing your weight, you have learned things about yourself. What piece of the Atkin's diet were you successful with? What about when you were working crazy-long hours at the new job and your weight was right where you wanted it to be? What little bit did you learn during that time that worked for controlling your weight? (not eating because you never had time is not a long term solution -- think harder, what else did you learn?)

Hugh goes on to quote Doc Searls and his idea of rolling large rocks up a hill (try after try of deprivation diets you play out by the book) and how much nicer it is to roll snowballs down the hill -- some of them don't go very far but sometimes you will get one that starts its slow roll, picking up more snow as it goes and using its own momentum to change the landscape.

Seems like a nice way to manage your weight doesn't it?

Collect little pieces here and there that work for you. Coordinate them into your life -- sometimes these things start out slow. But as you gain traction -- as things start to work for you, you will find more little changes to make. As you pick up traction, the whole thing starts running on the momentum you put into getting it started.

Where will your traction come from? You are the expert on this. That is why I am a coach and not an expert. -- Think about the small ways you have been successful in the past -- see if you can string some of those things together. Be on the look out for new Acts of Traction. Pay attention. Be Mindful about what you are doing.