Hello, and Happy New Year 🙂
As you are a reader of my blog, I know you are interested in some form of personal change …
So, as you start the new year – potentially with some fresh hopes, intentions, and maybe even goals in tow – I wanted to share some of the characteristics of people who are the most successful with their personal transformations.
Everyone who sees me professionally is looking to change in some way or another, so it’s my hope that by sharing the mindsets of my most effective ‘transformers’, I can help you on your personal journey of transformation in 2025.
Whether working on creating healthier habits, improving emotional wellbeing, navigating situations with family or friends, or improving performance at work or sport, my most successful clients and online community members have the following characteristics:
1. They have patience (pole pole)
Do you ever feel impatient about change and end up sabotaging yourself by looking for quick fixes? I am constantly encouraging clients to develop patience and focus on slowly creating lasting results. So I had to laugh at myself when I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, and had to take a big dose of my own medicine. There is a Swahili saying – ‘pole pole’ (pronounced ‘poli poli’) – which means ‘slowly slowly’. Our guides would often remind us ‘pole pole, Kilimanjaro’, meaning, ‘Go slowly. We have a big mountain to climb.’ At times it seemed we were going slower than a snail’s pace and I remember thinking, Are we really going this slowly? I had to have faith that my leaders knew the best way to get me to the top (just as my clients must have faith in me!). So when you feel like you can’t wait to reach your goals, remind yourself ‘pole pole’.
Transforming yourself is a big mountain, and we’re going to get to the top!
A picture I took on one of the many hills that make up Kilimanjaro (lucky I had plenty of time to take photos along the way!)
2. They self-nurture
I believe all the warm fuzzies most psychologists believe: that you deserve good things, that it’s okay to prioritise yourself, and that you’re worth it. But I also think about things practically. Working with thousands of clients and online community members, I see that no matter what we’re working on, it never works if you don’t prioritise yourself. Results simply don’t come until you make them important. Taking care of yourself is not selfish – it’s nothing to feel guilty about, it’s just necessary. Heck, you can even enjoy it! So let’s make a pact to get over this hurdle together (if you find it hard to put yourself first, please watch this YouTube video I made to help you!).
3. They keep an open mind
In order to get truly different results, we need to do something truly different (and not just some version of something you’ve already tried before!). And if you are going to explore new ideas, it’s likely that your brain will find some of them hard to accept at first. Opening your mind doesn’t mean you need to blindly believe everything I – or anyone else who is supporting you – says, but it does mean being prepared to contemplate an alternative way of seeing things.
4. They embrace imperfectionism
Many people I see wonder why they can have everything else in their lives ‘in order’, but struggle so much with their health and wellbeing. This is because perfectionism works well in a lot of areas of life (you don’t want your pilot not to be a perfectionist), but terribly when it comes to eating, physical activity, weight, and body image concerns. Perfectionism is linked with a negative body-image (it’s hard to love your body if anything less than perfect is not okay), an unhealthy relationship with food (the dieting mentality is based on perfectionism), and unworkable beliefs about exercise (think ‘you have to go for an hour, or it’s not worth it’). So if you have a strong perfectionistic streak, let’s leave it for areas of life to which it’s better suited!
A supermarket run to fill the house with veggies is better than a super-food fest you didn’t have the funds to buy. And a ten-minute stroll in the fresh air at lunch is better than an hour-long walk you planned but didn’t do. The mantra in our online program is to:
‘Continuously take small, imperfect steps forward’
5. They do ‘the work’
Every year, I reflect on our most successful clients and have a little laugh to myself because the most extraordinary results always come from the people who do the most ordinary thing – it always comes back to ‘they just did the work’. First and foremost, my clients need to show up to their scheduled sessions, my online clients need to log in to their program platform – and I guess that means that you need to read my blogs, and seek to apply any helpful ideas in a way that is right for you!
The work is the secret sauce for turning information into transformation, and bringing your dreams into reality!
It’s my sincere wish that you will be one of my most successful ‘clients’, whether it’s through turning the information in what I write about in my blogs into transformation in a way that is right for you, transforming through our online program, or even working with one of our psychologists in the clinic, so I wanted to let you know what mindsets you can bring to the table of transformation as you start to work towards your important goals, hopes, and dreams in 2025.
Yours in readiness for change,
Glenn
P.S. If you are wanting to actually become one of our most successful clients, I have a team of expert psychologists at Weight Management Psychology waiting to help you! To find out more, please contact our friendly client services team via email or on (07) 3358 3312.
P.P.S. If you would like me to directly support you to become one of my most successful clients, you can find out more about and join our Transformation Support Community Online Program at any time!
NOTE: If you would like to see me personally as your psychologist, I am available for one-on-one sessions to members of our online program.
