“Chris, I’ve messed up and not been hitting any of my targets. I've completely fallen off the wagon. I’m trying to get back on it - what do I do?”
I got this message from an online client the other day and the first thing that I said to him was; "Let’s rephrase this. Instead of saying that you have 'fallen off of the wagon' and blown it all, let's say that you took a 'little pause'".
That may seem like a really silly thing to say but think about it. The way that he worded it makes it sound like it is all over, that he has fallen off the wagon and can’t get back on. Whereas the way I phrased it with 'a little pause' makes it sound like it was planned, and can easily be picked back up again.
The next thing to do is to evaluate why they thought it happened. What was going on in their life at that time that helped to contribute to the situation? Often there are only one or two things that crop up regularly, and this allows us to address the issues.