It's Your Job--Not Your Responsibility

Your job is to help people lose weight. How successful your clients are may be how you gauge how successful you are as a weight loss professional It may even affect how good you feel about yourself or even your very self esteem. If your clients come back and haven't lost weight, if they get frustrated, if they lack motivation, if they plain just don't come back ... what does that do to how you feel about yourself?

Well, I have some amazing news that you are going to love (once you can accept it).

IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT IF YOUR CLIENT IS NOT SUCCESSFUL.
Because it's not YOUR responsibility.

Let's face it, we are the experts and we are here to provide information, encouragement, perspective, and acknowledgement. These can all help the person who is ready to make the changes in their diet and lifestyle to start melting off the pounds. But we can't do it for them. We don't shop for them or cook for them (although many of my clients have told me this is exactly what they need: "If only you could come to my house and cook all my meals for me!"). And we certainly can't eat for them.

We are there to provide them with the tools they need to start and continue on their journey to weight loss. If you are providing them with

- tools
- accurate information
- encouragement
- perspective
- acknowledgement
- a sparse amount of 'advising'

Then you are doing your job. You should be proud, you should sleep well at night, you should rest assured knowing you are a competent and caring professional. This is where the line is, and it cannot be crossed.

We do what we can, and we can do no more. Taking action lies with the client alone. Once you accept this fact it is amazing how much lighter the weight will be that some of us carry around. It will even affect how you converse with your clients, because there will not be that 'guilt' communicated through our voice that it's our fault too. It's not! There will be a subtle message sent that "I am giving you the tools and I expect you to use them: take the responsibility and accountability and come back and show me how well you've done with it". You may even find that you inspire people more when you give them this responsibility.
And that you stop suffering the guilt when you realize that it is not yours to take with you.

Please leave your comments and share with us: Do you believe this (yet?) and what has it done for you and your clients to carry the knowledge that it's on them.