Sep 25

Sep 25 Permission Giving Thoughts

Hi, I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.

One of the most effective exercises in my coaching toolbox and a client favorite is the permission-giving thoughts assignment. Or, I like to call it the PGT’s for short.

In a nutshell, I ask my clients to write down the habitual thoughts they tell themselves that allow them to break their healthy new habits, their new commitments, their goals. Some possibilities are:

It’s just one small bite; it won't affect my weight!

Or,

Its been such a long day. I deserve a break from my work out!

Or,

Who cares about 7 hours of sleep? This movie is so good. I’m not going to turn off the tv.

Do any of those sound familiar? ;-)

Then I ask my clients to write down the answers to:

When I give into the permission-giving thought, this happens:

And

When I don’t give in to the permission-giving thought, this is what happens:

So, using my first example, It’s just one small bite, it won’t affect my weight:

The answer to when I give into the permission-giving thought is: I feel pretty terrible that I caved yet again. I have no integrity, and one bite leads to the next and then usually a binge. And the binge isn’t with fruit and veggies; its almost always junk food. So yes, that small bite still affects my weight in the end.

And the answer to when I don’t give in to the permission-giving thought is: I’m empowered and in my integrity. I’m one step closer to losing the weight I want. Eating healthy food feels so good! It’s energizing. I’m walking my talk!

You get the picture! It’s pretty simple.

When I ask my clients to complete this exercise, it’s satisfying for them for a few reasons.

First of all, they think this exercise will take forever because they believe that it’s a complete junkyard of permission-giving thoughts in their brains. However, no, they usually only record 4 to 6 PGT’s.

We are creatures of habit, and we have our go-to excuses or PGT’s. We realize that this small number feels, well, manageable. It puts these once-powerful thoughts in their place. It's just a thought, and thoughts can be changed.

And secondly, the answers to the questions:

When I give into the permission-giving thought, this happens.

And

When I don’t give in to the PGT, this happens…

Are relatively the same with each separate permission-giving thought.

That’s noteworthy as well.

The answers to the when I give in, (using the first example: It’s just one small bite; it won't affect my weight!) is some variety of I'm out of integrity, and one bite leads to a second, I overeat, I gain weight, etc. I feel terrible!

And the answers to when I don’t give in, again using that first example, is a variety of integrity feels so good. My brain is free to think about my passions, not my food plan. Change takes time, but it is worth it. Be patient!

The permission-giving thought exercise is also a sneaky roundabout way I empower my clients to reiterate why they genuinely want their health and wellness goals. When they complete this exercise, they now have a written document they can read at any time, and actually, I refer back to it with my clients in sessions all the time.

The permission-giving thought exercise is a valuable tool to see your WHY’s and illustrate your deep-seated desire to change. And it’s a document you can pull out at any moment when you want to shore up your motivation.

There you go, my quick permission-giving thoughts exercise “how-to."

And now it's your turn. Please share in the comments one or two of your usual suspects. Your particular go-to permission-giving thoughts and then answer the two questions, when you give in to the PGT’s, this happens, and when I don’t give in to them, this is what happens.

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified health and wellness coach, and thank you for watching this video about one of my favorite client exercises: permission-giving thoughts. If you have any questions about this video or health and wellness or wellness coaching with me, please reach out via my website at lizmosercoaching.com