I read an excellent book recently called Change or Die which begins with the shocking fact that only ONE of nine people are able to make the necessary lifestyle modifications when told they will die unless they break some bad habits.

Dr. Raphael Levey, founder of the Global Medical Forum, an annual summit of health care leaders, says, “Eighty percent of the health care budget [is] consumed by five behavioral issues.” (italics mine) These are: smoking, eating too much of the wrong food, drinking alcohol, too much stress and not enough exercise.

We Americans pride ourselves on our exceptionalism, yet the reasons we are dying earlier than necessary is because of lifestyle choices we have made for ourselves?

Yep.

Alan Deutschman, the author of Change or Die, believes that the 3 ways we usually try to tackle change – Fear, Facts and Force – do not work. He posits that Relating, Repeating and Reframing are the keys to real transformation, and I resonated with this because this is how coaching works. Coaching is never judgmental and we work at your pace (Relating), we set behavioral goals to incorporate healthy habits into your life (Repeating) and I focus on your strengths and past positive experiences (Reframing) to get you there.

If you do not want to read the whole book, check out Fast Company’s excellent magazine article summarizing Deutschman’s theories. Both are fascinating reads.