I’ve had some free time on my hands so I figured it would be a good idea to get caught-up with some friends who I haven’t had the chance to connect with recently. The toughest thing I heard was that I’m rather intolerant towards people who don’t follow my advice or embrace my world view. This was a surprise, but after the sting of hearing it faded and I was able to see it, I felt very bad. I spent some time thinking about it trying to see the times when it was true.
In my head make the distinction between my job (training, fitness and wellness) and the rest of my life.
With my job I’m an expert and I know more than all of my clients and most of the people I engage about this subject. If people ask me for advice or pay me for it, I’ve got a right and need to be dogmatic because the approach I have come-up with is extremely effective, but ONLY if the instructions are followed. You can’t eat the way I suggest, add in a servicing of chocolate and still expect the results I’m promising because this ISN’T what I was suggesting. The same applies to sleep/rest, exercise and other lifestyle variables that have a detrimental impact ones progress. Being intolerant to deviations is, in my opinion, appropriate here because people who are seeking improvements in their health/body composition have demonstrated a lack of knowledge or a lack of ability to do the things they need to do in order to achieve what they are looking for. It is simple, if you want my help you need to follow my advice TO THE LETTER. I don’t need you to ask me for my help and I get very little out of dispensing advice that people ignore.
With the rest of my life doing this would be a problem.
But I’m not entirely sure that I engage in the behavior that was described; at least in terms of things OTHER than my job or things related to fitness, performance or body composition. I’m human and will give my opinion and when someone doesn’t agree with me, I’m probably going to try to get them to see my point of view. And if they are able to I’ll get them to explain their point of view. If, in the end, we don’t see eye to eye, we’ll just need to disagree. I haven’t ended an adult friendship over a difference in opinion though.
I’m not ruling out the possibility that there may be some truth in what was said so I think there’s value in being open to hearing what friends think about my behavior. I’ll agree that I’m dogmatic about my fitness solutions and that’s only because they work. Time will tell if this trait applies to other areas of my life. I know I’ll be looking for it!