Derailers and Watchouts

Derailers and Watchouts .. Watch out for what exactly?

As you begin your journey at ZipCode Wellness, we ask you to take some time identifying and reflecting on your values and your character strengths. 

Why?  Because YOU need to know what makes YOU motivated.  Why are you embarking on this wellness journey?  What will keep you motivated on days where you’re not?  What strengths will you draw upon to smash your goals? 

We adopt an holistic approach to your wellness - exercise, nutrition and doing these activities that enhance your psychological wellness. 

We are not psychologists (please let us know if you’re feeling anxious or depressed consistently and we can chat about further help) but we are coaches who believe in building flourishing individuals and flourishing communities.

In your “Flourishing Me” download, you will see a section for Derailers and Watch-outs.  This is the section where you can identify those “traps” that you are prone to fall into, or might fall into along the way. 

Identifying these up-front will allow you to call them out, be mindful of them and if they do come up, work to overcome them – quick and fast.  So, what is a derailer? From thefreedictionary.com:

So think of a time where you’ve “run off the rails” on your quest to achieve a goal?  The last time you got into a fitness plan?  That failed diet?  What about those New Years’ resolutions?  What caused you to “derail”?  What was it?  I’m sure many of you are already thinking – “temptation” is my derailer. 

That chocolate in the fridge, the snooze button so you can lie in bed a bit longer – everyone will have those temptations!  What about time?  Having enough time to dedicate to your new fitness and nutrition goals yet trying to balance everything else going on in your life! 

These are all derailers and getting them out and clear at the beginning of your journey with us, will allow us to work together to put strategies in place to overcome them!

The other aspect of this section we’d like you to consider are the “watch-outs” of your values and strengths work.  Your values are the principles that you believe and you lead your life by and they drive purposeful action – and these actions can sometimes be counter-productive or unhealthy. 

Think about the person whose value of achievement has led them to great success at both work and at home (positive purposeful action).  This same person is driven to achieve, often to perfection, and has a tendency to overwork, not rest and forget the importance of self-care! 

This is what we call a watch-out and knowing this in advance of taking on more goals, and reframing achievement in this case, is an important insight for this person.  Take a moment to reflect on your values.  Do any of your values have the potential to lead to unhealthy behaviors? 

You will discover in the VIA Strengths work (especially if you buy the $49 report which is well worth the investment if you’re interested in exploring your strengths further), that you can overuse your strengths.  How?  Let’s put yourself in a game of tennis with someone. 

Your opponent has a great ‘net’ game.  It doesn’t take long for you to realize that nearly every ball you return to the middle or front of the court, is run down and returned with skill.  You can see your opponent run up to the net nearly every point. 

So what do you do?  That’s right!  You start to lob the ball over your opponent’s head or ensure your return is hit deep into the back of the court.  You exploit your opponent’s overuse of their strength.  If your opponent doesn’t adapt quickly, their overuse of their strength becomes their weakness!

 Know that each of our character strengths can be overused (they can also be underused but that’s a whole other blog)!  Take the example of hope:

“Individuals high in hope and optimism can experience hopeful expectations about everyday things as well as optimism about global concerns. They are anchored in the present but tethered to the future, constantly setting goals and planning strategies. Hope and optimism have significant positive consequences”. 

Can you see how someone might overuse hope? 

“When one expresses hope with too much force, others may express a more pessimistic viewpoint as a counterbalance… when individuals set too many goals and plans that cannot possibly all be met, so they end up feeling disappointed or discouraged”.  (VIA Pro Report, 2021, www.viacharacter.org)

Don’t get us wrong!  Your character strengths will be the guiding positive light throughout your journey with us!  We just want you to be aware that, if overplayed, may inhibit your growth and achievement of your goals.  And again, knowing this in advance, will help us plan strategies to make sure they are always a strength that takes you to where you want to go, who you want to be and what you want to achieve!  

Reach out if you have any questions!