You may have heard the folklore……..
Of 1980s rock band Van Halen.
And their insistence that wherever they played provided a bowl of M&Ms……..
With the brown ones removed.
It’s often told as an example of rock and roll excess.
Of prima donna behaviour.
Of general ridiculousness.
The things is though……..
It was a test!
As a progressive band of the time, Van Halen’s performances took advantage of many latest developments in music technology.
Huge speakers, vast video screens, giant stages and so on.
That were unlike anything that many of the venues they played at were used to.
So to make sure that all relevant technologicalĀ specifications and health and safety requirements were met by the venue, Van Halen procured an 80 page ‘rider’ of what needed to be done before they arrived.
After all, you want to know, for a fact, that that two tonne rig above your head is properly secured and the venues rigging systems have been tested at holding that sort of weight……….
So you can concentrate on whipping the audience into a frenzy!
And the best way to make sure the entire rider had been read and meticulously actioned when you arrive?
Head straight for the dressing room and check for brown M&Ms.
##############
It’s human nature.
To take what we know of a situation.
And ‘frame’ it within what we already ‘know’ and feel about similar situations.
To subconsciously search our experiences for similarities from things that have happened in our past……..
And use what we ‘know’ and feel about them to ‘fill in the gaps’ about the bits that are missing.
Creating a whole ‘story’ around a situation.
Which isn’t necessarily entirely (or even particularly) true.
People often hear a little bit about what we do and frame it with their own experiences and beliefs to make it something quite different to what it actually is.
They might hear from one of our members that they’ve reduced their carbs and increase protein and fat to make their diet more balanced………..
And they used what they believe to frame that as ‘”cutting out carbs”.
Even though no one is doing that.
One of our many success stories will tell them that they no longer bother eating certain foods because they’re already ‘full’ of equally (if not more) tasty stuff that will also make them feel and look better.
This will ‘become’ something like “they’ve cut out foods and are on a restrictive diet”…………
Even though they’re actually eating wider variety than most who have the same breakfast (cereal, toast, juice) and lunch (sandwich or pannini, low-fat crisp and diet coke for example) every day.
They’ll hear about them doing workouts with us and they’ll frame it with their own experiences to create an image of boring, soul crushing workouts where us FitPros stand over people ordering them to do burpees between mouth-fulls of broccoli.
Or they’ll just somehow frame it in a way that makes it impossible for them.
How their situation is different.
How their job / kid / home life / general situationĀ means that they couldn’t possibly do the same.
That’s why we have things like the podcasts (click here to check them out) so people can see what it’s really like for those ‘real people’ doing it.
And why we have the find-out-more meeting (click here for that) so people can find the truth for themselves.
Existing members can even find themselves doing the same of other members who’ve got ‘further down the path’ than them.
As an existing member reading this, you might realise that this is you.
In which case, let’s start work on changing that story.
For a better one that will get you where you want to go š
Much love,
Jon ‘Jump’ Hall and Matt ‘Hot For Teacher’ Nicholson
