I found out some interesting stuff about myself with this de-tox malarkey. Nothing stunning you understand, I didn’t wake up in hell and decide to pull the arms one of Lucifers more vertically challenged helpers whilst grinning inanely, but interesting stuff nevertheless.

Let me cut to the chase for those of you that just want to know how I got on. I didn’t do what I said I would do. There, now you know what kind of life coach I am. You could say I failed, I quit, I jibbed out (for you Brits) or any other colloquialism you care to use for the word failure.

Before I set off defending my reprehensible behavior let me just say thanks to those of you that e-mailed me with messages of support, encouraging words and offers of beer. They were all very much appreciated.

So what went wrong then you might be thinking? Actually nothing, nothing at all.

At the 2-week stage I posted that things were going well, but that I was bored and didn’t feel any different. A couple of people suggested I keep going because otherwise I may harm my self-esteem and erode my confidence in my own ability to stick to a promise.  Some others said that 2 weeks wasn’t really long enough to get the full effects of a de-tox and that made a certain amount of sense.

At first I thought the former was a good point and even advice I may give a client under similar circumstances. However, after careful thought I started to realize it wasn’t true at all for me. My self-esteem isn’t shaky and I have confidence that I can do what I put my mind to if I have sufficient motivation and actually want to do it.

This started to get fascinating (to me) because I was starting to shift the way I looked at motivation. As I have said many times before, I don’t believe in will power, it’s a myth. What I do believe in though is motivation.

Let me explain. If you are a smoker and you’re healthy, young and single and enjoy smoking, you’re unlikely to quit. It’s not because you lack will power necessarily, but because you lack the requisite motivation or reason to quit. After all you’ve listened to the ever-young Roger Daltry and you’re hoping to die before you get old anyway

If on the other hand you’re 55, married with kids and unfit there will be a great deal more motivation or leverage present to quit. If you then have a heart attack and your doctor warns you “Quit or die” you’ll have more motivation than you can shake 3 sticks. a cute ferret and your booty at.

When I talk to clients about changing behaviors like smoking or losing weight I suggest a cookie cutter approach that incorporates lots of elements that will appeal in varying degrees to different personality types.

One aspect is to force yourself into a corner by telling the whole world what you’re going to do so that you find it difficult to back down. It’s sound advice for a lot of people (especially those stubborn types that hate to give in), but it’s superfluous to some others and I happen to be a member of that merry band of self-development weirdo’s.

My main reason for changing diet was to give me more energy early on in the day. I am terrible at getting out of bed and struggle to do anything other than check e-mails, read about the latest catastrophe that has befallen The St Louis Rams and scratch my nether regions first thing in the morning.

As I started to reflect on this experiment it dawned on me that I’d ALWAYS been like this.

I used to swim a lot in my 20’s and every now and then I’d get up early to go before work. It was seldom anything other than an exercise in futility, quite literally. My body just didn’t work very well at that time of day. My times were consistently much slower than if I swam in the afternoon or evening and instead of feeling invigorated afterwards I felt knackered (to coin another lovely old English phrase).

The same goes for the any form of exercise I have ever done since, I have always struggled early in the morning and it’s one of the reasons why you’ll not catch me at the gym before Regis & Kelly has finished.

There have been lots of blogs and self-development types preaching with evangelical gusto about getting up earlier and making the most out of the day.

Great advice for a lot of people, but a rather dogmatic approach that misses the point that some people aren’t designed that way. One of the most difficult things with coaching is getting out of your own head and aligning with a client and using their map of the world.  T

his completely fails to do that and originates in the more traditional forms of sports coaching.

So just past the half way stage I started wondering what I was trying to achieve. I had no cravings for any of the things I cut out. In fact, I didn’t miss soda, red meat, candy or white flour at all.

I was surprised that avoiding alcohol wasn’t an issue either. I missed wine with a couple of nice meals we had, but wasn’t craving a beer at the end of the day.

The gym and meditation was a breeze as I suspected they would be and I never got the expected caffeine hangover from hell I’m pleased to say. I think a week of de-caf helped though as there are trace amounts of caffeine that may have allowed me to withdraw slowly.

I have now decided it would make more sense to make lifestyle changes that I can implement long-term and believe in, rather than push myself to do something that I really have no desire to do.

After all, I’m always telling people that they have to want to change, not want to want to and this was a classic case of me wanting to want to.

So there you have it, I didn’t get it done. I don’t feel in the least bit bad (the title was tongue-in-cheek) about it and I hope you don’t either.

My self-esteem is intact and I wasn’t tempted to lie to you or partake in any self flagellation (well maybe just on Saturdays and special occasions).

I know that Life Coach’s are occasionally held up as beacons of light by some, but trust me, we have the same human frailties as everybody else.

I took a lot from it and as such I know that I can instigate some wanted change and move forward slightly sheepishly, but also with my head high.

Are you disappointed in me? Are you thinking,  “Pah, what a fraud, he’s the black sheep of the coaching industry (I think that’s enough sheep analogies for one post) and should be flogged to within an inch of his life” If so, let me know, I can take it.