When I started health coach training, many of us made the excuse that we couldn’t help others on their health goals if we still had problems of our own. In other words, if we are not perfect, how can we help others? Wouldn’t that be a contradiction?

The program addressed this head on. The founder where I went shared his own experiences coaching others to quit smoking while he was still a smoker himself.

We all have things to work on.

Think of the families you know really, really well. Is there some type of disfunction, probably.

We don’t often share our weaknesses because we feel we must present the perfectly put together human, but we all have some thing – many things – to work on. We always will. It doesn’t mean we can’t do that and do the other thing. To improve ourselves, and help others.

Focusing on a small thing can be freeing. I work with helpers to help me see my blind spots and to work through those places I struggle. But while I do that work, I can help others work through their estate plan and how they want to document planning for incapacity or death. I can say I am going to do a podcast and then freeze for months out of fear of the next step, but still focus day to day on what it is I set out to do to help others.

It is okay to admit that we are not perfect in all things. No one is, no matter what it might look like on the outside.