This is Not a Magic Pill: Your Results Will Be Proportional to Your Commitment

I'm a coach.

Which means I’m a bit of a modern-day wizard. If people let me, I can help them change their life in sometimes miraculous ways.

There’s just one inconvenient truth: while coaching is magic, it’s not a magic pill. The same thing is true for anything else we do to improve our lives: buying courses, hiring an expert to help us, spending money on books, enrolling in a program, etc.

What is the difference between magic and a magic pill?

I’ve had the privilege to talk to some of the most talented magicians of our time. Whether you believe magic is real or not, the way they approach it is illuminating and can teach us something about life in general.

To them, magic isn’t something you do to get what you want. It’s something you do to improve the odds of getting what you want.

According to this perspective, magic is not a switch you flick on to instantly get what you want. It’s not a fail-safe tool that always works. Nor is it a fairy godmother or a genie in a bottle that will grant you any wish, no matter how improbable.

To these über-competent magicians, magic is a probability enhancer. If their chances of getting something is 30%, doing a ritual might increase it to 55%. That’s why they don’t just do a magical ritual for finding their soul mate or the perfect job and then sit on their butt.

They do a powerful ritual AND then they do whatever they can in the “ordinary” world to increase their odds. Creating a dating profile. Sending in a job application. Whatever it is.

That sounds like a lot more work than “The Secret”, doesn’t it? Well, as celebrity trainer Nicky Holender put it in a workout series: “The secret to getting in shape is that there’s no secret.”

Make your own magic

I see coaching (or buying courses, or hiring a personal trainer) the same way that these world-class magicians see magic. Getting support improves your odds. As does putting in the work and taking action. 

In coaching, as almost everywhere in life, your results will be proportional to your commitment. That’s because coaching is magic but it’s not a magic pill. As poet Shel Silverstein put it: “But all the magic I have known I’ve had to make myself.”

Courses, personal trainers, and coaches might be able to give you a leg up. But you still have to climb the mountain yourself.

Let's go and make some magic happen!