What does it mean to be Thoughtfully Fit?

Life coach Darcy Luoma breaks it down

By Marni McEntee

After years of research and more than 10,000 hours of coaching and consulting, Darcy Luoma and her team at Darcy Luoma Coaching & Consulting noticed patterns in the issues their clients faced.

“There are things that come up over and over again with clients, whether it’s a team or an organization, a firm or an individual,” Luoma says. For example, people are too busy but they still don’t feel comfortable declining an invitation. They don’t know how to set boundaries. They overreact or do something they later regret.

Luoma’s team began to categorize these consistent obstacles. Then they developed the Thoughtfully Fit coaching model to help clients overcome them.

In many ways, the model aligns with the tenets of physical fitness, Luoma says. Just like in physical fitness, where having a strong core makes any activity easier, being Thoughtfully Fit has a core: pause, think and then act.

“When you have a strong core, no matter what comes your way, you can respond thoughtfully,” Luoma says.

And just like regular exercise is key to being physically fit, “You have to consciously and regularly make a practice to be thoughtful in your life,” she says.

Building your Thoughtfully Fit core can help you harness the power of coaching in your everyday life. Take a pause, think things through, and take a thoughtful course of action.

The Thoughtfully Fit model includes three external practices and three internal practices.

The three internal practices are:

STILLNESS: Quieting the mind to reflect and process life’s events.

STRENGTH: Consciously choosing how to respond to a situation so you can show up the way you want to. In other words, not just reacting on autopilot to what comes your way.

ENDURANCE: Overcoming obstacles by building resilience and embracing a growth mindset.

The external practices are:

FLEXIBILITY: Accepting others for who they are, as they are and not trying to change them.

BALANCE: Trying to balance what someone else needs and what you need, to find alignment and harmony in the relationship.

AGILITY: Responding appropriately when you are blindsided.

Read how Darcy Luoma used Thoughtfully Fit to navigate her own devastating life event here.

For more on Thoughtfully Fit, visit darcyluoma.com.