The 60 Pound Question
Last Friday, I was on a coaching call with my coach, Paula Ventura. We were talking about exercise. Or at least I thought we were.
I've never really seen the point of working out. Not the gym kind, anyway. I'll spend hours in my garden hauling rocks, digging holes, shoveling dirt, pushing a wheelbarrow, splitting plants, mowing the lawn. I love that kind of work. At the end of the day, I can stand back and see what I built.
Exercise for exercise's sake? It's always felt pointless to me.
A few weeks ago, I completed my first 10K. Mostly walking, some running sprinkled in. I came in last in my age group. I laughed — I wasn't embarrassed. I finished. But I still couldn't shake the feeling that I could have spent that time doing something useful.
Then Paula asked me one question.
"Do you want to be able to pick up your grandchildren someday?"
Without hesitating, I said yes.
She smiled. The day before, her grandson — who now weighs around 60 pounds — had asked her to pick him up. She did. She told me she could hold one grandchild in each arm.
That hit me right in the heart.
Because suddenly it wasn't about push-ups. It wasn't about fitness. It wasn't even really about health. It was about relationships. It was about the kind of grandma I want to be — one who gets down on the floor, runs after them, throws a football, plays hockey, joins in instead of watching from a lawn chair. I got to be a big kid with my son. I want that gift again. But only if I stay strong enough for it.
Nothing about exercise changed. My purpose did.
Yesterday I did ten push-ups. Today I did eleven and added twenty lunges. Then I attempted some burpees — or something that vaguely resembled burpees. Let's just say there was a lot of heart pounding and a little less grace. Wozza.
I'm also grateful to the people who quietly encouraged me long before this moment. My son's girlfriend, Alexis, has been inviting me to run local races — we've already done two together, and another is coming up in September. My Toastmasters friend Harriet Tinka has inspired me with her steady commitment to fitness. Those people mattered. But Paula found the reason that finally landed for me.
That's what a good coach does. They don't hand you answers. They ask the question that helps you find the answer that was already sitting inside you.
And that one call didn't just shift how I think about exercise. It also helped me work through a block I'd been carrying around one of my own business services — reminded me of the value I actually bring to my clients. Two breakthroughs. One conversation. Both acted on within 24 hours.
It reminded me of something I can't forget as a coach myself: I can't ask people to invest in coaching if I'm not willing to invest in it. We convince ourselves we need more information — more books, another podcast, one more webinar. But sometimes more information isn't what's missing. What's missing is someone who asks the question you never thought to ask yourself.
An answer solves today's problem. A good question changes the way you think. And when your thinking changes, your actions usually follow.
So here's what I'm sitting with this week, and I'll leave it with you too:
What if the thing holding you back isn't a lack of knowledge — but a lack of perspective?
Sometimes the biggest shift isn't a new answer. It's someone helping you find your real why.
Penny
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