Last weekend, I took my five-year-old daughter up the mountain for her first chair lift ride. It was a huge success, considering that just a month prior, she had been reluctant to go snowboarding at all.

When she started resisting the idea of going up to the mountain, I knew we needed to change our approach. As someone who helps clients with new and challenging tasks, I realized that learning how to snowboard was similar to what I do for my clients.

The key to success, I re-discovered, is to make it fun.

Many of my clients struggle with health changes because they rely on willpower, force, restriction, and negative self-talk. In my daughter’s case, putting too much pressure on her to learn was counterproductive. She didn’t want to wake up early, rush to the mountain, and repeatedly fall just to feel like a failure.

So, I took the pressure off and focused on making it fun. We had a leisurely morning with enough sleep, didn’t rush, and did only what my daughter wanted to do. We took breaks, laughed, and high-fived each other.

I’m extremely proud of my daughter for making it up the mountain, and I’m even prouder of the fun we created. Taking the pressure off and turning on the fun is the magic formula for learning, growth, and sustainable change.

With love and fun!