The Cookie Jar of SUCK

Nutrition coaches need practical tools for helping clients through setbacks. Learn the Cookie Jar of SUCK coaching metaphor, then get more behavior-change strategies, coaching tools, and practical training inside the free LIFTOFF Nutrition Coaching Masterclass and nutrition coach training.

2-Tips

By Jennifer Broxterman, RD

Kind Nerd Note: Your clients’ hard seasons can become evidence they’re capable of doing hard things.

Tip #1:
Cookie Jar of SUCK

I love a great coaching metaphor, so let me tell you a story about Cheryl, my nutrition client who raced IRONMAN Michigan 70.3 last weekend. She swam 1.9 km, biked 90 km, then ran a half marathon to finish in 4:57:51, breaking five hours for the first time after chasing that goal for three years.

But my favorite part of her race recap had nothing to do with her finish time. During the swim, Cheryl reminded herself that she’d already swum 7 km in god-awful, kick-you-in-the-crotch, spit-on-your-neck fantastic conditions earlier this summer. She’d done something harder before.

So she reached into what we call the “Cookie Jar of SUCK,” inspired by David Goggins’ Cookie Jar concept.

The idea is simple: every hard thing you get through earns you a cookie. A crappy week. A setback. A workout you almost quit. A time you kept going when you really didn’t want to.

Into the Cookie Jar of SUCK it goes. 🍪

Then, the next time life feels hard, you have evidence to pull from: “I’ve done hard things before. I can do this too.”

I LOVE this as a nutrition coaching metaphor. Because your clients are going to have sucky weeks. They’ll travel, get sick, miss workouts, eat more takeout than planned, have a stressful month at work, lose motivation, and fall out of their routine. Life and sucky moments will inevitably happen. 

Obviously, we don’t want to glorify suffering for the sake of being “mentally tough.” But we can help clients notice what they learned and what they proved to themselves along the way.

So the next time a client gets through something hard, help them put a cookie in the jar. Then when things suck, remind them where they keep the cookies when they need one. :)

Tip #2:
Steal More Coaching Metaphors From Me

If you liked the cookie jar, I have a whole bunch more coaching metaphors, games, psychology tricks, and practical things to actually say and do with your nutrition clients inside LIFTOFF. It's my completely free Nutrition Coaching Masterclass, broken into bite-sized 5–8 minute videos you can watch between clients.

More than 3,000 nutrition coaches have already gone through it, and I regularly hear some version of: “This was better than paid courses I’ve taken.”

And if you’ve already gone through LIFTOFF once, go through it again! You’ll probably pick up another little coaching gem or metaphor you forgot about the first time and can bring into your next client session.

[Begin LIFTOFF Masterclass (it's free) →]

Stay kind + nerdy,   

❤️🐻🌈

Jen Broxterman
Registered Dietitian
Prosper Nutrition Coaching

Thanks for reading. Here are a few additional ways I might be able to help you.

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Jennifer Broxterman, MSc, RD

REGISTERED DIETITIAN & SPORTS NUTRITIONIST
• Award-winning Foods & Nutrition University Professor
• Successful entrepreneur of owner of NutritionRx
• 16 year CrossFit affiliate owner with my husband
• Founder of Prosper Nutrition Coaching & lead nutrition coach