What Losing Weight Taught Me About Leadership
This past week, my scale showed me something it hadn't shown in years: a number under 200.
It doesn't sound like much on paper. But I've lived north of 200 pounds for a long time — as high as 218 at points. I never quite thought of myself as "overweight," but I felt it, especially around the middle. So, seeing that number this morning felt like a genuine milestone.
Here's what I want to tell you about how I got there, because I think it matters far beyond the scale.
There Was No Big Secret
No shots. No crash diet. No 30-day miracle plan.
Just a handful of small, unglamorous changes that I chose — and then stuck with:
Cut back significantly on snacking
Started eating later each morning and stopped eating after 8:00 PM whenever possible
Made smarter food choices, leaning into whole foods — mainly protein and fat
Added consistent walking on top of strength training
Started doing 36+ hour fasts about every other weekend
None of these, on their own, is revolutionary. You've probably heard versions of all five before. The difference wasn't the plan. The difference was staying with it.
It Wasn't a Straight Line
If you'd looked at my weight week to week, you'd have seen plenty of moments where the scale didn't move — or moved the wrong way. Two steps forward, one step back, more times than I'd like to admit. There were stretches where it would have been easy to conclude the plan wasn't working and go looking for a new one.
I didn't. I kept the goal in front of me and kept doing the same basic things, week after week.
The Real Lesson: Process vs. Outcome
Here's the distinction that got me through it, and the one I think is worth sitting with regardless of what you're working on.
Outcome goals are the destinations: lose the weight, hit the revenue number, land the client, get the promotion, raise your enrollment numbers. They're important — you need something to aim at. But here's the catch: you don't actually control outcomes. You can do everything right and still have a slow month. You can eat well and exercise and still have a week where the scale doesn't budge.
Process goals are the only thing you actually control: the daily and weekly actions you take. Snack less. Walk today. Make the calls. Follow up with the prospects. Review the lesson plans. Show up for the meeting you'd rather skip.
The mistake most of us make — in health, in business, in leadership — is fixating on the outcome and treating a slow week as proof the process has failed. It usually hasn't. It's just outcomes lagging behind process, which is how outcomes work.
Why This Applies to Leaders Especially
If you're running a business, leading a school, or managing a team, you already know this tension. You set a goal — revenue, enrollment, retention, culture change — and then reality gives you a bumpy, non-linear path toward it. Progress stalls. A quarter underperforms. A new initiative doesn't move the needle as fast as you hoped.
The instinct in that moment is often to scrap the plan and reach for something new — a new strategy, a new vendor, a new program. Sometimes that's genuinely warranted. But more often, what's actually needed is patience: staying with a sound process long enough for the outcome to show up.
That's the muscle this experience rebuilt in me. Not "try harder." Not "find a shortcut." Just: define the right process, commit to it, and let the outcome happen on its own timeline.
The Takeaway
You don't always need a new plan.
You need to stick with the one you have long enough to let it work — and to judge yourself on whether you're doing the process, not on whether the scale (or the revenue report, or the enrollment numbers) moved this week.
If you're in the middle of a stretch right now where progress feels slow, take this as your reminder: keep going. The outcome is often closer than it feels.
Naphtali Hoff, PsyD, is the founder of Impactful Coaching & Consulting, where he helps business executives, school leaders, and nonprofit professionals get more of the right work done in less time. Want help building a process that actually sticks? Schedule a discovery call.