About a year ago, my husband, Brandon, encouraged me to add a few supplements to my diet.

He knew I had upped my game at the gym after learning that weight training is far more effective for building muscle and burning calories than cardio.

I was seeing results.

To help me improve even more, Brandon recommended I take protein to build and repair my muscles, creatine to increase my energy while lifting weights, and collagen to improve joint pain, skin health and hydration.

I half listened to what he had to say and immediately rejected the idea.

Truthfully, I was hesitant about adding more supplements into my diet. I was already taking daily vitamins and that seemed to be working well.

I also wasn’t sure how much Brandon knew about the topic. I knew he was very athletic earlier in his life but had only recently returned to working out in the past two years.

Perhaps most importantly, I hadn’t been given this advice before.

I knew about protein powder, but not the others. It just seemed like a lot of changes all at once.

So, I rejected them all.

Brandon looked visibly disappointed, but we moved on in the conversation and our lives.

A few months later though, the topic came up again. This time at Movati, the gym I attend.

A trainer was taking me through a game plan session (GPS), designed specifically to help improve my body. As I am a yoga instructor at the gym, I was required to go through the training, so I could tell members about this free service.

Based on the results from my in-body scan, it was recommended I gain more muscle mass. In addition to weight-training, adding protein to my diet was suggested.

When I went to Spartan, to look at the options, a nutritionist suggested I add creatine too.   

Not long after, a person I follow on Instagram, shared her morning ritual of adding collagen to her morning coffee. She repeated the same information Brandon had communicated.

I felt like I was getting hit over the head with the same information.

So, I bought it all.

As I apologized to Brandon for doubting him, I was reminded of an important lesson.

Sometimes people need time to come around to new ideas. People get caught off-guard with a brand-new perspective. However, a first reaction isn’t necessarily the final one. They often need time to process and reassess their previous views before moving forward.

In this situation, I certainly needed time to process and reassess.

Thinking back over my career, I wonder how many times I resisted something simply because it was a new idea. I certainly remember times when my colleagues resisted ideas that would have made their lives easier. Some of them eventually came around. Others didn’t.

Yet, maybe we all would have come around faster if we had heard the message more consistently.

As marketing researchers have told us for years, people need to be exposed to a message at least seven times before it sinks in. Taking away the novelty of an idea, makes it far easier to accept.

As a challenge this week, consider areas where you are experiencing resistance - within yourself or your team. Try repeating the message, in different formats and from different sources. See if it makes a difference.

Repeated messaging may be the key to moving your people forward.

Best wishes, Lauren