This past weekend in Louisville, I attended a mastermind meeting with a group of outstanding fitness professionals. I sometimes struggle to open up at these events, but this time, I decided to open up a bit more than usual and discuss something that’s really important to me.
At the risk of sounding hokey, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my future and how I can make the most of it. It’s amazing how badly you want (and need!) to prioritize your life when you have a tiny human that is totally dependent upon you!
Over the years, I’d like to think I’ve been fairly successful – but how can I maintain that success going forward?
How can I continue to grow, develop and evolve?
But the biggest question I asked myself was this: How can I leverage my time most effectively so that I can not only be a leader within our field, but also have the time and energy necessary to be a great husband and father?
As a result, I decided to create a personal mission statement. Now we know the deal here – companies often create mission statements only to post them on a wall and totally forget about them!
This is different, though – this is something that I want to use to not only help me clearly define where I’m going in life, but to help me make better decisions as a result.
So without any further ado, here’s my personal mission statement – as well as a bit of breakdown as to why I worded it the way I did.
“To positively influence, on a deep level, as many people as possible to the benefits of proper fitness and strength training.”
Short, sweet and to the point.
There are three key phrases here that I want to explain a bit further.
#1 – On a Deep Level…
Let’s be honest – blogging is pretty easy. There’s no real timeline, or finishing point.
You can wake up one day, have a great idea, and blog about it.
Or, you can just do nothing. It doesn’t really matter.
Along those same liens, blogging is a Readers Digest version of what a coach really thinks and feels. It’s an incredibly small snapshot of their overall training philosophy.
But the absolute WORST thing about blogging right now is everyone has one. If you try and read or follow everyone’s blog, it’s like a firehose of information.
What’s important? What isn’t?
Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
It can definitely be overwhelming.
After running a survey a few weeks back on my newsletter, I’ve found out one very important thing – my readers want me to BLOG LESS, and create more REAL CONTENT.
Manuals, DVD’s, webinars, etc. – stuff that is more than a glimpse or snapshot, but more of a total package.
And I’m more than happy to oblige them on that. After the next two weeks, I’m definitely going to switch some things up with the blog that I think you’ll appreciate.
With regards to coaching, the days of me training people for 12, 14 or even 16 hours in the gym are probably a thing of the past.
Does that mean I’m going to go home and do nothing?
Absolutely not.
While I may not work the sheer volume of hours I did before, I’m going to make the hours I am coaching extremely purposeful and focused.
Again, it’s not just doing more – it’s doing things better.
#2 – As Many People…
Again, this comes back to priorities. I’ve discussed this a bit before, but I think a review is probably necessary.
If I train 20 people in the gym, I’ve positively influenced 20 people’s lives. That is awesome, right?
Absolutely! Coaching has always been a passion, and part of the reason I enjoy semi-private training so much is because I can positively influence more people than in a 1-on-1 environment.
Again, the word leverage comes to mind here.
So that got me thinking – how can I scale this even further? How can I help even more people?
And this is where the sacrifice comes in, because I really do love coaching. I love being in the gym and working with people.
But if I’m going to have the strongest impact possible, I need to go beyond just the end-user. I need to go the administrative level.
I need to influence other trainers and coaches.
Think about it like this – in the gym, 20 people trained is always 20 people.
But if I coach or educate 20 trainers or coaches, and each one of them only works with 10 people, that’s now 200 people whose lives I’ve helped improve!
Now that’s the kind of leverage I’m talking about!
This year I’m making more of an effort to get out there and speak. I’ve already got more seminars and speaking events booked than in most years past, and it’s only March!
Needless to say, I’m very excited about this. But there’s one final point….
#3 – Proper Fitness and Strength Training
Let’s be honest – there are tons of clowns out there who like to hear themselves talk about training. They might have a big e-mail list, tons of followers on Twitter, or even a bunch of viewers on YouTube.
But here’s the problem guys – many don’t know what they’re talking about, or worse, don’t if this stuff actually works because they’ve never trained anybody!
I’d like to think I have something both unique and powerful to say. I’ve worked hard to balance and blend the following three things:
- An online presence,
- In-the-trenches experience, and
- Keeping up with pertinent science and research in our field.
PROPER fitness and strength training is critical – after all, people that don’t understand anatomy, or proper coaching technique, or how to develop a program, can all get their clients and athletes injured.
But those who are willing to educate themselves can have a profound impact on the quality of their clients’ lives.
So that’s where I’m at. In the coming months, you’re going to see and feel some palpable changes in the site.
I hope you’re in for the ride 🙂
All the best
Mike
(Lead Photo Courtesy of UggBoy)