I subscribe to a lot of email newsletters and this week one of them was absolutely fabulous. The subject was coaching clients that have already achieved a significant amount of success. Believe it or not, coaching them at the last 10% of the journey requires far more care and skill than the first 90%. I like to say that you get paid the most for the smallest section of their journey.
Without further ado, here is a really good section of the newsletter and some commentary from me afterwards:
“The freedom spectrum for fitness business owners” – Alex Cartmill
Alex is head coach of the Online Trainer Academy. I recently wrote a Facebook post introducing what I call the Freedom Spectrum. (You can find a link in this edition of Best Fitness Content.)
The idea comes from a conversation with a client that went something like this:
Client: “I can’t seem to lose this last bit of fat. What do I need to do?”
Me: “How’s your diet been? Have you been cutting back on beer like we discussed?”
He hadn’t, and was disgusted with himself because he couldn’t stop doing something that prevented him from reaching his fitness goals. But he also didn’t want to change that part of his life because he enjoyed it too much. So we talked about why he was in the gym in the first place, and what he ultimately wanted to achieve. He concluded that his goal of getting super-lean was not only unrealistic, it wasn’t even something he wanted.
He left that session feeling like a new man. The only thing that changed was his perspective. Like my client, all of us have to decide where we fall on the Freedom Spectrum.
At one end is a diet and training program that’s 100 percent dialed in 100 percent of the time. You’re so focused on your physique that you don’t allow yourself any of life’s pleasures. At the other end is pure hedonism. You only do what you want, when you want.
In between are two questions:
- How much can you sacrifice for your fitness goals before it has a negative impact on your well-being?
- How much freedom can you enjoy before your health and fitness break down?
The Freedom Spectrum works the same way with your business:
- How much time and energy can you dedicate to building your clientele and increasing your income before it has a negative impact on your fitness, relationships, and mental health?
- How much freedom can you enjoy before your business starts to break down?
We can admire people who have that kind of focus and drive. But we should also acknowledge that those people are really rare, and we shouldn’t feel worse about ourselves because we aren’t wired like them.
There are no right or wrong answers. Just as it’s absurd to think that everyone who works out should pursue the same goals with the same dedication, no fitness or nutrition pro should feel compelled to work on their business every waking hour.
What a great article!
I encourage each and everyone of you to apply this to your entire life. Too often, when we are ‘renting’ our values from other sources (people and media), we end up in a vicious cycle of seeking to achieve goals that are in conflict with our values.
I too was caught up (and still need to be vigilant and fight against this every single day) in seeking out the ultra lean/ripped look. After all, I need to ‘walk the talk’ right? How could I ever give advice if I didn’t look like I was in amazing shape…had unbelievable success in business…etc.?!? This is where you begin to realize that the messages about showing how successful you are…are empty and worthless.
The reality of what actually matters is so much better. I went back to my Values Based Mindset and recalibrated (btw, version 2 of VBM is about to go live!) my mindset to be realistic and achievable. In short, I aligned everything towards what I really want to do…not be. The results are starting to come in and I am very excited. In short, serious amounts of performance improvement across my life. More to come later.
We have to factor in how performance improvement in one area either improves or negatively impacts the rest of our lives. Otherwise we will careen from one aspect to another…spiking up in one and spiking down in another. Small and sustainable growth can be achieved in all areas if we make sure we don’t get out of control mentally in one.
I have friends that are able to do this on their own. I am not one of them. I, like many of you, need help with course correction. In all humility, a coach that has ‘sailed’ through some storms of their own can be of tremendous help in course corrections that make a difference. I am blessed to have incredible mentors and coaches in my life that help me.
Every one of my coaching and consulting engagements starts with a conversation…if you are ‘off course’ let’s have a call to see what getting back on track would mean for you.
As always, I appreciate you reading and hope that something today was of value to you. If it was, please share this with others like you…folks that you want to help navigate the future in such a way that they can impact other people beneficially.
Think critically. Train to get stronger. Practice compassion and empathy with others. Rest and recover so that you can do all the above better tomorrow.
There is a ton more I want to share, but, this was probably enough…don’t you think? Next week I will have another newsletter for you on Sunday…make sure you look for it then.
If you have any questions about the material, or, need some help please reach out. Whether or not you are a client is a different discussion for another day…if you need help we can do that now.
My email is mike@valuesbasedmindset.com…I check it too often.
All the best,
Mike