By, Hannah Richmond

“Beep beep: 5.30am!” It’s bad enough when it’s your own alarm but no, I’m dating a Personal Trainer!

You see, when you have a partner whose job depends on other peoples schedules, there are quite a few inconveniences that you have to put up with.  My boyfriend moved here from Oz just over a year ago and in that time, has built up his own PT business from scratch alongside working as an instructor for British Military Fitness. The nature of the business and clients that it attracts means that almost every weekend, most evenings and early mornings are taken up with sessions and on the rare occasion that we do manage to schedule in a weekend away, my chauffeur to the airport is a large van with pictures of a muscly arm on the side of it!

Of course I’m not complaining, every business needs hard work and lots of hours in the beginning stages so it won’t always be like that and there are lots of positive points too, like the fact that his Military precision means that he is almost NEVER late for a date!  And the fact that he has lots of free time during the day, means that now and again, he comes up with something romantic—the other week he actually cooked me lunch and brought it all the way to the office, which really impressed me. So guys, there really is no excuse even if you do have a busy schedule!

The other main positive that I should probably have mentioned before now, is of course… the body! I mean, someone who spends that long training in parks all day couldn’t possibly avoid the effect themselves, could they?!  Well I for one am certainly not disappointed in that department!

However, dating a personal trainer can also be dangerous. Not in the conventional ‘James Bond’ sense of the word, just a very slippery slope and an expensive one at that. You see, before we got together, I was happily (?) paying my £50 per month to be a member of a very upmarket and exclusive looking gym which I used quite regularly. Then, the day came where I “acquired” my own trainer and that was that. “Oh, he’ll sort me out!” I’ve said many times after indulging in curries, chocolate desserts and Starbucks’ frappuchinos! And of course, it never happens. He always offers and we have tried on numerous occasions to train together, but the trouble is that I know that I can always get out of things I don’t want to do.  So I never push myself, all the while watching my gym direct debits leave my bank account and mentally powerless to stop it.

I was recently forced into attending my first army-style fitness session and, I must admit, the thought of it horrified me.  I am a bit of a pink princess at times and I do love my home comforts, so the idea of crawling around in the mud with strangers didn’t exactly excite me.  But, I put it down to one of those compromises you have to make for love (after all he did take me to see Dear John so I figured I owed him!) But, the added competition element of not wanting to be seen to be slacking worked wonders and despite it being extremely hard work, it wasn’t half as bad as I thought. I held my own (in the beginners group) and actually felt pretty good after it. I also took part in a charity abseil earlier this year which is something I never would have done before so who knows, maybe my Action Man is rubbing off on me more than I’d like to admit—just don’t tell him!

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By, Yvette Nevrkla, Tutor for the Discovery Learning Personal Trainer Business Workshop

Have you ever followed a specific strategy or method in your PT business and failed to get the results you were expecting? Why is it that some individuals appear to achieve success easily and others fail? How can two people apply the same strategy to their business goals and get such different results?

Most frequently the answer lies in your mindset – in your thinking.  I’ve heard it said many times, “Success is 5% Strategy but 95% psychology.” It’s your thinking that most profoundly affects your experience of life and your results.

Yet something which is so influential is often ignored. Very few people ever invest any time in understanding their current mindset. In fact, many people are not fully aware of just how responsible their mindset is for their results let alone knowing how to work on it.

If you’re a personal trainer, then developing your awareness and understanding of the role that mindset plays in success is critical. It’s critical not only for the success of your own business but for the success of your clients because mindset will determine their results just as it does yours. Understand this for yourself and you will develop some tools to help your clients achieve the results they want too.

Here are 5 behaviours to look out for in yourself which indicate that you are not yet programmed for success.

1. Procrastinating

If you are putting things off over and over again, holding back from doing something, whether that’s an action or making a decision, this is a sure sign that your current thinking is getting in your way. Most often,                procrastination comes from fear. Fear of failing, fear of rejection, fear of offending, fear of ridicule. There will be something that you’re worried about; something you fear will happen as a result of you taking action and it can be enough to keep you procrastinating for a very long time.

2. Blaming

What are you blaming for your current situation or results? Whose fault is it? The economy? Your family? The personal training profession? Your Gym? Blaming is a key trait of someone who isn’t programmed for success. Blaming involves giving your power away to anything and anyone else so that you don’t have to take responsibility. Your success or failure isn’t in anyone else’s hands except yours. If things aren’t working then you need to look at what you’re doing or not doing and change it.

3. Making Excuses

Just like blaming, making excuses for your actions or inaction is just another way to avoid taking responsibility for your results. “I didn’t or couldn’t do it because….” We’ve all done it. The important thing is to realise that you are doing it and to recognise that it’s you who is holding yourself back. There is often a deeper reason at work which is holding you back and stopping you from doing the thing you need to do.

4. Staying in Your Comfort Zone

If you are inclined to stay well within your comfort zone, choosing pleasing methods over pleasing results, it tells me that you haven’t done the work you need to do as far as preparing your mind for success. You haven’t created the focus or desire required to get you           doing what it really takes to achieve the results you really want.

5. Getting Distracted and Sidetracked

If you find yourself working on anything but the things that will progress your business, then you know there is work to do on your mindset.  Very often people will avoid doing the important actions, spending         time on activities that are of no value to their business. Checking       emails, surfing the internet, tidying the house, chatting with friends – you will allow almost anything to distract you from what you need to do.         

Each of these behaviours indicates that your current thinking is a barrier to your success. If you really want to be successful you will have to work on your thinking because until you do, it won’t matter what strategy you use, the results are not likely to change.

If you want to get different results you need to behave differently. In order to behave differently you need to understand what is causing you to behave the way you do. With each of these behaviours the underlying cause is your thinking which is determined by your values and your current beliefs and rules about the world. A simple shift in your thinking can have a dramatic affect on your life. It can change your reality in a heartbeat

So what does all of this mean for you and your own business success?

Well when you embark on the challenge of building your own personal training business you do so using your existing map of the world. Your map is just how you see the world. There are two things to say about maps. A map can never give you a complete picture of what is out there. It’s a representation. And the thing about maps is that they are often out of date or incorrect. They are often based on information that was acquired a very long time ago which is no longer relevant or useful.

Your current psychology or way of thinking will determine everything you do in business. It will determine whether or not you read this article and whether you reject or accept the ideas within it. It’ll determine whether you choose to develop business and skills and which ones you choose to develop. It’ll determine which business strategies you choose and the extent to which you follow through.

Your beliefs about business and success among other things will determine your actions and your responses to challenges as well as opportunities. Let me give you one example to illustrate this.

If achieving the success you desire means moving way out of your comfort zone and opening yourself up to feelings that you usually do anything to avoid such as rejection, ridicule or failure, then again you are unlikely to succeed without addressing those things. You’ll avoid strategies or even sabotage your own success just so that you avoid feeling those things you really don’t want to feel.

Very often you aren’t consciously aware of the thinking that’s at work here. All you know is whether or not you’re getting the results you want and you’ll be coming up with your own explanations for these results.

Stop procrastinating, hesitating, blaming and avoiding and take control of your PT business success. The key is to start identifying what makes you tick. Explore your own beliefs, rules and values, specifically in relation to your business goals that you’ve yet to achieve. What is really holding you back?  Remember it’s probably not the strategy!

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