I'm working
hard. There's nothing new or especially admirable about that.
So why would I even mention it? Because the vision that's driving
me is compelling, and sharing the vision can only speed the process
of it becoming real.
I envision
personal trainers emerging as heroes, as rescuers, and most of
all, as professionals who are active catalysts for curing dis-ease
and creating a 21st century society filled with appreciation of
health, vitality, and well-being.
The naysayers
may now step up. "Phil, what's so stinkin' special about
that vision? Personal trainers have been doing that for years."
"No they
haven't. They've been taking people thorugh exercise sessions,
improving the lives to some degreee in those clients who were
committed and willing to adhere, but that's a tiny segment of
the popluation that needs the help we can provde."
"Well,
we can't instill motivation in everyone."
"Perhaps
not, but we can communicate differently, reaching into a marketplace
that may not have in the past considered personal trainers as
viable options. We can expand our scope so we can affect thought
processes, mindsets, and perceptions. We can create a global awareness
that we have the ability to help the unwell find health, create
an acceptance that we hold the power to cure dis-ease."
Naysayers?
"Phil,
you're an egomaniacal nut with delusions of grandeur. You can't
expect personal trainers to do what doctors can't?!?!!?"
"I can.
All I have to do is help the right personal trainers see the bridge."
The Bridge
Spans the Gap That Separates Exercise Experts from Outcome Experts
I would never
criticize personal training. It is my chosen profession and has
been for more than half of my life. I criticize, not the profession,
but the systems and paradigms under which personal trainers operate.
They're led to believe that passing a test credentials them. They're
led to believe that their income is limited by the idea of one-hour-one-client-one-fee.
They accept that personal trainers are not revered as professionals
in other fields, and they believe that as long as they guide their
clients through safe and potentially effective exercise routines,
they're doing their jobs.
I've spoken
at the industry conferences for decades, and have had over 500
articles published for the trade. Each speaking appearance, each
article, each interview, and each personal consult are aimed at
helping trainers find betterment, at helping them realize their
true potential. Every now and then someone responds. It's incredible
to witness, and even more incredible to feel a part of the metamorphosis.
It's almost as if, with the right information and perspective,
something in the trainer's mind is awakened and he or she sees
potential differently. I didn't realize what I was doing until
recently. I was teaching a small group of personal trainers to
cross over the gap, the leave the place where trainers are restrained
by limitations, and to begin to journey to a new land where professional
respect, compensation, and immense reward are the rule rather
than the exception.
Only recently
have I come to recogize that those who are ready to understand
their power begin stepping in a new direction. Only recently have
I seen the consistency in the part of the journey that goes from
"holy shit, I can make money" to the new confidence
that follows. Only recently have I seen the 90 day period from
awareness to effortless prosperity as a bridge, a bridge that
takes personal trainers so far away from being stuck they literally
arrive in a new profession with a new set of rules and an entirely
new sense of what the future holds.
I've reinforced
the bridge. It's a challenging bridge to cross. It asks you to
be instrospective, to see what you're really made of, and while
the winds blowing across it want to push you back into the limits
of convention, those fueled by passion and desire put one foot
in front of the other until "the client struggle" evaporates.
The sense of overwhelm that comes with trying to grow a personal
training business is replaced by a new sense of ease. The thank
you messages that arrive in emotional hugs, phone calls, and emails
take on a new intensity, and the definition of the term "results"
moves from simple fat loss to revitalization.
My Be Better
project requires crossing the bridge. As you go through the Be
Better program you'll come to understand the term creative tension.
In essence, it defines the distance from where you are to where
yo ureally want to be, and when you begin to see it as spanned
by a bridge, you realize the other side awaits you.
