This weekend we attended an incredibly inspiring and informative conference on how to be successful business owners. For two full days there were speakers, takeaways, and action steps all illustrating to us how to operate a gym that fosters a wonderful culture and the highest level of training and professionalism. We were given caffeine and books and planners and then sent on our way to start putting it all in to action. I left with the wheels turning in my head and inspired to bring it all back to our gym to start putting in place.
So, in the airport before my plane ride home, I got out my shiny new planner (I know, I still use those) to write a list of things I wanted to accomplish this week, expecting to be furiously scribbling all the great ideas down on paper that I could then break down in to goals and action steps. Nothing came to my mind. Ok, I’ll just grab the notes I wrote during the conference to get started. I flipped through the pages and pages of notes I took – hours upon hours of advice and ideas from some of the very best gym owners in the world. That should surely help, right? Still nothing. I couldn’t come up with a single place to start.
After beginning to panic about how I had wasted all this time and energy to travel across the country to not get enough out of this conference, it came to me: my problem was that I was paralyzed with the amount of information and ideas. There were so many different things I could literally take action on IMMEDIATELY that I simply didn’t know where to begin.
What did I do? I took some deep breathes and a quick lap around the terminal, then sat back down. Head clear and focused, I decided on a single thing I could implement this week and do a really good job with. Then I closed my planner. Next week, I will pick something else to focus my attention on. Each week I will chip away at all the new and exciting ideas I took away from the conference as we continue this journey to make our gym the best it can possibly be.
This experience is not unlike when people first step foot into a gym. Maybe they haven’t exercised in years – or ever – and they walk through the door to be told about training systems and dumbbells and resistance bands, and what the heck is that machine over there?!? There’s personal training verses group training, and then there’s nutrition on top of all of it, which can be so overwhelming in it of itself. The information and advice is from a true expert in the field and they are ready to help make a sound plan for your success. There are so many things you could jump in to and begin immediately that it can seem nearly impossible to decide where to start. And then there is the internet and GOOGLE. If you have ever tried searching for “fitness advice” or “weight loss,” there are literally BILLIONS of results. We live in a time where getting access to high quality information has never been easier (although I might question a good deal of the advice about fitness routines and weight loss found on the higher pages of the google search), but yet it hasn’t made our decision making any easier. Often that simple search query can lead you down a rabbit hole of research link clicking that ends several HOURS later with you more confused than ever on what is the correct action to take.
Here’s my advice: choose ONE thing to do. Make a decision to focus on one aspect of your health first until it becomes habit (read more on that HERE). Get the ball rolling a bit and then add in something else. Maybe you start by cutting out soda from your diet. Or your evening dessert. Possibly you decide to begin by walking around your neighborhood every day. The point is, pick one SMALL thing to start moving the needle in the correct direction when it comes to improving your health and fitness. When you are ready, come see us. We will be here to guide you along the way, one step at a time.