Today marks 20 years since I started working in the Fitness Industry.
I turned up for my first shift at Fitness First Derby at 1pm.
I’d been down in Cambridge at the YMCA, studying for my Level 2 Fitness Instructor from Monday 11th to Friday 22nd February.
———– Note: I’ve had to work out those dates – I just remembered it was my birthday while I was on the course, that I started work the first week of March and that everyone was in on Mondays for a team meeting that was straight after lunch ————
If you’d have asked me if I’d still be in the Fitness Industry 20 years later, I probably would have laughed.
I’d graduated the year before with a 2:1 Degree in Manufacturing Engineering with Operations Management from Nottingham University (which had the best Engineering department in the country at that point).
Whilst I knew I didn’t want to work in Engineering anymore, a lifelong career in Fitness wasn’t the plan either.
I’ll be honest, I sometimes wonder if I’ve made the right choice.
I was a bright kid.
Top few in my class(es) for most subjects.
Highest mark in the year for maths at one point, if I remember correctly.
What would 16 year old me have thought if he’d heard that he’d spend most of his adult life “working in a gym”?
It’s very easy to question our choices in life.
To wonder if we’ve made, or are making, the right ones.
And without a frame of reference, we’re usually left with the answer of “no”.
We can only decide if we’re happy with our choices when we have something to compare to.
Something more concrete, rather than vague thoughts of what we “should” or “ought” or “need to” be doing.
The clearer we get on our values and the more we look at how our choices impact us living our life in line with these values…………
The easier it is to decide if we’re happy with our decisions or not.
And the more likely we are to ‘course correct’ if we’re not.
I know I value supporting my family – both financially and by having the time, energy and mood to be there for them in a variety of ways.
I know I value helping other people make changes in their lives.
I know I value ‘making a difference’ with what I do.
I know I value being creative.
I know I value being a ‘lighthouse’ – lighting the way for others to change their path rather than trying to force them around like a tugboat.
Twenty years in the Fitness Industry has given me all that in spades.
Anything else would be a lesser value.
Probably a ‘societal norm’ – something I think I should care about more but, ultimately, don’t.
Something I’d probably preface with a “should” or “ought”.
Code for “not actually that important to me”.
When we get clear on what we value in life………..
What really is important to us………..
And cast aside the “oughts”, “shoulds” and “need to’s”……….
We find it easier to make the decisions that take us where we want to go.
That allow us to live the life we want.
To be ok with our choices.
Or to course correct when we’re not.
Much love,
Jon ‘Over the next couple of days I’m going to cover some of the big realisations from two decades of doing this. There are many more, but I share them with you regularly and these are two of the main ones’ Hall
P.S. It’s always cheaper in the long run to pay to learn from other people’s mistakes rather than to wait till we’ve learnt from enough of our own. I’ve got 20 years of mistakes and learning that you’ll benefit from to help make actual progress rather than just continuing one step forward, two steps back. Reply with INFO to find out more about that!
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RISE in Macclesfield was established in 2012 and specialise in Group Personal Training weight loss programmes for those that don’t like the gym and find diets boring and restrictive!
