THE “BUSINESS” OF PHYSIQUE - IS YOUR’S SURVIVING OR THRIVING?

 

 

ToddLAGrandPrixSideI love to train.  Intense, hardcore, high rep, heavy weight sets, conducted over short training sessions.  This is what gets me fired up.  It is my passion and my desire to better myself each day.

The reason I am telling you this, is that every day when I walk into the gym, I have one goal in mind. To work harder, to grow and to achieve more than I did the previous session.  Knowing I have given it my all, pushed through my mental limits and have added more value to my business today, I continue on to improve my physique and have bettered the overall top line for my business.

Yes, that is correct.  I look at training like building a world-class physique as my business.  In this business there is only one person but it is almost like you have a split personality as you have to serve two roles.  You have to be the Employer and the Employee.

Old habits can be hard to break.   For instance, the habit of employee thinking is a habit that will absolutely destroy your business if not condemned immediately. The challenge naturally is for those that are currently working as an employee to be able to delineate both patterns of thought “employer vs. employee”, and separate them at the appropriate times.

Now with this being said, it will take a disciplined effort that is put forth daily and consistently to achieve this.  If not, you will succumb to the employee mentality syndrome again.  Yes, the battle will be daily.  We all know that oil and water do not mix.  They have nothing in common.  Such is the case with an employee and an employer mentality.  Not even close… They are worlds apart.

Your challenge will be to slowly develop the “Employer Mentality” and it’s habitual way of thinking with its fierce discipline and attitude.  I call this the “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” iron clad mindset.  As you will discover, this new mindset and attitude are totally contrary to that of the employee mindset.

Sadly, but true, many people are never quite able to make the transition and find that their fitness lives are short lived or short changed.  At the height of the employee to employer mindset transition, an employee processes activity to a pre determined set of instructions, while an employer creates it.

Every day when you enter the gym, you most likely have a plan.  You will train a certain body part, with a specific number of reps and sets, which will take you “X” amount of time to complete.   So many people go through the motion, almost like they are sleep walking through their day and never put in the extra effort to create any additional value.

Does this sound familiar?  You most likely see it in the gym as well as the workforce?

An employee is a work processor, while an employer is a work creator.  Often an employee will follow the process and do just enough to get by.  On the other hand, the employer is always looking to create and add value and puts everything they have into overcoming any obstacles that stand in their path of this creation.

One must reconfigure the wiring, and naturally embrace taking new action and creating new habits.

To the degree that you embrace and effectively transition from employee mentality to employer mentality will determine the degree of how quickly you graduate from Surviving to Thriving.

The one thing that has to go to achieve a successful transition is old habits!

Having said that, not all old habits are bad (some might serve you well).  Showing up, having a game plan for your training are all great and might just need a shot on intensity and a no excuses attitude attached.  They need to be reconfigured now to go from small tasks such as food prep, lifestyle schedule and mindset of an employee (just enough to get by or if it’s convenient, or if I want to) to that of the employer (consistently pushing the limits, working to better their business every moment with no short cuts).  Remember, the employee has a fixed, safe and stable environment that is easily adaptable and ultimately predictable with very low risks involved.  Could this be you?  Are you too comfortable with your same schedule that you’ve had the past couple of years?

Typically there is nothing routine about an employer.  Sure there are a set amount of activities that are placed each day but nothing is truly fixed or commonplace. As an employer, nothing is preset.  You will constantly be making on the fly adjustments, trial and error, documented proof and will learn that results speak.  There is no one to tell the employer when to come and go, when to begin and end, how much effort to put in and no one will reprimand you.  Your time, your activities, your effort is your own and no one is monitoring it.

I believe job interviews should be conducted in the gym.  People look at me like I am crazy when I say this.  However, I see a direct correlation of how someone pushes and conducts him or herself in an intense training session with their every day life and business. 

I love bringing someone new to train, and when I begin pushing them, adding reps, doing drop sets, super sets, adding weight or stepping up the pace they start providing me with all the reasons why they can’t.  They begin to provide a bunch of excuses.   I know right then, they will never make it, at least not to the higher level as they are still stuck with the employee mindset.  On the other hand, I have had new people train that will push themselves, will not provide excuses, and would rather throw up, pass out or die trying, and right there I know there is the potential for a champion to be created.

I have always said; I will take someone with great work ethic over a person that has skill and talent any day.  You need to adopt this same mentality when putting in the work to your training, and fitness lifestyle.

As a business owner, an employer, you have freedom but it comes with responsibility and accountability, and the level you place on these two, will determine to a great deal your level of success.  One needs to develop the mindset and disciplines to endure past and through the initial learning curve.

Throughout your fitness career you will always have the “Employer – Employee” relationship present.  When you are conducting business you have to be the Employer that is hard on his or her Employee and constantly focus on creating that value proposition that will grow your business and drive your brand higher.

When you embrace the employer mindset you will see your self-worth and personal stock rise in value.  This will affect your confidence and as a direct result, the attainment of your goals and dreams both in the gym and ultimately in all areas of your life.

 

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”–John Maxwell