Here is a list of items I’ve “done” from September 2015 to March 2016 (today):
With respect to work at Cressey Sports Performance…
- From September 2015 to March 2016, I’ve written 164 exercise programs for athletes at Cressey Sports Performance.
- I’ve performed assessments on over 29 individual athletes, and an unknown number of informal assessments for staff/friends/family in the meantime.
- If I ask Pete, I’m sure I can find out how many athletes that have walked into our doors, and I can get a good estimate on the amount of athletes and clients I’ve interacted with and coached.
With respect to my own individual work…
- September 2015 to March 2016 I’ve written over 30 blog posts. Knowing that I can write a lot, I’ll give myself the benefit of the doubt and say that I’ve had at the very least 1000 words in a blog post. The most recent post I’ve had was 2000 words, however.
Scratch that– I just went through each post and found the word counts. I had exactly 31,162 words written from September 2015 to March 2016, not including this post. Also, this is not taking into account the sweat equity for the videos I’ve recorded to support these posts, the editing of these videos for better lighting, and the re-takes for videos that weren’t good enough the first time through.- 28 of those blog posts have been posted from January through March 2016, and I wrote exactly 21,534 words within that time frame.
- I’ve recorded over 5 webinars, gave 1 presentation, on top of countless uploads to YouTube videos from an instructional point of view.
- On my Facebook page Enhance2Dance, I’ve only uploaded 5 individual videos. This is somewhere where I will need to pick up the pace ten-fold.
- I’ve listened to over 4 days of audiobooks, over 30 podcasts ranging from business to fitness industry related items, along with countless hours on the phone with industry professionals talking about everything and anything whenever I go on road trips.
The funny thing is that I had to look back and count these items out. I don’t usually do this – counting the things that I’m doing. I just do it, and I know that sometimes things will hit and go viral, and other things won’t go viral.
I’ve started to see threads and patterns in all of these things, and expect even more content to A/B test the things I’m writing and providing content for all of you to consume.
It’s funny, and sad at the same time, but my most visited blog post is one I wrote over two years ago about hip internal rotation. I asked one of my strength coach friends to Google Search “Hip Internal Rotation” and let me know what he sees. He told me I’m the number 4 hit, and Dean Somerset is the number 3 hit.
That hit me hard. I put over 10 hours into that series of blog post (it’s a one-two series on hip internal rotation), creating a flowchart, checking my anatomy, making it easy to consume, creating tables, creating Tweet-able phrases… and I’m not even number one?
Now keep in mind, I love Dean, he puts out great content, and he is a cool guy. It is mind blowing that I bought one of his co-authored products from a set he did with Tony Gentilcore, Jeff Cubos, Rick Kaselj ExerciseForInjuries.com, and here I am complaining that I’m underneath him in a Google Search phrase.
I don’t display this much, but I’m highly competitive.
I want to be the number one hit on that Google Search term.
All of this retrospection has been brought to light by a chance to listen, meet, and talk shop with one of my mentors from afar, Gary Vaynerchuk.
Want to Be An Entrepreneur? This is What You Signed Up For
At the end of the day, this is just my job.
I’m merely quantifying all of this for a few reasons: to audit myself, my time, the work I’ve “put in” in this specific industry, along with understanding that I need to exhibit a little more patience, and respecting that this is a numbers game.
I can complain all I want about how I’m not getting enough exposure, but I’m still young in this game, no matter how you look at it.
I haven’t even opened up a facility like many of my peers in this industry have, nor do I want to. At least not yet. And that is a totally different ball game if and when I do.
On one level, I’m developing a skill set that I will be able to take with me anywhere:
- Knowledge on anatomy and physiology.
- The ability to write to multiple audiences.
- The ability to speak to multiple types of populations based on their goals.
- Assessing and identifying functional movements in several different populations
- Providing strategies for increased fitness for various populations
- Connections, relationships, and bonds with people at the gym.
No one can take those things away from me.
I have also been able to improve upon my skill set as a coach and trainer. I often hear coaches within our field quote an unknown person saying, “If you are doing things the same way 6 months ago as you are today, you’re doing it wrong.” Well, I’m here to mention that I’m doing things a little different every week, let alone 6 months ago.
60% of the Time, It Works 100% of the Time
Having the ability to execute is a largely underrated skillset. In only 3 months, I’ve had one blog post for every day of a given calendar month.
That means in 30 days, I’ve had 30 blog posts. (It is 3 months out however… so I should be doing 120 posts at least).
I said to my close colleagues and co-workers that I was going to push a heck of a lot more content, but I haven’t been pushing as much as I feel I could be pushing.
Allow me to have a lack of hubris in this one moment – I know I’m good. I want you to know how good I am.
I’d like to think I got part of this drive from Gary, but the truth is I’ve always had this drive to become better, and do more. Listening to him has allowed me to know that I’m on the right path, which is ultimately my path… which is going to be different than everyone else’s path.
I can see the goal, it is far away, but I just know that putting the work in is necessary towards the things I want to achieve.
Are Your Actions Matching Your Goals ?
This question is something that makes sense when I ask it to any of my athletes or clients. If you have a goal, you have to have the subsequent actions to reach them.
They always ask “How much until I achieve this six pack? How much until I can deadlift 400lbs or more?”
These are all fair questions. We all want to know when we are closer to the destination.
But when I flip it on myself, and others who want to be where I am, it is enlightening to say the least.
This same question can be posed towards “online trainers” within this industry:
- Are your actions matching your intentions?
- How much have you written?
- How many videos have you put out there of yourself?
- What are your results (that you helped your clients achieve)?
- How much have you exposed your own methodology to help others get better?
- How much have you exposed yourself to difficult subject matters such as anatomy & physiology?
- How much have you invested in learning to improve your emotional intelligence?
Self-Awareness and Enduring the Pressure & Heat…
Gary Vaynerchuk talks greatly about self-awareness of who you are as an individual. I’ve always resonated with this statement.
I’ve known who I was ever since I was a kid, and I’ve always wondered why no one else is like me. I never fit in, despite my many efforts to fit in. So I said fuck it, I’ll stand out.
And thus, I started dancing. I actually had a mohawk at one point in both high school and also in college. I even had a double mohawk in college. Yeah, I was that guy.
Gary gave some very simple, yet sobering advice: Paraphrasing…
“Being at the top is lonely. If you want to be #1, there are things you have to sacrifice, on top of having self-awareness. No one says you have to be #1, to be on the same path that I am taking. You can be #2, #3, #4, and still do well from a lifestyle point of view.”
In the context of being a coach, I know that I’m going to be one of the best out there. I can just tell from conversing with others, and speaking to others, and reading what others write, and seeing how they think, all the way to how they write exercise programs. Sometimes I agree, other times I don’t agree. And that’s okay.
I know I’m good, and I’m going to get better as time passes.
Place enough pressure and heat on a piece of rock, and eventually a diamond will form. It won’t be tomorrow, or the next day, but eventually it will happen.
I know I can put more content out, more videos, more interactions online.
I’m not providing “life coaching” – I’m only 27, and expecting life advice in this context is ironic at best. I can however, provide different takes on philosophies with respect to training philosophies, exercising, assessing, and generally looking at things from a different perspective regarding exercise and sports/dance performance.
Put This Into Action
With this in mind, I’d like to challenge you, the reader, a way to become more self-aware with one simple question.
What is that one thing that you haven’t done this year, that you set out to do in the beginning of the year?
It is already March in the year 2016, which means if you are playing the New Year’s Resolution game, you are roughly 19% through this year. It is almost 25% of the year once this month is gone.
- What haven’t you done this year, that you said you would?
- If you’ve done a little of that one thing, how deep have you gone into it?
- Can you do more?
- If you said you’d start working out, have you gone only once every other week?
- What is stopping you from coming into the gym every other day this week?
Just how diamonds aren’t formed overnight, change also doesn’t occur over one week or one month of time. Keep the pressure on yourself, and bring the heat, and you can create an amazing change for yourself.
As always,
Keep it funky.
