I even recently did the training for the latest
GRRRRRR fad.
Just to see what it was all about.
(And it was a nice day out of the house)
And Iearned something from all of them.
And I have seen the same thing happen
every single time.
In the same way….
I didn’t want to miss out on the ‘next big thing’.
The one that would draw the crowds
And from a money point of view
It was a pretty safe bet.
This is how it always goes…
We had 100 Reebok Steps at the place I taught it
and they were always full, with another 10 people
bringing their own.
Zumba I started 6 classes all in the same week
all full, all booming.
And then the initial excitement wears off
the classes settle to a core group,
The normal peaks and flows of class numbers through
the year starts to kick in…
and Christmas happens, or Summer holidays
or X Factor final.
And what became an unmissable class for people
became something they sometimes do
or used to do.
Instructors like me spend their time
walking the streets delivering flyers
and putting up posters
And doing displays, and school fetes
and walking along in bright tee-shirts
in the village carnival persuading people
to keep coming along.
Rather than working on our delivery
and talking to people about what they need.
And reading scientific studies and all the things
I was definitely never ever going to stop continually doing
twenty years ago when I first trained.
And then the next big thing happens
and it starts all over again.
And I am not going to do it any more.
NOPE
I have delivered my last flyer.
Put up my last poster.
Walked my last carnival….
Because that is not a good use of my time.
A good use of my time is having a Skype call with a Personal
Training client when she is having a tough week.
Looking at her food diary and finding simple ways for her
to have more energy.
Writing and testing recipes.
Learning what the top nutritionists are saying about eating for health
and longevity,
Choreographing an effective, sexy, achievable fat-burning dance routine
to that addictive song that we can’t get out of our head
that they just played on Radio 1
Because I don’t need 110 people in a class any more.
In fact I wouldn’t want it.
How could I learn all their names?
How could I know if there knee is a bit dodgy
or be able to say “Anna, do this one with a bent leg”?
I’ve been there, and bought the tee shirt
(and more than one hideous pair of trousers with tassles on)
I have been accused this week of having a ‘fitness cult’
and ‘followers’ rather than ‘clients’
being ‘opinionated’.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
(is it bad that I loved this?)
YES.
It’s a FAIR COP!!!
It’s all true.
I am REALLY OPINIONATED.
I have opinions based on what I have learned,
and I am not scared to tell people.
Even if it isn’t a ‘get the most money in the quickest possible time’ ploy
Or a ‘don’t challenge anyone’s thinking’ ploy
Or ‘actually long-term, help ACTUALLY HELP people’, ploy.
Because I have seen it all before.
And I vowed never to waste another second on anything I don’t believe in,
or that could make people waste their money
or feel worse.
or like a failure.
Not happening.
I’m getting older and increasingly less tolerant of BS.
And I have NEVER been motivated by money.
(sorry bank manager…but there it is)
And one of the benefits of noticing the crow’s feet
is that you increasingly and genuinely
DON’T GIVE A FLYING JEFF
what what the other Goldfish
are up to any more.
(this is also why I have silly hair,
and dress as if the circus has come to town,
and I have an audition)
That’s not how I measure success.
Other things are much more important.
People’s success.
Their happiness.
Their confidence.
Their quietly regaining control of their lives
and finding inner reserves that they never thought
they would come anywhere close to.
You want opinionated?
There it is.
I told you about a PT client *****, a while ago.
Who sat on the floor, teary in my PT studio.
Her body wouldn’t let her do what she wanted to do.
She had so much fat to lose.
It was all too hard.
Too much of a mountain to climb.
But in the 4 months since then she has:
Had a marriage proposal
(she says largely due to how impressed her
other half was for all the effort she was making)
Her body WILL do the things she wants it to
She is nearing the 3 stone mark of weight loss
Lost track of the inches
(she says “I know what you will say, Tanya,
it’s not about weight”)
Her hair has got all thick and glossy
She can hold a plank like there’s no tomorrow.
She ordered a wedding dress…and had now had to order a smaller one.
She brings in her “fat trousers” trousers that used to be tight
and puts them on to show me how loose they are.
I reckon I could get in them with her now!
And she is getting married soon.
These are the things I care about.
This is what motivates me.
So, just for the record.
I am going to KEEP being opinionated.
In fact I might get even MORE opinionated.
Because I have no interest in being the brightest, shiniest
crowd pleasing, cheapest in the area, goldfish.
And I am pretty picky about who I will let in my ‘cult’….