Last week I had the opportunity to do something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. When I was coming up as a young professional I was lucky enough to have awesome mentors to show me the ropes. I have always thought that I could provide some valuable insight to a young fitness professional if the opportunity presented itself. Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to speak to a group of twenty IU students that are aspiring fitness professionals and share my unique perspective on how I we do things at NGPT.
Michelle Miller was one of my favorite professors when I was at IU. She is someone that obviously cares about her students but also wants to push them to maximize their potential. When she contacted me about bringing a group of her students to our studio to meet me my reply was a big ole “HELL YES!”. I was extremely fired up and those students had no idea what they were in for!!! My main objectives were to show the students that it is very possible to have a fitness career that you love and that you can make a hugely positive impact on people’s lives and still have a personal life that you love as well.
So the students came in on Wednesday and I could tell that they were expecting some of the same old information that they would get from any guest speaker. Then I start off by talking about how I track my “free days”, or days off from work, as my main form of compensation for what I do. From that point on I think I had them! I blasted away with full energy for 90 minutes and I could’ve gone for another 90 easily. The students were asking amazing questions and I could tell that I had opened up a few eyes to the thought of being able to go against the grain and operate your business in a unique way.
When I was in my early twenties I attended a workshop where a gentleman did something unique that really stuck with me. So I decided to give it a try with this group. I spoke about seizing opportunities when they present themselves. I mentioned a simple two step process of #1 Making a decision and #2 Taking immediate action. I immediately quizzed them on this two step process. I asked what #1 was….and they replied “Make a decision”, then I pulled a $100 bill out of my pocket and held it up and asked what #2 was. Most of them replied “take action”…..so I asked the question again…..and again…..and again….until finally a young man in the front row stood up and took the $100 bill out of my hand. THAT is the answer I was looking for! He wasn’t talking about taking action….he ACTED!
I’m super grateful to Michelle for giving me the opportunity to share my unique business perspective, and lot of energy, with these students. The really amazing thing happened in the days that followed. I started getting emails from the students talking about what a difference my talk made. The things that they had to say to me were so amazing and positive. The young man who took the $100 bill said that he actually was so impacted by the talk that he decided to give the money away to the first person he saw who looked like they needed it…..WOW!
Until next time….with gratitude,
Adam
About this blog: The goal of this blog is 100% selfish, I hope in a good way. We are all exposed to a lot of drama and negativity on a daily basis. Maybe from the news, maybe from work, or maybe from family and friends. I want to attempt to combat that with a big dose of positivity and gratitude. I consider this to be a selfishly motivated blog because I KNOW for a fact that expressing gratitude makes me feel a lot better…period. I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal for the past few months and it is one of my favorite parts of every day. I just feel like it would be 100 times better if I actually shared what I was grateful for and why. I want to deliver a little blast of unexpected positivity with each post.
I also feel like this will be a great challenge….maybe an experiment, that will help me open up and say things that need to be said. I always enjoy self improvement and expanding my own capabilities. I’ve made a decision that I don’t want to wait until it is too late to show someone my gratitude. Many times you hear moving speeches at a funeral. People open up and really pour their heart and soul into what they are saying. Why not say those things now?
The only rule with this blog is that there are no rules. Some posts may be long, some may be short. There is no order of importance. I might post about my work experience or I might post about my family. I might post about something that happened 20 years ago or 20 minutes ago. If something hits my heart and my mind I’m going to get it out there. I know that I will have a few friends and family members that read these posts. My only request is that there is no judgment or thinking along the lines of “He hasn’t said that he’s grateful for ME yet!” or “Why did he talk about THAT before he talked about ME!”, etc. There is no place for that kind of thinking in the world of this little blog.
