My advice for the young coaches in the room
You gotta get crystal clear on what success looks like to you, and figure out a way to drown out the noise.
Think about your perfect day - no like really close your eyes and think about that.
Does it involve going viral on TikTok? Or working 12-14 hour days for a professional sports organization? Or filming paid content ads for products that no one really needs?
We live in a world where the only way to have credibility in fitness (according to the public eye) is to either have a million instagram followers, have the perfect body or some huge weight loss story, or to train professional athletes. And maybe that’s truly your thing and what brings you fulfillment, but there are so many status symbols you can chase in this industry - instagram followers, status, speaking opportunities, influencer partnerships, numbers on your lifts, PR’s in your races, and maybe those things are truly what you want.
But often these things we chase take us farther from the work that actually matters:
Connecting with people
Teaching them skills to improve their health and bodies
Being the brightest part of their days
Showing them that they’re more strong and capable than they ever thought
Building a life for yourself that’s meaningful and balanced.
For example I started an online coaching business years ago that was pretty successful considering I was also working full time in person and in graduate school because I thought that’s what all fitness people did - coach online and build an online fitness empire.
I loved the folks I worked with there and it allowed me to have clients all over the world but I also quickly realized how lonely it was, that it was a desk job, and that frankly it took all the parts I love most about coaching away. Although I wouldn’t change that experience, it made me realize that what I thought “the dream” was in fitness, wasn’t for me and it probably was never truly my dream but just one I absorbed from others.
I love my job at SSP. I get to work every single week with some of the best coaches and humans I’ve ever encountered, I get to work with the amazing humans in our community, I get to explore and diversify my leadership skills under great mentorship and I make more money than I ever thought I would in this career - with less than 3k instagram followers, no online business, no insane body change story, and training no professional athletes.
I don’t say all this to diss anyone, but just to remind us all to take the time to define what success means to YOU - not what society thinks, not what your parents think, not what your friends think but what YOU genuinely want and the impact you genuinely want to have. ❤️
