They want to learn from me, have access to my strategies, and suckle on my motivation teat looking to disrupt their current state, never satisfied, seeking to find their next level!

Books, on books, on books. They say leaders are readers, and learners are earners. 

If only it was that simple!

Early into my personal training career, I found myself always looking for the best way to get people to follow me, and why wouldn’t they? After all, they are paying for just that, right? They want to learn from me, have access to my strategies, and suckle on my motivation teat looking to disrupt their current state, never satisfied, seeking to find their next level!

Not long Into this endless loop, I found myself looking for the answer. I was looking to all sorts of leadership materials, five levels, how to win friends, year-long coaching courses, you name it I was doing it. Now don’t get me wrong, everything I mentioned definitely helped me identify certain skill sets to focus on developing, undoubtedly a step in a positive direction. While all of this worked to get good results with many clients, I felt there had to be a much more effective way still left unexplored.

After several years of this, I felt inclined to step away from the books as my performance was not increasing at a desirable rate, and now I had a rather large team to lead. I had spent all this time learning how to lead through someone else’s eyes and is best described by me as a crutch. I needed a change, so, my first strategy took me to the pen and paper. I committed to writing down the one most noticeable thing that moved the team in the right direction. I would also write down one specific thing I could do better. The act of reflecting at the end of my day made my leadership at least 10x more effective on paper with my team of 40. 

In hindsight it’s so simple, by looking for these moments, I am excited to stay present, connected, and more easily see the effect my leadership for better or worse. I also find great satisfaction (that BDE) knowing that when we are shattering records, I am an authentic part of that; likewise, the fails were 100% on my shoulders. How I see it, If at the end of your week, month, or year you’ve not hit the goals you’ve set out to destroy, all your contingencies have fallen through, there’s no books or anyone else to take the blame. You failed; it’s time to be humble, learn, and get back up. It’s time to aggregate all the failures and rework the plan. I’ve noticed that when you truly take responsibility, there are some intoxicating highs and disgustingly painful lows. For me, getting past the crutch that came in the form of always looking for the answers from experts lead me to greater success. This was in part due to the increased responsibility I now felt towards each team members outcome, there was no “expert that lead me astray” it was all on me. I can confidently say learning from these outcomes is a force multiplier for my team’s success.