Folks, if there’s one thing I’ve been accused of, it’s getting lots of stuff done.
And no, I’m not a multi-tasker.
Simply put, I have several key strategies (which I call “Rules”) that I use to be more productive every day and to multiply myself. Although I discuss these Rules in great detail in my book, I wanted to share the basic quick tip versons with you now. Without further ado, here are the top 5 Rules to become a more productive fitness professional:
Rule 1) Only Read Once. If you find a book, magazine, or article, pick it up once, read it down once, put it down and walk away. For example, if I find an article in a magazine about how to address chronic hip flexor problems in a client, I read it once knowing I will not be giving myself the chance to read it again. The mind is an amazing thing, and the fact that it knows it has one chance to learn the content ensures that I will take away the most important points and commit them to memory. Caveat: For the very important or difficult-to-understand items, I have a folder on my desk where I can shove it for later access, marked Study This. You’ll save tons of time by not reading and re-reading books, magazines and articles. For this same reason, I nearly never purchase books – I rent them from the library, again, knowing that I will only get to read them once.
Rule 2) Template. Everything I do, I save. For example, if I write a rotator cuff strengthening program, it is saved as 2 versions on my computer – the first version is in the clients folder, and the second version is saved in the workouts folder as “3daysweekrotatorcuffforathlete.doc” or something that describes the program briefly. Folks – if you plan on being in the fitness professional business for a long time, you better begin templating, because after just a few years, you’ll find you have pre-written programs for nearly every condition under the sun, and then all you need to do is tweak a template slightly for a new client. This is a huge time-saver, and works well for meal plans also.
Rule 3) Crowdsource. Crowdsourcing refers to “taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an “open call” to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions”. I’m not telling you to outsource your jobs to India or the Phillipines (that’s for fitness internet marketers, mostly). Instead, what you need to specifically do is crowdsource your marketing efforts. How many hours do you spend creating and hanging flyers and advertisements or making brochures for your personal training business? Here’s a hint: let your clients design your weight loss contests, special promotions and even your sales. For example, if you want to run a big personal training sale in February, tell your clients to make a flyer with a sale that appeals to them, and the best flyer is the sale for that month. This is also a great way to survey your audience, another smart marketing move.
Rule 4) Produce In Small Chunks. Every day write something or record something. Even if it is just half a page or 5 minutes of audio or a single video recorded exercise. If you are working in your business you are never going to reach massive success. But if you are working on your business, always creating, writing, producing content that can be licensed, used as a guide for employees or sold as a tool to your clients, you will find yourself far more productive and more successful. Imagine – if you recorded one high quality video each day for 365 days of the year, you would have a video library to sell, market or provide value within 1 year. Trust me, there are many fitness professionals who only *think* about doing such a thing, but never do it because it seems like such a huge task. Instead, produce in small chunks and you’ll get higher quality content that isn’t as intimidating for you to take on as an entire project.
Rule 5) Outline. Every Sunday night, I outline my week. Before I write an article, I outline the entire article. Before I write a book, I outline the book. Before I work on a client’s program, I outline the program (actually, they outline it for me, using a special questionnaire I talk about in my book). Outlines are funny things, because when you have an outline, you experience this uncontrollable urge to actually fill in the spaces and turn the outline into something useful and productive. If you launch into a task without seeing the beginning, the middle, the end, or the skeleton that holds it all together, you’re nearly guaranteed to produce something subpar. But if you outline, you’ll work faster and have a better end product.
And that’s a good place to end…because a better end product is the goal, right? If you can re-invent your clients’ bodies, health and persona, then you’re spending your time creating one of the best products there is – a happy person! These 5 rules will help: Only Read Once, Template, Crowd-source, Produce In Small Chunks, and Outline.
If you want more detail, more useful rules and guides, and over 150 pages jam-packed with more information just like this, check out my book “Personal Trainers’ Guide to Earning Top Dollar”.
