For four and a half years (apprenticeship) I have had a challenging situation at my workplace. Everyday that I walk into the club meant that I got caught up in the drama of client acqusition and retention. This manifested in ways that made me lose focus on the tasks at hand.
On a daily basis I behaved one way then another. In hind sight, the action I took was appropriate. I would confront the issue when it was infront of me and forget it when it was out of sight. Was it healthy to do so? Could I have just blown a fuse and released all the energy I felt?
The answers to these questions lies in the desired outcome. To be honest, in a competitive environment like personal training in a health club, the probability of rubbing each other the wrong way is high. My desired outcome was always business survival. This meant getting new clients and keeping them. When that process was disturbed, I was affected. Unfortunately even I did not notice that, getting and keeping clients depended on me and me alone!
“Trust the process”, I say to my clients with conviction. Yet I had no trust in myself. This lack of trust created a cloud around me that led me to believe other trainers could just swipe the clients I was working with.
During my apprenticeship as a trainer, I was putting out small fires. Some real and some in my mind. The mind fires are made up fires and totally my fault. I should have never started them but now I know!
The real fires though are interesting.
Each time a trainer approched (knowingly) a client of mine, they saw an opportunity. I was doing something wrong, which is what I thought! As things turn out, I should have trusted myself, I was doing some amazing work.
I was being found and finding people who really wanted me to help them change their life circumstances.
This in turn was attracting the attention of others to the same people. There was nothing wrong,
I now look upon those who were part of the drama with gratitude. The time I spent worrying about keeping trainers away from clients could have been spent differently but then this post would not exist! All that time as a padawan (Star Wars Reference to rookie) was to hone certain skills
Patience, Perseverance, Persistance, Focus, Introspection, Restraint, Attention to detail….and last but not least Non-Judgement!
The “problem” was never a problem, it was always the solution!