Balance in a Season of Change
By Kelli Calabrese
Balance is a moving target. No one ever achieves perfect balance; even the guru’s who teach it. There are seasons in our lives where we may heavily focus on one of the components of our well being (physical, spiritual, professional, social, mental, relational, and emotional) more than others. For example, the period in your life when you are preparing for your wedding, that takes center stage (especially if you are a female). When you have a child, that may push your career to a simmer. If you have a parent who is ailing, your social life may be put on hold. When you are opening up a personal training studio, usually it’s your family that suffers.
There are seasons in our life that are meant to be out of balance. That’s how we grow in that area, however it should not be at the expense of your health, sanity and peace. No where is it a golden rule that we are born, get through puberty, work until we are 62 and then retire when we are too disabled to enjoy it.
If you find yourself in your prime earning years and you are heavily focused on earning a living as a fitness professional, that can still be done while enjoying a fulfilling relationship, raising brilliant children, improving your physical fitness, engaging in spiritual growth and finding time to relax with family and friends. It sounds like too much to balance, but it’s possible – never perfect, but possible!
It’s possible to avoid being a slave to your business and still achieve some semblance of balance while feeding your family, avoiding the bill collectors, and keeping your sanity. It starts with a blank slate. If you could begin tomorrow with a clear calendar and could spend 24 hours exactly how you wanted it (still earning a living) what would your day look like?
First meet your needs for sleeping, eating and of course training. Beyond those hours, think in detail about how many hours you want to spend working in and on your business, how many hours alone, with family, friends and so on. Your weekends would look different than your week days and your evenings may also vary.
Creating a schedule for the number of hours you will work is usually the most freeing for personal fitness professionals regardless of if you are just starting out or if you own multiple studio’s. When I first created my ideal day about 5 years ago, it literally changed my life in extraordinary ways.
I first identified the things that were the most important to me such as having breakfast with my children, exercising with my husband, not working past three o’clock, reading for 30+ minutes at night and sleeping for a minimum of 6 hours. Once I established the hours I was willing to work (from 9 – 3), I became highly efficient during those hours, I did not schedule personal things during that time and all of a sudden it became easy to say no to someone who wanted to schedule an evening interview, meeting or workout.
I was not thinking about work when I was riding bikes with my children and when I was working, I was not on the phone planning my next vacation with my husband. The guilt, inner conflict, stress and angst were removed. Period. My husband and I could plan dates and actually keep them. I never scheduled meetings when it was my workout time, I allowed time for personal, professional and spiritual development and a sense of calmness became a natural part of my world. Isn’t this what we teach our clients? Why is it so hard for us to achieve?
Is it perfect, never, but it’s a great start by first identifying what is ideal to you, second acknowledging that it’s okay to say no and third that you can enjoy your time working and playing knowing tomorrow is another clean slate to be productive in every area of your life. Even mediation and relaxation are productive.
You may start out more rigid with your ideal day schedule. Once you have achieved some balance you will have more productivity and more peace. With that comes more freedom and that freedom allows for more flexibility. That flexibility means you to take more time from work and for enjoyment.
For example, maybe right now you are training 7 clients in a day, but that’s stretched out over a 10 hour period. In time you could shift that to training 4 clients a day in 4 hours and having two trainers working for you training 8 client hours a day. In the 6 hours you gain, you can spend 3 of them working on growing your business and allocate the rest of the time how you please. With that new schedule you are earning 50% more income than you were and you have freed up 3 hours a day to spend how you please.
If what you are doing right now is not working you have a few choices. First, keep doing what you are doing, however do not expect a different results. If anything your results will worsen in time. Or you could project into the future and determine how you want to be spending your days.
Start working today towards your ideal day. Living your ideal day will move you closer to living in balance. The clients who are the most devoted to their meal plan see the best results. Those who follow loosely will see some changes, but not nearly as significant. The same applies to your ideal day. If you start taking clients at night even thought you said you would not or if you take on a new project with out giving up an old one, you will find yourself defeated, frustrated and burnt out. I’ve lost count of the trainers who have to come to me in that sad state. It does not have to be.
If you do nothing after reading this article, you will likely continue to feel like a hamster on a wheel. I suggest you get out a blank sheet of paper and create your ideal day. Then start living it tomorrow. I would love to hear the transformations. They are freeing!
"Time slips through out hands like grains of sand, never to return again. Those who use time wisely are rewarded with rich, productive and satisfying lives" Robin Sharma
Kelli Calabrese is the Master Coach Adventure Boot Camp and for Phil Kaplan’s Personal Training Prosperity Formula and Be Better Project. The Be Better Project and Be Better Group Project are 8 month coaching curriculums that are for the top 2% of coaches. She is the Co-Author of The Adventure Boot Camp Cook Book – Eating for a Lean Body. For more information, go to www.KelliCalabrese.com