Inner voice

While we are all familiar with our external speech or voice, we also have another voice that we work with and interact with daily. This is our "inner voice". While at first glance you may think: "what inner voice"? But when you come right down to it, we are all familiar with our inner voice. Our inner voice is that small utterance that comes from deep within us, whose job it is to provide us with guidance. This kind of communication is going on throughout our brains all day long and sometimes into the night.

Remember those days when we were children and never feared failure or rejection. We would attempt to try anything. Our inner voice would tell that anything is possible. Kids are brave and take risk (maybe that is a reason why physically we hurt ourselves). As we grow older, sometimes this inner voice can prevent us from following our dreams or taking risks in life. The inner voice is shaped from years of successes and failures; it also is affected by what other people say to us over the years. If you experience many environments growing up which do not support you. eg. People saying your not good enough, you can't do it, your dumb", then these start to shape what your inner voice says to you. Therefore, this can limit you in your future and prevent you from stepping out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself. You may hear two voices; a voice that says yes I can do it and another voice yelling back saying no, you can't do anything. You can really do anything you want in life so do not let the evil voice prevent you from making the most of your life.

Economic Uncertainty?

To be clear - I am the farthest thing from economically-minded.

I remember, actually, back when my entire focus was acting... my dad was dabbling in day-trading. And when I say "dabbling", I mean it... in fact, not sure if he ever put any money into it, or just did one of the simulated versions - not unlike how I enjoy playing online poker.

But I digress.

My dad was having fun with this, and would sit me down and talk about what he was doing - and I would immediately glaze over, because, quite frankly, he may as well have been speaking another language. In fact, my mental state at these times was not unlike the ones I suffer when he recites his almost autistic retelling of a golf game he played, whether it's yesterday or two years ago... by the time he reaches the third hole, I'm sleeping with my eyes open.

Fast forward.

For the last year, I've been watching what's going on in the economy like a hawk - because I'm no longer a passive participant. Now, my future plans are contingent on what is going on out there, and it's forced a diligent level of attention to the rest of the world. I still don't understand a lot of it... so I ask questions. I read. And I try to become confident in coming up with my own opinion, because I'm going to hear so many different ones that it could make my head spin.

Here are the three rules of money management that seem to be universal:

• Money doesn't come easy. If it does, then you've sacrificed something (possibly your ethics) in order to achieve it... and don't kid yourself, if you've made this kind of sacrifice, you've given up more than you would have through hard work - and it's something you can never get back.
• Spend only what you have. When we go into the banks and borrow money, it's easy because it's a faceless entity that's handing it over - we have no sense of accountability, until suddenly our bank accounts have dwindled.
• Save. Put 10% of every paycheque aside. Yes, I know you've heard this a thousand times before - but do you do it? If so - nice work. If not - start.

As I said at the start - I am the farthest thing from a financial wizard that you can be... but through all of the readings I do, and from all of the lectures I've seen, these three tenets continue to come up. And in the type of economic climate we seem to be sitting in - wouldn't it be comforting for you to know that a) you have a job, b) you have no debt, and c) you've saved 10% of everything you've earned for the last five years?

~Guy

ready - set - go!

About 2 weeks ago a customer told me they wanted to lose some weight. ‘Ok’ I said, ‘let’s get out for a short run - see you Thursday’
‘See you them’, they replied.

After our run on the Thursday I told them to sign us up for the 5km Run for the Cure – a charitable run benefiting the race to find a cure for breast cancer.
With little resistance they accepted. All I told them was the by-product of training for and completing this run will burn a great amount of calories…
We ran 1 more time before the Sunday – an easy 4km walk/run.
2 days before the run the customer calls me up and asks, ‘what time do I go to bed, what time do I get up and where do I park?’
Instantly I replied, ‘get to bed before 11, get up at 7:30 and pick me up at 8:15!’

Awesome

My alarm went off on Sunday morning – 7:45 – I reach over and grab my phone – ring ring – ‘heelllooww….’ The exhausted voice answers…I was silent…’just kidding!’ she yells – laughing. ‘I’m on my way to your place!’
‘Wow, way to go!’ I respond, ‘see you soon’

Within the hour we were gathered along with around 12,000 runners’ downtown – it was amazing – the sun came out for the start and the energy was light – very calm.
As the start gun went off, the participants migrated towards the start line and slowly poured into the streets. A loop of china town, around Science world, over the Cambie bridge and back past BC place – a lovely little course.

We ended up running the majority of the distance – only stopping 2 times to walk for 30sec. With arms high in the air we raced through the finish line! Smiles everywhere, it was a great moment.
The next day she asked, ‘when’s the next event?’
‘It’s in 2 weeks’, I reply ‘you will need to run 4 times by yourself to get you there – Ill run the race with you’
‘let me know how far and when – I’ll see you at the start line’ she answers back…

Confidence/Motivation + Education/time with = Physical Success

Do you know how it feels to share a customers’ finish line moment?

Technology

How many times during the day do we use technology in some shape or form. Cars, computers, cell phones, electricity, microwaves, ipods, treadmills, ellipticals, the list goes on and on and on. What happens when one of theses technical devices do not work? Do we get frustrated, mad at the world, swear, yell, punch something, annoyed, impatient or aggravated. Can we do anything about it? Most of us do not have the knowledge to fix it and we rely on the experts.

So we sit and wait, we get on with our lives, and live without a certain device for a day or too.

Our world has become so dependant on technology. The electricity in Park Royal this weekend shut off, half the shops had to close and businesses lost money. Customers were annoyed, employees were disappointed but what could they do. Even if they were to remain open, in our modern day society how many people could work without a cash register to know the amount of the purchases or to give exact change back. Not many – they would need a calculator!

When a device goes wrong, a computer freezes, a car doesn't start or electricity goes off, the best reaction is patience. Nothing will change the situation by getting angry, frustrated or annoyed. We must take the device back, wait for it to unfreeze or sit in candlelight reading a book instead of an email.

Self - Confidence

Self-confidence is freedom from doubt, belief in yourself and your abilities. It is the difference between feeling unstoppable and feeling scared out of your wits. Your perception of yourself has an enormous impact on how others perceive you. Perception is reality — the more self-confidence you have, the more likely it is you’ll succeed. Self-confidence can be developed if you are willing to greet all challenges as steps that get you closer to the future that you want. Self-confidence is the memory of success.

How many times have you surprised yourself and did things you didn’t think you could do? Probably many, right? The truth is you are bigger than any obstacle or challenge. You have a certain amount of self-confidence already within you, the trick, though, is to use any challenge that you come across to help you grow and expand on that self-confidence, in other words, use it to ‘impress yourself.’

Set a short-term goal to achieve, once that goal is reached, take a moment to consider what you did, and you will see immediately that your efforts make a difference. Set a new and slightly more challenging goal, and reach or exceed it as well. You will find that accomplishments grow and multiply. Practice achievement and you will boost your self-confidence.

In many ways, self-confidence can be described as self-respect and enjoyment of life's challenges. And ‘impressing yourself’ simply put, means doing something that makes you happy and proud of your achievement thereby building your memories of success. As Thomas Carlyle said, ‘nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.’ So, what have you done today to impress yourself?

Opportunities

1.) Your a new coach and you would like to get a road bike for biking season; however your funds are running low. Solution: Start referring customers to IF and take out the demo bikes with customers and get them dialed up onto a bike. For every bike and apparel you sell, you will receive approx 7% John Henry dollars.

My experience: Last year I wanted new biking gear for my road bike. Over the course of my training for STP 90 days I sold eight bikes and had earned over $600 at J.H. All my gear for STP was free, including a nice helmet.

2.) You are in need of a new pair of shoes but you keep on putting it off as you have tons of other expenses at the moment. Solution: Refer customers and educate them on proper footwear. Let them know about North Shore Athletics and you FYI you can even purchase shoes online for customers. If you refer customers you’ll get great deals.

My experience: I have purchased three shoes at NSA over the past 2 years and since I have referred many customers over this time frame, the shoes I have purchased were pretty much at cost.

3.) The weather is getting wet outside and you need to hold yourself accountable to get your spinning in over the winter months. Solution: Be the coach who makes an A-Z for a spinning class on Sunday’s. Pass on the message to customers and all staff. Once you get the ok, then you are ready for getting a great workout in on Sunday as well extra cash in your pockets. My experience: Last years spin classes were put on by Richard. He had an above average turnout and customers loved it. He also made some extra money.

4.) Your knees are sore and your body is in need of a good tune up. Solution: Take a look at the benefit package we are provided with at IF. Once you have been employed at Innovative Fitness for 3 months and you have completed your probation period, then your benefits kick in. My experience: Last year I used $500 massage, $500 chiropractor, $500 physiotherapy, $300 acupuncture and was reimbursed 100%. There are many more things we are covered for get your copy of your benefit package.

5.) You are dreaming of doing the Grand Canyon in 2009; however you are debating about going since you do not want to pay the price. Solution: Start talking about this destination and hype it up. Remember if you sign up 10 customers for any destination, you go for FREE. My experience: Josh signed up 10 people for the Moab trip in October and is going for free.

"Suck it up, Princess..."

About 10 years ago, this catch phrase was pretty popular between my brother, sister and I. Now, it was used in jest, but the truth is, it helped me put things in perspective. See, if any of us were ever complaining about a trivial thing, or worse, complaining without making the effort to improve our situation, one of my two favorite siblings would "call me out" by saying the above to me... and believe me, I would do the same for them.

I think there needs to be more of this happening these days.

Have you ever noticed that the people who complain the most, often have the least to whine about? The thing is, there are a lot of people who have it worse than me, and I know that. If not today, then sometime in the past they've had to deal with a lot more adversity than I have - and for me to complain, when I've got a good job, a roof over my head, my health, family and friends... well, to do that would be an insult to everyone who isn't so fortunate.

So to those of you who feel so terribly hard done by, and want to make sure that we all know how tough your life is, I have some suggestions:

• If you can't afford where you live, move.
• If you're tired, sleep.
• If you're injured, get help.
• If you're hours are low, build them.

Honestly, if you have a problem and need help, I will do everything I can to do so. But if you come to me and I offer solutions, and you choose to ignore them all without even trying simply so that you can continue to whine about how hard done by you are...

...then suck it up, Princess.