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The "Be Better"
Offering
An Opportunity
for Ambitious Fitness Professionals
Written by Phil
Kaplan, June 19th, 2006 / Revised for "BB2" 2007
I
originally wrote the bulk of the following text on June 19th,
2006, on American Airlines Flight 433, flying to La Jolla to spend
a few days with some folks far smarter than I. We meet in a group
several times per year to help each other grow.
The Be Better Project
kicked off in August and the group has taken on an incredible
life of its own. The interaction is invaluable, everyone in the
group is finding ongoing betterment, and as 2006 drew to a close,
I decided I'm going to assemble another group of like-minded trainers
all seeking betterment. If you knew about the project, considered
it, but waited too long and got closed out, now's your chance.
If this is the first
you're hearing of it . . . great news. I'm releasing this for
2007 with 20 open spots! The Be Better Project is underway, and
now 20 additional trainers from all parts of the world will connect
through BB2 (Be Better #2).
Here's the premise:
I’ve decided to
assemble a group of 20
personal trainers with the intention of helping
them go way beyond mastery of their personal training crafts,
out into a new realm of growth, achievement, possibility, and
potential.
This is a very sincere
invitation for some rare personal trainers with the desire to
change the world around them to join forces, to invest in a relationship
that will be unmatched in its ability to take our industry forward
by creating a new breed of professionals with unbridled power
to prosper by helping others.
There’s a part of your
brain that seeks comfort. It works with your emotional experiential
memory to protect you. It steers you away from danger, from risk,
from impending pain. It’s the part of your brain that causes you
to react when a wasp flies across your field of vision. It’s the
part of your brain that allows you to jump before you have time
to think if a 45 pound dumbbell is powered by gravity heading
toward your foot.
If you were a cave
dweller living in a place and time where a baby T-Rex might opt
to nibble your head off for breakfast, this part of your brain
would be something you’d be extremely thankful for.
Here’s the challenge.
You’re a fitness professional, not a cave dweller. You want to
make a difference. You want to help people improve their lives.
You want to see what you’re really capable of. You want things
to be “better” than they are right now.
Unfortunately, the
reptilian brain, the home of your survival-driven neural mechanism,
doesn’t understand “better.” It understands “safe.”
For cave dwellers “safe”
was survival.
For
fitness professionals “safe” is death.
Not death as in the
end of life, but rather career death, a point in time where a
personal trainer decides it’s time to do “something else.” It
happens often.
It happens to some
of the best trainers. It happens for some in a very short time
span, for others it takes years of struggle for the official burial
of the personal training career.
During the period between
motivation and abandonment, most will perform at a level where
they delude themselves into believing they’re exceptional performers
by drawing comparisons to those trainers who find rep counting
the task at hand. As a result, what is mistakenly viewed as extraordinary
is typically a tiptoe along the line of mediocrity.
Following mediocrity
is safe.
Following convention
is safe.
Remember what I just
said about "safe."
I'm opening the
door for 20 trainers to break out of the safety of convention.
Before I get to the invitation and the opportunity, I want you
to understand the flaws in the current paradigm.
par·a·digm
(par'?-dim', -dim') - A set of rules,
assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes
a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them
The
set of rules under which the present field of fitness professionals
abide and operate compose a paradigm that is set up to encourage
mediocrity, to chip away at passion, and to prevent ongoing
betterment
(Translation:
the present system sucks).
Fitness
professionals seeking “safety” wind up operating under the predominating
paradigm.
They discount
their fees. That’s safe. It takes away the risk of having
to actually believe that they have extreme value.
They conduct
free sessions, free consultations, or free assessments. That’s
safe. Nobody openly rejects a freebie.
They
justify those things they may even perceive as impotent
by convincing themselves that “the club owner says we have to”
means they do in fact “have to.”
Should
I go on? Could there be more?
Yes,
and yes.
They minimize
their nutritional advice, as they’ve heard that dispensing
nutritional wisdom opens up some liability issues, or worse
yet they espouse random nutritional gems that contradict the
prescriptions of their peers, leaving clients frustrated and
confused.
They point fingers
of blame at clients who fail to see results, indicting
a lack of willpower or commitment for the perceived failure.
They
work within the safety of a health club environment, taking
clients through workouts, reminding themselves that they’re
doing what they love and remaining careful not to rattle any
cages.
A
Broken Paradigm Creates a Psychological Phenomenon
What
I find an amazing phenomenon is the willingness of so many certified
hard-working personal trainers to allow denial to clog the forefront
of their thinking, failing to hold up the mirror and question
whether they are among the many caught up in wanting for more,
but unwilling to leave the protective cave.
As
you read this be honest with yourself.
“Safe”
is not a criticism, but a state of being, and if comfort
is the value you most treasure, appreciate that you can be content
with modest achievement and welcome both the challenges and
rewards that come with safety.
If
you are someone who wants to break away from the chains of comfort,
to see what you’re really capable of, let your mind wander and
read the remainder of this article introspectively determining
if you are in fact one of the few I’m looking to connect.
“Safe”
fitness professionals might earn $30,000 - $50,000 per year.
That may be OK if you’re 24 and someone else is paying the bills,
but try to raise a family, buy ample health insurance, commit
to a mortgage, enjoy some nice evenings out, and have a reserve
in case there’s a sudden financial need and that $30,000 - $50,000
evaporates in a puff of smoke.
In
this first decade of the 21st century, what was long perceived
as “safe” may actually be a slow trot to uncertainty.
Our
world is different than it was even five years ago. “Safety”
in career pursuits used to walk hand-in-hand with a sense of
entitlement. Someone who’d shown loyalty to a company for years
was entitled to seniority, incremental pay increases, or a pension.
The part of the brain that believes “safety” is in fact safe
for the long term wasn’t designed for the 21st century.
I
warn trainers blinded by the ability to “work” doing what they
“love” to recognize that “work” should become a means to a better
life. If it isn’t, that old reptilian brain can leave you wanting
for more.
I’m
not suggesting you give up the pure passion and desire you have
to help people . . . quite the opposite. I’m suggesting that
your passion and desire can feed off of each other at new heights
once you begin to tap your own potential.
I’m
also suggesting that if you fail to step outside the bounds
of personal training convention, if you follow those who have
toed the line before you, and if you have the mindset of a personal
training missionary, your personal training career is doomed.
Honestly.
The
perception of the Personal Training “Career” must be reframed
if we are going to collectively grow and prosper. From this
moment forward, let’s not allow anything or anyone to suggest
that “making money” takes anything away from passion. Based
on some of what I expressed moments ago, if you honestly love
your work, you never feel as if you’re working, and if that
“work” can bring limitless benefit to others, and if you only
prosper by delivering extreme value, the more you earn, the
more validation there is for your passion in motion.
I’ve
seen well intentioned fitness professionals go to work for their
fathers in law, get their real estate licenses, or even put
on a tie every day and go out in the world trying to sell stuff
they wouldn’t buy themselves. While they blame everything from
accidents of fate to the state of our industry, the rotting
of the personal training ambition always comes from the same
place. That career paralysis induced by the evil part
of your brain that deludes you into thinking there’s comfort
in safety.
The
willingness to succumb to the reptilian brain leads to the crippling
belief, “you can’t really make money as a personal trainer.”
That
belief can become a self-fulfilling prophesy, or it can be relegated
to the pile of “stupid old beliefs you don’t have any reason
to hold on to any longer.”
If
you want to move as far away from that crippling belief as possible,
you need to become acquainted with a different part of your
brain.
The
Pre-Frontal Cortex is sort of an eye into possibility. It’s
the part of your brain that can literally create a future from
pure nothingness. It’s the part of the brain that drove explorers
to venture to what might have been the ends of the earth to
discover new lands. It’s the part of the brain that allowed
NFL die-hards like Jerry Rice and Terry Allen to come back from
destructive ACL injuries when the overriding prognosis was “retire.”
Anyone who’s been called “crazy” for pursuing a dream or idea
that seemed to challenge an existing paradigm relied heavily
on the enhanced activity of the Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC).
If
you’re living a safe existence, your PFC is lying dormant.
It’s analogous to an unstimulated muscle. Atrophy is a given.
The more you get caught up in being safe, the less likely you
are to ever leap forward and conquer your wildest dreams.
The
PFC is the vehicle that I’m about to tap into in select fitness
professionals. It’s the driving force
that can take the absurd idea of making dreams come true and
make it real. It’s the active initiator of the two-word
campaign I’m attaching my entire career to for the remainder
of 2006 and right into 2007.
Be
Better.
If
you have a desire to Be Better, a real desire that goes
way beyond what others might view as a lofty wish, I'm glad
you read this far. Read on, as I’m going to invite you to
join an inspired handful of fitness professionals about to soar
to new heights, about to ride the incoming wave of unprecedented
success in our field, about to rattle cages, shatter the current
paradigm, and redefine what we do for a living.
WARNING:
If you’re presently comfortable, read no further.
Cave
dwellers, stop here. Find an article on better training
techniques or 6001 things to do with a medicine ball. Those
articles will allow you to develop your intellectual knowledge
without asking you to move beyond “comfort.”
If
you’ve continued reading you’re likely someone who has the ability
to stir up the PFC, someone who knows that a place called “better”
really does exist, someone who may in fact be willing to do
whatever it takes to get there. Recognizing that at this point
in the article we’ve already narrowed the field, I’ll
share the preliminary details of the “Be Better Project.”
Beginning
right now, with a commitment to activate this second manifestation
of the original project, I’m going to throw a figurative rope
around a select group of inspired fitness professionals who
seek to rise way beyond what they presently believe to be excellence.
I’m looking for fitness professionals who will never sit
on their laurels, who will always realize that as high as they
rise, they can always rise further, who understand that as many
people as they help, they can always help more, and as dramatically
as they change people’s lives they can take the idea of “life-changing”
to an entirely new universe.
Be Better. That’s
what I want the trainers who work for me to be.
Be Better.
That’s what I want all of my personal training clients and
seminar attendees to be.
Be Better.
That’s what I want for my family, for my loved ones, and for
my colleagues.
Be
Better. Those words shall be instilled into the PFC’s of
those who are bold, courageous, and adventurous enough to set
an entirely new standard.
If
we all strive to be better, there are virtually no limits
that can be placed on how we can improve human existence.
At
this point those who have continued reading with interest and
a hint of excitement are beginning to activate the PFC at a
very preliminary level, rising above the idea of safety, realizing
that only those with the courage to break the rules will bring
about true change. If we had electrodes monitoring brain activity
we’d see that the Pre-Frontal cortex is starting a slow sizzle.
If you want to go the next step, you’ll be thrilled to register
as one of 20 trainers who are going to collectively reach new
levels of achievement.
You’ll
register
as a participant in my Be Better Project.
You’ll
become part of a group of fitness professionals I’ll personally
coach through live teleconferences to help them grow by bettering
the lives of others at a previously untapped level.
Here’s
a simple summation:
20
trainers will accept this invitation, those 20 trainers will
come to know each other through a series of 16 teleconferences
that I will personally host and conduct, and all 20 will grow.
As a result, the bar will be raised, a clear replicable model
of what a personal trainer can be will emerge, and collectively
we’ll rescue an over-fat nation desperately in need of a life
preserver.
Greatness
is not only fleeting, it’s an illusion. The “Greatest” boxer
will only be the Greatest as long as he continues to get better,
as others will be closing in at any point in time. The Greatest
golfer will only be the Greatest as long as he realizes every
championship further raises the bar. The Greatest personal trainers
will be those who never stop at Great, but constantly seek Better.
In
looking to summarize the trait the top trainers possess, I’ve
coined a new word, one my trainers have already embraced and
internalized.
Contagiasm.
I am going to spread Contagiasm, the “Be Better Mindset,” and
the strategies for ongoing betterment with others who want to
master the science of improvement.
I’m
inviting you to share in spreading Contagiasm, not within
my four walls, but in your own universe, taking the elements
of growth and betterment that I’ve learned to employ and using
them as tools to shape your own future.
Think
carefully now. If that “move forward” part of your brain is
sending signals saying “go,” you may have the stuff I’m looking
for, but there is nothing safe about this.
Cave
dwellers dare not venture into this area, unless they’re prepared
for an unparalleled adventure.
You’ll
be asked to go so far out of your comfort zone you might not
even recognize your life 6 months from now, at least not when
you compare it to where you might have been if you convinced
yourself you were good, great, or at some false pinnacle of
achievement. You’ll stretch as you’ve never stretched. You’ll
grow as you’ve never grown.
If
you think I’m blowing smoke, you don’t know me very well. I
enjoy putting myself on the line. I don’t hide from anyone.
I never go anywhere near the cave of safety. I’ll never ask
you to do anything I’m not willing to do myself. I won’t throw
around the random and novel ideas that speckle the preachings
of those who promise “personal training riches.” I will instead
immerse you in proven methodologies and prompt you to appreciate
their power.
Always.
If
you want to learn to prosper without limit by continually bettering
the lives of others, The Be Better Project is the real deal.
I’m
going to take 20 fitness professionals, and get each and every
one of them to redefine their perceptions of excellence . .
. and then I’m going to commit to help each and every one of
them exceed the new perceptions.
Here’s
the downside of the type of growth I’m talking about.
You’ll
never arrive.
You’ll
propel yourself forward, and there will always be a forward
glimpse of a new horizon.
Excellence
is a moving target, and being “better” than today is only “better”
until you set a new goal. If that scares you, this isn’t for
you. If it excites you get ready to act.
If
you want to be one of the elite 20, if you want to be a participant
in The Be Better Project, you’ll invest $325 per month for 8
months. Keep in mind, I share strategies that generate $1200
per hour, strategies that allow trainers to give themselves
$30,000 raises in moments, and strategies that allow fitness
professionals to grow exponentially. If this sounds expensive
you either need to raise your own bar or stay in the safe cave.
This will be an investment in the truest sense of the word.
Each
month, for the next 8 months, we’ll have two phone calls, the
first will be instructional (60 minutes), the second will be
interactive (90 minutes). If you participate in the project
you MUST participate in the calls. If you believe that you can’t
make that commitment, this isn’t for you. The group will thrive
on interactivity so if you fail to attend even a single call,
you’re doing yourself and the group a disservice. Much as I
have my advisors, many of whom are peers, you’ll have 20 coaches
all operating under an entirely new paradigm.
Is
your schedule too consuming for you to make that kind of commitment?
If so, re-think things. How will you ever get off of the treadmill
if you can’t even commit to 2 ½ hours of telephone interactivity
each month?
If
you opt to join us, I’ll serve as your coach in the true sense
of the word, and while we’ll all have our unique goals and aspirations,
collectively we’ll bring about an unprecedented change in the
industry.
Don’t
even consider this unless you’re committed, unless you’re willing
to follow through at all costs. The only way you’ll fail to
grow is if you fail to act. Remember a part of the strength
of this is the alliance of others with like-minds and attitudes.
Not only will you have me as your coach, but you’ll have the
ability to interact with everyone in the group.
The
Be Better Group, in additional to the planned teleconference
calls and any additional telephone contact they opt for within
the group, communicates through a closed interactive message
board with a group email system so everyone can be kept abreast
of everyone else’s actions. I’m committed as much as a participant
as I am as a leader.
This
offering has never been made before June of 2006. It isn’t a
motivational seminar, it isn’t an idea to consider, it’s a commitment
21 people are about to make (20 plus myself) that will cause
a groundswell throughout the fitness field, the world of personal
fitness training, and the health club industry.
I
absolutely guarantee this type of project has NEVER BEEN OFFERED
by anyone else, despite the creative copy constructed by some
self-proclaimed "gurus." This is genuine, it's based
on 20+ years of in the trenches experience, and it's already
proven. If you'd like to personally contact some of the people
already enrolled in BB#1 (the existing Be Better Project group),
send me an email with
the SUBJECT "BB Participants." I'll put you directly
in touch with some folks already in the group. They haven't
any agenda other than to share their own experiences.
If
you’re ready, just click
here and commit a non-refundable $100 registration fee which
will be credited toward your first month’s dues of $325. The
next "group" will begin in March 2007. If you have
a question other than a request to contact existing participants,
email me directly, phil@philkaplan.com
and type "BeBetterProjectQuestion" as the subject.
If you’re ready to get outside of the safety zone and into the
exciting unknown limits of your own true potential, it’s in
your court.
Register
before the 20 slots are taken, and commit to Be Better.
-
Phil Kaplan
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