I wanted to share my “top 10” list with you that I’ve been thinking about when it comes to health and fitness success.
Hopefully, a few of them resonate…
1. The most successful people keep improving while the average usually remains….average.
IMHO, this is large because successful people enjoy improvement. They love learning, even when it comes in the form of hard-earned lessons.
People enjoy setting new goals and working hard to accomplish them. They see success as a never-ending process…a lifelong journey. They don’t buy into the ‘I’ll be happy or successful when…’ mentality.
Sure, they have shorter-term objectives they want to accomplish, but they know that success doesn’t happen because of one accomplishment or milestone.
What is your mindset about learning and improvement?
2. Successful people focus on not only their own strengths but also on the strengths of those around them.
It’s not that they ignore weaknesses – but they don’t try to ‘fix’ those as much as they build on the strengths. This is an often misunderstood nuance about strengths and weaknesses. If a particular weakness is holding you back from progress, definitely work to improve it. However, more success will be generated from becoming exceptional at your strengths compared to trying to build a weakness into something average. Plus maximizing your strengths will be a much more engaging and enjoyable process.
The second part is that they learn to see the strengths in those around them and use those strengths to supplement their own. This could be identifying a friend, colleague or coach who can help you in key areas.
What strengths can you build on? What are the strengths of those around you that can be of help in your growth and development?
3. In a similar vein – successful people seem to be able to focus on the most important relationships, opportunities and actions and minimize the non-important ones.
They say NO to GOOD opportunities and situations to leave the bandwidth to say YES to GREAT opportunities. Look at the people and opportunities around you and the actions you’ve taken. Are they the most important ones that will produce the optimal results in your health, fitness, and life?
4. Successful people understand that ‘working hard’ has a ceiling and eventually you have to shift to ‘working smarter.’
Yes, successful people still work hard, but they particularly work hard at leveraging their strengths, skills, and network to generate more success rather than working hard for the sake of working hard.
Whether it’s at work or in the gym, if you are working hard and not getting the results you want, then it may be time to start working smarter! As a fitness professional, I see people falling into the hard work trap ALL THE TIME.
What areas could you be working smarter in?
5. Who you surround yourself with matters…a lot.
There’s an old saying that we are the “sum of the 5 people we spend the most time with”. (I originally heard it from Jim Rohn, but have seen it attributed to many different people), and have seen the positive impact of it in my life and in those of my clients.
What friends, family members, and work colleagues do you spend the most time with? Are they high achievers that help you grow, or anchors slowing your progress?
Ask yourself who you are consciously putting in your circle of influence. Who is there as a mentor, to challenge you, help you grow, and to call BS on your BS? 🙂
6. No successful person goes it alone. Success is a ‘team sport.’
Similar to #5, success requires help in many ways. Sometimes it’s direct assistance to get things done, other times it’s emotional support, motivation, inspiration, having someone ask the tough questions, point out our blind spots, and remind us to look inwards and reconnect with why we are pursuing a particular goal.
Who is on your “success team”? What does each person bring to the table…and what are you bringing to them?
You halfway through your “top 10” list of health and fitness success!
Keep on going…
7. Successful people understand the concept of ‘value exchange’.
That brings us to the next point…Successful people know they will only obtain the value (income, opportunity, etc.) they want (over the long term) by first delivering value to those they serve.
By continuing to deliver value to others and helping them succeed, we are able to build a brand (reputation, good will, honour) where people will gratefully help us accomplish our goals.
What value are you contributing to others each day?
8. Successful people “Own their Sh*t”!
They don’t feel entitled or victimized. They own their outcomes, often in an extreme way. Even when other people make a mistake, successful people own their responsibility in that process. It’s not falling on the proverbial sword, it’s that they are acutely aware of their role and influence in the actions around them, and clearly see where they can make a positive difference.
What areas have you been making excuses and failing to own the responsibility for your results?
9. Successful people focus on production and results…not hours worked, length of time on the job, etc.
This is similar to working smarter, not necessarily harder. It doesn’t really matter how much time you put into something if the results aren’t produced.
This is extremely common in exercise and fitness; however, we see it in every area of life.
People spend hours, years, and decades “going to the gym” without ever seeing the results they want. Yet, a few small changes in focus could produce exceptional results in a short time.
What results are you producing in key areas of your life? What areas need a smarter approach?
10. The truly successful people define what success means to them rather than adopting someone else’s definition.
This is critical to reaching the results you desire, but also being happy with the results.
What’s most important to you? What actions will you take to get those results?
Did this “top 10” list for health and fitness success hit home for you? If so, let me know. Just email us at info@freshfitness.ca
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