Deception in Numbers

For some reason when you talk to fitness instructors, gym owns and personal trainers the most important factor in determining success is how many people they have; how many clients a trainer trains, how many members a gym has and how many class members sign up with a fitness instructor.  This is no different than how I used to think. I always thought if you’re good at what you do you should have a ton of people.  I always wondered why 20 people wouldn’t fill up a class.

That was until I realized I was focusing on the wrong thing.  Small numbers use to affect me quite a bit.  Only a few people a certain night, I must be doing something wrong.  Why aren’t people coming, maybe I’m not as good as I think.  Then there are the nights when it seems like everyone shows up, and the class is full.  (I still wonder why many times it’s a lot or a little but nevertheless….).  Back to focusing on the wrong thing – it doesn’t matter if it’s sports or life, something you are judged on or something you judge yourself on, you shouldn’t always focus on the outcome, if you do you’ll be looking failure in the face time and again.  Course it’s great to have goals, there’s nothing wrong with expectations but if you focus on only one thing, which is the outcome in this case, you might be missing out on a whole lot of positive things that are going on.

I decided to close registration for new members and focus on the ones we have.  Do what I can to make them better, to give them more time, instead of finding ways to market to other people.  The reason is, is because we have such a close nit group of people.  It doesn’t take very much intuition to feel the negative energy one person carries night in, night out.  These types of people change the entire class atmosphere; it’s clear when members are uncomfortable because of how someone else is feeling. The members we have are encouraging, motivating, we all get along and except for a few groans that are more comical than anything, no one complains.  People are there because they want to be there, they enjoy the company of others around, we enjoy the laughs and jokes and although a side subject, the hard work offers the results they’re looking for as well.

When you get a large group of people you lose the closeness that comes with less, you lose the personal aspect of getting to know each other; as an instructor I don’t get to talk to everyone and see how they’re doing, ask them how their nutrition is going or anything that may be bothering them physically.  These are little things I’m able to do with smaller numbers, and in all aspects of life I believe it’s the little things that make the difference.  Members aren’t just a number at our classes, everyone contributes in some way and some days it’s nothing other than the energy they bring to class.

I took this picture because it symbolizes how far we’ve come, how far I’ve come.  What I focused on before was numbers, but that can’t compare to how good I feel when I see a group of members that enjoy being together, that come to workouts night in and night out with a smile on their face.  The numbers I see in this picture isn’t 4, I see years of time and dedication put into True Form and the lifestyle we’re about.    The number that stands out to me is how many members we have that have dedicated over a year to the group we all enjoy.