The Best Decision(s) I've Made In 2016
What you are getting yourself in for -
Word Count - 1300 Words
Reading Time - 10 Minutes
Topic - The Best Decisions I Made In 2016. 2016 has been an amazing year for me. I set out initially with several goals, with a primary focus on GROWTH, I wanted 2016 to be all about growing, both physically, mentally and through my business & brand also. It’s turned out incredibly well. A productive year means that I wanted to look back on the success, and give away any advice that I can to people who wish to have a successful ‘growth year’ in 2017.
1 - Investing the MOST in the things I LOVE doing. At the start of 2016, I must admit I was still a little lost. I was growing a one to one client base, whilst also gaining awareness online, with clients slowly building up there also, but if I’m honest, I really didn’t know my overall direction, but I was just absolutely certain that I wanted to grow. I’ve learnt now, that you grow extremely effectively as a brand, an individual, or as a business, when you have a disgusting level of focus and drive towards a clear goal. About halfway through 2016, I was coaching 2 athletes to the stage, and at the same time, I was dealing with an injury that put me out of the gym for about 3 - 4 weeks, the only thing that kept me going during that period was my coaching. Why?? Because I cannot begin to express how passionate I am about helping others. Seeing someone’s physique change in front of your eyes, seeing them get on stage after all the months of effort, communication and data collected is extremely rewarding. I knew then, that I wanted to chase this, I wanted to fill my boots with clients that wanted to seriously change their physique, so I went about doing exactly that. At the start of the year I had a large proportion of general population clients, and a few physique athletes. I am now nearing full capacity for Online, with 90% of my client base being Physique Athletes. I never want to show off, or sound brash and cocky, but I’m so so proud of what I’ve been able to do and I just want to make it clear that if you have a firmly set goal, and you chase it, pouring everything into it, you will get there, and you will win.
2 - Getting way out of my comfort zone. At the start of 2016 I wrote a goal on my whiteboard to go abroad and travel. Little did I know that I’d get to do that with someone awesome also. I’ve always been very very routined, I keep myself to myself and I liked that, however the things that I’ve done this year that have allowed me to get completely out of my comfort zone, with NO GYM! No tracking macros, and time away from my standing desk (windowsill).... Have all allowed me to gain so much confidence and realise that there is SO much more to life than just work, gym, macros, bodybuilding. I now love travelling, it’s something that I’ve certainly started putting plans together to do more of next year. The reason getting out of your comfort zone is so important is because you learn a LOT about yourself. - You learn that 4 days out of the gym isn’t going to lose all your gains.
- You learn that you are STILL dedicated, even though you are having time off.
- You learn that having time away from the things you love, is just as important as doing them consistently.
And I’ve learnt that spending time with other people, who are sometimes very different to you, is really important also.
3 - It’s all about how you deal with things. I had a family member diagnosed with Breast Cancer this year. I don’t share these things because they are very personal but this short message is very very important. I watched someone deal with the entire process of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and recovery. I NEVER heard one word of complaining, never saw them get upset, and never saw them change as a person because of what they were going through. Their mindset throughout the entire process has changed my entire outlook on life forever.
It’s really confirmed with me the idea that it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you deal with it, and how you handle the situation. I’m very happy to say that they have gone through the process successfully and completed both chemo and radiotherapy just before Christmas, which is the best news I have ever had.
4 - ALWAYS be willing to learn.
Early in 2016 I started a podcast called Teen Muscle Radio. I have been very lucky enough to speak to industry leaders and other competitive bodybuilders to learn about their journey, their approach and what they have to share. I think it’s very easy to get to a point where you don’t want to learn anymore. Everytime I drive or walk somewhere, unless it’s ‘PRE-GYM’ I’ve got a podcast on, and I’m learning, I just don’t like to waste a single second, and I always like to share what I’ve learnt through social media, namely snapchat and instagram stories. I’ve developed as a coach the most this year because I’ve always opened the door to learning, I’ve never taken my foot off the learning gas and I don’t plan on doing that anytime soon. If I can urge you to do anything to grow as an individual it’s to learn, learn more about your work, learn more about training, nutrition, read, listen and take it all in.
5 - Goal Setting.
This is something that I have done for the past few years, I have a big whiteboard with….
- Yearly.
- Monthly.
- Weekly.
&
Daily Goals.
This process has allowed me to always stay focused on a given task, whether it’s the daily contributing to the weekly, or the weekly contributing to the monthly, or the monthly contributing to the yearly….. It’s SO integral that you split them, I don’t believe you can have a yearly goal without a breakdown of the months, weeks and days leading into it. So please, get a pretty whiteboard and set yourself some goals tomorrow, have a little think, but a lot of what you want to achieve should be right at the front of your brain, eager to slip out and be written down.
6 - It’s OK to Fail.
Final point here,
I’ve failed a few times in 2016.
I’ve lost a few clients, I’ve made some silly decisions and I’ve failed physically in the gym. But I’ve learnt so so much from my failures. I think, if I hadn’t of made these mistakes, I genuinely wouldn’t be where I am now, because every time I fail, or everytime I make a mistake and I notice it, or someone points it out, I do EVERYTHING in my power to fix it and make it better. So if you failed in 2016, don’t think of it as a failure, just think, “Wow, I really did learn something there.” Same goes for 2017.
Nothing is ever perfect and if you make a mistake, as long as you notice it, it’s OK, just go about correcting it, and improving in the best way possible.
I’d like to end this blog post with a huge thank you to anyone who has been kind enough to support me in 2016, I’m very much looking forward to having you guys along with me on my 2017 journey and I cannot wait to share it with you.
Thanks again & I wish you all a Happy New Year. Aj