Category Archives: Self-improvement

Happy GroundHog Day!

Posted on by
Reply

Did Puxsutawney Phil see his shadow today? Will there be 6 more weeks of winter? Or maybe you are wondering if you are going to be like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day and live the same day over and over again. I have to admit the first part of 2010 has felt like Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day to me. There are some things going on in my career that seems like okay same old day and same old story, but I have snapped out of it. I feel like I am getting back on track and focusing on the goals  have set to accomplish. You see, I was getting short sighted and not seeing the big picture of what I wanted my life to become. I had to realize that what is happening now is going to be a positive for me in the future. Nothing stays the same forever and change is good, so if you are struggling right now with what is happening in your life or what is not happening in your life, no need to worry,  things are happening for a reason and continue reading below to find out how to stop having Groundhog day over and over.

Ask your self the following questions and write down your answers.

  • If you are struggling first of all you need to ask yourself do you have any long term goals set for yourself?
  • Do you have a vision of what you want your life to be like 5, 10, and 20 years from now?
  • Once you have those down do you have a plan?
  • Is the plan detailed enough to help you step by step to reach those goals?

By all means the answer to these questions will not be the end all be all, but you will have a better idea of where you stand and what you need to do to get out of that rut! And  to think if Bill Murray had only done this maybe he would not have had all those miserable Groundhog days!!

Have you made many Resolutions for 2010?

Posted on by
Reply

Have you made many resolutions for 2010? Is this the year that you are going to stick to those resolutions you made? Now, most people make resolutions but few keep them. Why? Well, with it being the New Year the intention and determination is there to change but people fail because of two reason.  One, the lack of specific goals and two, is the lack of a plan to achieve those goals.

First, let’s talk about goals. Saying that you are going to make more money or get more clients is not specific. What you need to do is state specifically how much more money do you want to make. As for getting more clients, how many? The goal needs to be specific and measurable. Once you have your goals formulated you need to write them down. I hear from personal trainers all the time that I have them in my head. Sorry, if it is not written down on paper it is not a goal. Writing it down creates a record of what you want to achieve and there is no way of disputing what your goals are if they are written down.

The second step to achieve success is to create a plan. When you have your goals written down you need to break them down into smaller steps. For instance if you said you wanted to increase your income by 10% then step 1 might be to get one new client a week (52 by year end). Another might be to do more group training. The important thing here is to break the larger goal into smaller steps to ultimately lead to the larger goal. Oh, and one more important thing to add here is you need a time table and deadline. This was something I neglected to do for  long time but once I set a deadline I began to notice my success in accomplishing my goals increased.

Okay, do me a favor and take some time and sit down and implement these two tips into your New Year’s resolutions and see yourself accomplish more this year than in years past! Make 2010 the best year ever!

10 great happenings from last year cont…

Posted on by
Reply

Earlier in the week I posted the 10 Great Happenings from Last Year and today I want to write the second part to that post. Doing this exercise was very rewarding to me because I realized that no matter how bad the economy seemed at times this past year many great things happened in my life. I hope that is true with you as well. If you have never done this exercise I suggest you take 30 minutes out of your day and write down at least 10 great happenings from last year. Okay, here is my list:

1.) Published my first book “Anatomy of Sales”

2.) Launched my website and business www.davemcgarry.com

3.) Took a vacation trip to Sanibel Island with my wife

4.) Sold my first 50 books

5.) Had my first online book purchase on ClickBank

6.) First Family trip to Sea World

7.) Won a four day all paid conference trip to the fitness industries biggest trade show

8.) Promoted to Assistant GM of the Cooper Fitness Center at Craig Ranch

9.) Asked by the publisher of Club Industry to write articles for them in 2010

10.) Took 4 family trips in 2009

Every time I look at this list it makes me feel good because when I look back to what I wanted to accomplish this year I accomplished most of my goals. So, after you have your list of 10 great things the next step is to write down 5  lessons you learned from last year. This exercise will be important towards setting your 2010 goals. Okay, go write down your 5 lessons learned and we will talk about those lessons and how to use that information towards creating your best year ever in 2010.

Coach Dave

10 great happenings from last year

Posted on by
1

The holidays are just about here and every year around this time I begin to reflect on the year that was. This year is unique because not only do we finish another year, but also wrap up the first decade of the new millennium. I can not believe that another decade of my life is complete. I’ll focus on that later, but today I want to talk about reflecting back on the past year. Last year I was introduced to Darren Hardy’s “How to have your best year ever” ebook and I have to admit I made some better strides in achieving the goals that I had set for myself. Maybe it was his system or maybe after all the years of me reading about people becoming successful I decided it was time for me to actually quit reading and thinking about being successful and actually start doing. Regardless of why I made better strides the real point I am going to make here is that one of the exercises Darren recommends to do is to write down 10 great happenings from last year.

The first time I did this exercise I had a difficult time coming up with 10 great things that had happened. I have to admit it really bothered me that I could not write down 10 great things that had happened throughout the year. However, what I walked away with after this exercise was really insightful. The light bulb finally went off and I realized that like most of us we tend to remember and dwell on the negative things that happen to us instead of the positive things that we experience. Once I had my list complete I realized what an amazing year it really was. Because of this exercise I came to the understanding that when something great happens you need to celebrate and also write it in your journal, so that when you reflect back you can realize that no matter how tough times might be there are plenty of things to be grateful for. So, as we wrap up this year take some time and write down 10 great happenings that you have occurred in your life. Once you have them written down reflect back monthly, quarterly, and at the end of the year to remind yourself of the great things that you have done in the year. Stay tuned for my next posting because I am going to share my 10 great things from this past year.

Coach Dave

Who are you learning from?

Posted on by
Reply

The question I have for you today is who are you learning from? If I was to take a survey probably about 90% of fitness professionals would tell me that they study or learn from the “gurus” in the industry. Now, I will be the first to tell you that you should learn from people in the industry but if you want real growth and real insight you need to study people and businesses in other industries as well. Starbucks, Microsoft, Dell, Mcdonalds have all been in the business of selling their products and services to consumers. These companies have proven strategies and systems that have made them successful. Study them and learn all you can that can apply to the fitness industry. Now, learning and study what a big company has done is only part of the equation that I am talking about today. The second and probably most beneficial way of learning is study people who know how to sell. There are tons of articles and info on sales but I ran across a website that takes the best articles on sales and puts them all on one website.The name of the site is top10salesarticles.com and they find the best articles across the web and post it all on one site to help keep you from having to search for quality articles. What I find unique about this site is the way they come up with their top ten articles for the month. 50% is from the readers voting and 50% from an expert panel. So far I found some really good articles from people in all different industries. Some better than others but overall some good info. Listen my motto is I try to learn something new everyday and learn at least one thing from an article that I can apply to my profession. You may want to set a different goal but start learning from others and apply it to the fitness industry. Now go check out this site www.top10salesarticles.com and learn something from someone else!