Personal
How to Eliminate Feeling Self-Conscious
The Question I HATED Getting the Most
Some of you know my story.
Some of you know my background.
If you don’t – to give you a quick synopsis – I’m from Atlanta and went to the University of Georgia – Go Dawgs!
At UGA I double majored in Finance and Risk Management/Insurance.
When I was a junior at UGA, I became a certified personal trainer and started coaching fitness classes at Orangetheory Fitness.
Then, long story short, I graduated with my degree in Finance and Risk Management; I moved to Nashville; I quit my 9-5 job and started full time as a fitness trainer.
Okay, now you’re caught up.
As you know, when you meet someone for the first time, there are the general questions that get asked.
What’s your name? Where are you from? What do you do?
And if you’re someone who is around the age of 22-24, where’d you go to school?
What did you study?
It was that last question…
It was that last question that I hated getting.
It was that last question that made me feel self-conscious.
I thought this question outted me.
I thought people would think, “this guy is a fitness trainer, but he studied finance?!”
“He’s not legit.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
To be clear, no one was actually saying this to me.
But this was an insecurity that I had.
I knew that – for the most part – it wasn’t true.
But I also had to accept the fact that there was truth to it.
There was truth to that fact that I didn’t have a 4-year formal education on fitness.
While I did the necessary education to become a certified personal trainer, it was not my 4-year degree.
So, I accepted the insecurity and let the question, “what did you study” drive me and motivate me on a daily basis.
I took it upon myself to study as much as I could about fitness and about nutrition. I wanted to gain the knowledge necessary to feel more confident in my abilities.
And that’s what I did.
I learned a ton.
I built confidence.
But I’m realizing something now...
While yes, education is important; it in some ways, comes secondary to something else.
I’m now currently coaching 41 people through their 10-Week Transformation.
And while health and fitness are important to them, they have countless other things going on in their lives.
There’s a lot of ups but also a lot of downs.
Times to celebrate. Times to lend a hand.
This past week a couple of our clients have been going through some – well let’s just call it as it is – they’ve been going through some shit.
As a coach, I can sometimes get obsessed with the results the individual achieves rather than the crap the individual is going through.
So, I took a step back and thought to myself, “How can I lend a hand? How can I be supportive?”
Because a lesson that is ringing more and more true in my life is that “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” - President Theodore Roosevelt
You see I spent so many weeks, months, and years trying to increase how much I know so that other people would care.
But now I want to spend my weeks, months, and years trying to increase how much I care so that when other people need help, I’m in the know.
So yes, learn more.
Always learn more.
Have an insatiable curiosity for education.
But remember part of our education should be learning how to care.
In whatever it is that you do – whether it’s your job or your personal relationships – it pays to be someone who knows but even more so - it pays to be someone who cares.
To becoming someone who cares,
Nick
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