Think back to the year 2010. How busy were you? How much free time did you have?
What about today? How much busier are you today than in 2010? Should I even ask whether you have any free time?
All the work demands, travel commitments, mindless checking of e-mails and texts, managing clients, worrying about the future of your business, Facebook updates, Pinterest scrolling, driving kids around town, selfies every 10 minutes make it difficult to have a normal life in the process. Life shows no signs of slowing.
As we begin to realize that "busyness" is the new status symbol, we wrestle with this question: Does more time exercising always mean better health?
Is there something magic about 60 minutes? Does the community we serve even have 60 minutes to work out anymore? What if we only get 45 minutes or 30 minutes? Can we actually train for just 30 minutes and still achieve the same results as a 60-minute session? Could we, as leaders in the fitness industry, create high quality and high engagement in just 30 minutes? Would our clients invest in less time if they could get better results?
Basically, I'm challenging you with this: Is it possible to go against the grain in this industry and still be successful?
I hear the chatter in your head already shooting down this 30-minute concept. That is it? How is that enough? How do you fit it all in?
Meet Your Clients Where They Are
If we know our clients are stressed out trying to cram everything into their daily to-do list (just like we are), why wouldn't we explore a more time-efficient way to help them achieve their results?
As we break down time, we begin to see it as a teacher, regulator, liar, tempter and stressor. We have the inclination to add more in and never take anything out, thus limiting our time. We can see this at play when we're at work thinking about being home or when we're at home thinking about work.
As your time goes, so does your life. Or to put it another way, as your schedule goes, so goes your life.
Challenge the Status Quo
What's the biggest cost for our clients to train with us? Money? Sweat? Discipline?
It is their time. It's 60 minutes out of their already crazy, stressed, jammed-packed day.
Clients don't want more workout time. What they want is access to your leadership. And we all know what makes a leader great: one who delivers results in a more efficient manner while deeply caring about those they lead.
As we strive to become better leaders, we begin to see that we can actually deliver results in 30 minutes because we've refocused on the basics of living fit: sleep more, eat better, train less.
Less time to work equals less time to waste. Get back to the basics.
What do you think? Are you already offering 30-minute training sessions? How are those working out for you?