WHY
CEC ARTICLE
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DO YOU REALLY TEACH GROUP FITNESS ? When you use a 5-step approach to dig deeper and unearth your true ‘ why ’, you will be empowered to make confident decisions that positively progress your career , writes group fitness guru Marietta Mehanni .
H ave you ever really asked yourself
why you teach group fitness ? Why did you decide that this would be the career ( or part-time pursuit ) that you would follow over so many other options ?
Often people will express platitudes like , ‘ to improve the wellbeing and health of my community ’ or ‘ to make a change in other people ’ s lives ’. I would like to suggest that the reason you chose this path was much more personal , and finding your real ‘ why ’ will make a huge difference in how you progress in your career . It will provide you with the drive and answers to motivate you when you are tired , frustrated , or overwhelmed . You know , those times that you are asking yourself ‘ why do I do this ?’
In the 1800 ’ s , German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote “ If we have our own ‘ why ’ of life we shall get along with almost any ‘ how ’”. This was also famously quoted 100 years later by Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl in his iconic book Man ’ s Search for Meaning ( 1946 ). Finding the reason for existence is one of those deep conversations that often we only peek at when we are trying to understand the world around us . More recently , Simon Sinek has written several books and delivered countless talks and courses about this topic . He believes that ‘ whether you are an entrepreneur , an employee , a leader of a team , or are looking to find clarity on your next move , your WHY is the one constant that will guide you toward fulfillment in your work and life .’
2020 was a year in which a lot of us had time to reflect on our lives and what was important to us . For many fitness professionals , it was a barricade that stopped the runaway train of our daily commitments . It was like the universe yelled STOP and we slammed on the brakes . This sudden interruption to our lives may have been uninvited and unwelcome , but it provided an opportunity to apply to ourselves the advice that we so often give our communities , to stop and breathe . In that breath , some of us were taken by surprise . The surprise was the realisation that maybe we had lost track of what was important to us - our why . Why were we teaching classes ? Why were we delivering workouts that , perhaps , were not
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