Riding the Continental Divide Trail is a dream come true and a series of unexpected challenges.
My nephew and I have a general plan, but we still have to start each day with a review and update of our plan.
We are getting better and better at this! The more we review our plan, the better it gets.
This process is repeated every time we do something new and different, like creating a plan to address growing mental health issues in this country.
I don’t know of any other industry so ideally poised to address mental health issues than the fitness industry. We all do it to some degree already, but most of us don’t have a written plan.
This series of emails is all about clearing up the confusion and creating and implementing a plan.
This email is about reviewing the tactics we can use to address mental health and putting them in writing.
Then the fun begins as we implement our tactics.
Your challenge is to take the suggestions below and create your own individualized tactics and get them in writing.
Here are the four different tactics that can be used when assessing mental health in your fitness programs. Here is a short synopsis of each:
Tactic 1: What’s the best part of your day?
- Group classes: Begin the session by asking everyone in a round-robin what the best part of their day has been.
- Front desk: Train your personnel to ask this question of everyone as they sign in.
- Personal Trainers: Have each trainer ask this question during their session.
Tactic 2: Ask graded questions, not “yes” or “no.”
- Ask how happy they are with their results by choosing a number from 1 – 10.
- Whatever number they choose, the next question would be to ask what it would take to make it higher (if they chose 6, what would it take to make it a 7).
- Showing honor and respect: Asking graded questions helps you gather good information about your program, as well as shows respect for the opinions and answers of your clients.
Tactic 3: Focus on the positive
- Listen to your clients when in conversation with them, if the conversation becomes negative, the strategy is to help, as much as possible, turn the person in a more positive direction.
- Watch their facial expressions and body language, you’ll know when they have turned in a more positive direction.
Tactic 4: Create a penalty for a negative attitude or a negative vibe
- Address the negative side of attitudes, and influence mental health by coming up with something fun and effective. Make it a tradition, and part of your gym’s culture.
- Example: In my gym, I had a penalty for anyone who said the word, “can’t.” It was felt by everyone in the gym because the penalty was 10 burpees for everyone in the gym whenever anyone said “can’t.” Not just the person who said it, but everyone, At some point, everyone became the guilty party.
- Result: Camaraderie was developed because everyone knew what it felt like on both sides of the “can’t” line. Attitudes learned in a gym are carried outside into homes and communities. One woman was so impressed that it became a new rule in her family, “can’t” had become a four–letter word. She took it a step further and posted about it on social media.:
Each Tactic above also contains a link to the original posting so that you can review my entire message for each one
We have a huge responsibility to our clients, in that they have come to us for help, and that help needs to include both physical and mental care. It’s not about body-building, it’s about people-building.
If you would like to talk about more specific strategies you can follow to explode your business now, get on my calendar and let’s talk. It’s free to you.
Remember, you only get results when you take immediate action on your ideas.
