Fitness Business School – Pat’s Most Impactful Lessons 2021

Full Transcript

Hey, Pat Rigsby here. And in this episode, I want to talk with you about a few of the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way. Each year I list out the, the most impactful lessons I’ve learned along my now 49 years. Since I just experienced a birthday, and, you know, I do a list, there are 49 lessons. Well, I wanted to pick out three to talk about in today’s episode that have really been the ones that I’ve focused on most as of late so let’s do it.

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So about it decade ago, or maybe, maybe even a little bit longer than that, I started doing a post where I would share the most important lessons that I’ve learned along the way each year on my birthday, I’d say, okay, it, when I’m 40, what are the 40 most important lessons that I’ve learned along the way? So it’s not a new list every year. Some things probably fall off the list. If I you know, decide that, Hey, that’s no longer in the top 40 or 45 or now 49 lessons. And you know, every year there there’s one or two new things that, that make the list, if not more. And sometimes I go back, I refine what, I’ve the way that I think about it. It’s a continual kind of, I think learning process for me, but also a way for me to continue evolving and, and using this almost like a framework, these are kind of, I guess, a very crude set of mental models, if you will. This things that I believe you know, have helped me along the way and, and are useful for me to focus on if I ever kind of drift or get off track. And, you know, the, the, the list is updated this year w with my 49th birthday, and it’s obviously beyond the scope of a podcast to go through all 49 lessons.

So I thought I would pick out three things that are really top of mind for me and have been for, for the past year. The first is really understanding what my of success is, and it’s it, it’s mine. It’s not anybody else’s, it’s not, you know, I’m not, you know, asking you or anybody else to adopt the way that I think about success. I think each of us should define what success means to us, but for me, it’s doing what you valued doing. What’s important to you and doing it well. And I don’t mean that just in a professional sense at all. I mean, it personally and professionally, you know, if I’m going to trade my life, my time for, or something that I’m going to do, whether it be the work that I’m doing or coaching my, my son’s baseball team or being a parent or a step-parent or a husband or a son, or a friend or a teammate you know, it, it it’s being present. It’s a container annual pursuit of trying to be better at all of those things. And I think that this is something that, that is really kind of come more and more apparent in the past year. Prior to that, I think professionally one of my struggles has always been kind of an entrepreneurial eight add, right? And over the years, the opportunities to become better and more interesting. The, you know, the, the more success by businesses have had the more connections I’ve made. It’s just kind of more things have been presented. And, you know, it’s, it’s hard to say, no, you see the the, the things that could happen and you see the, the upside of things. And a lot of times you kind of ignore the downside of them and you, you start to, to, to water down your efforts, you, you, you, you really dilute your focus. And before, you know, it, the things that you vet like you originally valued the things that are truly important. They’re, they’re not getting as much attention. You’re not being as present with them as you should be. And I think back to the time where I was the CEO of like eight different businesses and a co-owner of like a dozen businesses, and, you know, there’s no way in the world that any of them were getting my best because, you know, I had this diluted focus. And also because there were so many things going on, there’s no way in the world that my kids were getting the best version of me, my, my, my wife, my friends, because there’s, you know, there there’s only so much capacity or bandwidth each of us have. So, you know, over time saying no establishing guard rails and really saying, okay, my definition of success is just doing the things that I truly care about that I value, but doing them well, being present, understanding that there is no real finish line, like with any of these, it’s always a continual pursuit.

And that’s part of the fun is yeah, no, I think that some of the times when I’ve set out goals and saying, okay, well, that would mean I’m successful. If, you know, if I write a book that hits a bestseller list or something, if I, I, you know, place a franchise and the entrepreneur franchise 500, or if my business is recognized by Inc magazine or whatever, right. Sales that all be successful when isn’t missed. Yeah. It’s never worked out that way. In fact, it’s always been very unfulfilling and th the, the true fulfilling part of it, the, the enjoyment has always been in the journey continual pursuit, and being willing to kind of stop and smell the roses along the way and acknowledged how far you’ve come, instead of just saying, okay, this is how much further I still have to go. But knowing that that’s part of the fun is, you know, things, things should exceed our grasp a little bit. And there are always ways that we can get better. And some of the people in and outside, out of our industry that I admire most are people that, yeah, they are older than me, but they’re still the people who are sitting in the front row at conferences, learning they’re people that are just lifelong students. And I think that really lines what’s up with, with this definition of success. So that’s number one that I, that I wanted to talk about. Number two is something and that I’ve talked about for really, as long as I can remember in my adult or professional life, and it’s winning the day. And I, you know, I can go back and look at my playbook from my time as a college baseball coach. And yeah, when the day was a very very common repeated phrase throughout that playbook. And it’s been a almost kind of a, a motto if you will, for my entire time as an entrepreneur.

But I, I think that maybe, you know, the, the time during the pandemic just really Put a spotlight on it even more because It was so so easy to, to get caught up in all the uncertainty of, okay, when are we going to be able to do this or that, when is there going to be you know, when are the restrictions going to change either good or bad? You’re always kind of, people would be so reactive and worried about the, the uncertainty of what’s to come, that they’d look up and they would have kind of missed being Present and miss being in the moment. And yeah, All the things that were opportunities there. I mean, I look back at the, the time during the pandemic person. And so you know, I, I not, not thinking in terms of kind of a global sense, but just personally, You know, as soon as I kind of came to grips with things, even maybe in that first week, you know, I, I, I went through like four different certifications as a student. Cause it’s like, You know what? This is, this is time that I wouldn’t have set still to get here Better on this thing. But, you know, I sat down and said, okay, what can I do to, to strengthen myself today? And there was, you know, a, a lot of learning, a lot of studying there, there were Opportunities. Sure. There were things we couldn’t do, but what could we do Spending time with, with my family, making sure that, you know, we’re, we’re enjoying the time that we had together before Tyler went off to college and, you know, w with clients, There were so many things that said, okay, well, yeah, there, there are things we Can’t do there. We can’t meet up for our typical mastermind meetings, the, that we do in Louisville or in Florida and Chicago, but what can we do? Yeah. And so we, we kind of upped our game, doing more zooms And being more accessibleAnd connected with so many people that probably wouldn’t have, have been, been clients of ours. Ours are close to us because they wouldn’t have been people who would have attained Ended those live meetings. So sorry, We were able to expand our reach. And, you know, I just think that, you know, time, time is a gift and if you aren’t present and if you aren’t where your feet, So to speak, and, and you’re not focused on winning the day Day, you’re always kind of looking at this, this thing that you’re wishing for in the future, you know, you’re, you’re missing out on on much of the opportunity And, and, and even more of the enjoyment. So winning The day, it has been really, probably something that’s been top of mind for me for, for every, every day, during the day Entire pandemic. And it’s something that I’m, I’m hopeful That it’s kind of burned into my brain at This point so much that it’s it it’s going to be here Throughout. And then finally the third lesson that I think I really wanted to to, To touch on today and, you know, it, it’s, it’s something that I’ve probably talked about more than anybody else I know in, in our industry for, for ages, but, you know, with every passing year, it becomes More important than it’s that, you know, relationships are the foundation of everything. And I look at the, you know, the professional side of this, you know, I’m, I’m fortunate enough to have some clients that I had, you know, in 2006 or 2007, they’re clients of mine today. And I am, you know, and I am always excited about getting to know clients better, getting to know them as people getting to know their, why, why they’re in business in the first place, the, the tactical stuff for me is more of a a means to an end, if you will, I’m more excited about the relationship with the person and helping them Use their business as a vehicle to, to have the impact they want and the life they want.

And, you know, I think that the more I do this, the more My thought about my role as a business coach moves towards that. Like, that’s, my job is connect with not the most people, but that you don’t connect with people and build stronger, deeper relationships and serve is a mentor or a teammate, or you know, some sort of advisor to help them have that An impact in, in life that they want to have. And that’s, that’s my role. And personally, again, I you know, I don’t know that I have a huge circle because The, you know, I Want deeper relationships. I want stronger relationships. And really, I want to invest more time in the people that have, and not anybody Different than like, when I talk about my definition of success, He says, if you spread yourself too thin and you, you’ve got a bunch of surface level relationships, you’re not getting any depth in. And I think that there’s more of that than there’s ever been with social media. We’ve got a bunch of contacts. The masquerade is friends, but we See, you know, in truth, you know, you can build a wonderful business and just a really fulfilling life by saying, okay, how can I make this relationship better? How can I help make the people’s lives around me better? How can I support them? How, you know, I mean, I think that if you can help people realize their goals and fulfill their dreams, ultimately you’re probably going to do something of the same for yourself too, but it’s going to be a much More enjoyable journey to, to be able to say, okay, you know what, my, my livelihood or my, my path has been one of Impact of, you know of January When care and concern for others and not just seeing customers as transactions, not just seeing an email list is you know, this kind of personality lists asset. It’s more of a, okay, how do I serve this person, right. And help them go where they’re trying to go.

And if I do that often enough, then my business, This will be successful. If I form true friendships, then you know, how am I making their life better? How am I staying in touch with them? You know, my you know, am I doing what I need to do to, to not only set my children up to succeed as life goes on, but share meaningful experiences with them. So Those have been the lessons that I have really focused on probably most in the past year. And, you know, I encourage you to take a look at all 49 lessons. Not again, not that they’re your same list of lessons learned, but Sure. There are going to be some things that make you think I’m sure there are going to be some things that remind you, You have the things that are important to you, or maybe even some things that open your eyes and give you some new ideas about how to move forward towards your own goals. But these were the ones that helped me most in the past Year. And hopefully they’ll help you too.

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