Twenty years is a long time. I have clients who weren’t even born when I started. I tell them about the slow Internet, the relative rarity of cellphones, and the ease of air travel, and it’s like a different world to them.

For some people, twenty years on the same job (more or less) is enough for retirement. But I love my job, so why should I quit? It’s so gratifying that I plan on staying on for a long time.

Let me list three of the ways in which my job as a personal trainer is probably better than anyone else’s 😉

I’m not cooped up in an office. I don’t spend the whole day just sitting around, perhaps staring at a computer monitor for hours on end. I’m not limited to just staring at the 4 walls of an office (or worse, a cubicle). That to me is my own personal description of purgatory. That’s so boring I could weep.

Instead, I’m always up and about. I’m physically active the whole day, and I love it. And I get to meet and talk to interesting people day in and day out. I’m having the time of my life. This has been my feeling about working as a personal trainer since I started, and it never really changed. So why should I change professions or retire?

I see the results of my hard work with my own eyes. There’s nothing more rewarding than training with people and seeing that my methods actually worked for them. If you’re not a personal trainer, it’s simply hard to find the words to describe how it feels when you see a client lose their extra weight, or attain the muscles they’ve always wanted, or get back the flexibility and movement they thought they lost forever.

You see the extra spring in their step, the newfound confidence they exude, and the smile that doesn’t seem to quit, and I tell myself: I was part of his or her success. We both worked hard, and our hard work paid off.

But it’s not just the end of the journey that’s fulfilling. The entire journey is filled with lots of gratifying moments. You feel the thrill when you see a client on the verge of quitting suddenly find the determination to persevere. You share in their rapture when they find themselves victorious by achieving a feat that they have never accomplished before.

It’s all about the small steps, but each step is a triumph I share with my clients. Seeing them do pushups properly is a joy, and it’s the same thing when they finally achieve the very first pull-up of their life. Every week when a client achieves a new personal record in weight or reps, we share a look that briefly revels in the success.

These things happen all day, every day, for more than twenty years. It’s like winning a championship except that I get to experience it on a daily basis.

I bask in the respect I am accorded. Like most people, I enjoy it when others think well of me. So it is quite gratifying that I have the respect of my peers, because I have earned the reputation I have acquired. It pleases me to no end when people come in because a client has recommended me, and it truly touches me when other professionals mention my name to their friends and associates. I’m blessed, and thankful.

It’s one thing for my friends and family to patronize my services. But when people I don’t know come in because of the recommendation of people I respect in the fitness industry, that’s another thing entirely.

So why would I stop? I love what I do, I love the results I see in others, and I love the respect that’s given to me. These things fuel my passion and motivate me to keep going.

Coach Sharm
guruFitness.com