I’m a Gym Instructor. Here’s Why I Need a PT.
What strength training taught me about accountability and why even experienced leaders struggle to make time to think.
Every Monday evening I teach a group of women how to lift weights. It’s one of my favourite parts of the week. I love seeing women discover they’re stronger than they thought they were, and watching the confidence that comes from that grow over time. It’s incredibly rewarding.
People are often surprised when I tell them I have a Personal Trainer.
It’s not because I don’t know how to train. I’m qualified to teach it, I know the exercises and I genuinely enjoy lifting weights. My PT isn’t there to teach me something I don’t already know.
They’re there because, without that commitment in my diary, my own training is one of the first things to slip.
There always seems to be something more urgent. Work gets busy, life gets busy and before I know it, I’ve convinced myself I’ll fit it in tomorrow instead. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s done that.
It struck me recently that this is exactly what happens with thinking time.
I’ve never met a leader who believes reflection isn’t important. Most of the people I work with actively encourage their teams to take time to think, learn and develop. They ask thoughtful questions, support career development and help others become more self-aware.
Yet many of those same people struggle to create that same space for themselves.
Thinking time rarely feels urgent. Unlike meetings, deadlines or overflowing inboxes, nobody notices if you don’t spend an hour thinking through a difficult decision or reflecting on what you really want from your career. So it quietly disappears from the diary.
I’ve noticed that most people don’t struggle because they don’t know what to do. They struggle because knowing and doing are two very different things.
I know I should prioritise my own training. Most leaders know they should make time to think. Neither requires more knowledge. Both require making space for something important before everything else crowds it out.
For me, that’s what my PT provides: accountability. It isn’t that I don’t know what to do or need someone to motivate me. It’s having a regular appointment in my diary that I’m committed to showing up for. That protected time makes it much less likely that my own priorities will quietly slip down the list.
It’s made me realise that support isn’t always about someone giving us the answers. Often it’s about having the time and space to work through our own thinking with someone who’s objective enough to ask the questions we might not ask ourselves. More often than not, people leave those conversations with greater clarity simply because they’ve finally had the chance to properly think.
We’ll happily make time for our teams, our colleagues, our families and our friends. We’ll encourage them to slow down, reflect and invest in themselves, yet we’re often far less disciplined about doing the same for ourselves.
That leaves me with one question I’ve been reflecting on this week.
What conversation with yourself have you been postponing because you haven’t made the time to think?
If that question has brought something to mind and you’d value dedicated time to explore it, that’s exactly what I help people create. Coaching isn’t about someone giving you the answers. It’s about creating the time, space and challenge to find your own.
If you’d like to explore what’s on your mind, you’re very welcome to book a complimentary Context Call. I’d love to hear what you’re working through.