Fit for Life: Accentuate The Positive … Eliminate The Negative…

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Matt Espeut, GoLocalWorcester Health +Lifestyle Contributor

Matt Espeut

There are about 9 places within a five-mile radius of my location that offer some sort of fitness program. From the big box gym to the small personal training studio, there is a lot of other places someone can go to get a workout. People are always asking if it bothers me that there is so much competition out there. Or they ask, does it hurt your business being near a brand new mega box gym? And the answer to both of those questions is “NO”.

I am not trying to sound cocky or arrogant, but I don’t worry about other “competition” or when another fitness facility opens. As a matter of fact, I barely acknowledge the other places. I don’t care what they offer, I don’t care what they post on Facebook, and I don’t care how they market, or how many members they have. Is it possible that some of my members could jump ship and try the new kid on the block? Yes. Does it concern me? Yes. But the truth of the matter is that I don’t have a lot of extra energy to spend worrying about what others are doing. I need all my energy to focus on growing, taking care of my clients, and developing my team. If I continuously do this, I don’t need to exhaust myself being concerned with what others are doing. If I am focused on my marketing, and putting out useful content that the public can use and achieve positive results with, people will come in. If my team and I deliver an outstanding experience that you won’t get anywhere else, people will stay. If I develop a team of rock stars, they will be motivated to come to work on fire, and deliver this experience every time you work out at my facility. These are the things that consume my thoughts and energy.

There are over 300 million people in this country. Close to 1/2 of them are overweight and out of shape. I know that there are millions of people that need my help, and I am focusing on getting around 4-500 of them into my facility. To me, trying to figure out how to accomplish that is far more important than what the gym up the street is offering for a monthly rate. You see, I would rather expend my energy making positive changes in all areas of my life, than worrying about all the negative things that happen, or could happen.

Whiners and complainers

Not everyone conducts themselves this way. I know a lot of people, both family and close friends that expend way too much energy thinking negatively, or being concerned with trivial bullshit. They walk around with this “the sky is falling” mentality. You know the ones that I’m talking about, because they are everywhere. They watch the news, and can’t wait to talk about all the horrible things that are going on around the world. They complain about the traffic, the weather, this one did that, you paid too much for that, this place is a rip off, this one only wants to make money on me, and on and on and on. These are usually the people that make excuses, and blame outside elements when they don’t accomplish anything. Everyone and everything is wrong in the world but them.

I have a saying that sums it up. “Negative people will find a problem for every positive outcome or solution”. If you say you are going to a baseball game, they will tell you “it’s going to rain”. If you are going to travel, they will tell you “planes are dangerous”. If you go out for dinner, they will tell you the restaurant is too expensive, or the food’s not that good. Negative energy. These are the same people that will hammer home your issues rather than help find a solution. If you say you lost your wallet, they will tell you all the bad things that could happen like identity theft, stealing your money, and keep reminding you of how bad the situation is, rather than tell you it’s no big deal, just hurry up and cancel your credit cards. This is the mentality you need to avoid. Avoid it within yourself, and with the folks you hang around with.

Program your mind.

If you program your mind to think positive, and surround yourself with positive problem solving people, you will start to expend more energy accomplishing things and finding solutions, as opposed to dwelling on all the bad things happening around us, and expending negative energy. We all have good things and bad things happen to us daily. It’s rare to have a perfect day when everything lines up in your favor. But it requires the same amount of energy to dwell as it does to find a solution, and find a positive outcome. If you are driving to work and your car gets a flat, you could either throw a tantrum, stress yourself out, or just call for assistance. If you are at the market and someone leaves their carriage near your car, you could get aggravated and complain about how stupid and ignorant people are, or you could just put the cart where it belongs, and carry on. I see a sales consultant on a weekly basis, and he trains us to eliminate the negative mind trash within 15 minutes and move on. His term is to be bullet proof, and let the things that agitate you or stress you out move to the back burner, or just eliminate them from your thoughts and move on. My mentor and business guru tells us to have edited relationships with negative people. Either limit your time with them, or try to avoid subjects that will lead to negative conversation. Otherwise, they will bring you down to their level of thinking, and drain your energy.

It’s your choice.

Like time, we all have a limited amount of energy, and you have the ability to determine how you spend yours. You can either adopt a cynical negative mindset where everyone is out to get you, nothing goes right for you, and its everyone else fault that bad things happen to you, or you can look at things in a positive light, and find solutions when things go bad. Believe it or not, the choice is yours. We all have the opportunity and ability to let out thoughts and actions carry us in a positive direction. We also have the option to spin a negative light on everything that happens to us daily. I spend my time thinking of ways to help more people achieve their fitness goals, and how I can dominate this industry. Not thinking about my competitors. It’s up to you, so get your mind right, and see things on the bright side. You will be happy you did.

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one

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JeFit

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Fooducate

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