GLORY TO THE GRIND

Glory to the Grind

By: Eric Bugera

Secrets to Success.

• Suffering is often conflated with success.

• Sustainable suffering is the true key to success.
• Sustainable suffering is just  a stretching of your comfort zone without actually sacrificing critical components for your own health and well-being.

No Pain, No Gain

Living the motto is one way to get the job done. 

There are many unspoken rules about being a trainer. Looking the part helps. Competing in a fitness related sport is handy for marketing. In the online space – normalizing daily routine, habits, and grind culture now permeates seemingly every content drip. Early wake-ups, nauseating adherence to training or diet, and the all too common “sacrifice” for success. It’s slowly devolving into who can suffer more for some non-existent prize, or in reality, subconscious (and self-destructive) pride. What can be a genuine tool for productivity looks more like curated content filler.

Suffering is a Skill

Doing what needs to be done isn’t always the most fun part of any job. The shape of being a trainer certainly involves molding your lifestyle around where the money is. This means your schedule (for the vast majority of your career) will revolve around your clients. Early mornings, late nights, long split shifts, or even middle-of-the-night calls to accommodate time zones. This is a normal day on the job for the personal trainer or online coach. Where you (eventually) get mobility and some form of self-governance, never forget that you ultimately are pursuing another person’s schedule to build your own.

Particularly in your early years, client’s may be more scarce. This builds in more (unpaid) work to get your business where it needs to be. Whether that’s cold calls and canvassing for clients, content creation in the online space, or providing sample training sessions or services, you will be required to get your hands dirty in a way that feels like a far cry from the final shape of your work day. Early mornings, late nights, and long days add up. There’s only so much mental real estate for human interaction as well. You will inevitably begin to wear, and that which you first sought with bright eyes and enthusiasm will begin to wane.

Suffering is a skill. The road to success as a trainer is much, much longer than you think. Leveraging intelligent discomfort is how you will climb the mountain and alleviate the pressures of your early career. This isn’t just suffering for suffering’s sake – it’s a strategic stretching of your comfort zone. You still need food, sleep, and to mentally recharge, but the specific shape of those habits will be what is sacrificed. True success is found in self-sustaining habits. The willingness to move your daily routine around at the drop of a hat, without actually sacrificing these key components, is the actual secret to success. Maintain your diet, sleep, and relationships, but be willing to bend where necessary to get through the lean times.

Suffer Sustainably

Chronic 4:00 AM wake up times shouldn’t mean a net reduction in sleep. Running client’s through noon hour shouldn't mean you miss out on calories for the day. Working weekends shouldn’t mean fading relationships with friends or family. The picture of your suffering should in reality be more of an inconvenience than true suffering. If it were anything else, you would crumble long before ever seeing the fruits of such unnecessary pain. Steel your food, sleep, and relationships, but stay loose in your scheduling and application. Suffering is a skill, and those that best apply it are the ones who will succeed in any venture.

• Schedule your workouts a week in advance (minimum)
• Meal prep or maintain some consistency with where and when your meals will come from.
• Be strict with net sleep on a daily cycle. Do not think that you will be more efficient long term on broken sleep.