Never Settle For Less

Here’s a secret.  Going to the gym and working out is good for you…SUPRISE!  The list of obvious benefits is long and exhaustive:

• Improved Cardiovascular Fitness
• Muscular Size
• Better flow of blood to your heart
• Increased life expectancy
• Greater energy
• Lower levels of stress
• Improved confidence levels
• Lower body fat
• Decreased risk of diseases
• Reduced exposure to injury

By now we can recite all these in our sleep. 

Networking Environment

Recently I uncovered a hidden treasure in the gym.  It’s unrelated to fitness yet vital to advancement in life.

Public gyms are an amazing place to network and make contacts.  The environment is perfect.  In the office people are defined by their title, longevity, political standing, or history within the company.  Oftentimes, this creates boundaries that are very unlikely to be broken.  Contrast this with the gym where everyone is on equal ground.  The environment is extremely relaxed  and conversation flows freely.

Who Works Out

People from all walks of life are in the gym.  I’ve only been in my current gym for 9 months and I’ve already met an impressive cast of characters including:

• Accountants
• Bodybuilders
• Football Players
•  Salesmen
•  Engineers
• HR  Managers
• Insurance Salesmen
• Home Builders
• CEOs
•  Martial Arts Experts
• Wealth/Finance Planners
• Fitness Models
• Lawyers
• Professional Speakers (I met my mentor’s wife in the gym)

Where else can you hope to find a network like that? 

Listen to this.  I work out at 6 am when only 10-15% of the gym’s total membership is there.  I’ve received job offers, home deals, wealth planning advice, and free legal counsel.  When only 15% of the membership is working out.  Imagine who’s there in the evenings!

The statement “It’s not what you know it’s who you know” is 100% true.  The gym is packed with resourceful strangers that you’ve yet to tap into.  They are begging to help you.  Do you really want to leave all those connections on the table?

Start a conversation with a stranger in the gym.  It just might change your life, it’s definitely changing mine.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Training, Change, Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.