Balancing Act

Define "running yourself into the ground." For everyone, the answer's a bit different, but I can say that my definition has changed significantly over the past ten years!

When I started as a trainer, I was an adventure racer with a seemingly limitless supply of energy. I could work all day, train all night, and then do it again the next day, seemingly no worse for the wear. After three or four years of this, however, my energy definitely became a limited resource. I started scheduling clients in the mornings, training myself in the afternoon, and sleeping at night. As I got busier, this got more and more difficult and, ultimately, my desire to own and operate my own personal training business (and actually make a living) overcame my need to beat other people on race courses. This is when I started training people full time. Great! So now I had all hours of the day to work. Exactly how did this make my life better? For the next two to three years, I worked Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (or later), building my business, staying in shape, and building my knowledge base through courses at UCLA and the CHEK Institute and correspondence courses or certifications through NASM, NSCA, and ACSM.

In my "spare" weekend time, I helped create an adventure camp for women called "Girl Teams," the purpose of which was to teach women the basic outdoor adventure skills of rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, and orienteering. Busy, busy, busy! Though my work was "fun," it required a lot of time--and the money, even though I was charging $85 to $100 per hour for a client, was slim to none when averaged out over my actual work hours each day.