I will work for myself

I have this idea that I don't want to work for other people anymore for two reasons: 1) I hate it 2) I don't need to. I also have decided that I want attain athlete level conditioning. For the past year I have been going to the gym fairly regularly, as well as taken up running. I love the idea of going into business for myself as a personal trainer, and merging working for myself and being physically fit.

I have been seeing a trainer for a year, and in that time there are things that I have learned that if I were to be a trainer, I would do differently. I have a ton of ideas about how to make it a more valuable experience, and having had those thoughts, I realized there is no reason reason to not follow up on them, and start a whole new career, and direction to my life.

This is comes with a serious degree of cognitive dissonance, as a large part of me just wants to eat, smoke, drink, and hang around running my mouth all day, and mainly just sit on my ass. While I still enjoy these things, I didn't enjoy being 240 lbs. I also didn't enjoy having to work for other people, and all my bad habits diminish the level of focus you need to be able to manage working for yourself.

As Winter is beginning to set in, I have decided that there are some things I am going to be working towards in the future, and I want them to be well on there way by the time summer rolls around. In no real order: 1) Run a Marathon, 2) Become a Personal Trainer 3) Complete Triathlon.

The Marathon and Triathlon I want to train for because they involve focus, dedication and follow through, as well as great conditioning. All these things I feel also would add to my credibility as a trainer. The other reasons are more personal. I grew up as kid who had asthma, and parents who smoked. I then started smoking heavily as an adult, and while I have quit, in the process of quitting I put on a ton of weight. In training for these events, I will be erasing the years of smoking and the subsequent weight gain that came with it.

As far a training certification, it means better money and greater freedom. Once I am certified, I want to at least start working for a gym. Working at a gym as a trainer, you don't make as much money because the gym takes a cut of your fees, but it's good way to get clients, and get started in general. Once I have worked at a gym for a while, I want to start my own business.

There is a lot of hesitation in me to write this and make it public, because with me usually once an idea is let loose, it tends to dissipate. In the next 7 months leading up to the marathon, I am going to be writing something everyday here about where I am in my progress. I have never done anything like before, and I think writing about it will solidify the pursuit in my mind.