The Importance Of Self-Reflection And Self-Evaluation

Do you sometimes feel that you’re rushing between teaching classes and training clients without enough time to stop and think?

Personal trainers and fitness professionals often work long hours and have busy lives, but that doesn’t mean that you should neglect an important part of your business: self-reflection and self-evaluation.

Setting aside some time for introspection and planning can refresh your offer, help your business thrive and keep your clients coming back to you.

What is self-refection and self-evaluation?

Self-reflection or introspection is when we spend time thinking about ourselves, what we do, how we think and how we feel.

Self-evaluation is the process of analysing the issues that arise during self-reflection and drawing conclusions, before deciding what actions to take.

As human beings, we have unique capabilities when it comes to learning about ourselves, from how we think and feel, to our values and who we fundamentally are as individuals.

As a personal trainer or fitness instructor, it’s important that you regularly reflect on the training that you have planned and delivered, and think about ways to expand and improve your offer.

What are the benefits of self-refection and self-evaluation?

There are many benefits of self-refection and self-evaluation, both professional and personal. For example:

• Encourages you to monitor and evaluate the training you deliver and make improvements

• Gives you the framework and motivation to work on your skills and CPD, supporting you with your career progression

• Promotes creative thinking and inspires you to come up with new ideas for training programmes and for developing your personal training business

• Gives you a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and allows you to work on them

• Encourages you to recognise and celebrate your successes, and to learn valuable lessons from any mistakes you have made

• On a personal level, it can increase your confidence, help you to keep things in perspective and show you how to reflect on your core values and to be more authentic as a person

• It can also improve your emotional intelligence, allowing you to be more empathetic towards your clients

Finally, self-reflection and self-evaluation can help you to achieve a better work-life balance, with the result that you enjoy what you do, avoid the risk of burn-out and spend less of your downtime worrying about your work.

How do you carry out self-refection and self-evaluation?

Start by setting aside a specific time to carry out your self-reflection. It’s best to do this on a regular basis, such as once a month, and to add it into your schedule so that it doesn’t get neglected when you get busy.

Choose a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Make sure you have all the tools you need to hand eg. laptop or pen and paper, but avoid distractions such as social media.

1. Decide at the offset what you want to achieve. Keep this manageable and achievable; you might find it useful to write down questions or headings, or to use a business analysis tool such as setting out SMART goals.

• Think about some recent positive experiences you have had with clients. How did you guide them to change their behaviours and reach their goals? Could you apply this approach to other clients and are there any changes you might need to make? Do you have any clients who are struggling and how could you motivate them? Have you got stuck a rut with any of your training programmes?

• Do you need more clients and how could you market your services to win them?

• Are there any benefits to offering specialist services, such as training people who are obese and/or have diabetes or teaching pre-natal/post-natal classes? Could you offer bolt-on services, such as sports massage? If so, what additional qualifications might you need and how could you go about getting them?

• Do you need any specific advice to develop any of your services or grow your business? How could you access this, e.g. searching online, reading self-help or technical books, seeking out advice from a colleague or manager?

Self-reflection and self-evaluation will motivate you to take steps to progress your career and be happier in life – whether these are minor adjustments or major changes.