The Uneducated PT Podcast - Ep.76 Surface Vs Hidden Metrics.

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

Welcome back to another solo ep of the Uneducated PT Podcast. I'm touching on the importance of finding the hidden metrics in your life. 

Okay, welcome back to another solo episode of the Uneducated PT podcast. We're back to guests this week. We have four great guests coming on. But before they come on, I wanted to go through one little topic that I think is going to be really helpful, especially for the School of Fitness members who are in the current program. And it's about surface versus hidden metrics. and this is something that I have to remind myself all the time when I'm kind of spiraling out of control with my thoughts

because I can give you an example even like about three weeks ago I had all this kind of negative chatter in my head I was like oh I've been in business for eight years now eight years trying to build something and you know what I'm nowhere near where I thought I would be at this stage

like I went through periods of growth where I thought you know I was doing really well and you know I was exceeding expectations and then I went through periods where I was like had to take two steps forward and three steps back and then I was question like is this actually working is this you know more effort than it's worth am I making the right decision here you know maybe I should just go get a job where I have less responsibility I can work for someone else like a big corporation you know they'll give me I'll get paid reasonably well um you know, they'll look after pensions and, you know, all this stuff that, you know, when you're

self-employed, you have to look after all this stuff yourself. And I was like, maybe after all this time, it's just easier to just go get a corporate job or whatever it is. And, you know, when I'm thinking about all these things, I have to be like, okay, what would I, what would, what would I tell myself if I was coaching a fat loss client? Like, if I was to talk to myself in a third party kind of thing. And, you know, if this was a fat loss client who, you know, was pursuing something, something they know that was important to them, a goal that they wanted to achieve, but then they're like, you know, is this worth it? Because I'm not seeing the results that I want. Like, my question would be, well, what are them results? And, like, what are you, what's the bigger picture here? What are

you missing? And I think we do this all the time is that, like, we forget about what the hidden metrics are. So like, you know, for me in business, the hidden metrics are, okay, like if I'm only determining that success is based on how much I make each week or how much I make each month, like I'm limited in my opportunities to be successful. Because yes, I could probably go to do another job or go work for someone and get paid more with less responsibility. But, you know, what are the hidden metrics? What are the things that I'm not looking out for? Like, okay, maybe then I have to, go and deal with a boss that I don't want to deal with who's an asshole. Maybe I have to work in an office with, you know, employees who are constantly bitching about themselves. Maybe, you know, I have to wear things that I don't want to wear. Like, crazy things about my job is, you know, I can show up in whatever I want to do a degree. Like, I can wear tracks suit bottoms every day. Um, you know, I get to see the best in people all the time because usually when people come into the gym, you know, they're coming in, like that is their hour. Like they're done with work. They're done with family

responsibilities and they just want time for themselves so that they can train and enjoy themselves and they're always appreciative and they're always grateful and they're always in a great mood when they leave. So you get to see the best in people and there's a lot to be said for that. Like it's like yes, running your own business is stressful in some ways but like the stress is very low in other regards in terms of you know it's a very casual relaxed atmosphere when you're working with people in the gym which which is great. And you always leave in a good mood. Like I always leave work in a good mood.

Like there's stuff that's obviously boring and that I don't want to do that I have to do like taxes and all this crap. But you know, the actual like day to day coaching side of things and being in the gym and enjoying the presence of other people. Like I don't, I know people that will like can't wait for it to be five o'clock so they can get out of work.

Like they're living for the weekends and they're living for their weak holidays. and I don't have that like I don't dread a Monday morning and like these are the hidden metrics these are the hidden metrics that like you know you have to take them into account when you're like do I want to do this

or do I want to do this it's like there's a lot of there's a lot of things that make me successful that isn't the you know how much money you make or how much time you spend and stuff like that and you know revenue and profit margins and stuff like that

and I have to say the exact same thing when I speak to a fat like client like someone will come into the gym because they want to lose weight and that's absolutely fine and I think weight loss can be a great goal for a lot of people and but if that is your only metric of success when you walk in then you are leaving opportunities on the table to be successful because you won't lose weight every week you're not going to lose a kilo every week you're not going to lose five kilo every month you're not going to lose 10 kilo like the more weight you lose the the more it slows down anyway so you have to find other metrics of success that is

and just purely down to weight. And there's so many of them metrics all around you if you just open your eyes and you look. Like, you know, maybe you don't lose weight this week, but maybe you leave the gym in a better mood. Maybe you're, you know, more patient with your kids and you're more present with them. Maybe you're more productive in work now because you've trained.

Maybe your mental health has improved. You know, maybe you're more loving to your partner. You know, maybe you have more energy throughout today to actually enjoy today. maybe like the tasks that you have to do throughout the day are less stressful because you've already done something hard like going to the gym and train you know maybe you just go to bed sleeping a little bit better at night because you've you've worn out your body you have peace of mind going to sleep um like all these little things that are all successes in their own right

that we look over because we're just looking at that one metric of success like how much weight did we lose or how much money did we make and um i think if if we're fair to ourselves you know we'll be able to look at like you know emotional resilience and you know creativity and you know all these things that exercise helps you where and you know all these things that losing weight or just getting stronger help you with that isn't about scale weight um you know your ability to be more connected with your family or your friends because you're less less self-confidence conscious about yourself. Like all these things,

these are massive, massive wins that we just discredit all the time. So it's really, really important that we look for these hidden metrics because they're all around us. Like we have a real, there's no one that I have,

there's no one that I haven't met that I can't say like you don't have a successful life. You're just not looking in the right areas. Like everyone has success in their lives. There's no one, there's no one that I've met that doesn't have success.

in their lives. Like the mum who stays at home says like oh well I don't work I'm just to stay a home mom you know and then the kind of CEO of their company who never got married and never had kids looks at that mom with envy you know so everyone has something that some someone else wants and the grass isn't always greener on the other side and I think if we were to zoom out rather than to kind of zoom in at this one metric and just look at our whole life in total we would really realized that we're pretty successful and we're pretty lucky and, you know, that would help us to stay on course because a lot of the times people stop pursuing the thing that they wanted to achieve because they get frustrated or they get disheartened because they're not looking at the

bigger picture. So for me, it's like, okay, what have I achieved over the last eight years of trying to, you know, build something from the ground and trying to run my own business and my own thing? well like I'm more competent you know um I I know how to do things that I wouldn't have done if I was working for someone else I had to be my own marketer I had to you know make my own brand I had to you know be willing to put myself out there and get into conversations with people and show up on camera and learn new skills and you know put myself into courses and try and just improve with myself development as much as I could so that the business could thrive and ultimately it made me a better person.

And you can say the same thing about your weight loss pursuit. It's like, you know, whether you've lost the weight that you've wanted to lose or not, like are you a better person for pursuing that goal? And, you know, if you're honest with yourself, you would definitely say yes, I am a, I am a better person for pursuing that goal. So I just think it's something that we just need to look out for when we're spiraling. I think that's a really good question. If I couldn't measure success by money or time, how would I measure,

who I'm becoming. That's a really, really good one. Or an even better one is, what skills or character traits or strengths am I building that nobody can see yet? But that will make future success inevitable. I think that's really good. Because, you know, when you go to the gym,

you're showing up, you're being resilient, you're building mental resilience as well as physical strength. You're telling yourself all the time that you're someone who does hard things. You're someone that, you know, pushes yourself. and pushes your body and shows up for yourself. And that builds self-esteem. And with that self-esteem you get from the gym and from exercise,

you know, where else is that going to show up in your life? I bet you it's going to show up in a lot of different ways. So that's just something I want you to kind of ponder today is like what are the hidden metrics that I'm not seeing that is making me a better person, regardless of whether I've got the result or not?