Well, here we are,
Another year has gone by,
More lessons have been learned,
And Formidable Strength & Conditioning has probably undertaken its biggest amount of change since we changed from Personal Training to Small Group Coaching.
As you all probably know, we have had to make some incredibly hard choices this year,
From closing down North Fremantle to the birth of my first child this year has had its ups and downs.
But we come out of it with some incredible lessons learned, new opportunities and more potential growth than we could imagine coming into next year!
So here are my Learned Lessons and Win's coming out of 2022!
We will start with the Ls so we can finish on a high!
Lesson number 1: Trust your gut, if something isn't working cut it off before it starts to bring you down.
This couldn't have been more true than when we had the difficult choice to close down North Freo, our home since the inception of Formidable.
The truth of the matter was, although it was operating well, difficulties with the lease and the amount of travel for Simon and myself had taken its toll on us and the business for way longer than we should have allowed.
Realistically it was only my pride that was keeping us there.
No matter what my gut was saying I could not bring myself to let it go so we held onto it for far longer than we should have.
Lesson number 2: Generalisation is a killer
Don't get me wrong, I love being able to help everyone as much as I can, but for a program to be truly great and to maximise the minutes available to someone in a day you need to start having a more specialised focus.
Before I was trying to advertise to everyone and anyone,
This meant that I was spending so much time just trying to figure out who we were as a business and never actually getting any closer to being able to tell anyone what we could do to help them.
Since we have been able to focus and specialise more and more my life has become easier and easier and we have started to bring in more and more people.
Lesson number 3: It's never too late, but some things are just not meant to be,
At the start of last year, I made the bold choice to return to swimming.
This was with the dream of returning to the national stage and being competitive once again.
And to be fair I did really well, and started swimming faster than I ever had in training. But after falling off my bike 6 weeks before short course states and damaging my wrist it wasn't meant to be.
It's not something I regret attempting and I am certainly proud of what I managed to achieve in such a short space of time but I think that will be the last "comeback from injury" in my very long list of comebacks.
Now for the Wins!
Win number 1: Starting our Business Mentorship!
This was the first year that we got a business mentor, for the last 6 years Simon and I have been stumbling our way through, doing well enough but having to eat a lot of shit in the process.
But bringing on our business mentor Karl has been a game changer for me especially,
It has helped me focus, helped me push myself and given me some much-needed guidance and a lot of time, reassurance.
It has given us the confidence to go after things like our partnerships with Swimming WA, Masters Swimming WA and Perth City Swimming Club!
And has allowed us to set ourselves up for a very exciting 2023!
Win number 2: Focus
For those that don't know, I have some pretty hectic ADHD. This is something that I have just dealt with my whole life and despite how bad it is I've managed to build a strategy to be able to cope.
Earlier this year it was becoming a bit too much, I was mentally struggling and it was taking a big toll on my relationships.
This led to me getting help and getting rediagnosed with "Adult" ADHD, I am now medicated for it and the difference is incredible.
For example, I'm sitting here writing a blog on the past year... I would never have been able to do that before.
So for anyone that is struggling with ADHD (male or female) please reach out or get help. It has been a game changer for me and it will be for you as well!
Win number 3: I'm going to be a dad
I left the best till last, and what else is there to say :)
Looking forward to crushing it next year with you all!
Ryan