Goal-setting steps for personal trainers

Setting goals gets talked about a lot, but you need to do it the right way. 

We’ve reviewed the power of goals and how they help people increase their income ten times over. 

So how do you create your goals the right way, and start earning more money as a personal trainer?

Here’s a hint: you really need to mean what you write down. 

Follow these steps to set real goals for your PT business and your life. 

Be SMART

It’s great to say you want a multi-million dollar personal training business in five years.

A lot of people have this aspiration. But your goals need to be SMART. 

By that, we mean:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable (with your growth mindset on)

• Relevant 

• Time sensitive

Write down your goals for 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years and 5 years, for each area of your life - including business goals, life goals, and your own training goals in the gym. 

Double-check that these goals are aligned with your core values ( more on that here) so you don’t end up feeling conflicted. 

And speaking of feelings, everything you have written down should feel scary and exciting.

If you’re not a little scared of your goals, they are too small. 

The process should take around an hour and a half. When you’re done, think about each goal. Picture it, feel it, smell it.

Now, you will have the clearest, most deliberate list of goals you have ever had.

Your action plan is in place, everything aligns with your core values, and you're terrified of how you’re actually going to achieve it all!

Don't worry - This is totally normal.

Achieving your goals

There’s a really good chance that most of your goals listed are outcome-based goals. 

They might include:

• A new car

• A house

• Make $200k income

• Open a gym or studio

• Have a baby 

Goals like these are undoubtedly things we should be working towards, but the secret to achieving them is to change how you view your goals. 

Achieving your goals lies in the process. The process leads to the outcome, the reward is the goal itself.

Let’s say one of your goals is to buy a house.

Ask yourself: What does buying that house mean to you? What does buying that house represent?

Now ask yourself, what are you going to have to do to get it? The answer is probably to earn more money as a personal trainer.

To do this, you might have to:

• Improve your skills as a coach to deliver a better service

• Double your PT business turn over 

• Change your relationship with money 

• Overhaul your finances to ensure you are saving

• Expand your business and hire staff

• Get better at sales and lead generation

• Put out 10 times more content 

• Systemise processes

• Become a leader 

• Become a business owner 

• Expand your services i.e. Move into the online space

• Develop a growth and ownership mindset 

The above list may seem overwhelming. Sure, it won’t be easy to achieve all these things, but think of the reward.

Ask yourself one more question: how are you going to feel when you get the keys and open the door to your own house for the first time?

What’s it going to take?

Here’s an activity:

• Write down 50 things you need to change to achieve your PT business goals 

• Write down 50 things you’ll need to change to achieve your personal goals 

• Write down 25 things you’ll need to change to achieve your PT training goals 

Almost there! There’s one more step to having the ultimate goals.

Create a vision board

Creating a vision board starts bringing your goals to life. It makes something that’s intangible, feel real and possible.

The problem is a lot of people create a vision board then never look at it.

Here’s how to create a vision board that will actually mean something beyond cool pictures on some cardboard: 

1. Select the 6 most important “rewards” you wish to achieve in the next 12 -18 months

2. Find a picture that best represents them online and save them in your phone (preferably in portrait orientation) 

3. Download the Pic Collage app on your phone

4. Hit grids > 9:16 > 6 equal-sized boxes

5. Add your pics in chronological order 

6. Save the collage image 

7. Open the image and save as background and lock screen 

For each of the 6 images, write at least 100 words of notes, including:

• Why it’s important 

• How you’ll achieve it

• How it will feel the day you get it

Include as much detail as possible. If it doesn't give you goosebumps, butterflies or sweaty palms, keep writing. 

Every time you look at your phone now, take a split second to recognise the images, what they mean, what they represent, and what it’s going to mean to achieve them.

Set your goals and earn more money as a personal trainer

Knowing what you really want out of your career and life is that important if you want to go further than the average person.

There’s a slight catch though, getting really good at goal setting takes time and practice. You’ve started today with better goals than 99.9% of the population, but it’s what you do with them now that matters. 

These goals need to be read weekly and reviewed quarterly. 

You’ll be amazed when you start hitting those goals for real. Don’t forget to celebrate!

For more on setting goals and what the numbers could actually look like for you, check out this article next.