Before the recession hit I had it made. Working at a gym in a wealthier suburb of Toronto had allowed me to build up a fantastic clientele and, at 23 years old, I was living the life:
- I was managing a team of trainers most of whom were many years my superior.
- Out of all of my friends I was in one of the most financially secure positions. Many of them were still in school. The others were in entry level positions.
- I had freedom to make my own schedule and travelled a lot. (New Zealand still takes the cake as my favorite. Milford Sound is mind-blowing.)
- My job allowed me to stay active and forced me to live the healthy lifestyle I wanted.
Then the financial world imploded on itself worse than every major Toronto sports team every single year.
All of a sudden my clients were having trouble paying for their sessions. Three times a week became two and twice a week became one. Personal training is a luxury expense, I thought, and would be the first thing to go. What followed was a period of introspection. It was here that I realized how much I loved education and decided to apply back to school.
At the time being in school waiting out the recession seemed like a damn good idea.
Satellite Cells
The quiescent state of the satellite cell pool has always fascinated me. What’s particularly interesting is the research still on-going that pertains to the signaling system.
For those not familiar muscle damage causes the release of a number of metabolites which start a cascade of events. The satellite cells sit in a resting state become excited by this signaling system. When that happens they travel to the site of damage and insert a nuclei before traveling back to their quiescent state.
The ongoing research in this area is exciting because if the signaling system can be identified and isolated it’s possible to alter it and create more stimulus to muscle growth. An example of this is the cases of myostatin deficiency. Myostatin is the “stopper” and if it’s missing muscle growth is tremendous (the photo below is not altered). It’s a wild mutation.
A cow missing the myostatin gene. Certain babies have also been born with the gene and are jacked.
I wrote a research review paper on the subject, found the leading researches, and made contact. Most of them responded with a request for a phone call with the intent of me completing my masters and PhD degrees in their labs.
The Mentor
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear” – Buddhist Proverb
The above is one of the most profound and true statements I’ve come across. From it I’ve learned to open my eyes and find mentors at every turning point in my life. In this case it came in the form of one of my clients.
He was a previous dean of medicine at a major University in Toronto. We spoke of my plan to discontinue my successful personal training career and pursue higher level education. He asked me one short question which changed my life.
Why?
“Ummmm… uhhhh….. Because I want people to call me doctor” I said in a half joking tone (not really joking, I’d make all of ya’ll call me doctor and wouldn’t respond to anything else).
Not a good enough answer to change careers.
“ummmm… uhhh…. Because I want to write a book.”
A couple things were funny when I nervously muttered this statement. The first was that I’d never thought about writing a book up until this point. The second was that he rightly responded with, “what the hell do you need a PhD to write a book for?”
Well That Changed Things
I hated everything formal about education but loved learning. After this conversation I remembered my frustrations with University and how unconducive to learning I found it. I suck at multiple choice. I always did and I always will. Everything about learning was an absolute pleasure outside of University. Here are the questions I pose about my University experience:
- Why in complex processes was I tested on the most obscure points?
- Why did it seem that the goal of the exam was to trick me as opposed to test my comprehension of the material?
- Why did a professor say to my face that he would rather take on a masters student with a 75% average than one with a 95%? What does that say about the teachers faith in the system?
- Why do courses like “introduction to vampires in society” count towards an honors degree in Kinesiology?
The list goes on but I’ll refer you towards the Education of Millionaires for a full discussion on this. It’s a brilliant book that I highly recommend.
Formal Education is Not For Me
This isn’t to say it’s not for everybody. Some people need the rigid structure that a classroom and testing provides. Personally I prefer organized chaos or what I call “lightening learning”.
What I mean by that is that when lightening strikes and my passion is ignited I’ll go out of my way to seek out materials and learn. I don’t want to learn for a piece of paper and I don’t want to learn obscure points just for the sake of filling in a bubble on a piece of paper. (scantron = evil) I became known for writing answers to this on my exams for questions I felt were inane (probably not the best approach, but damn funny. I really wish I’d kept some of them. I do distinctly remember drawing a fish head on an exam but don’t recall why.)
My Crazy Mind
It seems as if I think differently than the majority of people. This doesn’t bother me now in fact I pride myself on it. What it did do was make me feel stupid for much of my young life. I hardly passed most of my classes until grade 12 (where I found my love for science and excelled).
In University I barely made it through until the later years when testing was done in short answer or essay format where I again excelled. For me to understand the material I must put it in my own words.
After considering all of this I decided a masters and PhD were not for me. For my crazy mind there wouldn’t be enough creative freedom. I decided to carve out my own path instead.
Reflective
If I’d followed my plan on going back to school I would have finished my PhD this summer. Let’s assume for a minute that I actually made it through (a pretty bit stretch). Right now I’d be sitting in a coffee shop much like I am right now contemplating my next steps. Maybe it would be to get a job in a gym? Continue research? Or maybe start on the book that was my intention when speaking with the mentor years back? Whatever the action plan it would have started now.
Instead I decided to follow my concept of lightening learning. I studied and created when lightening struck. I learned to selectively listen to others but follow my intuition first. Here’s where things stand now:
- I said screw it and wrote the book anyway. Ignite the Fire has now been bought by 1,500+ fitness professionals worldwide and is being used in 3 (so far) college curriculums starting next year.
- ThePTDC was created as a collaborative blogging network for personal trainers. It’s helped me establish an unbeatable network of fitness pros worldwide that’s growing by the day. To me a network and good relationships is the most valuable thing I own.
- I wrote my second book “Race to the Top: How to Take Over the Social Media Feed” due out in a couple weeks. The theories in this book are so powerful I’m confident that, when followed, they can take any business and make it the go-to in their neighborhood, city, or country, and/or industry.
- I’ve been fortunate enough to be contracted to work with Girls Gone Strong and help them finally eliminate this insane myth that women shouldn’t lift heavy weights.
- I co-created a comic with Teiko Reindorf (yeah really…) MightyTrainer is fun. It’s a break from serious writing and allows me to explore my creative side.
- At 26 years of age I quit my job (which I loved) and am spending the winter in Hawaii working remotely. If that’s not the dream I don’t know what is.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t pursue higher level ed. after reading this. Far from it. It just wasn’t for me. Instead of spending years in a lab I took the time to study what I wanted to study and get tons of real world experience. I tried and failed but eventually found a couple specs of success and ran with it.
I pace when I think, I talk to myself, I explore scenarios out loud to anybody that will listen. I analyze, break down, and build back up systems looking for things missing or ways to make them better.
I thrive in organized chaos and don’t listen well to others (sorry Mom and Dad). So to you I ask you one simple question that led to the introspection that changed my path, “why?”
What do you think about pursuing higher level education? Is it the right path for you or others? Comment below. Also add me as a friend on Facebook. I’m happy to connect.
Great post Jon! I am currently pursuing my masters degree and will be done in two weeks! Yay! I honestly can’t say I’ve learned so much I’m ready to take on the world. Nor can I say it was the best education I’ve ever had. Far from it actually. I did it for two reasons 1) to be the first in my entire family to have a masters (I’m hoping to change things in my family lineage going forward. I was just the 4th Arndt to have ever graduated HS!) and 2) I do believe it will give me a leg up when pursuing opportunities for teaching (collegiate level and continuing ed)…oh, and I could afford it
However, I don’t think it was necessary. I listen to a lot of Dan Millers “48 Days” podcasts and he has a similar approach to education as you’ve stated here in your blog. Anyhow, nothing profound here. Just adding commentary and saying thanks for posting some sweet posts lately.
Thanks for your thoughts Tim and a huge congrats to you on your achievement. Your reasons for completing school are great ones. To reiterate, I have nothing against formal education. I just think it’s not for everybody and people need to think hard whether it is for them from both a personal and professional level. For me it wasn’t and looking back it seems as if I made a good decision. Who knows what the future will bring…
Well my story is totally outside box in how got in training. When I graduated from Dillard Univ. in 01 it was about 35 years old through testing I have ADHD! So testing back in day was either craming info or time to follow from studying but all of it is gone! I hope to excel like you in just making the action to purse in this season the business of training. What I found out about myself I am creative in training part and enjoy seminars and being around like mined fitness and health people. Iwill do my best to get your book but for me its a choice for me to make my passion a reality! But the book deal in writing something down is a must in where I am blessed to get B.A. and be trainer in relating to relationships of clients I come across and being a 37 year old grandfather! Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks for the comment Lemuel and sharing your story. It’s crazy how many people like you are just not cut out for school but are brilliant. Not to say the system isn’t effective, it is what it is, but there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement. The problem is that resources are finite.
great article! hope the success continues for you.
Jon I joked w/ you about this on FB but I’ll elaborate more seriously here. Had I been back in the States, I’d not have ever gone back to school mainly for the reasons you outline. It’s too inflexible, and too expensive for what most people get out of it, and I’d never have found it worthwhile — as you say, autodidactery goes much farther, and I think especially so in exercise science (that’s another rant however).
Schools here don’t do “scantron” testing. Exams are written out in essay format, as are most assignments. I haven’t yet, nor do I expect to, have anything besides that to evaluate me, which basically rules out points 1 & 2 on your list. As for point 4, look at the curricula here and you will find only minimal general-ed requirements, with programs being very subject-oriented. In the program I’m in I have the option of taking other courses at my leisure, but if I want to stay focused that’s fine too.
I can’t really speak for #3 but in my experience the academic culture here is not nearly that inflexible. They value education more here from what I see, and that carries over to less of that “learn to earn” and “be efficient” type of thinking that seems to dominate in North America. The cliffs is that I think it’s more an institutional problem and a cultural problem than a blanket issue of “education isn’t for me”.
The process has many roadblocks removed in other parts of the world.
It’s funny Matt because I actually did a semester in Australia in my 3rd year of University and it was by far the most useful schooling I did in my University career. I know your in New Zealand but I assume that it’s similar from what you described.
hi jon, thanks for another great discussion.. i really believe you are exactly where you were meant to be, doing exactly what you were born to do… how lucky are you?? i can’t say enough on how wonderful i think PT’s are!! i moved to Ireland after my marriage/relationship of 25 yrs ended to start a new life…i joined a great gym, one to work out in and to have a few laughs too…my mom & sister took ill and i headed back to new york to look after them.. they both passed within 6 wks of eachother!! how was i to go on?? well i headed back to Ireland and was standing outside of my gym & couldn’t go in!! Paul, my PT held my hand, let me cry and i finally did go in…Paul helped me to get back into LIFE….the gym is not just for the body but more importantly for the soul…so when i think of your career Jon i can’t think of anything more special than what you have….you and all the great PT’s are God sent and special…
I feel like I’m intruding here but I cant help it…i’m so touched. Seriously! I have been thinking about saying something nice and comforting but I cannot come up with anything; but i can tell you that I will remember this when I get my certification and start training clients. Thank you for sharing!.
Thank you Anna for both your comment and sentiments.
I’ll be in Hawaii at the beginning of December! We should get a drink together! Awesome post by the way. I’m kind of struggling with my current decision of continuing with school and getting my PhD. in physical therapy. I know that 80% of my education has, and will continue to come from places other than the rigors of classroom teaching. But, just having a DPT will allow me to do things I couldn’t otherwise do.
Drop me a line. I’ll be there
Great post. I am in the midst of working towards my PhD and I love it. I know academia is the right setting for me, but don’t believe it is right for everyone. I applaud you for knowing what you want and don’t want and striving for success. It is too easy to become stagnant and stop learning out in the “real world” when it is no longer a requirement. That is awesome you are working with Girls Gone Strong by the way. Crush those false beliefs surrounding why females should stay out of the weight room.
Thank you thank you and thank you. I’m excited to help GGS get their word out. They have a lot to offer and the movement is launching very soon..
Hey Jon:
My name is Chet, I am a friend of Rono and Elissa’s and I we’ve met at one of their get togethers. I happened to come across your last couple of FB posts and I have to say I agree with what you say. I did an undergrad and a master’s before going to Mac for med school and I was lucky enough to go to a small undergrad place for my first degree and had profs who really cared about what we learned. There are too many people who are robbed of that from their undergrad degrees from many of the big schools that produce a factory like experience for their students with the stupid scantron cards you describe. Good for you to escape that because it really is soul crushing. All I would say is if you did decide to go back for a degree, you’ll probably love it and I’m sure you’re resourceful enough that you will make something awesome of that experience.
Anyhoos, gotta run; it’s been fun reading some of your Blog
Chet
Hey Chet. I remember a couple great talks with you man. Hope we run into each other again soon. I agree with you in that my experience wasn’t the best. I’ve spoken to a number of master’s and Phd students who are having a great experience. If I continued on it might have been different. I’ll never know. It was interesting for me to reflect back on how little I gained from higher schooling. It pointed me in the right direction but I spent much of my time studying material that was considered off-topic.
And yeah.. Scantron sucks.