Turning Your Goals Into Habits with Adam Gilbert

Adam Gilbert is the Founder of MyBodyTutor, a company that helps people lose weight and live a happy, healthy life. After graduating college, Adam began working as an auditor at Ernst & Young. In 2007, he decided to quit his job as an auditor and start MyBodyTutor, which allowed him to combine his passion for health with his entrepreneurship skills.

MyBodyTutor is now celebrating 14 years of business, helping people of all ages, sizes, and shapes get (and keep) the body they want. Adam is changing the world one client at a time, and he looks forward to the positive long-term effects that MyBodyTutor will have on the lives of so many people.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• What motivated Adam Gilbert to start MyBodyTutor?
• The model of transformation with the MyBodyTutor program.
• What are the key factors of a successful plan?
• How to break down daunting tasks and create a habit.
• The formula for generating hope and self-confidence.
• Adam discusses the future of online education and coaching.
• Using technology to connect with people.
• What are the fundamental skills of being a great coach and teacher?
• Adam talks about leaving his finance job to follow his passion.
• Serving the client, not the investor.

In this episode…

The most difficult part of creating new, healthy habits lies in the plan of action. It can be easy to create a plan—but it can be tough to stick to it when you’re juggling kids, work, and everything else in your life. So how do you create a successful, and achievable, plan that will change your life for the better?

Living a happy and healthy life requires commitment and accountability, according to Adam Gilbert of MyBodyTutor. But it’s not all or nothing: starting out small is one of the best ways to turn practice into habit. When you complete these small goals, you’ll feel the positive effects of the accomplishment and get one step closer to building a better life.

In this episode of The Michael Simmons Show, host Michael Simmons sits down with Adam Gilbert, Founder of MyBodyTutor, to talk about creating healthy habits. Adam shares his tips on defining your goals, building pathways to reach those goals, and gaining self-confidence to follow the pathway and create the life you want. Stay tuned.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

• Michael Simmons on LinkedIn
• Michael Simmons
• Michael Simmons on Medium
• Adam Gilbert on LinkedIn
• Adam Gilbert on Twitter
• MyBodyTutor 
• Email Adam: info@mybodytutor.com
• MyBodyTutor’s mobile app
• BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits
• Seth Godin’s blog

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by my company, Seminal.

We help you create blockbuster content that rises above the noise, changes the world, and builds your business.

To learn about creating blockbuster content, read my article: Blockbuster: The #1 Mental Model For Writers Who Want To Create High-Quality, Viral Content

Episode Transcript

Intro  0:02

Welcome to The Michael Simmons Show where we help you create blockbuster content that changes the world and builds your business. We dive deep into the habits and hacks of today’s top thought leaders. Now, here’s the show.

Michael Simmons  0:14

Today, I present to you one of my best friends, Adam Gilbert. I’ve known Adam for over 15 years now, before he started his current company, mybodytutor.com. And Adams company basically provides daily accountability for people who want to lose weight. And it’s a huge passion of his and the results he’s gotten are just incredible. He’s he’s been in business for 15 years, as I mentioned, he now has over 50 coaches helping him and has served 1000s of people helping them get these results. So Adam does articles, he’s done a lot of interviews before, but really why I want to talk with him about his his model of transformation. Because as thought leaders, we’re not only creating content, we’re we often package that content as courses or coaching to help people get a transformative result. And Adam is truly even though he’s really well known in his niche, he’s not as well known on a larger level. And I think he holds the keys to what it takes to create a transformational program that changes people’s lives and goes viral, because a lot of his growth has actually come from virality. So if that sounds exciting to you, and you want to create courses that are viral and transformative, you’re in the right place. Let’s jump in. All right, welcome to the podcast. Adam, really, really excited to have you on this.

Adam Gilbert  1:42

Thanks so much for having me. Me too. I’m excited as well.

Michael Simmons  1:45

So MyBodyTutor, it’s celebrating its 14th year in business, which you started my body to not long after we got to know each other. So it’s about we can mark our relationship to about 15 years. And there’s not many friends that I’ve had for 15 years that are so close though, just really diving on that level, just to see your your success that you’ve had with it.

Adam Gilbert  2:10

Thank you. Yeah, it’s crazy. 15 years wild.

Michael Simmons  2:13

So MyBodyTutor helps people lose weight and live a happy life, healthy life. And so on the outside, it might look different than the typical interview that I do. But I think what makes what you’re doing really interesting, is that losing weight, technically, it’s a very easy thing. Like you just move around, do exercise, and eat well. But the reality we know is that most people fail if they’re just doing it on their own. And I think there’s a lot of things like that so most people who start writing and want to write a book or something like that never finished. Most people who start a business give up early, because really, solving those types of challenges are hard. So I was just curious, what made you want to really solve that type of challenge, and really build a business that could actually solve it rather than just say, giving people recipes? And then you’re on your own?

Adam Gilbert  3:14

Yeah, well, I guess the first part of the question is, you know, what made me want to get into this and you know, that kind of goes way back. Growing up, you know, my, my sister kind of yo yo dieted throughout her childhood, and I’d see her, you know, when she was, you know, feeling good and impacted every aspect of her life. You know, and then when I was in seventh grade, my father had a heart attack. And we actually my sister is five years older, we actually she was actually learning to drive and she actually we drove him to the hospital as he was having a heart attack, which was frightening.

Michael Simmons  3:44

Wow, I didn’t realize that actually.

Adam Gilbert  3:46

Yeah, then a few days later, he had triple bypass surgery. So seeing him kind of go through that was terrifying.

Michael Simmons  3:53

He must have been pretty young at that point as well.

Adam Gilbert  3:55

Yeah. And then that same year, actually, he wound up you know, getting diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. So seeing him kind of deteriorate mentally physically throughout the years until he passed away was really really hard. So the combination of my sister my father seeing that being so close really made me value my health and fitness so much, seeing how my sister was you know a different person when she was feeling good and just the the smile and the confidence. It made me want to do that for other people. So you know that really it’s been with me you know, very, very early on. And then in terms of, you know why I started this and the way we do it is you know, health fitness is always been my passion. And I started my career at Ernst and Young. It doesn’t five and you know, even before then but there as well. I was the go to guy for health and fitness and I always give people you know, diet plans and exercise plans and I’d see them a week or two later depending on client engagements and you know, life etc. It was always the same story. It was always you know, I love the plan that you made for me but and the but I got caught up with kids I got caught up with, you know, work, I got caught up with life, happy hours, etc. And I realized they had the plan, right? They had the knowledge, I gave him a plan, they couldn’t stick with it. So that’s where the idea for, you know, accountability came came to life because I realized they had the knowledge they need to implement it on a daily basis. So I quit my full time job in 2007 NFS ever since.

Michael Simmons  5:25

Yeah, really interesting. And so you have a model for transformation. And I just know that just from knowing over the years, has had amazing results. Can you just talk a little bit about the results you’ve gotten? And maybe compare that to the normal?

Adam Gilbert  5:39

Yeah, thanks. I mean, you know, I think the reason why we get the results we do is we’re not just giving people a plan, and then essentially saying, Hey, good luck, you know, let’s touch base in a week or two. Because we know information alone rarely changes behavior. You know, we’re giving people information, and then we’re guiding them, supporting them, coaching them, holding them accountable every single day. So you know, the results we get are, you know, to me, what makes me most satisfied is, you know, when people say, I’ve tried everything under the sun, and nothing’s worked, but your program, and I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. But you know, accountability is certainly a huge part of it.

Michael Simmons  6:15

Yeah. And so, one thing I think is really interesting is you’ve been around for so long, and you’ve been optimizing for the variable of transformation over time. So you have a model that, an optimizing for that What does your model look like right now, for transformation from when somebody registers to what the journey is like for them?

Adam Gilbert  6:36

Yeah, so when someone signs up, they fill out a questionnaire. Once I get the questionnaire back, I personally still match over clients and coaches. I’m extremely hands on. So I match the client with the coach,

Michael Simmons  6:47

how many coaches do you have?

Adam Gilbert  6:49

we’re over 50 coaches now.

Michael Simmons  6:52

Amazing.

Adam Gilbert  6:53

Thanks. So the coach reaches out, they have an initial phone consultation. On that call, we’ll talk them about their current diet, their current exercise their objectives, or goals. Most importantly, we create a plan that they feel comfortable with. Because you know, one of the rules, you know, for behavior change and reaching your goals. Of course, it sounds like common sense. But it’s not common practices, you know, the plan actually has to be sustainable, it has to be doable, it has to be practical, it has to be something that you can actually stick with, right. So it can’t be a cookie diet, or shape diet, or lettuce diet or grapefruit diet, or, you know, no fun diet or any of these crazy diets. So the point is, we’re setting them up on a plan that they feel comfortable with, you know, and then the real magic happens every day after that they use our easy to use mobile app or website, they enter their food, they enter their exercise, if it was an exercise day, they submit their report. And then everyday after their very own coach is personally writing back with feedback in the in the form of suggestions, encouragement, you know, motivation, critique, etc. And the fact that we’re in communication with them every single day makes all the difference.

Michael Simmons  7:57

And you talked about in the beginning, making a plan with people. So I kind of used to be the type of person who I want to do something, I’m going to be like, I’m going to exercise five times a day, and then just go really into it. And now I’m a little bit try a little bit more to the tiny habits approach of making plans that I enjoy that I’m comfortable with, and then adding momentum. How do you think about that, if when you when you create a plan, what are those key variables? And then how do you balance them out?

Adam Gilbert  8:26

Yeah, I think it’s really important. I mean, I use the analogy of, you know, if you’re driving from New York to California, it’s far more effective to go, you know, 7580 miles an hour consistently, and to go 100 miles an hour and burnout, right. And so often, you know, we start these plans, and you know, we’re just we’re doing too much too soon. And to me, the best plans are ones where, you know, you feel hopeful, right? You feel like you can actually do it. And really, the formula for hope that I’ve discovered is about three things. Number one is having a clear and defined goal, right? Number two is having a pathway to reach that goal. And number three is the most important, it’s believing you can actually follow the pathway, right? And so often we start these diets or these exercise plans, and sure, you might be able to go to the gym for two hours a day when you’re first, you know, when you’re on that motivation high, but that we know motivation doesn’t last right, just like willpower doesn’t last. So it’s much more effective to start small to build that practice. And once that practice, I like to say the practice turns into a routine. And then the routine turns into a habit. Right? And at first the practice is weird, it feels uncomfortable. But if you do it enough, it becomes routine, then the routine becomes a habit, but very much like you starting small is way more effective, because you can always turn it up.

Michael Simmons  9:45

And in BJ Fogg has this idea that you should almost go ridiculously small. Instead of flossing your teeth. Your goal should be to floss one tooth. Is there a way that you think about how small to go on something that’s optimal.

Adam Gilbert  10:00

So I think, you know, we’re often in a state of inertia, right? We’re trying to get from a state of inertia to a state of momentum. And that’s the hardest part. It’s right. Right. It’s, you know, the World’s Strongest Man competitions. You know, one of my favorite events is watching them towed the tractor trailer, you know, and the hardest part about that event is getting the tractor trailer from a standstill to to it moving, right? Once it moving. Once there’s some momentum, it gets easier and easier and easier. So to me, it’s, I always ask the question, like, what’s the least you can do without doing nothing? Right? Very similar to BJ Fogg. And it’s an interesting question, because, you know, I’m sure there are times where you’re exhausted after a long day with the kids, what you know, saying here, and it’s like, there are times where I just want to do nothing, and ask myself, what’s the least I can do without doing nothing?

Michael Simmons  10:49

I really like that question. You can just apply that across your entire life.

Adam Gilbert  10:53

Yeah, because the whole idea is to get you moving. Because once you start moving, you’re in a very different state of mind. And when you’re in a state of inertia,

Michael Simmons  11:01

I was listening to a Joe Rogan podcast recently. And they have they have UFC fighters on there all the time. And one of the coaches was saying that, unless you’re a professional athlete, you should never be sore. And his point was, his overall point was saying that, if you’re exercising to the point of soreness, you’re pushing yourself where you’re probably going to resist it, because it’s uncomfortable. And so you should actually just be going little bits and focusing on consistency. So I just one question for you is, let’s say, the size, the tininess is one dimension, should the habit or when you’re trying to create a change, should it be something you’re really looking forward to? How do you think about the desire for it? Or Yeah, resistance? Is that a bad? Or is it a bad signal that if you feel like I’m exercising at three, I’m not looking forward to it? That’s a sign of imminent failure.

Adam Gilbert  11:53

Yeah, well, I mean, listen, I think there’s people who enjoy exercising, and there’s people who don’t and I think, especially for the people who don’t, it’s really important that you finish your workout feeling great, right? That you finish your workout, feeling energized. And if you go too far, if you push too far, and you’re absolutely exhausted, then yeah, you’re gonna be fearful, you’re not gonna want to go back the next day. So you know, for people who don’t like exercising, they often say like, you want to finish your workout when you’re feeling good, not when you’re feeling spent, not when you’re feeling like, you know, not when you’re just on the floor dripping in sweat exhausted?

Michael Simmons  12:27

What about starting a workout? Is there a certain way you should feel to be getting a workout and your opinion.

Adam Gilbert  12:33

So I always joke, like, the best time to workout is when you feel like it. And the second best time to workout is when you don’t feel like it. And, you know, this is what I do. This is my life. And there are many times where I don’t feel like working out. You know, and I think one of the most foundational and most transformative practices is learning how to start when you don’t feel like it. And I think the key to starting is, you know, not creating this daunting task, right? So especially when you’re starting out, again, going back to the two hour workout, it’s far more effective to say, you know, what, I’m gonna commit to working until walking 10 minutes, or 15 minutes or 20 minutes, versus saying I have this daunting workout to do. And it just, you know, I can’t wrap my head around that.

Michael Simmons  13:17

It’s really interesting that right now, there’s a lot of books coming out on habits in particular in the past seven years with Charles Duhigg, and BJ Fogg and James Clear. And all of these are great books. None of them are based off, but they’re all based off of research in some way. Your is based your approach is based off of, you’re working with, I guess, probably 100 1000s of clients over the years and really getting day to day feedback over months and years. And I was curious, are there any areas where you differ on conventional wisdom on habit?

Adam Gilbert  13:52

Yeah, I mean, it’s a really interesting question. I think the one thing that I see a lot of books talking about, and those books are all great, Gretchen Rubin hasn’t booked better than before. I mean, they’re all fantastic books. You know, is a lot of people, a lot of these authors talk about falling out of habit or falling out of the habit of something. But to me, it’s not truly a habit, if you can fall at it, right? Like, I don’t start, like I brush my teeth every day, twice a day. I don’t ever like, rarely do I forget to brush my teeth, or I’m never like, Oh my god, it’s been a few weeks since I haven’t, you know, brush, right? So to me, it’s truly not a habit. Unless it’s second nature. Unless it’s part of your identity unless it’s part of who you are. And that to me something that’s interesting, because I think a lot of these books talk about, you know, falling out of habit. You know, one of the things we really pride ourselves on is helping people get to a point where that behaviors we’re we’re implementing are second nature, where they’re, you know, just ambiguous, where they’re truly habitual, you don’t fall out of the habit of brushing your teeth.

Michael Simmons  14:56

So what I hear you saying between the lines is, there’s two big steps within the creation and maintenance of a habit, one first step is going from zero to one. And that’s really hard step. And then there’s a step from when you’re doing the habit. Like you’re, and then you actually are the habit, that is who you are. What is the key from? How long does that take? What does that look like? What’s the key to go to that next stage?

Adam Gilbert  15:21

Yeah, so, you know, like the old, you know, wisdom, or, you know, what we heard is 30 days from habit. And, you know, we they’ve proved that’s not necessarily true. And of course, you know, it depends on the type of habit, right, so brushing my teeth, or flossing is requires less effort than me going to the gym, right? Or, you know, whatever it might be, like, different habits require different amounts of effort. So, yeah, I mean, there’s no doubt starting from zero to one is often the hardest part. But the key thing is the practice of it. And I think sometimes we mistake a habit for the newness for the motivation wave, that, you know, we often get when we’re starting something new. And sometimes these these practices truly don’t become habit until we get through the point where it’s uncomfortable, right? I call it FDR, fear, discomfort and resistance. And especially the more effort habit requires, the more likely you’re going to have to go through that to truly get to the other side.

Michael Simmons  16:24

Yeah, so

it struck me that one way of thinking about a habit after hearing you is what you do when you have low motivation. Or it’s another way of saying whether you do it consistently all the time. Yeah, sure. And it’s really interesting around identity, and what it takes for something to become part of your identity, and whether you believe, like you said, that you can do it. And I was reading one of your articles, and you’re talking about how, if you try to go for a long time, like let’s say losing weight, and you just, you keep on doing it, but then you’re yo yoing, you could lose confidence at a time. And I’ve noticed the same thing with writing, or starting a business, when we’re working with people, it’s typically they’ve already tried it a lot and lost self confidence. Beyond just doing the habit, what can one do to get more self confidence?

Adam Gilbert  17:16

Yeah, so that’s a really interesting question. And we should talk about identity too, because I think that’s super fascinating and helpful. But, you know, I think confidence often comes down to hope, right, and for a lot of people, you know, especially in my world, they they’ve tried a million different diets. And they keep failing. And obviously, failing is not a fun feeling. And they, there’s a part of them that wants to just avoid that feeling in general. And each time they fail, it’s kind of reinforcing this identity. And that’s why it’s so important to go back to hope. And again, there is a formula for hope, right? Again, it’s having a clear defined goal, right. So for your people, it’s, you know, perhaps starting a business or writing or whatever it

Adam Gilbert  17:58

might be.

Adam Gilbert  18:00

So having a clear and defined goal, having a pathway to reach that goal, right. So it can be, you know, writing for 20 minutes a day, or it could be walking for 15 minutes a day, or it could be reducing, you know, your afternoon sugar, whatever it might be, but you have a pathway to reach your goal. But the key thing is believing you can actually follow the pathway. And that is so important and so often overlooked, because you’re starting these diets or starting these, you know, these regimens, whatever, and consciously or subconsciously, you know, you can’t stick with it, and you’re setting yourself up for failure. And that goes back to what we were just talking about. Start small, because even if you feel like this is too easy, don’t let your mind trick you. Because our mind is constantly trying to trick us saying this isn’t enough, or it’s not worth it. So it becomes this if I’m doing unless I’m trained for a marathon, I’m not doing anything, right. But of course, we know it can’t just be all or nothing. The goal is always something not all or nothing.

Michael Simmons  18:59

that’s a that’s a good quotable, always something that not all or nothing. And can you tell me more though, about how to build that identity? Is it truly you feel like starting small getting consistent, then the identity just naturally happens? You know, over time, you’re not just someone doing a goal, you are the goal, or are there affirmations or visualizations or anything like that, that you have found work?

Adam Gilbert  19:24

Yeah, so I think first of all, it comes from understanding and accepting that that again, there’s going to be FDR fear or discomfort and resistance, right? No matter what you do, there’s going to be that right. I like, the way I put it is, if you do what you’ve always done, that’s going to feel comfortable, right? By nature. You just keep doing, you’re done. It’s going to feel comfortable. If you do something differently. By nature, it’s going to feel uncomfortable, just because it’s different. Right? There’s no it’s just the way it is. So first, I think it’s accepting that it’s going to be uncomfortable. And then, you know, I think you’re very much in alignment is like sometimes the best advice is often in questions and asking yourself The question of what would a healthy and fit person do right now? Or what would a writer do right now? Or what would a business owner do right now? And, again, going back to starting small, you do what that person would do, even if it’s just having a piece of fruit or going for a five minute walk, right? Because you ask yourself what you do you do that. And the thing is, actions reinforce identity. But then, of course, the more you’re doing something, it becomes a self becomes a virtuous cycle, right? So you know, your actions reinforce your identity, and then your identity reinforces your actions. Because as you do more and more, you build this momentum, and you start to feel good, and you start to act like that person, then it’s like, Oh, you know what, I am a healthy fit person. And that becomes a beautiful virtuous cycle.

Michael Simmons  20:47

Do you have any, you know, BJ Fogg talks about when you do have it, you succeed, you know, even just doing a fist pump or something like that gives you the celebration of it, do you, of course, you have the feedback every day, you know, so imagine if somebody is doing well, you’re, you’re celebrating that is there? How do you think about celebration as part of this formula for identity?

Adam Gilbert  21:08

I think that, you know, I think celebration is always good, you know, one of my rules of thumb is like, if you’re going to celebrate or reward yourself with a purchase, one of the best things you can do is buy something that’s going to make it easier to do that habit. So for example, let’s say you’re trying to exercise more, a great way to do that, or a great way to celebrate that would be to buy fun exercise

Michael Simmons  21:28

clothes, right? Instead of saying, Okay, if I just do this, then I can eat this pizza slice of pizza and the cake that I want.

Adam Gilbert  21:35

Right? Right. And ideally, the you know, the habit itself, or the practice you’re trying to establish is the reward in itself. Right. And, you know, the key to that is doing it in a doable way, right. So if you’re exercising for two hours on your first day in the gym, or the first day at home, whatever, that’s gonna probably not lead to feeling very, you’re probably gonna feel exhausted. But if you exercise for 15 minutes, and you feel energized and accomplished, that’s the reward in itself, ideally,

Michael Simmons  22:05

right? And that goes back to the idea of finishing on a good note, not where you’re just about, you’re like crawling out of it. And, okay, really interesting. And so one thing I really noticed in our course, is, I really resonate this with idea of FDR. And you Seth Godin talks about it with the resistance. And, and I feel like in the last 10 years, that’s been one of the main things he’s talked about. And so one thing I really noticed is that people often use those as signs that they’re on the wrong path. That, okay, I’m doing this and I don’t feel right, therefore, must not be right for me versus I knows other people who have it as part of their identity. They’re like, good, this means I’m on the right path, that it’s almost the same signal, but just interpreted completely different ways. How do you think about how do you notice that? And how do you think about it?

Adam Gilbert  22:58

Yeah, this is my favorite. I mean, one of my, you know, mantras is, you know, discomfort is our compass. Again, going back to what I just said, discomfort means we’re doing something differently, and keep doing what you’ve always done. It’s going to feel comfortable, and you’re going to get the same result, right. If you’re doing something differently, it’s going to feel uncomfortable, and you’re going to get a different result. So to me, discomfort is our compass, it lets us know we’re headed in the right direction. And of course, the key thing to remember is, you know, what’s easy now was once hard, right? What’s hard now will soon be easy if you stick with the practice. And it’s actually, you know, it benefits us the fact that it’s hard. It’s known as cognitive disfluency. And what that what they’ve shown is that the harder something is to learn, the stickier it becomes, right, the more habitual it eventually becomes.

Michael Simmons  23:49

Yeah, you know, I’ve also heard it called desirable difficulty as well. But that that same interesting, I love hearing new words, please write that down. And you’re taking a step back here from weight loss, and even just transformation to online education, online education, maybe about 20 years old, give or take. And then when you measure it from, and I think the first version was these courses, where you record something, and then you put them together in lessons. And then that’s the course. And it seems like there’s a shift now to more cohort based programs. Not to say that these recorded courses, I feel like you can get better and get if you get really good feedback loops and have shorter videos, that can work really well still. But I think people are saying that not people are seeing that knowledge is no longer enough. So how does your work with MyBodyTutor? make you think differently about online education and where it’s going and this whole space?

Adam Gilbert  24:56

Yeah, great question. I mean, my thesis from day one was that lack of knowledge is not the real issue. It’s a lack of consistent action, right. And we can certainly get into in terms of health and fitness or anything, but it’s about a lack of consistent action. And it’s been really interesting to see how course creators have changed their offerings. So you know, when I first started, it was more about, we’re selling this knowledge, right, there’s a, you know, a curtain. And behind this curtain, we’re going to give you all these secrets, all this knowledge to get to where you want to be. And then as time went on, it was interesting to see how all these course graders realized that rarely were people following through or implementing the knobs. So then they started incorporating accountability. Right. and accountability, of course, is, you know, the glue that ties commitment to a result. So they started offering accountability. And of course, what some of these, you know, course graders realize is, it’s very hard, it’s very difficult to offer one on one accountability, then it was a question of, well, how do we want to offer the accountability? And I think that’s where the peer accountability came into play. Right. So it’s, you know, I call it a peer to peer accountability versus pro accountability. And it’s, they’re certainly effective. But there, you can get a very different result. And I think that’s where it came from. It was, you know, first there was knowledge, and they realize people weren’t following through. And you know, what’s the point of all this knowledge if people aren’t implementing it, and they wanted to offer accountability, and then it’s become, oh, how do we offer this accountability? What’s the most effective way to offer it for the scale we’re trying to work at?

Michael Simmons  26:30

Yeah, I do think there’s a huge difference between pro accountability and peer accountability. What are your thoughts on group coaching? You know, I think there’s obviously huge benefits to one on one coaching, as you said, it’s more resource intensive to offer. group coaching can have benefits in that, like landmark or other programs, where people, you’re hearing other people’s experiences, and you’re part of a community. And when you see other people’s experiences, it helps you reflect on your own blind spots, because it’s harder to see it in yourself. Is there a way that you think about that? Adam, I just lost out, there we go. I’ll share a bit about how do you think about group coaching?

Adam Gilbert  27:12

Yeah, so listen, obviously, I’m biased in in one on one coaching. But I’ve seen the results, right? For me, at least in the fitness world. You know, group coaching is tricky. Because the old, I was asked, like, if you’re in a group, and you don’t show up, what happens, does anyone notice? You know, for a lot of these groups, no one notices. You know, and so there’s there’s no accountability. But I think depending on the type of objective you have, and the type of goal you have, it can be very effective. because like you said, it allows you to reflect on where you are. And, you know, oftentimes we can learn the most about some, you know, focusing on someone else’s problems, right, and see what they’re going through. So I think it really depends, you know, on the objective and the goal. You know, I think for something where it’s very intense in terms of like, for losing weight, it’s a process, right, and you know, you’re eating multiple times a day you’re exercising it, there’s just a lot of, you know, daily things that have to happen in order to make it to get to where you want to be. But I think for business, or other things that could certainly be very effective. Absolutely.

Michael Simmons  28:16

Hmm. Are there any innovations that you have, or you see coming down the pike that are beyond what we’ve talked about with pro accountability, peer accountability, group coaching, that you think the future of online courses will all have our portion of them? Will?

Adam Gilbert  28:34

I mean, you know, I just, I think people realize that, you know, one on one is effective, and I think people are trying to offer that. So like, one thing I’ve noticed, which is interest, I mean, this isn’t really accountability, but it’s just interesting how, you know, influencers, I hate that word, but influencers or celebrities or, you know, having this like, you know, you can text them, right, and it’s like they have this big phone number they text 1000s and 10s of 1000s and millions of people, and I think it’s trying to get through this closeness. But in terms of like your question, you know, I don’t I don’t know if there’s anything that I think it’s just, perhaps it’s video, perhaps it’s, you know, I mean, video exists, but like, text me I there’s nothing I know of right now. I think companies are trying to figure out the best way to offer accountability for the scale they’re playing at

Michael Simmons  29:25

what has allowed you to be successful with bro accountability that other companies who tried it and realize it’s too complicated to offer. What’s made it work for you?

Adam Gilbert  29:36

Yeah, I mean, you know, I think, as you know, I mean, I’ve been laser focused since day one. I mean, we’ve literally had the same two offerings since day one, right. We have two plans. That’s it. And you know, my mission from day one is how do we become the best in the world at helping people stay consistent with their health and fitness goals? And it’s always been, let’s find world class coaches, and let’s find people to help and that’s it. That’s all we focused on. Um, you know, we’ve never, you know, deviated into group coaching. And sure, it could be more profitable, it could be easier. But to me, what people need, especially in this space is one on one coaching. You know, and that’s why, you know, we’ve never deviated from the plan.

Michael Simmons  30:17

Yeah, what I take away from that, as I’m someone who likes to take something and be like, Okay, how can we do this, add this and add this. So I appreciate how your mind thinks here has been interesting. Just seeing it over a 14 year period, I can see how, number one, you’ve kept a really high quality bar, you didn’t make sacrifices on that quality in order to scale more. But then by staying very focused, you’ve been able to just build better systems get better at it, though you actually have gotten form of scale. Yeah, scalability. Do you feel like it is what I capture that right? Do you feel like the model if you focus on it can work for people, you just have to really focus on it? And

Adam Gilbert  30:58

yeah, listen, there’s no doubt we’ve sacrificed growth. You know, we’ve sacrificed growth, and it’s taken a long time to get to where we are. But to me, I was, you know, I’m a recovering perfectionist. And I just really believed in what we offered. And I wanted to offer that and continue to offer that I didn’t want to compromise on what I felt people really needed. People don’t need, you know, for the in this space, in my opinion. I don’t think people need group coaching. And it’s worth, you know, just kind of quickly talking about peer versus pro accountability. So peer accountability is obviously friends, family, etc. You know, and I always go back to my mom as an example, you know, she’s a former high school English teacher. You know, she’s the tutor for the SAT’s. And when it was time for me to take SAT’s, many years ago, of course, I didn’t take it seriously because she’s my mom. Right? So it’s really hard to be brutally honest with a friend or family member. It’s some it’s hard to tell someone that the hard truth that we sometimes sometimes need to hear. Whereas Of course, pro accountabilities, you’re hiring someone, and their sole objective is to help you get to where you want to be. And sometimes there’s tough love, it’s always love. But sometimes it’s tough. You might not want to, you might not hear what you want to hear, but you hear what you need to hear. You know, and I think it’s worth just noting that because I think, especially if you’re looking for accountability, you really have to decide what would work best for you.

Michael Simmons  32:18

Yeah, I’ve done a lot of peer accountability. And I feel like when it works, I’ve often had two people, two other people. Because if that way, one person is not consistent, it doesn’t completely just come down to zero. And then I in my mind, I just account that most of them are going to fail. In the sense that just it takes time to find those right person who’s just as committed as you are is going to be on time and take it as seriously. And so that’s it, it is what it is. Your one question I had for you is, okay, so the core of what you offer is accountability, and one on one coaching and support. But it seems like information is a part of it as well. What are your thoughts on this? Let’s say just in time information. So do you have a library of paid content that as you’re giving one on one, coaching, and somebody has a challenge? You’re like, oh, here’s the challenge you’re facing? And here’s an article or resource we’ve created on it.

Adam Gilbert  33:15

Yeah, so it’s, it’s an interesting question. Good point. So, you know, I think there’s accountability. And I think some people think of accountability or kind of sell it as, you know, good job, bad job. It’s like, Did you do this? Great. You didn’t do it not good. Like, why don’t you do it. And it’s kind of shame. And I think accountability is certainly a core part of what we offer. But it’s also teaching, right, and it’s helping people change their relationship with food, helping people change their behaviors, and information is a part of that. But the way we do it, we call it stepping stones. So you have a stepping stone, once you pass that stepping stone. And as we like to say, once that’s set in stone, then you move on to the next stepping stone. And slowly but surely, you’re changing your behavior. I always use the analogy of, you know, if you change a ship, one plank at a time, eventually becomes a new ship. And that’s kind of how we do with our clients. So it’s not, hey, here’s your challenge. You’re going, you’re going through, go read this article. It’s more, because we have so much experience now we anticipate where they are in their journey. And we’re coaching them sometimes as they’re going through it or even right before they’re going through it.

Michael Simmons  34:23

Mm hmm. So it’s, it’s rather than the sending into a length you’re actually coaching people with Yeah, the attacks are once you have conversations with them, helping them that way. And you’re when you say stepping stones, it’s almost like a mastery based performance. It’s not a curriculum, you just go through at the same rate. Everyone goes at the same rate. It’s one where once you master thing, that particular person, then you go on to the next thing.

Adam Gilbert  34:51

Yep

Michael Simmons  34:52

that makes a lot of sense. And what are your thoughts on there’s different course platforms? We use teachable. There’s kajabi there’s other YouTube Me, sometimes I found them a little bit cumbersome to use. And once you have one on one coaching, that’s more of a personal relationship, do you use texting a lot? And how important is that for the delivery of the connection with people?

Adam Gilbert  35:15

Yeah, so we built our own proprietary app, we have our own mobile app, we have our own website, we text with our clients. But you know, something that might make you or any course grader or whatever feel a little better is you can obsess over the technology. And to me, the best technology just doesn’t get in the way. Right. So like, you know, you’ll, you know, my space versus Facebook, you know, people say, My Space used to crash all the time, right. So like Facebook, in the early on, especially never had interruptions, etc. The point is, you don’t want the technology to get in the way, so long as you’re in that place. It really is about the person on the other end, right? So the teacher, the accountability, person, buddy, the coach, etc. So, you know, we have I love our proprietary app, and mobile app and website, etc. But it doesn’t work unless there’s a really committed coach on the other end. So like, we’re always trying to make it better. But we’re also trying to make the coaches better too, because that’s really what’s going to dictate and create the change.

Michael Simmons  36:12

Yeah, it is kind of interesting. I love this field in general. And I think it’s going through a really interesting phase, I’ve just followed different venture capitalists and top entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. And there’s a lot of attention now on this space, and people feeling like the returns in this space, will it be just as high as it is in software, I felt that for a while, while and I think it’s great, because you get a social use social impact return and the world changing so fast, I think we really need people to be able to self transform, and a business return. And I just lost where I was going on that. But I think it’s an interesting space. Oh, and there’s interesting skill sets that go into it. And I like to as somebody who focuses on learning how to learn, think about what are the skill sets, though somebody wants to become a programmer, or an entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley, there’s really great tracks of, Okay, go get your programming degree. And here’s your specialty within programming. And so I view coaching as one of the fundamental skills of this space, because it’s a great feedback loop is the fundamental unit of when you take one person who you’re talking with week after week, and give them support, that’s that they go to the next level. And then the great thing is you actually see that feedback loop of this work this didn’t. And so somebody who’s coached 50 clients, I’d much rather trust their advice than somebody who’s a public speaker and speaking 50 times, it’s just night and day. How do you think about what the critical skill sets are for someone who wants to be involved in the space create and create transformational programs?

Adam Gilbert  37:55

Yeah, so that’s, you know, I think the number one characteristic or most important characteristic of a great coach is empathy. You really need to be able to understand where your client is at where your student is at, you really need to try to get in their head, right. And so often, especially once you become more advanced at something, you forget that beginner’s mindset. So the more you can remain empathetic, the more you can really get in your head. And, you know, if you can articulate what they’re feeling before they even share it with you, they’re going to instantly feel this connection, they’re going to instantly feel this trust. And in order to make, you know, coaching happen, or should say, to get the benefits of coaching, which is crazy transformation and people they have to like you, they have to trust you, right. And the best way to do that is for them to feel like you understand them. Right? If they think he or she gets me, then you’re in because then they’re more likely to listen to you. Yeah.

Michael Simmons  38:54

You think empathy is one of the fundamental skill steps of coaching? And how do you become more empathetic? How do you anticipate what someone’s feeling before they articulate it to you.

Adam Gilbert  39:07

So I don’t know how to become more empathetic. But I do know that when you’re doing something for so long, and you’ve seen 1000s and 1000s of lines, you see patterns. And for us, it allows us to anticipate where people are in their journey, right? We have all sorts of things, markers, and etc, that allow us to see where they’re at and really anticipate where they’re at. So for that it’s just experience and pattern recognition, and spending time in the weeds and looking at that. But in terms of empathy, I don’t know. That’s an interesting question.

Michael Simmons  39:42

That’s funny. Yeah, I think another thing I think is interesting beyond just becoming aware of what the different skill sets are, are putting them in the right sequence because it could take years to it will take years to really become the master level, as you’re alluding to with this that you have to have a lot of patterns. Recognition? So, would you say coaching is one of the first skill sets you’d recommend for people? And how long did it you feel like it took you to really get that pattern recognition and get things going? How many reps or I don’t even know how to define them into experience.

Adam Gilbert  40:15

Yeah, but what what’s, what’s your question? Do I think becoming is the question, how long does it take to become a great coach? or? Yeah, I

Michael Simmons  40:27

realized there’s kind of two questions. So the first question would be, how, when should somebody learn to be a coach in the progression to if somebody wants to create programs or write articles that help people transform their lives?

Adam Gilbert  40:41

Gotcha. So, I mean, I think coaching is something I don’t want to say it’s an eight, but I think it’s, it can be looked back in your life, you realize the type of impact you’ve had on people. So you know, just growing up, I played sports, I felt like I was always helping people I played with, you know, some of the best training I ever had was actually, I used to be a caddy in high school. And I dealt with all sorts of personalities. And very quickly, you realize what works for this person might not work for that person. In fact, it’ll give you the exact opposite of what you’re looking for. So I think you have to look at situations where you’ve tried to help people and see how they respond. You know, and for me, caddying was, I mean, I did that for six summers. And it was an amazing, you know, just fascinating, just to witness these people to see what I said, how that impacted your golf game. But I think anyone who wants to, you know, create courses, etc. Like, you have to think about your ultimate objective. And if your ultimate objective is to get people to take action, and transform, then you need to be a coach, you need to be able to teach. And I think maybe coaching can be daunting, especially if you don’t have experience. So I would say, how do you become a better teacher, right, and just focus on the teaching aspect. Because I think the teaching is more VIP coaching conferences, a lot more soft skills. Whereas teaching is more you’re imparting your wisdom. And then as you’re doing that, you can see how people respond. And that’s where you can kind of figure out the nuances a little more.

Michael Simmons  42:13

Are there any recommendations on how to coach and structure their practice, such that they learn faster? So for example, maybe having a feedback form that people fill out before every session, so you could see how your your feedback impacted them? Or, you know, you should, there’s a few patterns, you need to recognize and particularly focus on those number one, maybe there’s different archetypes that people fall into, through any transformation. So you want to understand what those archetypes are, like you said, everyone’s different. And then you want to narrow down to the few pieces of advice that consistently work or something like that.

Adam Gilbert  42:51

Yeah, it’s really tricky, man. Because, you know, there’s no doubt the more reps you can get the better, right, but asking a student or a client, or whatever you want to call it, you know, we call them clients, whatever, for feedback is really hard. Because, you know, think about, you know, remember restaurants, people would go to restaurants, or, you know, there’s many times where I’ve gone to a restaurant and the food was not great. And the waiter or waitress comes over, and she’s like, how is it? And I’m like, Oh, it’s amazing. Or I’ll just say it’s fine. It’s great. Yeah, two seconds later, I’m like, this is awful. It’s terrible. And that’s just a waiter or waitress. Yeah, I feel bad. Hurting their feelings. Right? So it’s, it’s, it can be tricky to get feedback from someone you’re working with, mostly, because there you might be afraid to hurt your feelings. So for me, like, with MyBodyTutor, here, it was, you know, I started in 2007. We started literally with one client, and then it grew. And, you know, it’s like, clients can tell me they love me or, or, or whatnot. But it really wasn’t until there was word of mouth that it’s like, no, they really do because they’re starting to work. I don’t know if that’s all that helpful. I think I think for any beginner coach, I think the key thing is just getting reps, do it for free. Just you know, if you truly love what you’re coaching and teaching, then you would do it for free. Because the truth is, I did this many, many years for free. Before I started MyBodyTutor. I was a personal trainer, but even like, just with friends, family in corporate America, like if you love what you’re doing, then you’re going to just you can’t help yourself.

Michael Simmons  44:26

Yeah, yeah, I always feel like there’s two ways of looking at things. You know, one is very tactical, but you missed something from it. And I think what you said speaks to that. And when I first when I remember when you launched this and your energy is the exact same, you’re like, I’m really excited. I want to see people have the results. You’d be talking about the results you’ve gotten with people and we’re just excited, and just always very focused on that. And so you alluded to that a little bit. So beyond just saying you’re you’re born with it, or that’s how you are what are the things that people How can people develop that within themselves? Let’s say it’s maybe a latent ability, but normally we don’t think about it.

Adam Gilbert  45:08

Yeah, I mean, I think it’s, it’s, it’s ultimately Well, first of all, I want to say thank you. Because, you know, every day we wake up, I feel so lucky to do what I do. And it’s cool, because I mean, we were, you know, so close back then. And like, you know, 14 years in, and, you know, I’m more passionate than ever. So, you know, to me, my goal is to do this for the rest of my life. And so I just want to say thank you for that, because it’s, it’s cool. I mean, it’s it. I’m very lucky. But your point, I think, you know, you really just have to practice. I mean, I don’t know, if there’s a shortcut around it, you just have to practice coaching people. And the only way to develop that, you know, if it’s a, you know, this ability that you don’t even know you have is you have to get the reps in. I don’t know if there’s a better answer for that. I don’t know. What do you think?

Michael Simmons  45:57

Well, it definitely strikes me that. Well, okay, I’ll take a step back. I’m fascinated by just studying patterns of how people become who they are. And I think a lot of stories, we pick up with the person right before they take off. And we don’t hear about all the skills that lead before that. So it strikes me that you talk about you’re excited for about what you’re doing and and more than ever, and you would I think you’d have said the same thing. 14 years ago, the exact same thing. And so I wonder beyond caddying what you did before then that already gave you that very rare mindset. I think very few people are have that level of excitement. And I know before that job, your job, you know, you weren’t the most excited about when you’re working in the, in the finance industry. Sure, yeah.

Adam Gilbert  46:49

I had a stomach, stomachache. I hated what I was doing so much. Um, you know, I think it comes down to belief, I just really believed in what I was doing. And I know that might sound hokey or cheesy or whatever. But, I mean, listen, I believed in what I was doing enough to like, quit my job and all that. I think you really just have to believe in what you’re offering. And I felt that the accountability, let’s just say, I mean, there’s no doubt better coach today than than I was even a month ago, a year ago. And every year I hope to be improving. So I felt that even if my coaching wasn’t as good as I thought it was, the accountability would help as well. And I just really believe in the offering we had. And that’s what gave me the confidence to push forward. And then it becomes a self perpetuating thing. Because you get clients, you get, you know, transform these unbelievable transformations. And your confidence becomes a direct result of the people you’re helping have the success you have. So you have to kind of get to the point where you can have a few successes, then you let that success drive your confidence.

Michael Simmons  47:54

Yeah, I think part of it too, is giving yourself permission is basically you’re charging $100 when you first started, as you know, I was always like just thinking about how much time it took you to provide that service, you know, and those people charge $100 per hour, a lot of people charge $100 per hour, you’re going way above and beyond that. But I think you’re willing to do it, because you just had so much passion. And that gave you the experience. And for me it was the same with writing that I getting into writing, I just gave myself permission to write about what I wanted to write about. Even if I didn’t even know how I was going to make money. I was just so excited about it. And that’s when I really feel like I became a kid in a candy store. And that’s where the financial success really came at. Mostly after that, though, I think there’s something about just taking what you already have the fire inside of you and just stoking it. And there’s so many times where you’re probably you took that finance job, because you thought well, it’s prestigious, that’s maybe what other my peers are doing and versus this other bet other people might have said, You’re crazy at first, but you just followed it.

Adam Gilbert  48:57

Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. I mean, even before I was charging $100 I was charging $75. And you always used to say you’re not charging enough. You’re not sure you even still say to this day, we’re not charging enough for what we offer. And I appreciate that. And I

Michael Simmons  49:11

It’s $250 per month now? on the low end. Yeah, yeah. Which is amazing. I mean, just that, you know, again, you know, you go to like a top trainer at a gym, but I was going I was paying $125 per an hour for just one session. I mean, you’re getting a whole month of daily feedback. It’s crazy.

Adam Gilbert  49:30

Yeah, well, thank you. I mean, we try to, you know, make it, you know, really accessible. I think that’s a really good point, though. You know, I think it really drives me crazy because, you know, people charge a lot of money because they think it signals expertise. But then if you’re charging a certain level, you have to be at a certain level. And you know, if you’re charging to say $1,000 and there’s many coaches who charge way more than now just, you know, crazy in my opinion. You know, you If you can’t deliver the results, then you’re very quickly going to be out of, you know, people to help. Whereas if you start small, I think people are willing to give you a chance, and you can build up. So I think that’s a really good point as well as you start small. I mean, you can’t charge what an expert level coach charges, because you don’t have that expertise. And if you truly love what you’re doing, then the money really doesn’t matter. I mean, we always used to talk about you always used to say, Adam, what’s your I always forget the term

Michael Simmons  50:29

the economics of one unit?

Adam Gilbert  50:30

Yeah, the economics of one unit. I’m like, I don’t know, you’re like, you’re probably making 40 cents an hour. And I’m like, Yeah, I probably am. But it doesn’t matter. Because I love doing this. And, you know, I think if you chase your passion, and if you truly love what you’re doing, the money will follow. You know it, because if you’re just chasing an opportunity, you’re going to be on to the next opportunity whenever that arises. And to me, that’s the ultimate competitive advantage. Like, I would use break, I intend to do this for the rest of my life because I love doing like, I can work all day long.

Michael Simmons  51:02

What’s your vision for the future of your company and yourself in this world of transformation?

Adam Gilbert  51:09

I just really, you know, we’re 14 years in now, I want to continue to do what we’re doing. I mean, you know, I’ve been very committed to our mission, I’ve been very steadfast in their values, and you know, the way we run our business. And, you know, I feel like we’re finally getting to a point where we have some really nice momentum, I want to just keep building what we’re doing, you know, this is the point I think we’re companies would be like, you know, well, how can we serve more people at a cheaper way, or, you know, or take on more people. And to me, this is the inflection point where we keep doing what we’re doing. You know, we’re not trying to be the next Weight Watchers or, you know, company like that, you know, my goal is to, you know, build what we’re doing to be the world leader in daily accountability and daily coaching around health and fitness.

Michael Simmons  51:56

Hmm. There’s certainly temptation you you’ve built, a lot of friends are very successful in Silicon Valley. And so I’m sure you have people telling you, Adam, you got to raise money you have what you’re offering here is awesome. You got to scale this, what’s made it so that you’ve just been so focused, and have it in Okay, in a moment of weakness, listening, all right, we just got to go big here and sacrifice your value.

Adam Gilbert  52:23

I mean, there really hasn’t. I mean, you hear about these stupid numbers, and you’re like, that’s a lot of money. But like, I mean, I remember how I felt walking to work at noon every day, I literally had a stomachache every day, because I hated what I was doing. So much. So to me, the real reward truly is getting to do what I love doing. It’s it’s like, I mean, listen, we’re way bigger now than we were, you know, five years ago and 10 years like, to me, the reward is getting through I love doing so it’s really never a thought, you know, I want to help people in a certain way, because I really believe that’s what people need.

Michael Simmons  52:59

Now, we’re starting to get to kind of my therapy type questions, because I have I admire that I think there’s a lot of wisdom and your approach. And I know for me, sometimes, you know, when you’re surrounded by people who are achievers, even though I’m doing well, and I don’t need to make more money, basically, you know, but I still feel somehow less than for whatever reason, I’m honestly trying to just understand it myself. When I feel that I noticed that leads me to think in ways or try to act more rationally, that or even sacrifice what’s even something I already have that’s important for something that’s less important. Do you ever feel that when you see a new startup in the health space that they’re doing some they’re doing group coaching or something and you’re like, oh, shoot, they’re growing really fast? They raise money? And

Adam Gilbert  53:53

I mean, listen, I’m very aware of what’s going on out there. I see the numbers, I see these companies. You know, it makes you pause and take a look. But I think, you know, I’ll go back, I’ll ask you the question, because, you know, you joke. I mean, like, you know, let’s just say someone gave you $50 million. I mean, would your life change all that much? I think in the startup world that we’re both enamoured by and so fascinated by we tend to view success as a money amount $1 amount. So I think there’s definitely some validation. But let’s just say you know, you sold your company for $50 million, or $100 million. Alright, great. You get the short term ego boost. Everyone knows you, you know, your big success, but then what? Like, like, then what? Like, like to me, if I sold you know, my buddies here, then I don’t get to do what I will do any rights. Yeah, it’s a different. I’m playing a different game. I’m not building a company to sell. I’m building a company because I want to help people and I want to serve people and I want to do it in the way I want to do it. Right. So, you know, we’ve had many people who’ve I mean, it’s and it’s very flattering, we’ve had customers say they want to invest money in our company. But the thing is, if we take on money, then I wind up working for the investors, I don’t work for our customers and clients and right and right, you know, I want to serve our customers and clients in the best possible way we can’t, I don’t want to say I don’t want my board to say, you know, what, you’ve only grown 40%. This year, you know, or your profit margin isn’t as high as it should be, you know, you need to do something else, that’s not serving the client that’s serving the investor. So actually, if you

Michael Simmons  55:35

take, let’s take money out of the equation, I think we’re on the same page there. And just focus on impact. And so let’s say, impact, or one of the ways I think about it is it’s the number of people you reach times the impact you have per person, that you could have a model where you have a really high impact per person. Like, being a parent, you know, you can, you can never have more impact on one person than if you’re a parent, or somebody who just makes the viral or small change that some people don’t even notice. But it just adds up because it’s reaching so many people. If, how do you think about that? Just, you know, there’s the growth part of the value in growth? Yeah, I interviewed Russ Ruffino. For this podcast, you know, there are $15 million, and they want to reach 100 million, because that means they can reach, you know, X number more people. How do you think about that? Do you ever feel urgency there?

Adam Gilbert  56:25

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, that’s a good question is, is to figure out, you know, the type of impact of that, so when I first started, I was obsessed with making a large impact on a small map people or, to put it another way, you can only make a large vote. That’s I don’t know if that’s true. But I used to think you can only make a large impact on a small people. And, you know, as I think we get, there we go, as we, you know, progressed, I realized, you know, what, you don’t necessarily have to be everyone’s, you know, make a massive impact on each person, you can scale it down a little bit, you know, and have a big impact on a lot of people. I don’t know, I think it comes down to really just defining and it’s obviously very challenging question, what you’re in it for what makes you happy? You know, what your objective is. And for me, it’s always been about helping people and making an impact and transforming their lives. I mean, there’s nothing that makes me happier, besides seeing my family happy than when someone gets from point A to point z. And I think if you truly, like, for me, that’s, that’s truly the case. Now, for someone else. If it’s not, and they’re lying to themselves, you know, then there might be all these, you know, you know, there might be some cognitive dissonance, there might be some, you know, thoughts that enter your mind, then it’s like, well, maybe I should do this. I think you have to really be honest with yourself, and there’s no right or wrong way. You know, I think it’s just defining what, how do you define a successful life, right, so my mom is a teacher is a former teacher, my aunt was a teacher, my grandma is a teacher, like, I like to consider myself a teacher. But I also enjoyed business and building things. So I was very lucky that I was able to marry the two. But making an impact on people is a huge part of my life. And that’s, that’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.

Michael Simmons  58:13

And how did you get clarity on that? Was it just happened naturally through? You mentioned your mom and caddying and those sorts of experiences? Or is there any sort of exercises that you’d recommend for people that you’ve recommended? And it’s really helped them get that clarity. And I’m harping on this a little bit, because for the first part, I talked about tactics. But through my own teaching of other people, I really see that mindset is almost always 80% of it at least or 90%. So I think there’s something to your mindset here that’s really worth drilling into, that forms the foundation for everything else that you’re doing. And without that, the tactics won’t work.

Adam Gilbert  58:49

Yeah. I think I was very lucky in that I worked in corporate America, and I hated it. Right? I could have easily liked it. But I always used to sit in my office in Times Square, staring at this unbelievable view. And I would I would ask myself, like, if someone paid me, you know, $20 million a year to do this job? Would I do it? And like, at that point in my life, I probably would have said, Yeah, I would do it for a year or two, but at most, but I wouldn’t do this for the rest of my life. And I realized right then and there, like, I felt like I was making zero impact. You know, And that, to me, was everything I needed to know, it wasn’t, you know, like, I was like, Oh, you know, sometimes the less people it’s like, would you dig ditches for a million dollars a year? And like, the answer for me is no way. Like, I need a meaning and purpose. In my work like that is so important to me. So like how I make money is critical. And there’s people who just want to make a lot of money and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I think the more experiences you have, especially younger people who you know are just coming out of college and school, etc. Like, sometimes the best thing you realize is what you don’t want to do because you It gets you closer to what you know you want to do I just happen to be very lucky that I realized like early on. Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s a tricky, it’s a tricky thing. I mean, figuring out what you want to do is very tricky. And what’s important to you, of course.

Michael Simmons  1:00:14

Yeah. But I think we left people with a lot of really, really great advice that I think there’s a big opportunity right now that if you’re someone who loves transforming people’s lives, there’s never been a better time to be able to do that than the world we live in right now. And I think you’re a shining example of a way that you could do that, that that’s really fulfilling so. Adam, I’m gonna give you the last word here. Anything you want to leave us with? And also where can people go to learn more about you? And MyBodyTutor

Adam Gilbert  1:00:47

Yeah, thank you very much. I mean, the best way to, you know, find us is go to mybodytutor.com You can find me on all the socials, you can always email me. Yeah, I mean, I guess my last word is, when we talked, we had two very distinct and interesting conversations, as you said, the early part was about the tactics. You know, I think, I would say small as a new big, you know, so try to really, you know, start small, ask yourself, can I see myself doing this? And five years from now? Can I see myself doing this the rest of my life, right, and realize that you don’t have to do everything all at once. So keep that in mind. And then I think when it comes to the other part of our conversation is, you know, really figuring out what you want and being honest with yourself. And I think if you could truly be honest with yourself, and go after that, I mean, I think that’s the ultimate, you know, fulfilment comes and happens. You know, I think when there’s a disconnect between our actions, and our desires on happiness ensues, and when they’re aligned, you know, then then you will feel you know, I think very happy.

Michael Simmons  1:01:54

All right, perfect way to end it. Thank you, Adam.

Adam Gilbert  1:01:57

Thank you.

Outro  1:02:00

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