Hello Personal Trainers! This is my personal call to you! I am looking for advice on how to go about becoming a personal trainer. I just don’t know where to start. My only intuition is to reach out to existing professionals to see how they got where they are today. So here it is, my video message to you:
Daily dedication is my most recent exploration. Hung Ga training has taken my mental focus to a new level. Every day, as a member of Yee’s Hung Ga International, I am instructed to perform several Hei Gong exercises. Sometimes these exercises are also referred to as Chi Gong. Their purpose is to build internal power. I believe that eventually they are meant to create a better flow of Chi within the body.
There are several sets of Hei Gong exercises but currently I only know of and pracitce one, the 7 Golden Passages. This is a set of 7 stances. In each stance, the method of training is to remain still while flexing certain muscles. In a way, these exercises are deceptive. Aside from breathing, there is no movement. However, each stance is designed to target a specific set of muscles. The stances are not common body positions and so beginners may have difficulty holding each stance for 1 minute.
I have noticed a great change in my physical health and strength since I started this regimen. It has been emphasized to me over and over again that it is absolutely imperative to do these exercises each and every day. With that in mind I am taking the challenge of making time for it everyday.
I have started a new physical training discipline. It is a martial arts tradition called Hung Ga. The teaching lineage includes famed gung fu master Wong Fei Hung, and is descended from the Shaolin (Seiu Lum) temple of Southern China. I have only been training in this form for approximately 3.5 weeks. 25 days or so. Already I have seen great results. The school I’ve joined is based on the traditions and discipline of the old style. The class is formal, challenging, serious, and entertaining. It is similar to yoga in that the body gains a lot of strength without the use of weights. I continue to be amazed at what can be gained from holding a single stance or posture. Yoga first showed this to me and know I am experiencing it again in another form.
This is the start of a long career. I sincerely hope that I will be able to train with these people for a long time to come. I learn so much with each class, I can hardly wait to practice it on my own.
Triumphantly, I’ve returned!!
I’ve recently been challenged with the opportunity to see just how far I can take my dedication to my profession. The past couple months were a trial in persistance, faith, and relentless self-affirmation. I met long hours as sunless mornings and late nights. I saw what it is like to become completely absorbed in a project work schedule. There were weeks when I saw my fiance only when she was either sleeping or driving me to the train station. I missed engagements with friends and family. This was a challenge for my own endurance, and also for our resiliency together. I personally felt the costs of such a schedule, and can now say without question how far I am willing to go and under which circumstances. Part of the cost to me from the process was time with these people. After paying those costs, I’ve realized how much I enjoy that time. I appreciate time with friends and family on an even deeper level now.
I learned the meaning of expectations and deadlines. I felt great about meeting deadlines, and felt the excrutiating anxiety of missing them. I put all of my energy into my work, even through the weekends, and there was still more to do. These were challenges that I had not previously met. I feel excellent about the effort I put forth, and that’s a feeling that I could not have from any lesser collection of demands.
The work that I do is very different from the work of any of the men from previous generations in my family, and yet we can still talk to each other about our seperate experiences as similiar tests of “what you’re made of”. I put forth the best effort I can because I hope to be able to hold myself up to their example of work ethic.
This experience was challenging, but something I see as a positive chapter in my life. It was a time when I was able to say that no matter how tired I feel, no matter what kind of pressure I’m feeling, I’m just going to keep going on because I believe that by going on, we’ll make it. We did make it. We got to the other side, and my team was able to contribute to the good of the whole through our individual self sacrifices. Knowing this is the best reward I could have for the effort I put forward.
My work schedule is demanding. The work load has increased recently. My work day lasts about an hour longer each day, which translates into an hour less at home enjoying the domestic scene. Is it worth it? Is it necessary? Will sacrificing those extra hours now pay off for me and my family in the future? These are the questions I’m asking myself. I have not yet come to the conclusions. There is no doubt that the extra hours result in extra compensation. In certain ways, that makes our lives easier. At the same time, although I am compensated additionally for the extra hours, I am not as able to keep up with the household chores or get enough rest. This puts strain on my relationships and health as I become less rested, less energetic, and have less time to get everything done. So how do I find the balance? I expect there to be some amount of sacrifice and toil in my life. From
what I hear, life is not just a walk in the park. Actually it’s quite hard to get by, even in a land of opportunity. So the question really is: how hard is too hard? I don’t want to sacrifice my health, physical or mental, for success and
comfort. I don’t want to sacrifice my realtionships either. Those things are worth much more than a salary. That’s definitely true. At the same time I accept gladly that life is not all peaches and cream. I take my work seriously and work hard to get it done. But how will I know when I am working to hard? I’m guessing it’s like love; when you know you just know. It’s nothing someone can give you a formula for. For the time being I am going to keep on working hard because I don’t think I’ve quite reached that danger point where work and personal life are imbalanced. I’m going to
be conscious of the trade offs and strains that I see forming. If I get too wrapped up in it I hope I’ll see it before it creates problems.
Today is the first day of a new habit for me, taking my laptop to use on the commuter train. I’ll lugging my laptop around over the next week in an effort to be more productive with my time on the train. Lately I’ve
been using my time there to read, and I’ve turned that into book review content for my blog. Currently I compose the majority of my blog posts on my sidekick II and then cateogrize them from a desktop computer. I think that I could better monetize my blog if I was composing on a
laptop. For unstance, it would be possible to include a link to amazon for the book that I’m reviewing if I am using the wordpress post composition page, which is impossible to do with my sidekick. That’s just one of many benefits.
If I can manage this week lugging my laptop around and working offline, then I may purchase an edge capable phone which I can use as a wireless modem for my laptop. Then I would really be in mobile business.
I’ve decided that I want to add some pages on my website that will act
as a virtual resume. I’ll put up a list of services I can offer to
people looking for a technology consultant, book reiviewer, amatuer
market commentator, free lance programmer, or whatever. I think that
there are a world of possibilities out there, and I’d like to make
myself available to global networking.
The inspiration for this comes from “The World Is Flat.” From this book
I’ve been encouraged that perhaps it is possible for me to network with
people around the globe. Afterall, I do have my corporation,
Masterminds Unlimited. So far I’ve kept Masterminds pretty well under
wraps but I think the time is right to bring it more into the light.
It’s only been two days that I’ve had a subscription to the Elliot Wave
Financial Forecast service and already I am sold. This could have
something to do with the fact that their forecast suggests what I need
in order to exit my option position profitably, but let’s just assume
that I’m objective for a moment.
I’ve read through Frost and Pretcher’s “Elliot Wave Principle” over the
last couple months. It was by no means a light read. It was filled,
make that jam packed, with rules, guidelines, ratios, and plenty of
chart examples. I re-read most of it and found that I absorbed much
more on the second time around.
After my second reading I decided to try and put the theory into
practice. This was a triumphant day for me. I was quite pleased. If I
remember right, my very first wave count was no correct, who would
expect it to be? I thought to myself that I would practice the
art/science of wave counting until I become proficient enough to publish
my own forecasting service.
I knew that Robert Pretcher was still actively forecasting the markets,
however, and I was quite curious to see HIS wave counts.
I have since subscribed and so far I love it.
In the half dozen issues inlcuded with my subscription, I have found
incredible detail in the elliotwave.com team’s analysis of the financial
markets. They set specific targets and also include when to asume
they’ve been wrong. Even better, they don’t forecast when the aren’t
certain what the market’s next move will be. If they cannot find a
satisfactory wave count they admit it. I think this is much better than
constantly forecasting whether or not you are sure.
It remains to be seen if I am able to correctly interpret their reports
and put them to profitable trading use consistently.
I am really impressed with the ammount of work that must go into these
reports. It looks much better than something that ibcould manage to
create on a part time basis. However I am still holding out that if I
continue to study the application of the wave theory through this
newsletter, I will one day be able to use it on my own.
I’ve been reading Barry Ritzholt at bigpicture.typepad.com for about 3
months now, and I’ve got to say that I admire his work. He frequently
presents well thought out posts on the stock market and economic data.
It’s a great pleasure to read his analysis several times a week. He’s
got something going for himself that I would eventually like to
establish for myself.
I dream of having a blog where I document my thought process on the
financial markets and offer my analysis through words and charts daily.
What’s the business model?
The blog is an archive. Each day I add to it, the archive becomes more
of a testimony to my capabilities and skill. After several years,
anyone visiting my site will be able to easily search for any of my
writings since the blog started. This would be a wealth of financial
knowledge, similar to a book. Of course, my early years will be full of
mistakes and fumbles, but to err is human and perhaps showing my
progress will also be of value.
As I become well versed in topics of technical, intermarket, and elliot
wave analysis I can share this knowledge with others. I’ll be
simultaneously using the analysis I post as a basis for my own trading.
When I become a profitable trader I’ll make money off the trades and the
distribution of my “expertise.”
The best part about this model is that it will leave me free to work
from home or travel. I strive to spend more time at home and with
family. The job I’ve described would certainly make that a reality.
Wow!! The market has really been moving lately! these are the types of
market moves that I would like o catch! It really would be amazing to
have caught xhe one dollar move in the Qs. I bet those only come around
once every year or 2 or 3.
Someday…
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