We live in the information age. We have access to absurd amounts of information with just a few clicks. With this we have acquired the attitude that everything should be free. We have lost the inherent value that we should have some skin in the game.
What I mean by this is we tend to not value things that we don’t put ourselves in some inherent risk. We don’t tend to complete free training programs to the same degree of accountability or effort as if we paid for them. We are less likely to listen to that album all the way through if we didn’t pay for it.
This goes further than just monetary items. If we really want to accomplish our goals, we need to create a structure or a system where we have some skin in the game. This may be a bit uncomfortable, but it won’t be as uncomfortable as not achieving your goals. This is why some people say if you really want to achieve your goals post about it on social media or tell a bunch of your friends. You are much more likely to be accountable to your friends than yourself. This is because you have some skin in the game.
From a training perspective there are many other ways to put some skin in the game. Don’t shy away from that higher membership fee. Likely, there is more value in that membership than the one that is $20/month and I guarantee you are much less likely to miss a training session if you just paid a substantial amount of money. Sign-up for a year contract so you make it harder on yourself to cancel and have to commit to your goals long-term. Hire a coach so you are accountable to someone else other than yourself.
We all know that we take more care of things that we spend a lot of money on. The more we invest in something the more we value it. What if we started to invest in ourselves the same way? What if we weren’t as afraid of the risks we took and looked at it more as an incentive to put in the effort, do the work, and make the progress. When you have something to lose you will do everything you can not to lose it. There is a reason you have to invest money in the stock market to see financial returns. Nothing is free. We are always investing something. Let’s start doing the same from a training perspective.