“I sunk the 9-5 ship and built my own boat to sail the ocean!
I realised that if I wanted to be happy and protect myself in another recession, I needed to excel at something I really wanted to do, in an industry that I was drawn to.
Doing the work I do and making a positive impact on others is more fulfilling work that I could have ever imagined doing ten years ago. ”

Adam Grayston in the gym with his daughter.

Overview of earlier career.

I never really had “a career”. I just did jobs.

I was an apprentice mechanic at Citroen for 3 years but left 6 months before qualifying because I knew I didn’t want to do it. I found a different job before being laid off at the start of the recession, had to give back my car and ended up moving back in my with mum.

Then I just moved from job to job trying to make ends meet. 8 jobs in 8 different industries in less than 3 years.

Life wasn’t great.

I felt like I’d taken a step back moving home, I was earning very little and spent most of it in the pub at weekends to forget.

The trigger for change?

I got sacked from my last job, for not turning up - I was hungover and didn’t lie when they asked.

That was the turning point.

I didn’t want to be one of those people who grew old doing work that didn’t matter to them. I wanted more. More reward. More fulfillment.

I realised that if I wanted to be happy and protect myself in another recession, I needed to excel at doing something that I really wanted to do, in an industry that I was drawn to.

That was the health and fitness industry.

First steps

I’d always loved sports. I trained for years in martial arts and became obsessed with learning about human performance. Even when I had limited spare cash, I still found a way to train occasionally and helped out at the local club.

As I was unemployed, I discovered a government-funded NVQ 3 level qualification in the fitness industry at Preston College. I went to the open day and talked to a few of the teachers. They were really interested in my marital arts background and encouraged me to apply.

I was accepted and got stuck in.

I loved learning everything and wanted to soak up as much as possible. After that, I did a foundation degree in Science to keep the doors open if I wanted to do a full degree later.

I started working with friends who wanted to lose weight for free to help them transform their fitness and their bodies and I really enjoyed it.

Then, I got a part-time job in a gym and slowly starting building up my personal training clients.

I then set up my own studio and started working with individuals beyond simple personal training.

After a while, I realised that I could have a much bigger impact on more individuals if I could help them to change their long-term nutrition, their life-long habits and the psychology behind their behaviour.

I wanted to have much deeper conversations rather than just about exercise and basic nutrition because everyone knows what they need to do to be healthy and fit, but they don’t all do it.

That’s why I designed my on-line body transformational programmes where I work with individuals over a 12 week timeframe.

What Adam learned

If things are not going well, you won’t do anything until you get to the point where you are so pissed off, that you NEED to do something about the problem.

Otherwise, you’ll keep putting it off, like I did. Until the thought of doing work I didn’t like for the rest of my life and drinking away my wages to forget became so painful that I had to stop. I had had enough. I had to try something different.

Choosing the industry was the starting point, then I just began and found my feet over time.

I was always into sports at school and trained in marital arts for years. Even when I had very little spare money, I offered to help my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu professor (Lucio Sergio Dos Santos) and kept up occasional training. I was always interested in human performance so it was natural for me to choose the health and fitness industry.

The smartest way to learn in a new industry is to learn from the smartest people in that industry.

I invest in learning from the most successful people in my industry because I think it’s the quickest and most valuable way to learn what I need to. I want to learn from people who’ve been there, done it, and are still doing it now.

Always be learning

I used to read in Preston library most days for an hour before catching my bus home. I’d read books on anything...science, biology, business and psychology. One day I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and it totally changed my perspective on work.

I decided then that I would I was going to have my own business and be the boss of everything I do. I started to feel that the world was my oyster.

Today, I’m still learning all the time. From coaches. Doing courses. Increasing my expertise.

Once you decide on what you want to do, just channel your energy and get help along the way

There is so much help out there for anyone to do anything - you just have to decide what you want and get moving.

I didn’t mind starting at the bottom of the ladder while I was learning my industry. But I had learned everything I needed within 12 months before I wanted to go to the next level.

So many people stay where they are, because they’re afraid of investing money or time in something without a guarantee of success.

If you’re not happy where you are, you don’t need to sacrifice everything or spend every penny and every minute getting into the industry that you’re drawn to. But, you do need to decide how you want to focus your spare energy and time and why.

Then you need to do something.

You need to take action.

Otherwise, you stay stuck.

You can’t do it alone.

No one who is successful works alone. You can’t learn everything in a new industry by yourself. If you want to learn quickly, there are so many people to learn from.

Surrounding yourself with a network of successful people is not only useful, it’s necessary.

**How it feels on the days when Adam knows he has made the right decision?**

Mostly I feel happy that I made the right decision to follow what I was passionate about and then do everything I possibly could to make it work.

I feel proud of my successes so far and of the effort I’ve put into being the best I can be.

When a new client comes to me and says “You come highly recommended”, I love it. That only happens if you’re good at what you do.

I enjoy the positive feedback and I feel admired and respected for what I do and for the time, energy and effort I’ve invested in becoming an expert in my field.

I really enjoy feeling in control over my future. I sunk the 9-5 ship and built my own boat to sail the ocean!

Doing the work I do and making a positive impact on others is more fulfilling work that I could have ever imagined doing ten years ago.

Regrets?

Absolutely zero regrets!

Zero regrets about anything.

Even when I was spending all my money drinking at the weekends to forget the fact that I wasn’t doing the work that I wanted to do, I don’t regret it. I was doing exactly what I wanted to do and I wasn’t pissed off enough yet to do something about it.

Learn more about Adam and his personal transformations business

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgrayston/

Adam Grayston - Various jobs to Body Transformation Coach