Episode 93: The Business of Fitness with Todd Durkin

"What is Fear Trying to Reveal to Me?" 

About Today's Guest

Todd Durkin, MA, is a world-renown trainer, coach, author and motivational speaker who trains dozens of elite, high-profile NFL, MLB, and MMA athletes, including two Super Bowl MVPs (Drew Brees& Aaron Rodgers), Olympic gold medalists, Heisman Trophy winners, and MMA champions. Todd is a 2-Time Trainer of the Year, the 2017 Jack LaLanne Award recipient, a member of the Under Armour Training Team, and a Top-100 Most Influential People in Health & Fitness. He was a featured trainer on the popular TV show, NBC STRONG, which is now airing on Netflix. His gym, Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, CA, is a Top-10 Gym in America. His two books, The IMPACT Body Plan and The WOW BOOK, have changed thousands of lives world-wide.

Todd is also the President/CEO of Todd Durkin Enterprises where he conducts motivational keynotes/presentations, educational & leadership workshops to high-performers in all sectors of business & life. If you need a dynamic, motivational speaker for your business, club, team, or organization in 2019, now is a great time to book Todd.

As a 20+ year veteran in the fitness and coaching industry, Todd leads the "best-in-class" Todd Durkin Mastermind Coaching program that is designed to help fitness pros in business, leadership, marketing, training, and personal development. He takes great pride in his coaching program and has devoted 10+ years of his career in helping others achieve massive success, significance and IMPACT as well. Whether one is a green-trainer looking to ascend up the success-ladder or someone is a 20+ year veteran looking for new motivation, tactics, and techniques, the TD Mastermind is an incredible family of devoted "fire-breathing" dragons committed to becoming BETTER!

Show Notes

Todd Durkin is as kind and energetic behind the scenes as he is on stage. This week’s conversation is filled with useable tips and strategies, in addition, Todd will refill your inspiration tank so you have the energy to go out and execute on your dreams.

We begin our conversation by Todd reminding us that we are not in the sports, exercise or wellness business but we are in the people business. We move on to talk about how Todd became the person he is today, and like many people of impact, his journey was one of trials and challenges. As an athlete at the peak of his career, he was injured and with three herniated discs, spinal stenosis and degenerative back disease he had to give up on his dream and stop playing professional football in Europe.

Todd’s journey back to wellness was not just the physical aspect of rehabbing from the serious injury, it also included going through a lot of meditation, Yoga and was the introduction of Todd getting in touch with the gentler side of recovery, including Zen body therapy and Feldenkrais movement therapy. This took Todd to another side of fitness which he had not been accustomed to as an athlete. He realized that there was another side to performance especially at a high, high level that was different to just doing power cleans, and bench presses - the things that were often equated to high performance as an athlete. It was at this moment Todd realized that if he really wanted to tip the iceberg and get the top, that he was going to have to marry the modalities of traditional strength and conditioning with the inner wisdom of the body.

We talk a lot about Todd’s faith and how has always been determined to be his true self and he has always understood that it is okay to be different. He encourages us all to not be like everybody else. Todd believes that each of us has different gifts that we've been blessed with and that it's our opportunity and responsibility to make sure that we share that in the most, most authentic way.

We move the conversation to the challenge of facing our fear and Todd suggests we simply “get over it.” With a smile, he reminds us that he too has fear all the time and but it is also a sign. To Todd, fear is an opportunity and the day he doesn't have fear or feel a bit of anxiety is the day he will step out of the industry.

Todd believes that what is important is the quiet time as it is here where you can discover what you are BIW in? What are you best in the world at? What are you great at? And when you really honor and stay true to that - it allows you to be the best at your unique gift. It is here where you are going to attract who you're supposed to attract and do your best work. When asked about how to move forward Todd replies, "by getting more time away from what you are trying to move forward to." He goes on to say that when we step away from the minutia of all that we are working on - we get a lot of big ideas – which is called vision. Todd believes that if we're always in the weeds doing the work that we love to do, we often forget about the vision. The harder you work the harder your recovery needs to be.

Todd talks about the importance of planning and also having systems in place that can support that plan. He encourages us to constantly be writing down and planning our goals. Todd has a specific system that's called an annual roadmap along with an ongoing strategic plan, and he encourages us all to get really clear on our long and short term goals. He brings up a great point and that is that most of us have two to three hours a day, that he calls swing hours. Those swing hours could go to either watching Netflix or TV or doing something important.
He encourages us to design our ideal week, to know when our peak productivity cycles are in any given day and then create blocks of time around our peak productivity cycles where we get to do our best work.

We move on to talk about Todd’s recent knee surgery and he believes that this was one of the greatest blessings as it forced him to get still and get clear. It also made him realize that it was time for some changes in his business so that he could reach more people without burning out. By stepping back and slowing down, he realized he needed to build a schedule that would allow him to be in a creative mode more often.

I ask Todd about his thoughts on why we often have a difficult time charging our worth and I loved his answer. Todd views money as energy. “It comes in and goes like energy. You have to attract energy. You have to attract money. When you attract money and if you attract it and hold on to it, you block energy and that blocks it. If you keep it circulatory and keep it moving and investing in good things and giving back, it's going to come back to you 10 fold. But the minute you hold on you will have energy blocks. So when you asked me about my energy, even with money, it's changed a lot and I'm always affirming myself. I am deserving of attracting it, manifesting it, giving it back to new great things and to other people. And that's how I've shifted. And I know there's a lot of people that may be listening in today, money is just a form of energy and that you are deserving.”

We close the conversation by touching on Todd’s morning ritual. For him, it's imperative to get his mind right and to get his mind ticking and operating at the highest level. Todd typically spends about an hour each morning to prepare, this consists of quiet time, some reading and a workout.

Todd also reminds us to listen to the whispers and so as you come to the end of the show, be sure to take the quiet time and listen to your whispers. Then write down your dream goals and create a strategic plan which will set you up to take action and for success.