E35 | Mark Fitzgerald: What You Lose By Chasing Recognition - Art Of Coaching™

Posted September 29, 2019

TRANSCRIPT

Brett Bartholomew

All right, everybody, I have an exciting update for you. This is something that I’ve been waiting to announce for a while. And we’re doing this in a pop up format right now, these aren’t going to be officially launched and available to everybody until 2020. But if you’re listening to the podcast and you happen act on this quickly, we are doing 10 spots for a pop up of the Art Of Coaching Apprenticeship. The Art Of Coaching Apprenticeship is my newest, really platform guys. It’s an interactive two day event focused completely on social skill development in today’s coaches and leaders. Now, this is the first true resource of its kind that goes way beyond what to coach because we know there’s a lot of that within the field, the technical stuff, the X’s and O’s, and more on the, technical side of how to coach, we are doing a very unique event on November 2nd, and 3rd in Madison, Alabama, I am going to have all of the details linked below. Again, we’re only taking 10 people, this is discounted $200 below the price that it’s going to be in 2020 and beyond. Again, if you’re wondering what we’re going to talk about, guys, this is all stuff that goes way deeper than my courses, then my book, we’re covering anything on the social side of coaching, so whether that’s cueing whether that’s improving engagement, and we’re not just doing this through the lectures, because frankly, that’s boring. We’re doing lectures, video breakdowns, assessments, evaluations, small group breakouts, you’re rotating groups, you’re never going to be with the same people every day. There’s a lot of unique discussions. It’s a lot of fun. So again, if you want to check this out, the link at the Event brite link is below. You can also go to artofcoaching.com and check out the apprenticeship tab under mentoring. So again, pop up event, it’s one of three we’re gonna do in a very exclusive format this year. We’re not launching it formally until next year, so if you’re in the area and even if you’re not get your ass to it, and make sure you check it out The Art of coaching Apprenticeship pop up, November 2nd and 3rd, check it out. Now on with the episode

Brett Bartholomew

Welcome to the Art of coaching podcast, a show aimed at getting to the core of what it takes to change attitudes, behaviors and outcomes in the weight room, boardroom classroom and everywhere in between. I’m your host, Brett Bartholomew, I’m a performance coach, keynote speaker and the author of the book conscious coaching. But most importantly, I’m a lifelong student interested in all aspects of human behavior and communication. I want to thank you for joining me and now let’s dive into today’s episode

Brett Bartholomew

What’s going on everybody here with Mark Fitzgerald, Mark is a good friend of mine owns his own facility elite training systems is an all around impresario and in his words, the whitest Canadian that you will ever meet. The thing that I appreciate about Mark is that guy can be super serious locked in for on technician mode. And then the next minute can be kind of cracking jokes and then the next minute can give you business advice that’ll change the way you lead and do things and guess what? It’s not in the form of some $35,000 quote unquote mastermind Seminar The dude just no nonsense no bullshit. Straight to the point family oriented. Mark, welcome to the show.

Mark Fitzgerald

Wow, how am I supposed to follow that up?

Brett Bartholomew

Don’t be lame. Don’t be lame on this podcast.

Mark Fitzgerald

I’ll try my best.

Brett Bartholomew

Yeah, don’t be I was joking. The other day I was talking to strength coach, I was like, hey, like I can’t get anybody to read my resume and this and that. I’m like, Dude, you probably don’t want somebody to read your resume. I go, let me guess it reads kind of like this. gained experience working in a weight room and facilitating the strength training program for 23 sports in an integrated fashion, coordinated with sports medicine to ensure the health safety and well being of the performance athlete, just like right sounds like yep, so and I like body like the stackable resume that that dude has, whoever you’re sending it to that says that shit is a mile high.

Mark Fitzgerald

And yours is going in the hopper, right

Brett Bartholomew

So Mark, I’m sure I missed some things there. Usually people go into their background. I’m going to kind of ask this in a different way. Talk about your background, but specifically in terms of kind of the obstacles you faced early in your career kind of were there any weird twists and turns I think everybody kind of hears the same. I went to uni than I did this or I played sports and I wanted to grow up and be a strength coach. And now I like getting strong and talk to us about some of the unique parts of your journey specifically as it pertained to, I don’t know times where you felt confused, lost, frustrated, or just shit that you had to overcome in the meantime.

Mark Fitzgerald

Yeah, you know what I think, you know, first and foremost, when I was in university, I just didn’t think you could get a job being a strength coach. I just didn’t think that was possible, training and, being part of a gym culture or what have you, it’s just something I loved. And, it was something that was introduced to me by my brother, my middle brother, Paul. And, he was a tough guy and a football player, and he kind of, we’re best friends now. And obviously, he shaped a lot of, even though he beat the living piss out of me for 20 odd years. Yeah, probably, he really did shape me and kind of lead me down this path to some degree. So I think, going back to university was, something that was like, Oh, I can’t really get a job doing this, I go be a personal trainer, and nothing against personal trainers. But, you know, I don’t want to be a personal trainer. So I just didn’t think that the avenue to do this was really there,so I think that’s, kind of where my mindset was at. And then, I thought, just like a good old Irish Catholic family, you need to be a cop or a firefighter, as both my brothers are, and, just kind of follow that path is a very honorable job and profession, and you’re doing some cool stuff, my mom’s a nurse. So We’re the 911 family, and I thought it would follow suit. But, it just things started to evolve after university in terms of, I always kept finding ways to coach, and when I was done school supply, teaching, and coaching football, and, just started training some kids, and it just kind of steamrolled and it’s, all of a sudden, it’s like, maybe I can do this for a job, maybe this kind of does exist. And I think I started to figure out the same time that, the entrepreneurial side of me, started to come out and really evolve. And, looking back on it, now, my dad is a retired, but he had his own business, he was a carpenter, so he was an Irish immigrant, moved over to Canada with nothing, and started from nothing and built up a family business that, support myself, my two brothers, and he was extremely,successful in terms of raising his family. And, we never went without anything. so I think at the same time, I had some of that entrepreneurial spirit in me, whether I realized that or not at the time, and kind of those things started to really come together. And I started to realize that, Hey, this is possible, I think it’s, certain things happen for a certain reason, if you want to be one of those people, and at some points, I probably am. But you just start to realize, or navigate towards the things that you love to do. And if you’re lucky enough to get paid for them, then, good things start to happen. And I think, too, I was so fortunate to be around the people that I was around who, gave me opportunities. And, not that I didn’t work for them. But I was definitely, on the receiving end of some very good people that saw, a good work ethic in me, that they, help foster and kind of steer down the right path. I think that’s kind of where it started. And I think, from there, you start to figure out stuff, you start to make a lot of mistakes, and then you start to figure out more stuff. And then again, I think it just turned into something, if that makes sense. You know, what I mean? It was just kind of the process kind of just speed balled from there. And, all of a sudden, it’s like, okay, this is what I do, this is what I’m going to do, I’m going to find a way to, you know, make a career out of this. And it was a lot of people around me at that time were, getting real, quote, unquote, real jobs, whatever the hell that is. And, at the time, it was frustrating, because, they were making probably more money than I was at the time because, again, what I was doing wasn’t overly popular. that whole performance training thing was just kind of getting going Mike Boyle was kind of carving a path at that time and even himself he was taking a lot of heat for you know, being the functional strength coach

Brett Bartholomew

Was this when he had hair was this hair, Mike Boyle,

Mark Fitzgerald

but I don’t know if you’ve ever had hair. So

Brett Bartholomew

Okay, was it short shorts? Mike Boyle, or today’s Mike Boyle?

Mark Fitzgerald

You know, it’s definitely short shorts.

Brett Bartholomew

Definitely short shorts. Mike Boyle got it. .

Mark Fitzgerald

Yeah But you know, I think at the time it was starting, I came in at such a good time and in, our market, whatever you want to call it, because it was just starting to kick off. it was just you’re starting to see training facilities, you certainly see places that are gyms, but not gyms, places like ETS now and places like your garage, where you’re, not it’s not just about lifting weights, there’s a performance aspect to it, there’s an athlete centric focus to it. And, I again, I thought that there was an opportunity here, there was an entrepreneurial opportunity. And there was a something, that would keep me involved in coaching. And, around sports, because I grew up in somewhat of an athlete, at least loving sports. So I thought, hey, if I can work in this atmosphere in this environment, and it’s not really work, obviously, it is and drives me crazy when people say that there’s still a shit ton of stuff that I do that is work and not overly enjoyable. But for the other stuff that I get to do, it kind of cancels that out, you know what I mean?

Brett Bartholomew

Yeah, and I have a quick question on that. You mentioned that your dad was a carpenter, Irish immigrant. And then you talked about environment, things like that, how much of that blue collar nature that your father really raised you with and just with the nature of what he did for a living and the things that he sacrifice, how much of that has been integrated into either how you coach or even the environment at ETS or with the Anaheim Ducks. And what I mean by that, as we see this kind of people will really like to have big, bright, shiny facilities. And I’ve always kind of thought that that really works against people to a degree, when you have these resort like facilities, yeah, it can look cool and state of the art, but what does that really tell your athletes, does that really breed this kind of almost talent, hot, badass kind of feel to it, where I don’t want to use the term grit, because it’s been popularized now, but just, I think sometimes people need to be exposed to shitty elements, I think that helps them focus on the work instead of their surroundings, right? It’s kind of like why people, they have all these nice phones. Now, while these phones, I don’t even know if Steve Jobs would recognize phones today, I think they’re more attention devices than they are smart devices. But how much of that Irish immigrant just carpenter mindset has been embedded to what you do or how you do it?

Mark Fitzgerald

You know, what, it’s something that as you talk about it, it’s funny how many parallels you see that are actually, existent in my coaching style. And in even in the way that, I guess, conduct business and what have you, it’s a very, that work mentality of, I say to my kids, now, you You always do your best and you never give up. And you know what I mean? It’s one of those things where, when I was a lot younger, I would say no one will outwork me, you may be smarter than me, you maybe have more advantages, or whatever, but I will not be outworked. And I think that’s always something that’s stuck with me for a long time, just because it’s seen my dad, was went through a couple of recessions, and, normal stuff growing up, and when you have your own business, like, Hey, if that’s the main source of income, and our family, which it was, it was, he did such quality work, it just spoke to, your best defense against the recession as being damn good at what you do. And I think that mentality went into it and, and looking at things where, most people just don’t want to do the work. And I sound like an old, disgruntled strength coach now, but

Brett Bartholomew

you are,

Mark Fitzgerald

yeah, but it’s so true. like, you know, now we’re at the point where ETS is over 10 years old. And, we’ve gone through rounds and rounds of interns and stuff like that. And the best ones are the ones that, they may not have been, the best coaches when they first got to us. But those are things that we can fix. I was I’m always looking for people who work, and are good people, you know, and that’s an old adage that it’s that way, for a reason. And I think that it goes back to how I approach things, even now, it’s just, if I’m willing to put in the work, and if the work is quality, and I’m putting in the work in a multitude of ways, whether it’s my own education, whether it’s, you know, going outside the box for education, whether it’s surrounding myself with people who I’m going to learn from and develop myself, and, you know, I’m going to contribute to their development at the same time. That all goes into your mindset into, how you do things. And I think that’s so, so important. And it’s really shaped the way that I look at coaching the way that I look at having influence over others, and, having employees, what have you, and I think that’s, it’s made a profound influence on pretty much every aspect of my life, you know, and my parents are coming up on 50 years married next year, so it’s yet another thing that that I can look to for look at my dad’s as an example. And, how he’s led his life and you ask anybody that has, he’s done work for, you know, and it’s just, they wouldn’t dare hire somebody else because they know that my dad is and again, he may not be the most skilled at what he does, but they know the quality of his work and you The work that he puts it or the effort that he puts forth, and the loyalty and that’s those are all things that are so, so important to me now that, they’ve kind of transcended. So yeah. I think that that influence has been massive

Brett Bartholomew

on where that question came from Mark and, granted, I’ve only really seen you coach once or twice when I came up to Canada and, ETS to speak. But the alignment that I saw between your father being a carpenter is, there’s a part of coaching that really isn’t talked about much referred to as haptics. And when you think about haptics, as it pertains to communication, it’s the use of touch. And a lot of times coaches, they’ll think, okay, verbal, nonverbal, and they think that’s facial expressions and internal cues and external cues. But they very rarely think about the tactile nature of their coaching, whether that’s kind of getting an athlete in a certain posture, whether that’s reinforcing, the scabs pulled together, whether that’s a nice flat back, whether that’s hips, but any number of things that we use, we use haptics all the time, when we coach and for anybody listening, takeout, one of the things you can do today is take out a little notepad or memo pad, or ask an intern, to watch how many times you use haptics today, while you’re on the floor, how many times you touch to reinforce this tactile reinforcement. But Mark, what I noticed about you is, you were not just verbally expressing or yelling, or relying on a whistle, you would go over and you would get people in position, you would use haptics, you would touch and I just think that that’s an interesting correlation there between your father being a carpenter and obviously a very hands on tactile profession. And then the way that I saw you, coach, even in that short amount of time,

Mark Fitzgerald

yeah, and I think you hit it on the head, there, .Well, number one, today’s athlete, quote, unquote, is much different. And when I played, high school football, we had six police officers that were our coaches, and they crossed the line many times, but we loved it, and it was, it was great, and you always knew where you stood, and there was accountability. And they are a little crazy. But, we kind of liked that too. But you can’t do that anymore, you can’t really coach that way anymore. So you, I think, my coaching style has evolved, because I don’t think I have a big ego number one, and I think it’s the coaching is so much more about personal relationships and understanding human behavior than it is, sets and reps I know, that’s what your book is all about and why it’s such a perfect time that you when you put it out is because, learning how people react to situations, learning how people learn, is so important. Because you got to, speaking just with a duck soup, we got 23 Guys in a small gym, not every guy is going to listen to the same cue in the same way or take the same cue in the same way. Some guys need a little more hands on some guys, you can say, Hey, do this, this and this, and they get it, it just depends on the on the athlete, and they’re all a mess, and they they’re all so different. But they do have their unique differences that if you’re not in tune with, and you’re going to lose a room fast, because you’ll find coaches that will spend too much time with one given athlete and all of a sudden you’re ignoring three or four others, you know, you have to kind of find a way to work the room, you know, and I think that was one thing that I took from my dad for sure. He took me on a lot of trips to the lumberyard or the building supply stores. And everybody in that store knew who he was, you know, he would walk through there and he would have that, you know, he was so good with people he still is, it was such a cool skill to be, not obviously, I realize it now but at the time I didn’t you know how he worked the room how he talked to the cashier how he talked to the you know, everybody respected them, but they enjoyed his company as well. You know, it was a kind of a it was a pretty cool experience to kind of take in as a youngster.

Brett Bartholomew

I want to jump in right there. And when you say how he worked the room, how he interacted one thing I’m trying to do with Art of coaching is get people to be a little bit more intentional, both unintentional about their observation of interactions and just even reflecting. So for example, when you say work the room describe exactly three to four things that he did, right? Like if I’m somebody and I come up to you, and I’m like, Hey, I got no idea what that means. I have no idea what it looks like, you know, how did he go about negotiating these relationships? How did he craft such a, warmth? And if it wasn’t warm? How did he craft such an approachable, social and identity and personality? What were some specific things he could do that coaches listening to this or were leaders of any kind listening to this could do to better work the room themselves?

Mark Fitzgerald

Well, I think it starts with, a few things and I remember, you know, if I have any memories as a kid, a lot of them are going to be in and around, you know, in my dad’s work truck, and he had a 79 Chevy Suburban that I just thought was The best thing ever. And you know, we’ve cruised around in that thing. And it was just, I don’t know, he’s the memories are so vivid, it’s incredible stories that are now closed down in my hometown, but I could still, you know, walk you through them, or at least I think I can. I think first and foremost, it starts with the greeting. You know, that was one of the things I always remembered, as soon as we walked in the store, he would, you know, make eye contact with people, he’d say, Hi to every single person that worked there, you know, not in a weird, annoying way, it was just more of a, he wasn’t going to walk past you and not greet you. And I think that’s what you talked about with the iPhones being the distraction devices. And, you know, nowadays, like that just doesn’t happen, you know, and like to actually make high eye contact with people and say, Hello, and how are you? And maybe he would, of course, he would stop for, you know, a few 30 to 60 seconds with each person and just, you know, shoot the shit. And it was just one of those things, people, I think he made people feel at ease right away with a greeting, you know, and I think that’s something that, again, doesn’t tend to happen a lot now, especially just with the, you know, so many things coming at people and devices, and everybody’s got earbuds in and what have you, right, so I think that was first and foremost is just greeting people, and, you know, making eye contact, whether it was a handshake, or, you know, while wave or something everybody knew he was in the store, you know, and I think that kind of sets the tone, you know, like, you know, it sets the tone of like, Oh, here’s somebody that you know, is a smiling face that is, you know, we know, we’re gonna get treated well, with this customer. I just think that kind of just sets the tone for everything. No one.

Brett Bartholomew

But no, I was gonna say, I think one distinguishing trait there too, because I know technology gets a bad rap, you know, to a degree today. But I mean, there’s this really good picture where I was fooling around the internet some time ago, where somebody was like, tell me again, how, you know, electronics have basically made people more antisocial. And it was actually a picture of people. I think there’s some time in the probably 1950s Don’t quote me on that, because I don’t know the the original source, of course, but it was everybody on a train with a newspaper up right and now interacting. So the point is, and you’re not wrong, that’s not the point of me sharing that. It’s actually the humor, and maybe the suggestion, just in general, as a thought creeps through my head is one thing that I found just through researching and learning more about communication is, without a doubt, we all have a drive to interact with one another. I mean, there’s a reason why the worst punishment you can inflict on a prisoner is, you know, isolation, right? Like, that’s literally the worst thing you can do to somebody, is social isolation, they’ll go nuts. So we have a drive and a need to communicate. But what I found is some people just don’t want to, you know, and so it sounds like your father, and it shares some things in common with great coaches, or great leaders. Most of those people that are approachable, they actually signal in verbal or nonverbal ways, like I want to communicate and specifically I want to interact, right, like because interaction is very different. It’s kind of like hearing and listening. Hearing is a physiological thing, like we hear there sound waves. But listening is literally an active state, it’s something you have to do, it’s almost, you could think of it as a type of contraction, when you’re using a metaphor or analogy to the musculature, right, you have to flex in that regard. And some people just don’t understand that. Even just signaling in some way, shape, or form that you want to interact, or you’re open for that interaction that is so different. And it sounds like you telegraphed that, to a degree, you know, how do you Telegraph that, you know, to whether it’s your ’cause you’re a dual threat, and we’re gonna get into this in a moment. But most people are like, hey, I want to own my own facility, or I want to work for a pro sports team. You do both. You literally do both. And so this kind of give me an idea of like, you know, how do you with everything you have to manage all the time, constraints, everything like that? How do you still make time and show the desire for interaction with your staff, with your athletes, everybody else instead of just shutting down because you’re getting overwhelmed?

Mark Fitzgerald

Well, you know what I think, and I was gonna say, before you rudely interrupted me there is that? Oh, no, no, no, I’m the guest. So one of the things that is so so important at ETS, and I’ll answer that first is that, you know, when people come to our facility, number one, it’s not a normal gym, you know, it’s, not filled with machines. It’s not, you know, hoity toity, it’s people training. Its athletes training, its youth athletes. It’s average Joe’s, whatever you want to call it is a mixed bag of people depending on the time of day you go in. And I always say when we get an intern or a new employee, in they asked, you know what they’re supposed to do on their first day I say greet People and introduce yourself and get to know our clients. And I think that’s something that, whether I knew it or not I took from my dad’s behavior is that when people come in the door at ETS, they’re to be greeted. And that sounds like a really simple thing and a really, you know, maybe unimportant or whatever thing, but it’s not, you know, it’s again, I think you hit the nail on the head, people crave that interaction. And if you go into any big box gym, they’re probably not going to get it, they’re not going to get it from the 18 year old behind the reception desk, who could care less because she’s on Instagram, you know, 12 hours a day. They want that interaction. So that is so important at our facilities is to, you know, every client gets greeeted and genuinely greeted, don’t just say, you know, the company slogan, just to say it, no, actually take interest in people because, you know, whether you like it or not being a coach’s being someone that is around people, you know, and learning about people, it’s a people business, you know, and we’ll get into the the other business stuff, too. But that’s what a lot of these gym owners now don’t realize is that owning a gym is just like owning a regular business. It’s about the people that you serve.

Brett Bartholomew

And what’s hard about that? I mean, you know, everybody listening to this podcast? Well, if they’re listening to the podcast, usually, that signifies most of these people, if they’re staying on this long, I appreciate that. Right? They totally agree with you. I think what everybody’s still trying to figure out is how, you manage that skill? Like do you actually do you take time, even in, in this stage of your career right now? Do you take time to practice any aspects related to communication or research actively how you can be a better communicator? You know, because I think that’s the different thing, right? We train, when we train, like we’re actively working on, you know, our squat, or our strengthen the clean or strengthen the snatch, like, it gets very clearly identified and extracted. But when people if I asked, Hey, do you work on communication styles and strategy, they think well, is that just eye contact? what does that mean to you? And just riff? Because I know, I’m hitting you out of left field on this. But if even if you haven’t been doing that, and you had to create something for your staff, and everybody today, how is that? How would we work on that the same way we do a snatch or squat?

Mark Fitzgerald

Well, I think you already touched on it before with, you know, reps. And I think one of the best ways that I do it is through reading, you know, and I think reading things that, you know, as much as I love books about squats, and reps and whatever, you know, I get those in, for sure. But I’m way more interested in, you know, books on leadership, biographies on successful people, and, you know, my determination of success. And it’s, you know, not only successful on the business side, but successful on the family side, too. So, you know, I’m looking for people to read about that, in my opinion, as have achieved those things. I think reading, as you know, you’re someone who’s a avid reader as well, I think it can be, so incredible to see how other people have done it, or have other people have kind of put things together to be successful. I just finished Richard Branson’s book, finding my virginity not that long ago, you know, I’m sitting on that. So one advantage of being in pro sports is that we fly a lot, you know, so I got my Audible account is always jam packed. And I think that’s, you know, finding ways to hear about what other people have done and how they’ve overcome pretty terrible situations, or, you know, what have you is so valuable, because there’s always something to take away from it. And I think, you know, getting outside that comfort zone and reading books that, you know, you may not think have a whole lot of value and or, you know, recognition, but at least that matchup to your situation. Those are the books that you have to read, you know, I just finished one recovery for the Russell Brand Book, unbelievable. I couldn’t stop reading, and it’s, one of those books that you wouldn’t think that some little British actor would have that profound of an influence on a Canadian weightlifting coach, but he did you know, and it just gets you to think about relationships with people and how you speak to people and your past and all those things. And I think it’s just, you know, if you’re not reading, and if you’re not reading a ton, it’s, it’s something that is your is being missed, you know, and it’s, so there’s only so many books, you can read on conditioning and HRV. And, you know, all that other shit. Like, it’s, of course, it’s important. If you say, I know, it’s important, but it’s such a, it’s so far from what’s actually important. It’s not even funny

Brett Bartholomew

How are you applying those things? Oh, Mark, you know, because that’s, that’s another thing that we talk about fairly often is, you know, people will they’ll ravenously get through these reading lists. I mean, ravenously it’s almost like people just collect, collect, collect But you know, I asserted this on an earlier episode, I think we’re out of the information age. I think that and I even put this in conscious coaching. I think we’re in the transformation age now where it’s like, you can acquire all the information, but if you’re not actually putting it to use, like, good luck, you know, so let’s say you just finish, you mentioned recovery. Is there anything in that rich or brand? You said, you read Branson’s book, right? Yeah, but you said Russell Brand and Richard Branson, right. You read books? Yeah. So is there anything that like when you were done? Is there anything you immediately did right after that to take action?

Brett Bartholomew

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Mark Fitzgerald

You know what I think definitely from two points from the Russell Brand Book, it was a lot about his recovery from addiction and all those sorts of things and how, you know, previous relationships with his parents with his step parents and all this stuff. And to be honest, it got me pretty emotional, which isn’t really a trait that I tend to get out there too often. And it made me call my wife and talk to her about it, because she had just read it that kind of at the same time. And you know, like I said before, my parents are coming on 50 years married, and my wife’s family’s different from that, that could be specific, but it’s just different. So she’s had a completely different upbringing. She’s an only child, which brings its own set of problems. You know, so a very different background, and we just talked about, I swear, we must have talked for an hour, just about, you know, because it made me think of her right away. And, you know, I asked her a bunch of questions about, you know, what I took from it, it made me want to call my brother that I don’t talk to as often as I should, and kind of just, you know, trying to mend that relationship. So the actionable things were so profound to me, like it made me act on them immediately. And I think that’s, you know, when you can read something, that that’s that powerful, it’s definitely something that I will take with me, you know what I mean? And I think that’s, if anything, you know, to make you think and to make you kind of reevaluate, I think that’s why I enjoy the reading so much is that I’m always trying to reevaluate where I am, whether it’s on a professional basis, or, how I’m raising my kids and what I’m saying to them with the kind of language I’m using. I have three kids, one of them’s a little girl, so she’s so much different than the boys and I have to continue to remember that and there was a part in that book specifically about, you know, how you speak to women and, how, you know, can influence a young woman on that, you know, what I mean? I think it’s just one of those things where it’s so intriguing to me, because I don’t want to mess it up. You know, it’s too important, it’s my most important job is to raise my kids and make sure that they’re, you know, happy and healthy and what have you. So it’s, I don’t know, I feel like that’s when something makes me act that fast. You know, it’s it’s so, so important.

Brett Bartholomew

You hit on something really critical there that I think doesn’t get discussed in a public forum enough. And you talked about the effects of your work and your behaviors and even your mindset towards work on family. You know, and I think this is interesting, kind of for the listeners to experience as much as it is for me as the interviewer This in full like literally in full disclosure, Mark and I originally started this podcast this was going to be something more related to opening your own facility. You know, we’re going to talk a lot about this but the minute you started talking about your father, Mark and later on you started kind of tying that in with, with family and even Russell Brand’s book, I actually want to change gears here, you know, because there’s a lot of coaches that I think gets so wrapped up in the work and they talk to the family part. They’re like, Well, yeah, I think it’s important, you know, I do this for the family. But I don’t think family has ever really spotlit within what we do you know, and has that been something that’s ever really truly scared you in the sense that kept you up at night? You’ve been like, man, like, I know, I’m crushing it at work. I know, I’m doing this. But I feel like I’m failing as a father. And it may not be literal failure, right? Like, that’s not what I mean. But yeah, like, have you ever really woke up and criticize yourself and thought that because I’m sure somebody listening has thought, I know, I felt like I failed at it as a husband, like, even my first year of marriage. I’m sitting here, I think it was literally the year we decided to go out on our own. And I’m sitting here like, oh, my gosh, you know what I mean, I’ve had relative stability, you know, for a while here, and now I’m gonna go take this risk. And I’m gonna write this book. And I’m asking this woman I just married to move across the country to a city we have never lived in, let alone like, I think I had visited once and she had never been there. And that’s a whole nother story. But talk to me about some of those fears and where your family comes in and kind of speak to the other coaches out there about some things you’ve gone through with that?

Mark Fitzgerald

Yeah. And I think, again, you hit it on the head with you get those cliche answers, like, oh, yeah, my family is everything to me. But you know, what, and I’m not judging anybody. But a lot of, I would say more times than not, that’s kind of bullshit, you know, because ‘ve always sacrificed my family, you know, at the time, it was just my wife, she wouldn’t like to hear that. But I almost did sacrifice that because I was working too much. You know, when I was, that’s all I cared about. And I would come home, and I’d be completely checked out from our relationship, or our marriage, or what have you, because I’d be so consumed with reading articles, or, you know, getting on my laptop and doing programs. And, and, you know, obviously, it’s nice to be driven. And, you know, though, like the work ethic, like I said before, but it can also work against you, you know, and I think there has to be, in going back a little bit like, our profession is good and bad in that respect, because it does sometimes feed the, oh, you got to be obsessed, you got to work 18 hours a day, like, it’s, I mean, I think that’s, I look at the team that I have now with ETS, and I have, to, my top people are guys that are so driven, and they’re so hungry, and they make my life a lot easier, because they just take care of things, they run it, you know, and I think the big part of that is that number one, I trust them. But I also want to lead them down a good path, I don’t want them to do what I did, you know, because they’re both younger than me, obviously. And, you know, they, both just got married, one of them is having their first kid, you know, and they both have their own houses now, and it’s so cool to be a part of all that. But at the same time, I don’t want them to have to sacrifice that. And I don’t think that’s protecting them unnecessarily. But I think it’s just more guiding and that I think that’s how I see, kind of the next step in my career is making sure that the people that do work with me, for me, whatever, are, you know, having A work life balance, which is a crock of shit, but to have the work life rhythm dialed in, so that they have a good relationship outside of the gym. So that when it’s time to go home from the gym, they’re home. And my guys now are so driven that I have to I’m probably more reminding them of that than they are doing it, you know, like, I’m all over them about, hey, I care more about you than I care about the gym, at the gym goes away, hey, we’ll always find work, we do quality work, we’ll figure it out. But what you can’t sacrifice is you know, your wife and your new child, or, you know, all this stuff, because it all is just so not to get too deep or whatever. BThere’s more important things in life, you know, and I think that’s, I don’t want to be remembered by people that work for me as like, the guy’s a workaholic. This is all I did. I want to be remembered for like, oh, man, he you know, remember the party that we had remember that? We call them ATS shakers because they usually get a little out of hand. That’s what I want people to remember. Right? I want people to remember the influence that I had, hopefully on them and in a very positive way or maybe things they learned from me or you know, things like how I treat my kids You know, what I do with my wife and how I speak to my wife. Like, I feel like those things are so much more important. I think, again, our culture of coaching and being a strength coach and you know, being a meathead and whatever, it’s, you rarely see stuff like that. And because it’s vulnerable, you kind of put yourself out there. And I think that’s, I always respect that more than I see, you know, guys putting heavy weights on their back. I mean, hey, good for you. That’s great. I know, there’s a lot of work that goes into that, and I did my fair share of it. But man, life is such a bigger picture than, you know, what to do inside the gym. And I think I’ve learned that a lot more, probably recently, and having to, you know, leave my, you know, my home where I grew up and kind of leave my business in the hands of my team and kind of just say, shit, hope these people trust me, I hope these people will respect me. And, you know, I’ll find out pretty damn fast if they do. You know, and I think that’s, kind of what it’s come to now. And it’s, I’m enjoying it, because it makes it gives me perspective to

Brett Bartholomew

mark talk about your kids for a moment with that, you know, in terms of how you try, I mean, you’re on the road a lot real quick how? It just a quick answer here. How often are you on the road? On average? Just give? I know, it varies, but on average.

Mark Fitzgerald

So this month? Well, I guess any given month, really? We play between 12 to 16 games in 30 days, you know? So if I look at a busy travel month, like December is usually pretty bad for us. I’ll be gone 17 days? Not all at once, but I’ll have

Brett Bartholomew

no but I mean, yeah. In a given year, just between your your facility in Canada, your work with the Anaheim Ducks, you know, in general, if you had to just throw a number up in the air, generally, What’s a range of how many days a year? You’re away?

Mark Fitzgerald

Oh, I mean, at least half? At least

Brett Bartholomew

at least half a year, at least half of a 365 day a year? Yeah. And the only year that exists, but I just want to quantify that. I just want to quantify No, and the reason is this right is there’s coaches listening to this without a doubt. And again, coach is a relative term where they aspire to do things at the highest level, they aspire to be world leaders, they aspire to do these things, and it’s great aspire to do that. But the point I’m getting at is, I don’t know if anybody when they make a deal with the devil, so to speak, does anybody ever really lay out the cards for him? You know, and not saying that opening your own facility? All those making a deal with the devil? It’s irrelevant. It’s just an analogy. Well, it’s just any Listen, anytime you’re trying to make a mark on something, and go for a piece of the pie and create just freedom, create anything, create a skill set? I mean, you do that anytime you sacrifice something, you know, and it’s not I think people will associate that with always just like selling your soul. Well, that doesn’t always have to mean that. And even if it does, it’s just you’re going for what you want. And we know what we think we want, what we actually want. And what we really need. I’ll say that again, because those are different things. There’s what you think you want, what you actually want, you just may not be able to put it to words, and what you really need. Those are things that need to go on a piece of paper. And so people get really clear about this incentive, the majority of people think, hey, I want to be in this field. And I want to do this. And the funny thing is, and tell me if you disagree and feel free to this is an open dialogue show. Do you think most people when they set their career goals early on in their career ever really consider family? I mean, really, unless, they already have one? And they kind of in that phase? You know, where maybe they have a they’re a younger coach, and they had a family. But do you think they really consider the responsibilities of being a mother or a father?

Mark Fitzgerald

Oh, God, no. And I think it’s funny, you kind of hit on it there, too. It’s like, you think about all those things. And you think about? Well, let me back up a little bit. I think, first and foremost, when you can set those goals and where you want to be in whatever when you’re younger, and I did the same thing. But I think the key to is I talked about work life rhythm is to be able to reset them or pivot or whatever cliche thing you want to use. Over and over and over again, I see the most successful people and then again, my determination of success is not only on the business side, but on the family and and health side as well. Like, if you can’t pivot every couple of years and rejig and do whatever then you’re ultimately going to hit a wall and not to say that I haven’t hit the wall. It’s because I’m learning this as well as more. You know, now that I do have kids, my desire to do you know three to four things that I wanted to do seven years ago before my first son was born, are drastically different, because a lot more of my focus now is making sure that he is able to do that. You know, whatever he wants to do, and not in a spoiled type way, but, you know, I want to make sure that he has a solid foundation, you know, like, not to go off track too much, but I just met with eight of my buddies in Arizona, because this year, we’re all turning 40. And the I seven out of eight of these guys I’ve known since kindergarten. You know, and I think that’s, pretty rare. You know, the more people that I talked to about that, and realizing that I’ve had these friends for, you know, 30 plus years, and guys that know me inside out and what have you and not to say that my son is going to have that because he probably won’t, but to at least give them the opportunity to kind of grow some roots somewhere, is more of the focus for me now. Because I know I can work, I know I can get work, you know what I mean? I can figure it out, and I’m willing to do any work, I’m not above any work, I think those attributes, you start to eat again, you start to realize what’s important, for sure. But when you’re 25, and you’re planning that, oh, yeah, I’m gonna have kids or whatever, you don’t get it until it happens. And I think that’s, you know, as my focus shifts to, you know, where my son can participate in sports here around, you know, where he can grow where he can, his education is paramount, you know, all those things, where I can give him cool experiences, you know, like, those are the kinds of things that are driving me now, obviously, I still have grand ambitions about what I want to do, and, you know, cool projects, and, you know, different things that I want to do collaborations with people like you and like minded people. Yeah, those are all there. It’s just, they’re just second place. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s just, I’ve pivoted a few times now and are probably heard a few more times as to what the goal of our family is. And it’s not just an individual goal. Now, it’s a goal of our family, you know, and my wife is becoming a little bit more involved and, you know, kind of my business and what have you. And that’s pretty exciting. And just very cool. Things are just evolving. And you know, what that’s like, and it’s, you know, people look at that as like, oh, you know, you’re not going after what you want? No, no, I am, it’s just, again, things change.

Brett Bartholomew

I think that stuff’s going away, man, I think you know, and one thing I challenge you on, and it was me, definitely not too long ago, and I still do it. So I don’t get caught up. But notice how often you even feel like you have to use disclaimers, right? Like, and especially because you’re on a podcast and it feel like why do you feel like you have to use disclaimer whether it’s like, hey, you know, yeah, I’ve been under the bar. And I’ve done this and yeah, I have these goals and aspirations to Why do you feel like you have to have those disclaimers?

Mark Fitzgerald

You know, what i dont’ know I think, because I want to, make sure people know that I’m not an arrogant prick. You know, and that I haven’t. forgotten where I’m from. And I haven’t forgotten that. I’ve had a lot of doors open for me. And you know, and I don’t want to give the illusion that I have it all figured out. Because I haven’t met anybody who does. And the guys that say or guys or girls that say they do are completely full of shit. And usually the ones that have nothing figured out, you know,

Brett Bartholomew

But do you think do you think even if they do think that that’s more a reflection of yours that their problem of not reaching out? Right? Like because I don’t think even a moment ago of you saying yeah, like I used to chase that dream. And it’s just not what I chase anymore. I don’t think that comes across as arrogant. I think it comes from like we have this kind of desire in training conditioning, not really to offend anybody or kind of defend our you know, we want to defend our ground. At the same time. We don’t want to offend anybody else. But like, I think you should be bold about you know, and you I’m saying you, but I mean anybody. I think that there just becomes a point in time man, where we all have to think like a 90 year old man or woman on their deathbed, and say, what do I really give a shit about and I’m really scared to voice it. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, like people are gonna make whatever judgments about you and the things you do and what you say you want and what you achieve, regardless, so plant your flag and just say, You know what, I valued that time in my life and my career. Now I’m in a different one. Darwin called this evolving, you know, like yes, yes, that’s what that is, you know, and I only share this because I’m gonna I’ll point this spotlight at myself because I’ve asked you some pretty uncomfortable questions, man, and you’ve been a trooper, I think this is one of the easily the most honest episode we’ve had in terms of people just really deep diving and being willing to be caught off guard, Not to disparage here’s my own disclaimer, Not to disparage any other guests. Everybody smash it. I just think like, I’m digging into your family and dig in and I’m doing this because we go back a bit right so hopefully you’re not offended if you are pissed off.

Mark Fitzgerald

You know what else but I think even to interrupt you, the one thing is being completely honest, is one of the character traits that I’m trying to exclude from my train of thought is the need to be liked. or, you know, when it’s be selfish, I admitted wholeheartedly that it’s something that has been with me for a long time. And I think I’ve gotten a lot better at, you know, being that 90 year old guy, for sure. But it’s still something that is there. And for whatever reason, I think, I don’t think it’s all bad. I think it’s something that is probably pushed me into coaching, you know, because you’re in a room and it’s, you’re managing a lot of personalities and your whatever, and you want to make sure it goes back to what I said about my dad owning the room, it’s like, if he was a prick, he can’t own the room, he can maybe own it in a very negative way. But there’s that part of the personality trait that is, you know, positive, jovial, whatever, that, you know, it’s still, it’s an easier way to get to people in a positive way, you know what I mean? So I think there’s that there’s good and bad to that wanting the need to be liked or accepted or whatever. But I think it’s definitely something that I still need to push away a little bit more and be the 90 year old guy a little bit more.

Brett Bartholomew

Yeah, well, I mean, let me qualify with this. It’s normal, you know, one of the things that human beings want, and I’ve talked about this on past episodes, I’ll talk about it on future episodes, because it’s good advice and awareness for all of us, is we all crave, especially coaches, coaches don’t really crave monetary awards so much as we crave social rewards, we really want everybody else to know, we’re a dedicated coach, we’re in it for the right reason, you know, we want them to know that we’re true blue. And so, you know, we want to pay homage to that. But, you know, I think that there’s never been a better time in our field right now to be a strength coach. I think the reason it can be uncomfortable for folks like us, and those listening that kind of relate to this is what we’re doing is we’re kind of coming out of the adolescence of S&C We’re going through this really awkward Grossberg of figuring out who we thought we were, you know, what we actually like about ourselves, and maybe what we don’t like, it’s kind of like that, you know, somebody goes to college and like an idiot in high school, or maybe you’re at a college and you’re like, Man, I like I didn’t do like, I can’t believe I did this. And whatever it is like you’re kind of coming out of that phase where you’re just like, you’re realizing some things were really good, you’re glad you experienced it and did it, you know, but there were also some things that you’re really kind of glad to shed. And we’re kind of getting into this third space that exists now where coaches realize, like, hey, you know what, I can be really good at what I do. But I can also evolve beyond that. And I just think it’s weird for our field, because we don’t consider other professions. You know, a mentor of mine from afar, like not somebody I actually know. But somebody I’ve followed a long time. And I don’t care how silly this sounds is Dr. Dre, and Dr. Dre talks about it. One of the episodes, he goes, Listen, I went from a rapper or DJ, to a rapper to a producer. He’s like, I didn’t not love rap. I just wanted to kind of help produce and Jimmy IV, who owned Interscope Records and worked with The Beatles, and Tom Petty, and, you know, Patti Smith, and you too, and all these people, he said the same thing, you know, he went from a producer, and he was like, All I knew was, you know, the technical side of what we did. That’s all I knew I was just a craftsman. That’s all I did. And eventually, he went on to run Interscope Records, and one of the most successful music, one of the most successful record labels in all of music history. And he said, When I really found my niche, and please listen to this,if you’re on still is he said, I realized that I had gone from producer to somebody that wanted to produce other producers. And he’s like, I could only do that if I expanded my role. And that’s something that even I’ve had to get comfortable with, you know, I thought like, you know, until I’m 60, or 70, and beyond, all I’ll do is coach, Coach, Coach, Coach, Coach, no. And then I realized, man, like, I kinda like coaching other coaches, not because I think I’m some Messiah, but just because like, I’m super self aware of my weaknesses, my strengths, I’m very curious about human interaction, I’ll do the research, I’ll do the digging, I’ve done it. And I kind of want to share this stuff. And I know, it’s not everybody’s bag, so why can’t I help develop people in that area? Right, you’re providing a service. And I think that what you’re talking about is experiencing that you’re just evolving, right? And then stop me at any point. If I’m lying, you’re evolving. Go ahead.

Mark Fitzgerald

Yeah, no, I totally agree. And I think, my opinion, it’s a step that a lot of coaches are afraid to take, they’re afraid to get up. And

Brett Bartholomew

without a doubt,

Mark Fitzgerald

they’ll speak at a, you know, a conference of some kind SCA conference or whatever, because it’s, you know, you’re speaking about what you know, but if you get some of these guys that have been through some shit, they don’t want to necessarily expose themselves to that, which is a shame because I think there’s a lot of people that have been through stories that young coaches need to hear, you know, coaches that are stories that aren’t so sexy and that aren’t so, you know, after these two years, I went here, you know what I mean, that aren’t so succinct that you know, takes you down this Have a fairy tale path because it’s bullshit

Brett Bartholomew

right present on that, instead of the 20 a thing of like, five wet methods of squatting that’ll transform your program or, you know what, bad accommodating resistance, what the research says you can go read the research, you know, like, but like, somebody should say how I almost effed up my family and how I learned to be a big boy and manage my career better. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, what coach in the room wouldn’t want to hear from somebody like you, or in that arena that that’s worked at the highest levels. And also like, and I’ll say, owning your facility, I think is the highest level as well, I don’t think it’s just working people think the highest levels of pros, because it’s on TV, and it’s super visible. I mean, come on, man, like, be honest, like, Where have you grown more as a professional and not to disparage the pros, but like, talk to me about that like,

Mark Fitzgerald

you know, I get, I’m very fortunate now to be, you know, put into situations where I can be seen as an authority figure, or, you know, whatever, I’m in the pros, I get it, I very appreciative of that. But I’m way more proud of what I’ve accomplished, on the private side, because I did, literally, you know, by myself, I put my house up against it to fund it, you know, I did it by myself. And I did it with a ton of support. I’m not saying that I had the people around me that I had and continue to have are the reason why I have a business and not just a gym, you know, and I think that, you know, it’s the stuff that I got through. And, you know, building a family along the way, is, I’ll never forget that, we’re coming up on the end of this season. And it’s like, it’s just another year, and I’m so grateful to be here, and this organization and opportunity for my family for sure. But like, ETS is my you know, and it’s, own thing, now. It’s even, it’s beyond me, you know, and,

Brett Bartholomew

like David,

Mark Fitzgerald

it’s, and he talked about before, you know about growing as a coach, like, I don’t really do a ton of coaching at ETS now. And that was really tough, right? Because, you know, it for the longest time or for a certain amount of time, it was me ETS was me, you know, if I wasn’t there, people weren’t very happy. You know, whereas, you know, I saw that as, oh, that’s feeding my ego, this is my facility, and I’m this and I’m that, but what you come to realize is that if when you walk away from your business, and it still makes money, that’s when you have actually have a business, you know, and that’s when you can actually, you know, implement systems and procedures, policies, whatever, without getting too corporate, like, that’s when you have a business. And now, again, I’m lucky with the team that I have, and, and the time that I spent doing that, that I can be, you know, a six hour plane ride away and not really have to worry about it, you know, and like, because I have a full time job as it is that takes up a lot of, you know, mental exhaustion or mental energy. So it’s, I can’t, you know, and I found out the hard way that you need to have the right people in place and to build those things into and it can’t be about you, you know, as much as my gym was about me, in order for it to grow. And to get to where it needs to be a can’t, it can no longer be about me, it has to be about the product that is sold to the customer or the consumer, whatever you want to call it, it is about customer service, and nothing else, you know, and I think that’s, again, you go back to the small business stuff, and I feel like a lot of people miss that, you know, and especially the small, the CrossFit and whatever, nothing against CrossFit. But you walk in there, and it’s just like, holy shit. If you were to step back and look at this as just like a firmly customer service based experience, you would you would be out of business, you know, and it’s the ones that are surviving are the ones that are more of a business than a gym. And I think

Brett Bartholomew

that’s well it goes back to family values. Really, right. I mean, if you look at how the mafia and I know people say, Oh, the mafia, grisly, gruesome, you know, good, job, Brett, you’re looking at racketeering as role models, and, you know, whatever Bring it on. But like, if you look at just kind of the core ideology of kind of this family, if family business a, you know, like, there was a certain code now, let’s use that word, because I culture is kind of getting overused and thrown around a lot. Let’s look at a code. You know, this is this is kind of the the operational standard. This is the mantra of how you should treat people, you know, would you agree with that, like just thinking going back all the way to the beginning of time that your dad and your family and Danielle, how much does that code permeate everything you do at ETS?

Mark Fitzgerald

It’s funny because it’s a conversation that I have every year when I’m home, you know, and it’s becoming less and less over the years and I’ll have I’ll usually have one staff meeting and then we have a Have ETS shaker a party at my house every every summer. And the one thing I say to my staff before the Keg is tapped is that our clients, the best part of our clients Day is coming into our gym is coming through our doors. And that’s the message that I want to leave with them. And that’s the message that I want to be playing in their head, because we’re the best part of people’s day. And there’s not too many jobs, I don’t really think there’s any jobs that can speak to that. If you’re a police officer, you do some incredible things. But you also have to deal with some pretty terrible stuff. Same thing with firefighters is, you know, as much as they have the Dalmatians and, you know, their whatever, they have to, you know, do some pretty terrible things in terms of you know, seeing people at their absolute worst. And although they’re, you know, they’re bringing help and support, it’s very difficult. You know, what other job are you the best part of someone’s day is a dentist? Well, no, because I hate my dentist, even though he’s a really nice man, I want to keep his face and every time I go there. But realistically, and I don’t think I’m too far off there. But like, we are the best part of someone’s day how good you feel when you complete a workout, you know, and how the the euphoria or the dopamine wherever you want to call it. Like, there’s nothing better. There’s nothing better the accomplishment, the satisfaction, the mindset, we know all the scientific things that happen, you know what I mean? It’s you can’t ignore it. And I just want to remind my staff of that, whether you’re a pro athlete, whether your average Joe, whether you’re a young kid, that’s the best part of the day, you know, and I think you got to embrace that, you got to think about that every time you interact with somebody, you know, and I used to say them how to fake it till you make it. No, no, don’t fake anything. Don’t fake anything in my gym, because that’s not what people want to see. Be genuine. You know, and I think that’s, you know, with, that kind of mindset, I think you can you want to talk about culture, you can set a culture that is, you know, way beyond any, you know, quotes that you put on the wall or, you know, mantras or whatever, it’s just how you interact with people, how do you greet them? How do you treat them? Like, how you’re dressed, you know, how do you resolve a conflict, whatever like That is true culture. You know, and it’s, more than about words up on the wall. It’s, being human to each other, you know, and I think that’s what I want my coaches to think about. Every minute that they’re working, even when they’re not working. You know, it transcends beyond the gym walls.

Brett Bartholomew

Yeah, no, I think that’s, listen, it’s evident that I need to get you on for another episode. And we are going to hammer the business side of things as well. I just think, man, unintentionally, for you to be able to go down that path. And I know, for a matter of fact is definitely touched a lot of people listening to this, no matter the trade that they’re in, because again, it doesn’t matter if they’re lawyers, doctors, dentists, especially the dentists, you want to keep your face and he actually listens, or anything like that. You know, that’s critical. And there just are people that can relate to a wide range of things. I’ll tell you what, I had gotten an email from somebody and it’s a listener. Her name is Vanessa, Vanessa Frosts, wherever you’re at I’m sorry, I can’t pronounce no you’ve hyphenated your last name. I would butcher that. But this ties into something she even mentioned you were talking about my your path and the journey and how you know, you even reading Russell Brand’s book and just all these reflections have led to just kind of the beautiful chaos that has coincided with your career. And I promised Vanessa would share this. So I hope it touches base with some people because I think it wraps up. She wanted to share her story and she said listen, you know, I basically started coaching in the private sector. in Carbondale, Illinois, she was coaching some with some softball coaches and they wanted her to meet my friend Clete McLeod, who’s definitely going to be on the podcast in the future. Long story short, Clete ended up offering her GA position. At the end she was offered an assistant position and she was working as Clete’s assistant for six months. He at the time had left to go to Nebraska. He’s now at South Dakota at the time of this recording, but a long story short, she just said listen, all these transitions all the things that I went through, were the most challenging six months that she had ever gone through then and she did learn that she eventually wanted out of collegiate athletics. And she says eventually I found my way into my current position as the health and fitness coordinator at the I think it’s Pflugerville it’s p f L it doesn’t matter Pflugerville fire department just outside of Austin, Texas. And like you said, Mark, when you started you said you didn’t even know you could get a job in this. Vanessa is like you know, this position as a health and fitness coordinator at a fire department. I didn’t even know that existed and she’s like yet I find it ridiculously rewarding. And so I just want to encourage anybody out there, learn from Mark learn from Vanessa like kind of To embrace the uncommon path, that’s cool if you have a goal, and you think you know where you want to be. But if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. And I think you should just embrace the ambiguity of that a little bit. I know we live in this time of goal setting and morning routines and all this stuff. It makes me want to lose my mind, because nobody is almost open to chaos anymore. Nobody’s open to chaos. You know,

Mark Fitzgerald

at my house at about 7am on a school day, you’ll see back in chaos.

Brett Bartholomew

Hey, listen, the first time I went up to Lake one, a punky Tang, or whatever it was up in Canada. I got a little indoctrination to chaos via punch right in the nuts by your youngest son. If he ever does it again, I will tombstone him, Mark if people you know I’ve loved watching you present, I’ve loved listening to you learning from you. I know you present all over the world you share this information. If somebody right now is like, you know what, I love this dude, I want him to speak at my clinic, my conference, my Bar Mitzvah, whatever. Where can that person get a hold of you?

Mark Fitzgerald

I’d you mentioned Bar Mitzvahs, we got to sail around on right now. markfitzgerald.net is going to be the best place to find me.

Brett Bartholomew

Repeat it again.

Mark Fitzgerald

It’s markfitzgerald.net can be the best place. For ETS, you can still get a hold of me. It’s fitzgeraldets.com. You’ll be able to click through and find me there somewhere. But yeah, my own personal one is markfitzgerald.net . So we’ll have it’ll be up and running by the time this thing gets out. So we’ll have some, some good information up there about where I am and all that kind of stuff.

Brett Bartholomew

Awesome. And Mark quit pounding on your damn desk while you do it. Guys, I’ll have all this in the show notes. Mark, I want to thank you again for your time, man, this was incredibly valuable. Everybody, if you have feedback, bring it in. I want to continue to share more stories like Vanessa’s on the podcast, I can probably get to one a week. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming. Everybody shoots stuff in it’s, it’s awesome. I want to keep hearing from you. Please don’t get offended. I don’t play favorites. I try to tie these things in with the theme of the episode. I also have a full time job just like many of you. So if I don’t get back to you, I likely just don’t see everything. But a member of my team will get back to you. Thanks again, and we will look forward to hear from you.

Wait, wait, wait, wait before you go. Glad I caught you. Listen, there’s a lot of people that think that I just have social media, podcast and YouTube, guys are so many more resources. If this stuff interests you. First of all, if you haven’t checked out the book, I’d be honored if you would, it’s on Amazon worldwide. It’s called Conscious coaching. We have a free Field Guide. There’s so many resources. I tried to provide online free ebooks, free downloads, if you just go to artofcoaching.com. Check out the free resources. There’s also online courses. So whether you’re interested in the coaching communication psychology side, we have an online course called Bought In. That is a great resource. It’s research back, and it applies to every profession, you do not have to be a strength and conditioning coach. Literally I use the term strength coach and athlete because that’s what I do. But just like you read an article or a book by a former Navy SEAL, or somebody that owns a company in Silicon Valley, all these things are relatable to other fields. Also, if you’re looking more into career management, whether that’s you trying to learn more about marketing, contract, negotiation, networking, resume writing, all these things that go into the messiness of trying to create and cultivate a sustainable career. We have a course for that as well. It’s called Valued. Both of those are found on artofcoaching.com. Remember the podcasts and all these other things, you know there, I can only share so much and we try to do it in so many other mediums. So please, I’d be honored at your support. We try to make sure and donate a percentage of the proceeds every year to either fight Alzheimer’s, cancer research we we donate to local police forces, we try to do a lot of different things and we can only do that with your support. Thanks again for listening to the podcast and I hope you enjoy those resources.

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