Source: FaceBook
There is an overwhelming perception within "fitness" that the industry is populated with liars, charlatans, cheats, fakes, and dishonest people looking to make a dollar
...and its a common lamentation of how fucked up this all this
-THE REALITY-
Ive heard this same complaint of people being made of bullshit from doctors, insurance salesmen, techies, lawyers, actors, tradesmen, taxi drivers, restaurant owners, hotel managers, college professors, dancers, union plumbers, waste collection, factory work, corporate middle management, club promoters, artisans and craftsmen, digital effects artists, hairstylists, masseuses, bus boys, agricultural workers and pretty much every other profession on this earth
And its all the same
-Unqualified people with unearned success
-intellectual theft, plagiarism, copying
-broken contracts, trust, and being screwed over
-a lack of respect for experts
-Exploitation of people's productivity
-Being underpaid
-The wrong people being overpaid
-A perceived lack of respect
-Management not giving a shit about hiring and firing
-Hourly workers being lazy a fuck
-Deception in all fronts
The common thread through all of this? Everyone is always in the "right", the other party or persons is always in the "wrong".
And this is human nature.
I state this not out of pessimism, or the belief that people are inherently evil. But humans will always and have always look to THEIR OWN INTERESTS first. Themselves and their particular clan are to be taken care of, and anything that is not conducive to that is more or less against them.
The fitness industry is like any other industry, with a list of 10 to infinity of things that are fucked up.
And the complaints over this are likely never going to cease.
Ive got no solution, nor am I qualified to give one, and I doubt there is one to begin with.
You can be utterly honest, ethical, and loyal, and I will guarantee that you will still be screwed over at least 20% of the time at absolute minimum.
I will say simply then, the best way one can do is the best YOU can do.
Make your choices according to your own moral compass (or dont), develop a sense of intuition with whom you trust and who you dont, and do the best you can to your abilities.
No one lives a life bullshit free, and "success" is as much the ability to handle crisis as it is to produce.
I give thanks every day that I have the personal and professional trust of people like John and the Elitefts team, as well as people who believed in my abilities at critical junctures (Rest in Peace Bob). Such things are rare and held close to the heart.
At the end of it, I think perhaps the greatest quality one can have is hold fast to their faith in the worthiness of people to be trusted and relied upon, to simply be worth SOMETHING.
It takes far greater courage and conviction to believe that people are good than the downward spiral of believing the world and everyone in it is going to hell.
And perhaps it is and were all screwed, but then you've got to believe in that first for it to come true
I'll take the good first. At least it will make the ride to hell that much more enjoyable lol