How to Become Your Own Mentor
I really believe that we should all be striving to become our own mentors as Instructors. We need to take more responsibility for our own development beyond our teacher training, professional workshop or watching a class on PilatesAnytime.
We need to learn how to decide for ourselves whether we taught a good class or not, we need to learn how to review our own teaching style and see where the gaps are instead of always looking to external sources for feedback.
Don't get me wrong external feedback from clients, your mentor or your peers is really valuable and it's always helpful to hear a different perspective. But if we start to rely on this constantly and only feel confident in our ability when someone else tells us we did a good job then some serious problems can arise with how we view and talk to ourselves!
One of my favorite things to do is to learn about all things mindset, productivity, motivation and planning from people outside of our industry and seeing what bits I can apply to help me become a better instructor. Over the years I have built up loads of resources that eventually helped me design The Pilates Playbook to be more than just a class planning tool.
Here are a few of my favourites that have inspired me to get out of my own way and become the best Instructor I can be:
Workbook: The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle La Porte
Book: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck - A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a good life, by Mark Manson
Book: The Art of Happiness: A handbook for Living, by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler
Book: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Book: The Urban Monk : Eastern Wisdom and Modern Hacks to Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness, and Peace, by Pedram Shojai
The Pilates Playbook
Equal parts organisational tool and inspirational coach, The Pilates Playbook empowers you to become your own mentor. Full of class planning and observation pages as well as a section for self mastery and reflection.
