When someone mentions the word ‘vision’ a lot of things come to mind. For some it may be a calling they feel in their life. For others it may be an accomplishment they want to achieve. For me, when I think about vision, it’s pretty simple. Vision always answers the question of “why.”
Most people understand vision to be something they see in the future. Something they want to become, something they want their business to grow into, etc… While this is definitely part of the picture, it’s not the whole picture. If we only focus on what we want to be or what we want our goals to manifest themselves in, we still haven’t truly connected with the deeper purpose and convictions of why we want those things to happen. So to understand vision, for it to have deep supporting roots, we have to answer the question of “why.”
In later posts I’ll discuss the Laminin Mission and the Laminin Core Convictions. Today I want to focus on our vision. I want to share with you why we exist as a business and what we see that business growing into and becoming.
The vision at CrossFit Laminin is: We exist to facilitate a higher quality of life by helping others reach their health and fitness goals. That may not look like much, but there’s a lot in there and it’s taken me a long time to have it this concise. Let's unpack it phrase by phrase together.
The foundation of CrossFit Laminin’s vision statement is the role we play in facilitating a higher quality of life for our members. When most people come to us for help with their health and fitness, they usually vocalize their needs by expressing how much weight they would like to lose, how strong they would like to get, etc… No one has ever come to me and said they want to join to have a higher quality of life. So that statement might sound like a disconnect, but it’s not.
What I’ve found is that while most people initially come to us for the reasons I just mentioned, it only takes a couple of questions to realize those are surface level issues. At the end of the day, no one wants to just lose weight. What they really want is to lose weight so they can feel more confident in their body, so they can see better lab results on their blood work, and so they can increase their chances at a longer and higher quality of life.
This is what I believe CrossFit Laminin ‘sells.’ We sell people a higher quality of life. I say that because it’s been the undeniable evidence I see every time I look at a class taking place in our gym. Yes, I see people who have lost weight and I see people who are performing things they never thought possible, but more than that, I see people increasing the quality of their life and reaching higher and higher towards their potential. I see people finding community, having more energy throughout their day, experiencing better mental health, and overall being happier with their life.
It may sound arrogant for a gym to say they sell people a higher quality of life, but it’s true. Those that come to our gym, pay for our service, and buy into our coaching don’t just become fitter or healthier. Rather, they become happier. As a gym owner, this is the highest form of fulfillment I could ever desire.
The next element our vision hinges on is our role as facilitators. The hard and sometimes painful truth is we can’t help anyone who doesn’t want to be helped. As coaches all we can do is provide support, guidance, and encouragement along the way. In the end, it comes down to our members being willing to put in the work. Therefore, we see the most important aspect of our job as exceeding in that role of facilitators. This means making sure we provide our members with programming that works, accountability in class attendance and nutrition, as well as creating an environment that our members want to come back to. Again, we can’t do the work for anyone but we can provide such an incredible experience and service that those who want to do the work not only get it done, but surpass their wildest expectations.
I believe in order for us to be the best facilitators we can possibly be, we must care. Plain and simple. I’ve come to that conclusion because any time I look back on my life and the people that have made the greatest impact, the common denominator between all of them is that they cared. They didn’t care in just a ‘make me feel good’ kind of way. They cared enough to go out of their way, despite receiving anything in return, and they did it for me. My hope and prayer is that this is how our members would see us when they look back on their time at Laminin. I want them to know we cared.
The final piece of our vision is our desire to truly help people reach their health and fitness goals. This is important because my health and fitness goals are not always the same as my coaches. My coaches health and fitness goals are not always the same as our members. At Laminin we want to know what you want to achieve because that’s what you place the highest value on. Once we know what you want to achieve our task becomes very simple: we help.
If your goal is to lose ten pounds and look better in a swimsuit, we’re going to help with your diet. If your goal is to get stronger as you enter the latter part of your life, we’re going to give you the coach and the program to help you do it. If your goals change over time, then so will the way we help you.
So if you’re not looking to have a higher quality of life, we’re not going to recommend or ask that you join CrossFit Laminin. However, if you are, then CrossFit Laminin is here to help and Lord willing, will be for a very long time. Carrying on the vision of facilitating a higher quality of life by helping others reach their health and fitness goals.
Jake Naumcheff, CF-L1
Owner/Head Coach of CrossFit Laminin
