Why I Love Coaching/Educating

Karl Marx was known for a great many things.

Coaching, definitely wasn’t one of them.

That being said recently I stumbled onto one of his theories and everything clicked for me.

I finally understood a deeper level of what makes me tick.

In fairness this isn’t too surprising. Karl Marx explored what makes people happy. The perfect way a society should act.

I don’t agree with many of his views, but there is still a lot of truth in his teachings.

One thing I whole heartedly agree with is his theory of alienation.

Believe it or not I learnt about Karl Marx’s theory of alienation through a Jujutsu Kaisen video talking about why one of the characters was so unhappy 😭 

Okay fine I’ll actually stop beating around the bush and tell you about what this theory was.

Karl Marx believes that alienation within one’s work is what leads to feelings of emptiness, worthlessness, depression, and inadequacy.

He thought that the more alienation present, the more likely you view yourself as being insignificant.

I think you can probably see how accurate this is, if someone is distanced from what their work is doing, they no longer feel like they’re important.

It almost reminds me of the spleen, an organ everyone deems to be worthless. Alienation leads to a mental transition where you self perceive yourself to be a spleen.

Karl had 4 different areas he decided Alienation could be present through.

1. Alienation from the outcome

2. Alienation from the production

3. Alienation from others

4. Alienation from your soul

Looking back upon all the jobs I’ve taken, I’ve only ever lasted long term in something with super super low levels of alienation.

I’m not the type of guy who thrives when they feel alienated, I need to feel meaningful through my work.

Coaching and educating perfectly minimises alienation in all 4 categories. I’ll explain what each means a little more by tying it to what I do.

Alienation from the Outcome

This speaks to what you’ve actually created.

If you build a ship in a bottle you’re going to be extremely satisfied for the end result, you know where you’re working towards, you know you’ll see it, you’ll be able to hold it, share it, it’s tangible.

If you’re in a factory installing one chip into a phone day in day out, you have no real grasp over the entire journey and just feel like a infinitesimally small part of the process that there’s no real meaning in it.

This is an area where the more service based you become, the less alienated you are.

• Waiters deliver and see the reaction of customers eating food whilst chefs are in the back endlessly pumping out meals

• Delivery drivers can see they’re delivering countless packages to real people whilst guys in the warehouse move boxes around

• I’m able to see my clients grow, learn, smash PR after PR whilst guys who only sell workout plans only ever get to know the outcome if someone reaches out to them

Little personal theory too, I think this is largely why service workers are able to survive oftentimes getting the worst possible interactions.

Imagine you’re a head chef, you’re disconnected from the outcome of your meals. Your only feedback is a good/bad review if someone requests to speak to you, or a Google Review is left.

You end up not being able to see the countless faces enjoying your food, having a great time, thanking the waiter and the service, you’re in the back.

Now no matter what brutish hell the waiter goes through they see all of that, even though they’re constantly berated and struggling, it’s balanced out.

They feel meaningful.

The chef can’t understand how the waiter puts up with so much because their only interaction with the result has been someone very very very angry, or someone very very very happy.

The proportion is off…

Alienation from the Production

This is about how connected you are to the actual work.

I’m not talking about some sort of deep soul connection, although that is something that’s coming in later.

I’m talking about the actual grasp on that process you have.

• If you work in HR you’re not creating the product/service, you’re doing something completely different. This has more alienation than someone who’s directly working on the product/service.

• If you’re a coach who works under a team of coaches and you’re forced to follow their training program, you’re now alienated from the production.

• As a coach I’m able to pick exactly what my program is going to look like, and how the person follows it. I have full autonomy.

The same comes with my education side, I’m able to pick what I’m thinking about, what I’m building.

When I’m doing it, when I’m not.

Almost everything I do is production.

Then when I get to the admin side I’m ridiculously bored…

That’s because I’m now alienated from my production.

Alienation from others

This is one that’s hit people very very hard recently.

The working from home curse.

Even without frequent interaction being in an office setting with guys around you instantly makes you feel like you’re not in it alone, and you’ve got other guys around you.

It doesn’t stop there though.

The more people you’re around the more likely a fire is going to be lit under you, there’ll be competition, there might even be clans you can join with different ideologies and a huge sense of community.

In this space you see countless different micro-niches for different ideas, all of that makes it feel like you’ve got guys behind you, that you’re not alone.

Having a coaching group means I’m always talking to guys, even outside of training conversations. Just having a good time.

Diving into education means I’m always talking to guys who have read a similar amount to me and picking each other’s brains to see if there’s some sort of code that can be cracked further.

If no one else cared about the science of muscle growth at all, this would be a super alienating experience.

It would feel like you’re devoting a ton of time and energy into something that truly no one cares about, but you.

Alienation from your soul

Having control and autonomy other production is one thing, but what matters way more is actually having your own unique self connecting with whatever it is you’re doing.

There are guys out there spending countless hours on hypertrophy who don’t even care about it, but think it’s important for them

Same goes for dropshipping, looksmaxxing, day trading, etc.

All of this just ends up being something that’s actually alienated from who they are.

If whatever path you’re on is something that isn’t actually aligned with you, then there’s a big problem there.

It’s not that there aren’t cases where you have to bite the bullet and cope, but it does mean it’s coming time to jump ship soon.

This is ever more important in something that’s an elective.

And no… working out is not an elective.

Research, coaching, teaching, learning, building, thinking, muscle growth, the human body, etc, etc, etc. these are all things I love.

They’re things I obsess over, I think about 24/7, I enjoy discussing, it’s something connected to my very own self.

So yeah, that’s a little bit about Karl Marx, a little bit about coaching, and a little bit of nonsense tbh sorry it was so long that’s my bad.

Keep lifting and all that, stay strong and all that, ciao.

Your Hypertrophy Hero,
Fletcher