I was lucky.
During my time as a student at the University of Western Ontario, I emailed legendary nutrition researcher and Western faculty member Dr. Peter Lemon to ask for career advice. Graciously, he invited me to his office and spent hours guiding me, focusing me not on what to think, but how to think, when it comes to learning more about, and pursuing, a career in health, fitness, and nutrition.
While I was there, Dr. Lemon showed me a study from 2002. His co-author on it was a young (and unknown) doctoral student named John Berardi, who I’ve since come to know as JB. As Dr. Lemon was his PhD advisor, he talked about JB’s work, his work ethic, and the high hopes he had for him.
Although we’ve been friends for years, and JB has become one of my most influential mentors, I never told him this story before. But he had a hand in guiding my career long before we first spoke. And, trust me, worthwhile guidance in the field of health and fitness is hard to come by.
As JB and I are both avid readers, I know he’ll appreciate me using a line from Tolkien to illustrate what happens to many new health and fitness professionals: “Out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Unlike many other fields, the health and fitness industry seems to throw people into the profession headfirst. It’s a certification or training course and then . . . sink or swim.
Sure, there’s the opportunity for continuing education along the way. But, in most cases, there’s a woeful lack of guidance on which courses to take, which skills to build, and which career paths make the most sense for now and into the future.
Until now.
In Change Maker, JB provides authentic, insightful, wise counsel, the kind so many health and fitness pros need regardless of whether they’re just starting out or in the middle of their professional careers.
He begins by busting the myth that the path to a powerful purpose and wildly successful career is simplistic and one-dimensional. Indeed, as he discusses, there are many opportunities for you, opportunities that don’t just involve seeing clients and patients in person or one-on-one.
He also highlights several ways to use your passion to make a real difference, while also bringing together your own unique purpose, talents, and values. The good news is that even if you haven’t yet found the right fit, it’s never too late to switch your focus and bring all three into alignment.
Beyond discussing all the great opportunities available now—and the ones that will emerge in the coming years—he also shares how to get laser focused on what matters to you, to the people you serve, and to your career. This way you can put your energy into the things that make a real difference while ignoring what’s unimportant or, at least, unimportant for now.
If we’re going to solve the problems of obesity, lifestyle disease, and overwhelming health-care costs for future generations, we need to think prevention. And movement, nutrition, sleep, and stress management are the best preventatives we have.
However, as I’ve said before: your ability to write a quality program is less important than your ability to get someone to do the program. In this area, JB’s a master. And in this book, he shares an exciting frontier in coaching, one centered in behavioral psychology and rooted in long-term sustainable change, not yo-yo dieting or fitness fads.
With a mix of humility and candor, JB shares some of my favorite lessons: business and professional development strategies that helped him become one of the most successful people in the history of the industry, growing the world’s largest nutrition and lifestyle coaching, education, and software company.
In the end, this is a full-circle moment for me. The man whose work was introduced to me during my first real guidance session in this industry has asked me to write the foreword for a book that will guide you (and hundreds of thousands of others) to personal and professional success.
So congratulations on finding this book. You’ve chosen an industry that has the ability to change the world. And you’ve chosen the right book—and the right guide—to help you navigate it.
Jonathan Goodman
Author of Ignite the Fire
Founder of the PTDC