Today it is my privilege to bring you an interview with Aaron Darko; athlete and founder of Alpha Shredding.

Through this interview Aaron gives us an insight into his effective approach towards training, the tactics we can use to stay consistently motivated towards our goals, and the principles he follows that has allowed him to grow a successful online business that revolves completely around his lifestyle and interests.

An intuition into how to do the same follows…
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Do you have a weekly training routine? If so, what does it consist of?

Yes. I plan tomorrow the night before. I have a morning routine. Meditate upon waking for 10mins and then stretch for 15mins and then read a book for 15mins. This helps me keep focused… instead of waking up, rolling over and checking email or social media this ensures you start your day focused on YOU and being PROACTIVE rather than being REACTIVE. Having a morning routine changed my life… I’m much more focused now.

I realised that if you keep letting the distractions distract you then you’ll never achieve what you want to achieve in life. You have to starve your distractions and feed your focus. Start controlling your day and stop letting your day control you.

My training routine is simple… 3 days a week focusing on the key movements that build a great physique that turns heads. My mantra for training is “Less is More” I’m all about doing the least amount of work possible in all areas of life, for the most amount of reward. This an approach that works amazingly well for all my busy successful clients.

What advice would you give to someone who is demotivated or doesn’t know where to start with getting into sport and fitness?

Find someone or something to get inspired by. Get around people who don’t see limits and their mindset will rub off on you. Nothing happens without first having inspiration. You need to be inspired and feel empowered to do something. Find someone who has the results you want and learn from them, hang around them more and you’ll get the same results if you put in the effort.

How did you transform your passion for health and fitness into a successful business? What advice would you give to someone trying to do the same?

I was already in business before I got into the health niche. I was in the Wealth niche, so I had the skills of knowing how to create a Digital Program and knowing how to sell it. I always looked at the health niche as super competitive (which it is) and always wondered if I could be successful there.

The beauty of being passionate about health and fitness and also having that be your business is it aligns perfectly with your life’s values and now I’m so much happier every single day because I’m in alignment with my truest self. Making content is effortless because all I’m doing is sharing my life! I do this anyway, now I’m just bringing other people along for the ride too!

You have to demonstrate you can help people by actually helping them. Can you get people a small result in advance?

For example, giving them a tip that will help their daily eating habits which may result in them losing some fat. If you can give people, these results in advance they will start to see you as an authority on the topic and they will also start to trust you. Once this happens, it is easier to sell them something – the full solution to their problem. Every single piece of content you put out needs to be focused on the prospects problem. No one cares about you or how great your approach is… all they care about is their problem.

Can you solve my problem? That’s what they’re thinking.

If you can, then you absolutely must learn sales and marketing because that’s how you get your message out there in the right way and learning sales will help you get paid for your knowledge.

Sales and Marketing are the 2 things you should NOT outsource… you need to constantly be studying every day and improving. You can be the best fitness trainer in the world but if you don’t know how to market, sell and close the deal then no one will ever get the benefit of your “great” training!

Sales and Marketing is the holy grail to success as an entrepreneur. It goes without saying that you need to be great at what you do!

Are there any books, people, or experiences that you would be willing to share with us, that have shaped your mentality and can also help others?

I have many favourite books!

Rich Dad Poor Dad (by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter) – Amazing book, the first book I ever read that shifted my mindset when I was 18.

How to Win Friends and Influence People (by Dale Carnegie) – absolute gold! Read this several times!

Think and Grow Rich (by Napoleon Hill) – an absolute classic!

Influence (by Robert Cialdini) – required reading if you’re an entrepreneur!

War of Art (by Steven Pressfield) – great book on overcoming fear and resistance.

Arnold Schwarzengger – Encyclopaedia of Bodybuilding, required reading for any trainer!

10X Rule – this book by Grant Cardone is amazing… in fact get ALL his books the guy is a big distant mentor of mine.

Expert Secrets (by Russell Brunson) – this is the bible of marketing. Enough said!

The ONE Thing (by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan) – great book about focusing on the task that will move the needle the most.

What do you think are the most important characteristics to develop in order to pursue your ambitions?

First of all, you have to be nice to people. Be genuine and don’t make everything all about yourself. You need to develop a relentless focus. Review and write your goals daily. You need to only surround yourself with people who are positive and are heading in the same direction you are. People who are either already great or are on the road to becoming great.

Do not entertain or tolerate any negativity around you. Always try your best and place the highest importance on practicing DAILY at whatever it is you want to improve at.

Practice is ridiculously underrated… it’s how you get good at anything… Like Conor McGregor said “you can be anyone if you put in the time… and be obsessed. Always be improving… as long as you’re breathing you should be improving.

Talent is overrated… hard work beats talent. But you gotta work smart too. Hard work isn’t enough, there’s a LOT of people who work hard that never get ahead in life.

What are the priorities that you have towards the way you approach your life?

I always want to improve and learn more. I want to be an example to people of what is possible when you focus on your goals. If your goals don’t scare you, then you’re thinking too small. My goals scare me and that’s good because overcoming the fear is what makes you grow. I constantly push myself outside of my comfort zone because I know that everything we want in life is on the other side of fear.

I don’t see any limits in life… I’m extremely positive and always look for the silver lining in any “setback” – it’s always there if you look for it.

Like everyone on this planet, we are all just servants and my job is to serve as many people as I can, whether that be helping them get into the best shape of their life or inspiring them to quit their job and become an entrepreneur or just inspiring them to be a better more valuable human being!

Inspiration is what we ALL need… there’s too much negativity out there and I’m here to show people that they can do whatever it is they want to do, they just need to get around the people who are already doing it and take on their beliefs, habits and they can have the same results.

It really is that simple.

If you could go back in time and give some advice to yourself as a teenager/young-adult what would you say?

Stop getting distracted by things that don’t matter to you.

FOCUS on YOUR goals, where you want to be in 10 years… and take actions to help you get there fast because time flies and it’s better to succeed at a young age than it is at an older age.

Girls, clubs and travel – all that stuff is always going to be there… and ultimately in the grand scheme of things… it’s not as important as your goals because when you achieve your goals thousands of people ‘s lives will change as a result of that… and THAT is what is important.

Your MISSION, Your PURPOSE. Being remembered as someone who done amazing things, that’s what’s important. Creating lasting change.

Focus on creating – focus on inspiring and HELPING others because as the late Zig Ziglar said (and this is my favourite quote ever)

“You can get anything in life you want, if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want”

What are your goals and ambitions for the future?

In the future I will be inspiring more people to live a healthier, happier more fulfilled free-er life.

I will be helping hundreds of thousands of people get in the best shape of their life and give back to those less fortunate than myself through various charities.

The Mantra is MORE… More success, helping MORE people… making MORE of an impact, always learning MORE things, Hiring MORE people.

And the by product, of that is the money comes in abundance when you focus on serving people at the highest level.