I Spent $19. It Changed My Workout Views.
A huge lesson you can learn
40 sec skim / 3.5 min read
Months ago, I realized I hadn’t properly cleaned my apartment in five months. I live alone in a 585 sq ft apartment, so I kept telling myself, Surely I can handle this myself.
But alas, months passed, and my apartment became a borderline biohazard. I think I was on the cusp of discovering a new species 🦠 🦠 🦠
Then, I got a coupon in the mail for a home cleaning service—$19 for a first-time cleaning. I spend more than that on a single meal when I eat out, so I figured, Why not?
Hours later, my place was cleaner than it had been in months.
And it hit me—this is something I can outsource.
Just like you can outsource cooking. Or laundry. Or childcare.
But you know what you can’t outsource?
Your fitness.
Yes, you can hire a trainer (*ahem* 🙋🏻♀️), but you have to be the one lifting the weight.
You can’t hire someone to do a plank for you and expect your core to get stronger.
You can’t pay someone to squat for you and expect to build your leg strength.
You have to be the one working out to get the benefits.
We live in an era where nearly everything can be automated, delegated, or outsourced.
• ChatGPT can write for you
• Instacart can stock your fridge
• Doordash can bring you dinner
• Uber can drive you to the airport
• Roomba can vacuum your floors
• Stitch Fix can pick your outfits
These advancements make life more efficient, but they also create the illusion that we can remove ourselves from everything and still reap the benefits.
Yet, fitness is one of the rare things that requires your presence.
No matter how much technology advances, you still have to be the one to move your body, lift the weight, and put in the effort to build strength.
If you think about it, very few things in life are truly non-transferable like this.
The fact that fitness is non-transferable should make it even more valuable.
If you want to get the benefits of strength-training for your mental health, you have to be the one lifting the weights to increase your serotonin and dopamine.
Both of which boost your mood, and reduce anxiety and depression.
If you have PCOS or diabetes, you have to be the one lifting the weights so that your muscles take in more glucose from your bloodstream, lowering your blood sugar naturally.
If you're in your 30s—the decade when you start losing bone density—you have to be the one lifting weights to strengthen your bones.
Stronger bones mean that if you slip on a wet floor, you might just bruise. But if your bones are weak, that same fall could lead to a fractured wrist, hip, or ankle.
By the way, if you need more specific, personalized help with this, my team and I are taking on new 1:1 clients.
Yes, you have to be the one to lift the weight—but you don’t have to figure it out alone.
My team and I can help you train smarter, stay consistent, and see results faster.
Fill out this form, and we’ll send you more info about our programs.
Now, I want to acknowledge that having the financial means to outsource or delegate tasks is a privilege.
And I want to acknowledge that you're busy.
You have endless responsibilities, project deadlines, demanding managers, growing toddlers, aging parents, friends to text back, dates to go on, laundry to do.
But if you keep pushing workouts down the priority list, remember this:
Strength is not something you can delegate.
No one else can build a strong, fit body for you.
And that makes fitness one of the few things that truly deserve a top spot on your priority list.
So ask yourself:
What can I delegate in my life to make space for something only I can do?
If my time is valuable, shouldn’t I spend more of it on things that only I can do?
How would my life look if I consistently prioritized building a strong, fit body... something that no one else could give me?
What would change if I stopped viewing workouts as just another task and started seeing them as an investment in something irreplaceable?
In a world where almost everything can be outsourced, fitness remains one of the last things that requires your presence.
This was a huge perspective shift for me.
The fact that you have to be the one to work out isn’t a burden—it’s an opportunity.
It’s one of the last, undeniable proofs that effort creates results.
No shortcuts, no substitutes.
Just you putting in the work at the gym and seeing the benefits unfold over time.
Anyway, my dear reader, I hope this email gave you at least one perspective shift you didn’t have before.
And more importantly, I hope it motivates you to close this email and go work out 💪🏼
Until next time,
Vanessa
P.S. I’m often asked, Which is more important—fitness or nutrition? The answer is nuanced, and I’ll dive deeper in a future email. But since we just talked about priorities, here’s something to consider:
Fitness requires your presence. You have to be there, physically lifting weights. No one can work out for you.
Nutrition requires your choices. You don’t have to be the one cooking your meals—you just need to make the right food decisions.