Meet Brendan Otani

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brendan Otani. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brendan, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

My mom, for sure! She’s the hardest working person I know with dedication and loyalty to her job and making hard professional decisions that have paid dividends in the last half decade. She instilled in me, at a young age, that hard work is what will get you far. The other things will follow.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a certified personal trainer operating out of a local gym called Ready Fitness Training. RFT allows autonomy and freedom to their partnered trainers. I love helping others and establishing discipline, fitness knowledge, and experience to help them as they move toward their goals.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

(1) Prioritization and compartmentalizing. There were many times that I needed to take “inventory” and decide what was most important at that current time. It’s difficult, but option paralysis is worse. My advice is take into account your priorities, maybe even making a list every month or quarter. It makes things a whole lot clearer and honestly can help you make decisions on the day-to-day. (2) Presentation and conversational skills are a must! Comfortability with conversation, even awkward ones, will be of immense importance in 99% of career paths. Presentations can also help with gauging audience knowledge. It will challenge you to communicate the same idea to different levels of understanding. Talking to fellow professionals in your field, high school students, nieces/nephews, and mentees all require different communication styles and use of jargon. (3) Technology proficiency. Like it or not, technology can help us out in every aspect of life. Obviously, be cautious and conscious about your use, but artificial intelligence and computation can help in so many professions. Just like a smart phone, you don’t need to know “how it works,” but be sure to know how to use it for your purposes. You will remain competitive in your field if you adapt to the current technological advances.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

This is a book that I read in high school, but I think about it often. It’s called “The Defining Decade.” I don’t specifically remember any quotes from it, but the nuggets that I do remember is that risk is not always as risky as it seems. The thesis of the book is that your 20s is the “defining decade;” the decisions made in your 20s will affect the rest of your life, so make them count. Take risks, explore things, jump.

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Ready Fitness Training

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