Adam Gilbert is creating magic every single day with his clients over at MyBodyTutor. He is also another lucky winner of a copy of Creating Magic from the Brazen NYC Meet Up! I've spoken to several people who are on his program and it's truly remarkable what he's able to help them do. You can read more form Adam over at his blog, Guru Gilbert. We're lucky enough to have him here on our very own Gen Y Hot Seat. Enjoy!

Gen-Y Magic: One of your marketing philosophies is the 100% belief in your product and commitment. Can you talk more about this?

Adam: Belief, it turns out, is an incredible business strategy.

Belief is what keeps me up at 4am thinking of ways to improve my company and how I can better serve my clients. Belief is what gets me up every morning excited to work. Belief is what ultimately made me quit my full time job to start my company. Belief is what causes me to want to stay in on a Friday or Saturday night to work on my business.

Belief is what gives me the confidence to guide and lead my clients to success. Belief is what is going to give me the courage to go up against the behemoths one day. Belief is what makes me want to give my clients my absolute best on each and every interaction I have with them. Belief is what makes me believe I can change the world one client at a time (and is helping me to do just that)!

Belief is what makes anyone crazy enough to think they can actually change the world.

Here’s a perfect example:

One summer, a long time ago, I decided to sell knives. I saw this ad and I thought it would be an interesting experience. It turned out I’d be selling knives to my family and friends. The idea was to then sell knives to their friends and then their friends and so on. Or so the company hoped. There was one problem though.

Although the knives cut through leather and rope they were really expensive. Try $1500 for an entire set. After a lot of cajoling I sold my first (and only!) set to my mom and I felt absolutely terrible.

Additionally, my wonderful Aunt was kind enough to throw a ‘knife party’ inviting all of her great friends over. They all bought knives including my Aunt. Not because I was an incredible salesman. They bought knives because my Aunt has incredible friends that will support her and wanted to do her a favor. I stopped selling knives immediately after that party.

I felt like people were buying out of pity. These people didn’t really want knives. They weren’t actively looking to spend $1500 on a knife set. No! They were buying because they knew me or because they were a friend of my Aunts. Or because they were my mom and felt bad for me!

Not because I was really helping them. Or I was offering something of incredible value.

I need to believe with every molecule of my body in what I’m offering people because I’m not a salesman. And I also need to believe that what I’m doing is worth doing. That it will make an impact.

My clients tell me all the time I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing (and I know it!). I knew I was onto something when one of my entrepreneurial friends who knows more mega-successful entrepreneurs than anyone I’ve ever met told me I’m the best salesman he’s ever met in his entire life?!

It makes me laugh a lot because I’m really not! I just speak and write with my heart and my soul. I live what I teach. I just believe (and know) what I’m offering with every cell of my body works and I’m reinforced with this belief each and every single morning when I read how great my clients are doing.

You can’t fake that belief. Ever. And if you can (if you’re one of those ‘I can sell ice to an Eskimo’ types) you’re going to give up when the going gets tough. You’ll find something else. And c’mon, people aren’t dumb. You can sense a fake a mile away.

And in business (and with anything!) you need to be at it day in and day out if you want to realize your goal. Consistency is critical. No matter what.

That only comes from belief. And if you don’t (truly, deeply) believe in what you’re doing you’ll never stay committed.

GYM: I can’t help but see more vegan restaurants, salad shops and generally more health conscience menus. Is this something Gen-Y helped to dictate or is it a shift in American culture to really be a little more health conscience?

Adam: Well, we (consumers) dictate what kind of restaurants and stores are out there every single day by voting with our wallets.

I also think the internet has created this era of hyper-communication and hyper-productivity and infinite distractions. We’re all glued to our blackberries and computers and phones and work. We’re busier than ever.

But for what?

People are starting to realize that all of these amazing tools to work more mean nothing without their health and fitness and without quality of life. Because of this we are willing to pay a premium for healthier food stores and healthier restaurants.

It’s also a shift in American culture. The Baby Boomers aren’t like our grandparents. They don’t want to just retire to Florida and call it a day.

They want to be active in their ‘golden years’. As they should!

They see and feel how exercise and eating right pays off big in quality of life.

GYM: One topic you always hear in Gen-Y circles is work/life balance. Where does health and fitness come in that balance?

Adam: My answer is going to be pretty obvious but here it goes. When you’re health and fitness is in order…everything else is better. When you eat healthy, you feel healthy. When you eat great, you feel great.

When you eat crappy, you feel crappy.

When you exercise, you feel energized. When you don’t exercise you feel tired and lethargic. Remember: objects in motion stay in motion. Objects at rest stay at rest.

Right? Whenever I have days where I don’t do anything, I don’t feel like doing anything because I’m exhausted. From what though?

I really believe that everyone’s health and fitness should be a huge priority.

The main reason is that you can start taking action in this area immediately. Make your next meal a healthy one. Make it a point to exercise today. If you maintain good healthy habits, it will benefit you in all other areas of your life.

You’ll have more energy and vitality to make bigger changes. The very first day my clients eat right and exercise, they notice an immediate difference in their mood and motivation and energy levels.

It’s not a coincidence.

GYM: Professional sports have been a sore spot lately with the performance enhancing drugs. Is this as big of an issue as the media makes it out to be with regards to youth athletics and school sports?

Adam: When I’m talking with a client and he/she asks me why they don’t look like Brad Pitt in the movie Fight Club or Giselle after a week of working with me it really irks me.

When I read stories about how people are trying to gain weight so they can get their stomach stapled because it’s the easy way out, it really bothers me.

When clients or even friends ask me what type of pills they should take to lose weight because they don’t look (and feel) the way they want to after only 4 days of eating right and exercising it kills me.

Everyone wants things yesterday. Not now. Not tomorrow. But yesterday. No one wants to work for anything anymore especially when it comes to their health and fitness.

Let me ask you something,

Do you really believe there is a healthier and more sustainable way to realize your health and fitness goals than by eating right and exercising consistently?

Deep down we know there isn’t.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m extremely results oriented but in our bigger, faster, stronger society it’s bringing up a generation of impatient kids who give up after a week if they don’t realize their goals.

Performance enhancing drugs being taken in youth athletics and school sports is a big deal in the media for two reasons. One is because these drugs are dangerous and they can do serious long term damage.

But I think the really dangerous part of all of this is that we’re sending a message to our kids that it’s okay to cheat. That it is okay to do things that are not only illegal but also unhealthy and unethical to get ahead.

I think it’s going to create a generation of people who give up very quickly if they don’t succeed.

There is no such thing as an overnight success. It takes your entire life to be an overnight success but most people don’t realize that.

So yes, I do think it’s a big deal. Kids are extremely impressionable.

And stop thinking these lose 30 pounds or gain 30 pounds of fat or muscle in 3 days are real. They aren’t!

GYM: I love your concept of accountability. How important is that, not just in fitness but in our everyday lives?

Adam: I believe everyone knows how great eating right and exercising can make you feel (and look). However, it’s very difficult to do that consistently.

And that’s why accountability is huge. Being forced to look in the mirror and ‘own up’ to yourself every single night so to speak is why my clients are seeing and feeling amazing results.

It’s why my clients (ranging in age from 15 to 77 years young now!) are finally able to stick to a health and fitness plan. I have clients that have never been able to stick to a ‘diet’ for more than a week before starting my program.

Lying to yourself is the worst feeling in the entire world and I make it very difficult for my clients to lie to themselves.

We all want the best life possible. We all dream of great things. Some more than others but we all dream.

Life happens though. Work happens. Our friends happen. Things happen. Relationships happen. And on and on…

The intoxicating allure of TV, dinners, our friends, our kids. The distractions really are endless! And before you know it, you totally forget about yourself!

Unfortunately, it’s just too easy to make excuses and procrastinate. It’s even easier to lie to ourselves and rationalize poor eating and lack of exercise.

But it’s more than just accountability that I offer.

No one dreams of being overweight when they are a little kid. No one dreams of being unhealthy and out of shape either.

Everyone has greatness in them. But it’s just really easy to get stuck. It’s really easy to pile rationalizations on top of that greatness. (Well, the kids need this. I have to do this for work. My friend needs me, etc., etc.)

Every time I watch the move Rocky I get ridiculously pumped up. We all do. I’m sure of it.

But it’s just so easy to let life get in the way and to cover that fire up.

I ignite that fire in my clients each and every day. And it makes for an incredible combo with accountability.

So accountability is huge in every aspect of our lives. I just believe we need it most with our health and fitness.

Usually the first thing people forget about is their health and fitness.

You’re not going to stop going to work. You’re not going to stop hanging out with your friends. You’re not going to stop doing a lot of things when you’re really busy. But the one thing most people do, unfortunately, is stop taking care of themselves.

GYM: Adam, you are officially off of the Gen-Y Hot Seat. Thanks for playing along!