About Ted
A brief history of Ted Zimnicki
Hi, I’m Ted
I’ve had a lot of different jobs and careers in my short life, and today, I’m a motivation and mastery coach. That might sound nebulous now, but as you learn my story, all the pieces will fall into place. You’ll also start to see some vicious cycles common in all of our lives and realize becoming a Change Gardener will always beat the Light Switch, all or nothing systems.
Hi, I’m Ted
I’ve had a lot of different jobs and careers in my short life, and today, I’m a motivation and mastery coach. That might sound nebulous now, but as you learn my story, all the pieces will fall into place. You’ll also start to see some vicious cycles common in all of our lives and realize becoming a Change Gardener will always beat the Light Switch, all or nothing systems.
"The secret to becoming an overnight success is the 20 years of work no one else saw." – Eddie Cantor
The Soil Where I Was Planted
“You’ll never get hired, being so fat…!”
Those are the words a visiting teacher gave me after performing in front of him, my teachers, and my friends. I was chosen to sing in a masterclass for a famous opera singer and he decided that was the best time to remind me of my health. For years, those words echoed in my head, my cheeks still red hot with anger, embarrassment, shame. This came just after having a button fly off the bottom of my shirt, so I was already well aware. The depression and downward spiral this started was real, and deep. For as long as I have photographs, I was always the heaviest kid around. It was the only way I knew how to live, anything else seemed foreign and scary to me. I became pre-diabetic at 15 years old, by 16 I was too big to buy clothes off of most racks, and by 19 - according to that one particular teacher, I was too fat to get hired as an opera singer; the path I’d chosen for my life. Somewhere along the way, my weight became my identity. It wasn’t something I actively chose, but it was true nonetheless.
But the soil where I was planted was fertile, and friends came to help. They introduced me to healthy habits, to exercise, and gave the beginning of the tools I’d use to take control of my health. Not only did this first growth season give me the confidence I needed to start singing opera around the world; it would end up changing the direction of my entire life. When I wasn’t learning music, I would be coaching others, and working on myself. I would end up competing in multiple strongman competitions, while helping them craft their own versions of the tools needed to take control over their health, and teaching them so that they really gained control over their confidence, their self-worth, and their identities. But it wasn’t long before that dream of a life I’d built would come crashing down.
The Soil Where I
Was Planted
“You’ll never get hired, being so fat…!”
Those are the words a visiting teacher gave me after performing in front of him, my teachers, and my friends. I was chosen to sing in a masterclass for a famous opera singer and he decided that was the best time to remind me of my health. For years, those words echoed in my head, my cheeks still red hot with anger, embarrassment, shame. This came just after having a button fly off the bottom of my shirt, so I was already well aware. The depression and downward spiral this started was real, and deep. For as long as I have photographs, I was always the heaviest kid around. It was the only way I knew how to live, anything else seemed foreign and scary to me. I became pre-diabetic at 15 years old, by 16 I was too big to buy clothes off of most racks, and by 19 - according to that one particular teacher, I was too fat to get hired as an opera singer; the path I’d chosen for my life. Somewhere along the way, my weight became my identity. It wasn’t something I actively chose, but it was true nonetheless.
But the soil where I was planted was fertile, and friends came to help. They introduced me to healthy habits, to exercise, and gave the beginning of the tools I’d use to take control of my health. Not only did this first growth season give me the confidence I needed to start singing opera around the world; it would end up changing the direction of my entire life. When I wasn’t learning music, I would be coaching others, and working on myself. I would end up competing in multiple strongman competitions, while helping them craft their own versions of the tools needed to take control over their health, and teaching them so that they really gained control over their confidence, their self-worth, and their identities. But it wasn’t long before that dream of a life I’d built would come crashing down.
The Forest Fire
In February of 2019, I married my long time girlfriend and best friend, Miriam. By the end of March, my world was shattered. The COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, bringing a grinding halt to live performances and to fitness as we know it forever. The roots I’d planted suddenly became rotten and I had to come up with a way to contribute to my new family. Despite feeling like the rug was just pulled from beneath me, it quickly became clear that I had another challenge in front of me - another chance to add to my identity.
At that point, I’d been coaching and teaching for more than 10 years, privately and in chains of gyms all over the country. I decided it was time to open up my own business, a 100% online health and fitness solution that could beat the pandemic. Things went well for a number of years, but I started to feel disconnected. Entrepreneurship taught me so much about myself and about the world, but as the pandemic started to wane, I decided to walk away from that company. That business took 100% of my focus, just to make ends meet. I had no bandwidth left to be with my wife, or the rest of our family. I always felt like I was either letting down my clients, or my family - there was no winning. On top of that, the stress had aggravated some old injuries and I started putting weight back on. I realized I wasn’t living the values I was teaching; my clients, my business, my family, and my identity suffered for that. By the end, I felt like I had nothing to offer - I was broke, felt alone, and was becoming a failure. Each day felt a little more hopeless.
But throughout it all, I knew their value of work is in the doing, not in the reward. I had to ask myself “What is this teaching me? What is the lesson? How can I take this experience and make it help me in the long term?” While I was as low as I’d ever been, struggling to be the person I knew I was, I had a realization. There have been many common threads throughout everything I’ve accomplished.
Wins happen underground
The sooner I look, the longer I’d wait.
Mastery is a garden
The Forest Fire
In February of 2019, I married my long time girlfriend and best friend, Miriam. By the end of March, my world was shattered. The COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, bringing a grinding halt to live performances and to fitness as we know it forever. The roots I’d planted suddenly became rotten and I had to come up with a way to contribute to my new family. Despite feeling like the rug was just pulled from beneath me, it quickly became clear that I had another challenge in front of me - another chance to add to my identity.
At that point, I’d been coaching and teaching for more than 10 years, privately and in chains of gyms all over the country. I decided it was time to open up my own business, a 100% online health and fitness solution that could beat the pandemic. Things went well for a number of years, but I started to feel disconnected. Entrepreneurship taught me so much about myself and about the world, but as the pandemic started to wane, I decided to walk away from that company. That business took 100% of my focus, just to make ends meet. I had no bandwidth left to be with my wife, or the rest of our family. I always felt like I was either letting down my clients, or my family - there was no winning. On top of that, the stress had aggravated some old injuries and I started putting weight back on. I realized I wasn’t living the values I was teaching; my clients, my business, my family, and my identity suffered for that. By the end, I felt like I had nothing to offer - I was broke, felt alone, and was becoming a failure. Each day felt a little more hopeless.
But throughout it all, I knew their value of work is in the doing, not in the reward. I had to ask myself “What is this teaching me? What is the lesson? How can I take this experience and make it help me in the long term?” While I was as low as I’d ever been, struggling to be the person I knew I was, I had a realization. There have been many common threads throughout everything I’ve accomplished.
Wins happen underground
The sooner I look, the longer I’d wait.
Mastery is a garden
The Next Bloom
From this realization, I started to form a whole approach to my life, and things started working better than ever before. I started seeing how the times I was prone to “switch on” and stay there until the problem was solved, not realizing all the havoc that I created by being so singularly focused. Instead of a Light Switch (only 2 positions), I started to think about a Dial that I could adjust at any time to fit any circumstance and a Garden that only can tolerate so much work at a time.
I started asking my friends, colleagues, and clients if they’d suffered from the same vicious cycles and every single person could relate. As soon as we started talking about the Dial and the Garden, their lives started to change for the better also. I knew I had something worth talking about.
It was time to start teaching this on a large scale and start giving back to the world that had taught me so much.
The Next Bloom
From this realization, I started to form a whole approach to my life, and things started working better than ever before. I started seeing how the times I was prone to “switch on” and stay there until the problem was solved, not realizing all the havoc that I created by being so singularly focused. Instead of a Light Switch (only 2 positions), I started to think about a Dial that I could adjust at any time to fit any circumstance and a Garden that only can tolerate so much work at a time.
I started asking my friends, colleagues, and clients if they’d suffered from the same vicious cycles and every single person could relate. As soon as we started talking about the Dial and the Garden, their lives started to change for the better also. I knew I had something worth talking about.
It was time to start teaching this on a large scale and start giving back to the world that had taught me so much.
READY TO SEE IF TED AND YOUR EVENT
ARE A GOOD FIT?
Contact Ted at [email protected] or call (602)560-4195
READY TO SEE IF TED AND YOUR EVENT
ARE A GOOD FIT?
Contact Ted at [email protected] or call (602)560-4195
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