Tidying Up our Navigation, Bringing Joy to your Training

It turns out, having too many “somethings” make the right thing harder to find.

It’s more than a bit ironic then that one of Netflix’s most popular shows right now, “Tidying Up, with Marie Kondo” is about reducing clutter in your life. If you haven’t seen it or are still stuck in an infinite scroll of dread, I’d encourage you to give it a go.

In it, Kondo works to free people from their lives of stress by clearing up their clutter. Like the best coaches, Kondo applies simple principles to transform the lives of others. Her cornerstone rule to guide people in their decision to keep or toss an item is, “does this item spark joy?”

At TrainHeroic, one of our Priorities is to “help athletes find joy in the journey of training,” so Kondo’s simple rule rings true.

This February, our first act of kindness to the coaches we love was a little “Tidying Up.” We moved some things around. We cleaned some things up. And there are even a few things we’re looking to throw away. 

We trimmed the fat and cut things down so you can better focus on the things that bring you joy.

We went from 11 items in our navigation down to 6. We grouped the Analytics with the Classic Reports. We collapsed the big screen Leaderboard, Whiteboard, and Team Training views you use for in-facility training into one category called “Gym Tools.” While we may have removed 45% of the items in your main view, we think this experience makes it 100% easier to find what you really need.

Like Kondo, we believe that when we’re Tidying Up, we’re not just cleaning, we’re making space for something else, something more important.

In our case, we wanted to clean up your navigation so you could focus on the things that really matter:

The athletes and teams you serve, the programs you design, and the feedback that describes the impact you’re making.

These are the essential things. Sometimes more is not more. Often, more is less. In many instances, the desire for “more” is a function of fear. Fear of inadequacy, fear of insecurity, and fear of the unknown.

We’re not so sure fear is ever a good reason to do anything.

We’d been eyeing this Tidying project for a while and simply lacked the time and courage to tackle it head on. We’re glad we finally did it and think you will be too.

And if you’re wondering, this simplification effort isn’t a one time thing for TrainHeroic. It’s a commitment to quality over quantity. Steve Jobs once said, “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

Simplicity works, but it takes work. We’ll never be perfect, but we’re making progress.

TrainHeroic isn’t about adding more to your life, it’s about removing the monkeywork in your way so you can spend more on what matters: developing deep and lasting connections with the athletes you care about.

We hope this simple act of tidying up sparked a little joy in your experience.

I’d love to hear your feedback on these changes. And if you’re curious, our team’s got a few other changes to roll out shortly, each thoughtfully designed to help your athletes find joy in their journey of training.

– Ben