One of the core skills for a product manager is to be user-centric, to thoroughly understand the users needs and problems and then design a solution that will address those needs and problems, to tailor a solution specifically to the user (or segment of users) under consideration. It is not to blindly copy and ship something that is out there in the market.

Yet, when it came to my physical workouts and diet, for the longest time, I would simply copy popular workouts and diets that are vaguely aimed at someone like me.

Then, I realized the importance of taking a trainer's approach.

The physical trainer is a lot like a product manager. She needs to thoroughly understand the person she's coaching, their needs and goals, their abilities and their make. Only then can she tailor a specific workout for them to match what they are looking to achieve with the workouts.

While I haven't gotten myself a personal trainer yet, I've at least been taking the trainer's approach and designing my workouts and diets to meet my make and my goals.

This has allowed me to see better results in two months than I had seen in the previous six.

The product manager's approach and the trainer's approach is essentially starting with a thorough understanding of the user and then designing the solution rather than picking an available solution and trying to achieve our goals with it.

And this approach is widely transferrable and works for everything we do.