In a previous job I held, a collegue printed up a mock evaluation form that was purely for our amusement. It contained questions such as 'Do you know intimate details of your trainer's life', and 'Did you trainer talk for a minimum of three hours about themselves?' A trainer I used to work with would base all his training break times around when he thought he would have had enough. Likewise he would never, ever train more than twice a week as it would leave him 'exhausted', and unable to do good work. If this meant that others needed to train more then tough. Don't get me wrong, he really did do a great job. Maybe because he did factor in his needs as well as those of his trainees. His office catchphrase was 'It's all about me', and he was only half joking. Breaks and personal time aside, the content can also just be about the trainer. As far as I can remember I have always known if my trainer has children as they will be talked about, sometimes incessantly, and once with family snaps on the PowerPoint. Really! Maybe this bothers me more as I don't have kids myself. This sits at odds with my general training style as I am big on the story telling, and love a good analogy. Perhaps it is just me who feels this way. The mock evaluation form my colleague did was funny because it did have a grain of truth in it. Certainly in my early training days I would be in the zone, with the little voice inside my head telling me I was wonderful. It would only be when someone asked a question that I'd realise it was half an hour past the time I'd promised them lunch. Happily I have stopped listening to the little voices! There must be a balance somewhere between getting your point across in story telling but not making it all about you. I'm trying to find the balance in my quest to be a better trainer. It is also useful for me to remember that a frazzled trainer probably won't be able to do their job to the best of their ability. It's not all about me, but it is a little bit.