Building Season

When I decided to take the leap and start my own business, I knew I’d need to become stronger—in mind, body, and spirit—to fortify myself for the coming ebbs and flows of entrepreneurship. The most direct way I could think of was to become physically stronger.

Direction

I had no idea where to begin. I didn’t know a dumbbell from a barbell, and I was worried I’d hurt myself. I preferred yoga, and often told friends, “I’ll never go to a gym.”

Fortunately, a friend reminded me that our favourite yoga teacher was also a strength coach. I reached out to her and asked if she was taking new clients. To my relief, she agreed to take this newbie on. But there was a hitch—it wouldn’t only be strength training; it was an entire lifestyle program, including nutrition and mindset work. I took another leap.

What I wasn’t expecting was how much building muscle would mirror building a business, and life, for that matter.

Practice

In strength training, as with entrepreneurship, long-term progress rarely comes from a single, immediate effort. It often comes from a series of repeatable practices:

Consistency. Showing up is most of it. Do the reps, mind the tempo, add a little more each time, and the results eventually become inevitable. When I first started doing hip thrusts, I used a single 20-pound dumbbell. I looked at the rack, saw the heaviest one was 45 pounds, and thought I’d be so stoked if I made it there. More recently, I was moving over 200 pounds for 4 sets. I approach my work the same way: I design a routine and complete what’s in front of me with intention, even when (especially when) I’d rather be doing something else.

Managing capacity over pushing to failure. Most of my training happens at RPE 8 (Rate of Perceived Exertion), which means working hard but stopping two reps short of failure. It’s still very challenging and uncomfortable, but it lets me manage my energy so I can keep returning. Occasionally, my coach programs an AMRAP set where I do as many reps as possible, until failure, to find my true limit. It usually shows me where I’ve been underestimating my own strength—physically, mentally, and sometimes both. But going to failure is an exception, not the norm. In the gym, business, and life, sustainable momentum outlasts burnout.

Recognizing the season. Training and business move in phases. In a building phase, the body requires an intentional calorie surplus to fuel higher-intensity training and grow muscle at a slightly faster rate. A cut is shorter and reveals the definition of what’s been built. Entrepreneurship follows the same rhythm—knowing when I’m in a season of expansion and when I’m in a season of refinement.

There’s always a way. I have a long list of physical “quirks” that shape how I move and the exercises I can do. But there’s always a modification, an alternative angle, or a different tool to get the work done. Constraints don’t stop progress; they just require better discernment.

Rest as structural repair. Muscle isn’t built during the workout; it repairs and rebuilds during rest. Sustainable strategy requires honouring recovery with the same discipline as doing the work.

Maintain a beginner’s mindset. No one begins as an expert. Mastery is honed from all the above and more. And even when we think we’ve reached the peak, the view usually just reveals more. I love a quote Ina Garten often references: “Go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.”

Perspective

My coach encouraged me to cultivate an athlete mindset, but for a long time I thought it was a huge stretch and I didn’t identify with it at all. Then one day, scrolling Instagram, I saw a UFC champion doing a workout split similar to one in my own program. It clicked—I’m an athlete in the game of life.

The confirmation came when I least expected it. While navigating the health issue I wrote about in Proof of Practice, I had a treatment where nurses checked my vitals every hour for several hours. One of the nurses looked at my numbers and actually asked if I was an athlete, because my heart rate remained so steady despite the stress my body was under. It was a reminder that, even when progress feels slow, it’s the work we do when no one is watching that shows up when it matters the most.

In our first conversations to discuss my training goals, I told my coach that so much in life is out of our control but I wanted to be strong so I could handle whatever might come my way. I’ve learned that, whether in life, business, or training, results rarely happen easily or quickly. They come from consistent choices, actions, and repetition that move me in the direction I want to go.

Thought starter

Where might you be underestimating your own strength—and what’s one small rep you can do to test it?

DM me on Instagram or send me an email, I’m curious to know.

DCxo