What going to the gym taught me about business

Back to school = Back to the gym.

Last week was kind of like a warm-up week for me. After not having been to the gym since April, I wanted to ease into my workouts. I only went twice, and I only spent about 45 minutes both times. It was nothing too intense, but holy cow—my muscles were sore afterward. Second day after workouts always hits the hardest.

Back in the spring, I was going to the gym four times a week and running twice a week. It was a pretty intense schedule for me—I was balancing it with my other responsibilities as a student, and prior to that semester, I did not consider myself a fit person at all. For someone who used to not be able to run for 20 seconds without huffing, puffing, and keeling over, I was surprised and proud to find myself absolutely crushing my fitness goals.

The feeling of working out became addicting. I felt physically healthier. I felt more confident about myself and my body. And, of course, I felt sore.

For me, muscle soreness is such an oddly addicting feeling. It makes progress tangible and immediately visible to my mind—both of which are fuel that keeps me going.

What I found, however, is that after about a month or so of consistently working out, I started noticing that I no longer felt sore after workouts. Sure, right after I got done lifting weights, I felt a little tired or fatigued. But the next day, I felt perfectly fine. And even the day after that, I felt like I could do it all over again.

I started getting worried. Did I stop making progress? Do I need to increase the weights? Increase the reps? Was I not working out long enough? Hard enough?

Without that physical “measure” of muscle growth and progress that muscle soreness had become for me, I began doubting everything I was doing. But the thing is, by the end of the following month, I looked in the mirror and could visibly see how much bigger and stronger my muscles looked.

That’s when I realized: I don’t need to be sore to make progress.

And honestly, this simple truth extends beyond the gym. It’s a mindset that can be applied to life and business, too. Here are some of my takeaways from working out that I let guide me in my personal and professional life:

🙇‍♀️ Not a lot of people have a bias for action. Why?

“Bias for action” tends to have a bunch of different definitions that all slightly vary in their meanings, but one thing remains the same: Having a bias for action means that you prefer to take action.

Here’s the thing: This might not be the case for everyone, but it seems like anybody can come up with ideas, anybody can lay down a plan for success, and anybody can say that they’re going to start something cool.

And yet, so few people actually start or do something with those plans and ideas they had. And of those who are able to, even fewer actually keep it going.

Why is that?

Maybe it’s fear of failure, or maybe it’s just pure laziness. I’m not sure, but whatever it is, I hope I can avoid it. We’re so early in The Acquisitor’s launch, and I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen with it. I like to think that I do, but in reality, I don’t.

I think people actually expect me to lack a bias for action, and I’ll admit that it’s an easy trap to fall into. When people expect you to be something, it’s easier to assume that role than to fight against what you’re being told—even if what you’re being told doesn’t have to be true.

Whatever ends up happening, I want to see it to the end. Not an end. The end.

• 🍞 Money can’t buy happiness: “The mission of every breadwinner is to build financial freedom and their future. Money can’t buy happiness or friends, but it can buy you freedom. Freedom to leave an abusive partner, freedom to quite the job you hate, freedom to change the world.” -Daniella Pierson (edited for clarity)

• 🌐 Humanities + STEM = Value: I’m a sub-team lead this semester for the North Carolina Projects Team that’s part of the NC State Chapter of Engineers Without Borders. The more I put into this club, the more I realize how much of a need there is for the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields to work together if we want to create positive change.

• 🕹️ Gamer communities are cool: Thanks to one of my grad professors, I recently learned about Final Fantasy XIV and its gamer community. Gamers organize themselves into teams that compete against each other to see who can solve and beat new levels the fastest. It’s pretty intense and takes a lot of strategy and even documentation. Props to the nerds out there who know all about this, because it seems pretty cool.