In the lowest points of my entrepreneurship journey — early on, during a global pandemic — I defaulted to doing more.
Out of fear, uncertainty, and the determination to make things better sooner, I tried to do absolutely everything.
Years later, after seeing the results of those actions, I realized I did more than I had to do…
…and some of that extra action may have actually diminished results.
It’s easy to believe that more effort always equals more results. But sometimes, extra action can be counterproductive — even destructive.
I see the same principle in athletic training. When you go to the gym and lift heavy weights, or go for a long run that challenges your heart and lungs, you don’t gain strength, endurance, or speed in that session.
The real gains — new muscle fibres, new blood vessels, improved cellular performance — materialize later, when you’re sleeping and taking a day off from training intensely.
Simply put: if you don’t get rest you don’t get results.
Just like A-type entrepreneurs, it’s easy for athletes chasing an edge to default to doing more. But training past a certain point can actually worsen performance. This proven phenomena is creatively called ‘Overtraining’ and it’s not just about physical fatigue:
- your max effort yields worse performance than before you put in that extra effort
- your mood declines, often leading to depression and an inability to enjoy your sport
Why? Because the human body is not designed to be under stress 100% of the time. Your body performs at its best when it cycles between periods of stress and periods of rest. The same is true for your business: constant action is less-effective than cyclical action.
The best strategy — in sport and in business — is targeted, high-intensity effort, followed by high-quality rest.
Push. Pause. Recover. Repeat.
This is your permission slip, your get-out-of-guilt card to do less.
Because in the long game of entrepreneurship, routine rest is not a luxury, it’s a strategy. It’s the very thing that will make all the work you’re doing actually work.