It doesn't sound like the place to learn business lessons from but you'd be surprised at the value that can be gained from sweating on an exercise bike or chasing a golf ball around the course.
I'm not saying I'm about to become the next fitness influencer or the next Tiger Woods. However, what I am saying is that the metaphors you pick up in sport and exercise often shine a bright light on how your business actually works.
In this post, I want to share two lessons. One came from the metrics flashing up on the screen of an exercise bike and the other came from a long day at the golf course. While they seem unrelated, together they tell a story that every business owner needs to hear.
→ Lesson 1: The Exercise Bike - Intensity
→ The Business Parallel
→ Measurement Matters
→Burnout vs Rhythm
→Lesson 2: The Golf Course - Losses
→ The Business Parallel Pt. 2
→ The Maths of Recovery
→ Putting the Two Lessons Together
→ Practical Applications for Business Owners
→ The Mindset Shift
→ Sweat and Swing Your Way to Better Decisions
→ Final Thought
I ride an exercise bike three or four times a week. At my age, it's easier on the bones than pounding the pavement for half an hour. Plus, the bike has a great feature - it measures output in watts. Every session, I know exactly how much power I've generated.
For years, my routine was simple. Start pedalling, and within the first minute, get up to level 12 resistance. Stay there for the full half hour. Finish drenched in sweat and satisfied that I'd 'done the work'.
But six months ago, I decided to experiment. Instead of cruising at 12, I spiked it. I jumped to level 14 within the first 10 seconds and held it as long as I could. Then I dropped to 13, then 12. Sometimes, when I was completely gassed, I'd drop all the way down to 7 or 10 for 15 seconds before ramping it back again.
The result? My average wattage, the measurable output, jumped by 7-10%. Same time, same bike, same body. Completely different outcome.
This little shift holds a big truth for business:
Think about a major client proposal. If you coast, it gets done eventually. But if you and your team sprint, push hard for a week, polish every detail, bring extra intensity - you're far more likely to win it. That burst then carries dividends long after you've caught your breath.
Here's another overlooked point: if the bike didn't measure wattage, I would never have realised I was producing more. It would have just felt harder.
How many businesses run like that? Owners feel busy, feel like they're pushing harder, but don't actually know if the output has increased. Without proper KPIs, dashboards, and financial tracking, you're essentially pedalling blind.
Of course, intensity has its risks. Go too hard for too long, and you burn out. Same in business: sustained overdrive leads to poor decisions, staff turnover, and owner fatigue.
The key is rhythm.
Short sprints, quick pauses, then a sustainable baseline.
The takeaway? Don't be afraid to push beyond 'comfortable consistency'. Intensity, applied in cycles, can deliver far greater output.
When I was at uni, I got my handicap down to 7/8. Respectable, but definitely nowhere near pro. For context, that meant I'd play most rounds around 7 or 8 over par. A professional golfer, meanwhile, is aiming for 7 or 8 under par. We're not even in the same postcode.
But here's what I noticed about golf - and it's something that maps directly to business. On a par four, the best you can realistically score is a three (a birdie). Every now and then, a pro might pull of an eagle (two under), but it's rare.
A hole-in-one? Forget it. That's lottery odds.
On the downside though? It's unlimited. You can spray your drive into the trees, chunk a few chips, three-putt, and walk off with a nine. Suddenly, you're five over par on a single hole.
To make up for that disaster, you'd need five birdies just to claw back to even.
This is business in a nutshell:
This is why protecting the downside is more important than chasing the upside. Business owners often under weigh the negative. We're optimistic by nature, it's what got us into business in the first place. However, optimism can blind us to just how much damage a single bad decision can cause.
Here’s the brutal maths: if your business loses 50% of its value, you need a 100% gain to get back to even.
Let's say your business is worth $1,000,000.
Over 2 months of poor performance you've lost your 3 major clients that brought in half your yearly income and are now valued at around $500,000. Your business has shrunk by 50% of what it was previously.
With a new evaluation of $500,000 you will need another $500,000 to reach back to your prior $1,000,000 evaluation 2 months earlier. You need to be working at 200%, not 100% and certainly not 50%.
Put another way: it’s twice as hard to recover from a loss as it is to make the loss in the first place.
Practical Examples
In golf, the best players are disciplined. They don’t chase miracle shots to make up for mistakes. They focus on minimising the damage and getting back on track. In business, it’s the same: cut losses early, avoid compounding mistakes, and respect how long recovery really takes.
At first glance, the bike and the golf course have nothing in common. One’s about sweat and watts. The other’s about swings and putts. But together, they form a complete philosophy for business:
It’s about rhythm and discipline. Intensity when it matters, caution when it’s needed. That balance separates owners who thrive from those who constantly feel like they’re chasing their tails.
Let’s take these metaphors off the course and into the office. Here’s how to apply them directly.
1. Cashflow Sprints
If your debtors are blowing out, don’t coast. Sprint. Dedicate a week to tightening collections, renegotiating terms, and improving debtor processes. You’ll move the needle more in a week of intensity than in three months of half-hearted chasing.
2. Sales & Marketing Drives
Coasting looks like posting the odd update on LinkedIn and relying on word-of-mouth. A sprint looks like a coordinated campaign, outbound calls, targeted offers, and focused follow-up. Done in bursts, this generates momentum that sustains after you return to baseline.
3. Staffing & Hiring
In golf terms, a bad hire is a nine on a par four. It wipes out a year’s worth of birdies. Be disciplined. Don’t rush. Protect the downside.
4. Margins & Pricing
Undervaluing your product or service might feel like a quick win (“We got the sale!”). But if you’re under-recovering labour or undercharging, it creates losses that take months to claw back. Price with discipline.
5. Owner Productivity
On a personal level, don’t confuse big workload with effectiveness. Sit at “level 12” every day and you’ll get things done, sure — but not at the level that moves your business forward. Schedule sprints for high-impact work, then deliberately downshift to recover.
The exercise bike taught me that discomfort is where growth happens. The golf course taught me humility — respecting how quickly things can unravel and how slow recovery really is.
Together, they remind us that business isn’t a flat, steady ride. It’s a game of peaks, troughs, wins, and losses. Owners who understand that rhythm — when to sprint, when to recover, when to cut losses — are the ones who build businesses that last.
Some of the best business lessons aren’t found in textbooks or financial reports. They’re found in sweat and sport — in the numbers flashing on a bike screen, or in the frustration of a double bogey.
So here’s what I’d leave you with:
If you can do those things, you’ll not only build a stronger business — you’ll also enjoy the ride (and maybe even the round).
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