Linear transformations
Few activities exist where your input is the singular force that shapes your results.
In team sports, you play a finite game with near instant results. Whether you play well or really well only effects the outcome some arbitrary and intractable amount.
In business, the results are tangible but the inputs are fuzzy.
But losing the Dad bod or the corporate chub is an activity where someone has full ownership and influence over the inputs, and therefore, the results.
Why is it important? It can act as a microcosm for developing success traits.
How you run your systems, the effort you can muster during workouts, the ability to set goals and keep them in sight, tuning into different motivational sources, and the extent to which you've trained your attention - aren't these the emotional traits and soft skills we associate with winners?
If confidence is transferable - and I believe it is - then knowing you're the kind of person who can take care of yourself is a self-assurance you can use to get what you want in other areas of your life.
For sure, it's not a 1 for 1 relationship. Ambition, excellence and health aren't mutually exclusive, and a lot of people who are super fit can't exercise discipline in other areas of their life - because fitness was also just what they liked to do.
And yet there is an uncanny overlap between the skillsets of taking care of your health, and taking care of business.
Angel investor and hedge fund manager Chris Sacca hires on three criteria: 1) Lived or studied abroad, 2) physically active, and 3) exposure to a modest way of life. Each criteria demonstrates an ability to weather challenging situations with a growth positive and mindset.
I'm yet to see an ambitious person who dedicates themselves to a period of intense physical transformation who didn't benefit from it both financially and emotionally.
*As well as looking jacked, living longer, with less pain 😎