Cullen Talley

If you watched the Summer Olympics, you’ve undoubtedly seen dozens of inspirational stories of training and discipline, triumph, and defeat.

Simone Biles swept multiple gold medals for herself and Team USA after sitting out the Tokyo Olympics due to mental health issues. She showed up for her own well-being in the years since, put in the work, and made history — even after she tweaked her calf early in the competition.

Noah Lyles won gold at the men’s 100-meter dash by five-thousandths of a second, ending the US’ 20-year Olympic drought in that event. He later went on to grab bronze in the 200-meter dash — especially astounding when, after the fact, the world learned that he’d tested positive for COVID-19 just days earlier.

Novak Djokovic took gold in tennis, outmatching Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s singles final, and became the oldest man to win an Olympic singles gold medal at 37.

These stories go down in history not just because the athletes themselves are talented, hardworking, and brilliant (though they are) — but because they show resilience in the face of immense challenge and cutthroat competition.

I’ve never been to the Olympics. But I have completed 15 IRONMAN races (8 fulls and 7 halves) in 12 years, as well as several other extremely intense endurance races.

What have I learned along the way? Endurance athletics aren’t dissimilar from entrepreneurship. There’s a lot of overlap in what it takes to be an elite athlete and an elite leader of an elite company. Here are a few hard-earned lessons you’ll need to integrate if you want to scale your business with the laser precision, agility, and resilience of an athlete.

1. Resilience and discipline are sisters.

Resilience isn’t a set characteristic that you either have or don’t. For athletes and leaders alike, resilience must be trained, etched into the way you live your life, and earned through blood, sweat, and tears.

It’s the mornings when you wake up and go for your run, even though it’s cold and rainy. It’s dialing in exactly what you need to eat to feel your best on race day, even if that means skipping the slice of cake or the cold beer at that special event. It’s taking the time to clean and maintain your bike so it can function optimally when you need it most. These are the measured, simple-yet-challenging, disciplined actions that build resilience over time.

Simone didn’t let her calf injury throw off her pass because she’s spent years cultivating a battle mindset and mastering control over her body. Noah didn’t let COVID keep him out of the race because he’s trained his lungs, dialed in his regimen, and knows how to overcome pain and discomfort. Novak didn’t let the fact that no man has ever done what he did keep him from playing the game of his life, because he knows his earned experience is even more valuable than the natural energy of youth.

When I was training for an IRONMAN, I didn’t make excuses about why I couldn’t train on hard days or why I had earned the right to quit a little early. I kept my focus on my primary goal and executed my plan with discipline. That meant doing exactly what the workout called for — including running 300 feet past my driveway and then going back, because the workout said 14 miles and I was at 13.92.

Likewise, you can’t get distracted by excuses or shortcuts on the path to scaling your business. Focus on unrelenting discipline to build up your overall resilience as an organization.

2. Small details lead to major results.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear tells the story of the British cycling team who — through incremental changes — were able to transform their approach to racing.

They didn’t start some radical new regimen or discover some unknown technique that gave them an edge. They made marginal improvements to their shoes, their racing uniforms, the massage gel they used to help their muscles recover, the quality of their sleep — everything. And 1% at a time, they paved their path to dominating at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Scaling your business doesn’t have to take decades, but it won’t happen overnight either. You have to be willing to make marginal improvements day after day, week after week, even when it’s hard to tell whether what you’re doing is actually working. After a few months of this, you’ll look up and realize your team has gotten stronger, faster, fitter, and more capable of dealing with the big challenges that used to feel insurmountable.

That’s why we facilitate a financial tool called the $100K Hour — to apply this exact way of thinking inside our clients’ businesses and find the 1% gains that stack and stack into results that weren’t previously available.

3. It’s not always a battle of the fittest — but of the grittiest.

There’s no denying some athletes are born with certain physical advantages that seem to position them for greatness, just like there’s no denying that some people seem to have a knack for business acumen and strategy. However, raw ability and natural talent are not what get someone to the IRONMAN finish line, to the Olympics, or to elite company status.

What separates the best from the rest is grit — or, as my IRONMAN coach Will Jones used to call it, “sitting in the pain cave.” Even if you feel behind the game, or you’ve been slacking on doing what needs to be done in your business, it’s not too late to catch up. Now is the time to buckle down, take a deep breath, and give your business everything you’ve got.

It will be difficult at first. But over time, your actions compound until suddenly your business is running with the kind of efficiency that makes everyone question whether you were born to do this.