Why We Should Approach Our Careers Like Athletes — Not Hustlers

I recently read The Making of a Corporate Athlete by Harvard Business Review. It struck a deep chord with me.

The central idea is this: We should approach our careers the same way athletes approach theirs.

To achieve sustained high performance, athletes do not simply work more.

They instead focus on optimizing energy across four key areas: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual

This approach emphasises the importance of recovery and energy management just as much as it does hard work.

Athletes know that pushing non-stop leads to burnout, injury, and a drop in performance.

However, in the corporate world, the mentality often still revolves around the constant hustle.

We’re all familiar with the lifestyle: late nights working on deals, networking over drinks, followed by early morning calls. Sleep-deprived, hungover, and yet expected to operate at peak performance.

It’s an endless loop where long term health and well-being are seen as sacrifices for short term results.

While I’ve minimised alcohol and aim to be in bed by 10PM, I still subscribe to this hustle culture in more subtle ways. When time blocking, I feel guilty at times for taking longer breaks in my calendar.

What if we treated recovery and energy management as core components of our performance?

There are so many parallels between how athletics train and how we can approach our work. In this post, I am sharing three ways we can operate more like Corporate athletes:

1. Build capacity in four areas

To enhance their overall performance and resilience, we have to expand our ability to manage and sustain energy across four key dimensions: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

This allows us to bring our skills to full ignition and to sustain high performance over time—a condition we call the Ideal Performance State (IPS).

For example, a leader who builds emotional capacity might be better able to handle stressful situations, creating a better workplace environment. A manager with spiritual capacity can hold on when things get hard at work.

These are actionable steps:

• Physical Capacity: Regular physical activity, eating whole foods, and quality sleep help build a foundation of physical energy, allowing you to work for longer periods without fatigue.

• Emotional Capacity: This involves learning to control negative emotions, fostering positive relationships, and cultivating empathy and self-regulation.

• Mental Capacity: Enhancing the ability to focus, concentrate, and think critically and creatively through mindfulness and improving time management.

• Spiritual Capacity: Cultivating a sense of purpose and meaning in your work and life, which drives motivation and resilience.

2. Build systems in our day to day life

One of my favourite quotes from James Clear is that “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."

In his book, Atomic Habits, he feels that achieving success is more about having effective systems in place than merely setting ambitious goals. Systems ensure consistency.

In his view, "Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress."

Just like athletes follow a strategic training regimen to hone their skills, professionals can adopt a structured approach to improve their techniques, stay energized, and achieve long-term success.

For example, I try to structure my day similar to how athletes organize their training - setting repeatable blocks for activities including rest.

Here is how I divide it:

Mornings:

• Preparing for meetings and thinking about risks

• Prospecting: Set a time block to focus on reaching out to new leads or nurturing prospects. Stay disciplined and avoid distractions during this time.

• Professional development: Learning new skills

Afternoon:

• Client meetings with 30 minutes break in-between as a minimum

• Follow-ups: Set dedicated time in the afternoon for client follow-ups or responding to emails

• End of day: Checking and replying slack messages and scheduling them for the next morning

3. Focus on perfecting your craft

Craftmanship refers to the dedication to mastering one's craft through meticulous attention to detail, discipline, and the pursuit of perfection and continuous improvement.

Athletes can be considered craftsmen because they dedicate themselves to mastering their physical and mental skills in a similar way that artisans master their craft.

Just as athletes refine their neuromuscular efficiency through repetitive drills—like sprints or lifts — professionals can also relentlessly sharpen their core skills to perfect their craft.

In tech sales, that means discovery calls, pitching, handling objections, and negotiating deals. To excel, consistent practice is key, and role-playing with peers is an excellent way to simulate real client scenarios.

Like athletes running drills to target specific movements, this repetition builds muscle memory, helping you tackle live client interactions with precision and confidence.

Moreover, like athletes who thrive under the guidance of experienced coaches, professionals stand to gain tremendously from coaches and mentors.

Their objective feedback can uncover blind spots and offer tailored strategies to elevate your performance. This helps you go from good to great.

How to wake up early

Waking up early has been one of the best things I did for myself.

My biggest inspiration for starting this was Sahil Bloom.

If you want to become a morning person, in this video, you can learn the techniques to do so:

01:43 - Strategy One: Create a Repeatable Evening Routine

03:27 - Strategy Two: Move Your Alarm Clock

04:58 - Strategy Three: Use My 5-5-5-30 Method

06:00 - Strategy Four: Front-Load Your Energy Creators

06:56 - Strategy Five: Go to Bed Earlier

Every week, I share actionable ideas on how we can optimize our wealth; health and relationships.

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