What Fasting Taught Me About Building Endurance – In Body and Business
Running mode VS Business mode
Part of my ongoing Mind. Body. Business Series
The Starting Line
When I first began experimenting with fasting, it wasn’t about trend or toughness. It was about endurance (well health mainly; but hear me out). I needed my body to recover faster and perform longer so I could keep running 100-kilometre races and build businesses that could keep pace. It worked.
Fasting didn’t just change how I trained; it changed how I led. Because the principles that repair the body are the same ones that restore a business ... stick with me:
The Cycle of Performance
1. Release: Clean Out the Noise
In fasting, the first 12 hours are all about clearing the system. You burn stored sugar, flush toxins, and let the body breathe again. Most advice businesses need that same reset. We’re over-fed with meetings, projects, and “initiatives.” Everyone’s busy (that old chestnut!), but energy is low.
Business fast:
Stop adding new work.
Strip away what no longer serves the goal.
Let the organisation exhale.
You can’t rebuild strength while the system is still inflamed.
2. Repair: Rebuild the Core
Around the 12 to 24 hour mark, the body moves from survival to repair. Cells regenerate. Inflammation drops. Focus returns.
In business, this is the moment after you’ve cut back. Now you fix the foundations ... process, people, rhythm. It’s quieter work, but it’s where capacity is created.
At Encore, we call this the calm rebuild: tightening roles, simplifying reporting, re-aligning strategy and people. It’s not glamorous ... but it’s where momentum is born (and where our accountability really kicks in).
3. Re-energise: Fuel and Fly
Once the body’s reset, fasting ends. You re-introduce clean fuel: protein, hydration, real food. Performance lifts because the engine’s tuned. Until I did this for myself, I never understood the “fire” that gets switched on.
That’s the same for a business after a reset. Now you can invest again ... confidently. Better people. Better marketing. Better partnerships. Better “whatever is right for you”. Growth that’s sustainable, not shallow or exhausting.
Three Phases – One Lesson
Fasting the body and building a business follow the same pattern. Ignore a phase and performance breaks down, whether in racing or leadership.
Five Business Actions to Try This Quarter
Run a 12-month fast audit. List every project, meeting, and report. Kill the bottom 20% that add no client or profit value.
Repair before you add. No new initiatives until one major bottleneck is fixed. Discipline beats activity.
Refuel with purpose. Once the base is healthy, reinvest ... people, systems, marketing rhythm. Not before.
Measure energy, not effort. Ask your team weekly: Where does the business feel light? Where does it feel heavy? Then act.
Build your rhythm. Alternate intensity and recovery across the year. Sprint. Reset. Sprint again.
What I learned. And Why It Matters
The lesson from fasting is simple: strength doesn’t come from constant consumption. It comes from cycles of restraint, repair, and renewal.
It’s how I’ve built the physical endurance to run 100KM trail races and Ironman triathlons, but also it gave me the principles and the mental endurance to build multiple million-dollar businesses over my career without burning out. And that’s just pure fun!
Most owners I meet want the same thing: longevity, freedom and joy. Not just growth, but the ability to keep growing and not be trapped.
And that only happens when you give the system (body or business) room to breathe.
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We give away what we see and know works. Because better advice businesses build a better profession. And a better advice profession builds a better Australian community. I hope you can use something here to help move you and your business forward.
