On my first day, I got on a treadmill. By day 14, I was obsessed. Three months later, I had lost 88 pounds, and by the end I had lost more than 250.
The story of how I got to more than 450 pounds, and the Porsche I could not fit into, is told in Eat. Work. Win. Repeat. I will not retell it here. This piece is about what the weight taught me, because almost every lesson from those years shows up again in the way I build companies.
This is my experience, not medical or nutrition advice. The lessons are about how I work, not what anyone else should eat.
Rules You Do Not Negotiate With
When I started, around 2008 and 2009, I ate like a bodybuilder. Boiled chicken. Steamed broccoli. No sauces. No sugar. The rules were simple, and simple rules do not leave room for a debate with yourself every evening.
That is the first lesson I carried into business. Every company needs a short list of things that are simply not up for discussion. When a rule is clear, you stop spending energy deciding whether to follow it today. You spend that energy on the work.
Most bad decisions I have seen, in my own life and in companies, came from treating a rule as a suggestion when things got uncomfortable. The plate does not care how your day went. Neither does a balance sheet.
Early Proof Changes Everything
The first three months mattered more than any month that came after. Losing 88 pounds in that stretch gave me proof. Once I had proof, I had belief, and belief kept me going when the results slowed down.
A new company works the same way. Early on, nobody believes in it yet, sometimes including the people building it. A first real result, even a small one, changes how the team works. It turns an idea into something they have seen with their own eyes.
That is why a first win early matters so much. The size of the first win matters less than the fact that it is real.
Point the All-In Instinct Somewhere Useful
I have said this before and it is still true. I love food. When I start eating, I go all the way. I do not know how to be in between.
For years, that trait worked against me. It is the same trait that put me past 450 pounds. The weight loss did not remove it. I aimed it at something else. On day 14, when I became obsessed with the treadmill, I was the same person who used to be obsessed with food. The difference was the target.
In business, I do not try to be a moderate person. I am not one. What I can do is choose carefully what gets my full intensity, because whatever gets it will grow, good or bad. That applies to a product, a market or a habit.
If you know you are an all-or-nothing person, the question to ask is what you are pointing it at.
Bring in People Who Know More Than You
At the start, the plan was as simple as it could be. That worked for the first stage. It is not how I live now.
Today I have a private chef, and I eat a balanced plan set by my nutritionist. I train six days a week, like an athlete. The plan is more complete than the boiled chicken years, and it comes from people who know more about nutrition than I do.
Companies grow the same way. The founder can carry the first stage on willpower and a simple plan. After that, you need people who are better than you at specific things, and you need to actually follow their advice. Hiring an expert and then ignoring them is the same as never hiring them.
The Lesson I Am Still Learning
I would be dishonest if I ended this as if I had it all solved. Sleep is my struggle. My mind does not stop. I am always thinking of ideas and working, and I know sleep matters more than almost anything else for my health.
That is also a business lesson. The same drive that builds companies can work against the person running them. I have learned to name my weak spots out loud instead of hiding them, because a problem you admit is one you can work on.
Losing more than 250 pounds taught me how to use the traits I already had. That is still the job, in health and in business, and there is no finish line on it. I wrote more about that idea in The Pursuit Never Ends, and the rest of my story is on my About page.
