I took an exercise class with my wife, a class that she takes a few times a week.  The class was a Tabata class.  It was the first time that I have taken a class like this.  For anyone that does not understand Tabata – you business exercise for a period of time, “You do 20 seconds of any high-intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, for 8 rounds (4 minutes total)” and then you have a minute off.  Then you do 4-5 sets of these 4-minute rounds.   You use dumbbell weights, and risers – it is a high, high-intensity workout.

Never Rest

What I noticed is that there are some people who decided during the in-between (the 1-minute rest) of exercise intervals, the “moment off”, that they would rest.  Then there are other people, who instead of resting, opted to continue their workouts in various manners.  This was fascinating to me and is a lot like business.  There are people that will do just the bare minimum needed in order to get by, who take every single break that they can possibly have – they get excited for the next break, instead of excited for the next job.

Those Who Rest Vs. Those Who Don’t Stop

I found it interesting to look around the room and see the type of people that decided to not work through their break compared to the people that decided to work through their break.  In the Tabata exercise, there are people that held the plank position (if you know what that is – it works your core) when other people rested.

I tried to hold the plank a few times and then collapsed, but it was the choice to try and push myself. There are other people that decided to start the next exercise early, or continue the last exercise longer through the “minute break”.  You can guess, the type of people, and the physical fitness levels of those people, that decided to take a rest and the ones that kept working during their break – was a night and day difference.  That is a lot like business.

Be Too Excited To Take Breaks!

I see a lot of people just moping around, that is slow, that is excited about the wrong things- to take lunch – excited to gossip around the water cooler.  They are choosing not to be happy with where they are, and what they are doing.  Then I see other clients who are extremely excited, who are very passionate, who are fired up, and who are doing extremely well.

These winners are crushing it in business, and they don’t take breaks.  These people can’t even find time to go to the bathroom.  These guys will sit at their desks. They’ll run around and meet with people for four straight hours before they will even take a breath.

Choose your Time Wisely: Be A Winner

So, just like in Tabata, there is a night and day difference between the winners and losers. Winners are people who choose to take on more. They’re the people who choose to expand their brains, their knowledge base, and their comfort zone.  Conversely, there are people who choose to find time to take breaks. They actually look forward to how much less they can do.

What direction do you go?  Do you rest in the middle of Tabata?  Or do you push forward and take it as a challenge to hold the plank position?