Most high-performing business owners I know are meticulous about optimizing their operations. Systems, staffing, capital allocation—they sweat every detail. And then they skip lunch and sit for nine hours straight, running out of juice when they need it most.
There’s a disconnect.
I'm not immune to this. I've done it myself!
But once I started to understand what's happening inside our brains when we move our bodies and fuel it well, I stopped thinking of fitness as purely a matter of personal discipline. It became an operational decision instead.
Let me explain what I mean:
We’re Letting Our Hardware Get Rusty
Your prefrontal cortex handles the things that drive business performance: executive function, decision-making, impulse control, and working memory. It's also the part of your brain most attuned to and affected by how you treat your body.
When you exercise aerobically, your brain releases a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Researchers have described BDNF as "Miracle-Gro for the brain.” It promotes neuroplasticity, supports the hippocampus (your memory and learning center), and directly enhances executive function.
We're talking about the same cognitive functions you rely on to run a business: task-switching, focus, processing speed, and memory recall.
Research conducted outside laboratory settings found that even small increases in physical activity boosted daily processing speed and self-rated memory. We’re not talking after months of training, but on the days when people moved more than their own baseline.
So when we’re not getting any real physical activity, we’re letting one of our best assets get rusty. Memory will suffer, your ability to execute tasks efficiently will suffer, and your mood will tank. That doesn’t just affect you—it trickles down to your team and hurts your whole business.
The Eating Element
Exercise gets most of the attention, but nutrition is doing a lot of heavy lifting for your cognitive performance, too. Research has established that neurocognitive performance is directly influenced by macronutrients — including glucose and omega-3 fatty acids — from the level of whole diet composition down to specific nutrients.
You know, brain food.
Omega-3 fatty acids, specifically DHA and EPA, are particularly well-studied. Higher omega-3 levels have been associated with better performance on memory and processing speed tests, as well as greater brain volume in key regions.
I'm not a nutritionist, nor am I prescribing anyone's diet. But I've noticed, over years of training and running alongside work, that the days I eat clean and consistently are the days I'm sharpest.
Your Health Goes Beyond Yourself
One of the big reasons I started taking my health seriously years ago was my kids. I wanted to be an active dad who would be there for as long as possible, loving and supporting my family. And that’s actually a very common catalyst for health transformations.
We know our health impacts the people around us: our relationships, our ability to spend time together, and the quality of that time.
The same is true in your business.
Leadership support is consistently identified as the strongest predictor of employee participation in wellness programs and the financial outcomes that follow. So not only do your work relationships improve, but you inspire further action.
On-site fitness facilities have been linked to a 15% rise in employee productivity and a 15% reduction in healthcare costs, according to Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Productivity Studies.
If you understand that physical activity improves cognitive function, and cognitive function drives performance, then supporting your team's fitness is just good capital allocation.
Feeling the Difference
I run most mornings.
When I skip it for a week, even a day, boy, do I feel it!. My patience wears thin, my thinking slows, and my energy crashes earlier in the day.
The research supports what I've felt intuitively for years. Your brain is not separate from your body. The decisions you make at 2 p.m. are influenced by what you did at 6 a.m. (and what you had for lunch).
You wouldn't run your company on degraded systems and call it fine. Why do it with the hardware making all the decisions?
What difference do you feel when you’re physically active and nutrition-focused throughout your day? Tell me your observations in the comments.