Yesterday, I stepped into something I’d never done before.
The Chocolate Box Games, five rounds of fitness challenges, team of three, women’s division.
No expectation. Just a decision to show up and see what I was capable of.
We finished first, going into the final. Third overall.
And while that result was incredible, that’s not the real takeaway.
What played out on that floor is exactly what I see in business every day, particularly in marketing and media.
Let me walk you through it.
1. Preparation is everything
You can always tell who prepared.
They’re calm. They move with intent. They don’t hesitate.
Their confidence is in their preparation.
In business, this is your strategy. Your structure. Your understanding of how the system actually works.
If you haven’t done that work upfront, it shows the moment you’re under pressure.
And in marketing, you are always under pressure à budgets, targets, timelines.
It is true…the success is where preparation meets opportunity.
2. Take the chance before you feel ready
Two weeks out, I was asked for my 3RM deadlift.
At that point, I didn’t even know what that meant. My max lift was zero.
On the day, I lifted 80kg.
Nothing changed except this: I decided to step in and figure it out.
This is where I see businesses hold themselves back.
They wait for certainty. For perfect conditions. For complete clarity.
But growth doesn’t come from certainty. It comes from movement.
You step in. Then you build capability.
3. Technique beats effort
Deadlifts look simple. They’re not.
There’s a sequence. A structure. A very specific way it needs to be executed.
If you get that wrong, it doesn’t matter how strong you are, you waste energy or you fail the lift.
Marketing is no different.
You can spend more. Push harder. Do more activity.
But if your structure is off, your targeting, your message, your funnel, you’re just burning effort.
Effort without structure doesn’t scale.
4. The order matters more than you think
Every movement had a sequence.
Miss the order, and everything becomes harder than it needs to be.
In business, I see this all the time.
Teams jump straight to tactics.
They run campaigns before the offer is clear.
They scale media before conversion is stable.
They focus on channels instead of building a system.
Order creates efficiency.
And efficiency is what unlocks growth.
5. Get a good coach
There’s a moment in competition where your own thinking becomes your biggest blocker.
That’s when the coach matters.
Someone who can see what you can’t. Someone who keeps you moving forward when you hesitate, or your legs hurt so bad you don’t think you can keep going!
In business, this is the role of a true advisor.
Not someone who just executes. Someone who sharpens your thinking, challenges your assumptions, and keeps you aligned to the outcome.
And if I’m honest, sometimes they believe in you before you fully believe in yourself.
6. Get different inputs, but own the decision
I spoke to different trainers leading into the competition.
Different advice. Different techniques. Different perspectives.
Not all of it worked for me.
That’s the point.
In marketing, there is no single playbook.
There are principles, but how you apply them depends on your business, your market, and your stage of growth.
The best operators don’t copy.
They gather input. Then they decide.
7. Stand out on purpose
We showed up in hot pink.
In a room full of black.
You notice it instantly.
That’s not by accident.
In business, most brands blend in. Same language. Same look. Same thinking.
Standing out isn’t about being louder. It’s about being clear and deliberate.
Clear positioning.
A defined point of view.
Consistency in how you show up.
That’s what gets remembered.
8. You don’t know your limit until you test it
I didn’t know I could lift 80kg.
Because I’d never put myself in a position where I had to.
This is where many businesses plateau.
They operate within a perceived ceiling, not a real one.
Until you stretch your thinking, your investment, your approach, you don’t actually know what’s possible.
Growth requires you to step beyond what feels comfortable.
What stood out most wasn’t just the competition. It was the environment around it.
9. Your community is your growth engine
Support. Energy. People wanting each other to succeed.
That doesn’t happen by accident.
In business, this is your brand in action.
When your customers trust you, engage with you, and advocate for you, growth compounds.
When they don’t, you rely on constant acquisition just to stand still.
Community isn’t a “nice to have”. It’s a commercial advantage.
10. Measurement drives progress
Competing gave me a clear benchmark.
I could see exactly where I was strong and where I needed to improve.
That level of clarity is powerful.
In marketing, measurement isn’t about reporting numbers.
It’s about making better decisions.
If you measure the wrong things, you optimise in the wrong direction.
If you measure what actually drives growth, you move faster and with more confidence.
11. You’re always setting the standard
There was a moment during the day that stopped me.
I looked over and saw my two youngest trying to figure out the ski, and my oldest pushing through 10 calories on the bike.
They weren’t told to do it. They were watching.
And they copied what they saw.
That’s leadership.
In business, your team doesn’t measure you by what you say. They measure you by what you do.
How you show up.
What you prioritise.
What you tolerate.
What you push through when it’s hard.
That becomes the standard.
You can talk about accountability, performance, and ownership all day. But if your actions don’t reflect it, your team won’t follow it.
They follow behaviour.
So the real question is, if your team mirrored you exactly, would you be happy with the result?
Because whether you realise it or not, they’re already doing it.
Final thought
Here’s what I took away from the day.
The result wasn’t decided on the competition floor.
It was built in the lead-up, through preparation, structure, mindset, and the work that was done in the dark before everyone showed up on the day.
Business works the same way.
There’s no shortcut.
But there is a path.
And if you focus on the fundamentals and execute them properly, you give yourself every chance to perform when it counts.
That’s the game.
