There is a contradictory training regimen professional athletes undertake that enables them to reap the biggest improvements: moderation over time.

On the surface, it appears antithetical. But if athletes consistently train at a lower intensity and limit the amount of maximum exertion effort, they will show marked improvement. The more they pace themselves, the less chance they have of overdoing it, burning out or risking injury and ending their careers altogether. Going hard and going fast does not necessarily get you there in record time.

The desire to want to do too much too soon is called intensity blindness, and it has applicability that extends beyond training into business. In the world of entrepreneurship, it can distract you from your purpose, derailing your work. I have witnessed many projects fail because of it.

Intensity blindness is common among us because we often feel it is what our stakeholders are looking for. It is tempting to want to try to impress everybody and it is easy to believe you always need to do everything when the old saying is true: less really is more.

As an entrepreneur, we can make far more impact by making sure we do one thing very effectively rather than doing multiple things mediocrely.

Photography by: Geran de Klerk