Every day at the crack of dawn, I spend one uninterrupted hour growing my business before I do anything else.
I call it the Golden Hour.
And the practice produces measurable results because it’s simple, consistent and focused.
If you set aside a Golden Hour for yourself and commit to focusing and doing the work, I promise your gym will grow.
Why the Golden Hour Works
Every gym owner has good ideas.
You listen to podcasts, read books, scroll Instagram and suddenly you’ve got six new things you want to try.
But then your day starts: you coach, you clean, someone texts, someone cancels, someone’s unhappy, someone needs to buy a T-shirt, and you realize you need to run to the supplier to get more toilet paper.
You work hard but get to the end of the day only to realize:
🤦 “I didn’t do a single thing to grow my gym.”
That used to be me—until a mentor gave me a simple rule:
👉 Do one thing every day to grow your business before anything else.
That simple, focused daily activity turned into a short streak, and that streak grew to become a powerful habit.
Now, that habit is one of my core entrepreneurial skills. I can use it to grow any business I own or create in the future.
And I can teach you how to develop that skill so you can grow your business, too.
Get this: The top-performing gyms in Two-Brain are growing 32X faster than industry averages.
Why? Because their owners are focused, consistent and proactive.
If you want to crush industry-average growth and leave your competitors in the dust, you need to set aside just 60 minutes a day.
❓ What Is the Golden Hour?
It’s one focused hour every morning. Here’s the exact plan:
1. Go to a place where you can focus.
2. Open your mind.
3. Lead with marketing reps.
4. Do a big project.
5. End after one hour.
6. Next steps: Plan for tomorrow.
G—Go to a Place You Can Focus
No phones. No emails. No distractions.
Whether it’s your home office, a coffee shop or your gym before it opens, find a space where you can think clearly and work without interruption.
O—Open Your Mind
Clear your mental clutter. Do a written brain dump—like I do using 750words.com—or just speak your thoughts into your phone.
This gets stress, distractions and negativity out of your head so you can focus.
L—Lead with Marketing Reps
Here’s a simple schedule of very effective activities:
- Monday: Record a short video or write a quick blog. Teach something—your method, nutrition basics, mindset tips, etc.
- Tuesday: Distribute that content. Post to Instagram, Facebook, Google Business Profile, etc.
- Wednesday: Check in with five clients. Book Goal Review Sessions or just say “thanks for training with us!”
- Thursday: Follow up with five leads—past clients, appointment no-shows, new followers on social media.
- Friday: Reuse, repurpose or refine your best content.
- Saturday: Collect client testimonials.
- Sunday: Send a weekly preview message to your staff.
Done consistently, these basic activities build real momentum one rep at a time.
D—Do a Big Project
Big projects move you forward fast. But it’s not enough to come up with great idea after great idea. You must work on and complete big projects.
Here are some examples of move-the-needle big projects:
- Write your staff playbook.
- Build your on-ramp.
- Improve your sales binder.
- Audit your marketing funnel.
- Plan your 90-day client journey.
- Clean up your P&L.
These aren’t daily tasks—they’re deep work. And they’re the difference between spinning your wheels and building a real business.
E—End After an Hour
This is a test: as much productive work as possible in one hour.
Don’t go beyond that.
Finish while you still have gas in the tank.
N—Next Steps
Ernest Hemingway stopped writing mid-sentence so he knew exactly where to pick up in his next session. Copy that: Write down your to-do list for the next day so you know exactly where to start tomorrow.
✅ Hope Comes from Clarity and Action
If you do the Golden Hour for 30 days straight, your business will grow.
If you do it for 90 days, you’ll build momentum and create something powerful:
Hope.
Gym owners don’t fail because they don’t care or don’t work hard enough.
They fail when they lose hope, when they stop believing things can get better.
Hope requires two things:
1. A clear vision of where you’re going.
2. A clear action you can take today
The Golden Hour gives you both.
🤜🤛 Join the Golden Hour Challenge
You can grab my book “The Golden Hour” on Amazon for free from Aug. 4 to 8.
Get it, then go to goldenhourchallenge.com and sign up for the free Resource Hub. You’ll get:
- A step-by-step video walkthrough.
- A printable checklist.
- A simple system to follow for 21 days.
- Access to our group Gym Owners United for support.
You just need an hour to create hope.
Start tomorrow.
Pick one thing that will grow your business.
Do it before anything else.
Repeat.
About the Author: Chris Cooper is the author of 10 books for business owners. Visit his author page here.
