Updated: February 2026
Key Takeaways
- Discipline sustains performance when motivation fades — building a consistent fitness routine is the foundation Kent Chin credits for his mental edge in business.
- Treating workouts as non-negotiable appointments transforms fitness from a preference into a structural pillar of your daily operating system.
- The habits you build through physical training — showing up, pushing through resistance, repeating the process — transfer directly into how you handle entrepreneurial pressure.
For many founders, the conversation about fitness and focus for entrepreneurs stays abstract — a wellness tip tacked onto a productivity article. Kent Chin lives it differently. The Markham, Ontario-based entrepreneur has built a daily practice around physical training and martial arts that directly shapes how he thinks, leads, and recovers from setbacks. In this interview, he shares the mindset, habits, and hard-won lessons behind staying driven when life gets demanding.
Whether you are navigating the pressure of building a business or looking for a more grounded approach to building a culture of excellence in your work, Kent’s perspective offers a practical framework rooted in real experience.
Kent Chin is an entrepreneur and personal development advocate based in Markham, Ontario. Passionate about all things health and wellness, Kent integrates fitness and martial arts into his daily routine to support mental clarity, physical health, and personal discipline. He considers movement essential to staying focused and energized, in his personal life and in business. Kent’s fitness philosophy focuses on structure, accountability, and the correlation between physical effort and inner power.
In this interview, Kent shares how fitness and martial arts fuel his motivation, sharpen his mindset, and help him stay consistent through life’s demands.
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Fitness and Focus for Entrepreneurs: The Kent Chin Interview
What Initially Motivated You to Incorporate Fitness into Your Life?
Q: What initially motivated you to incorporate fitness into your life?
KENT CHIN: I grew up in a working-class neighbourhood in Toronto in the 1970s. I had poor health in high school. That, combined with the bullying I experienced, affected my quality of life. So after I graduated, I moved out of my parents’ house and spent time working on my physical and mental health. That’s when I discovered my love for fitness and martial arts.
That chapter was formative. When you are defining your entrepreneurial identity, you often draw on what shaped you early. For Kent, the gym became a proving ground — a place where he could rebuild his self-image one session at a time. Research from Harvard Health confirms what Kent discovered instinctively: regular physical activity reshapes the brain’s capacity for sustained focus and resilience.
🎯 Fun Fact
A NASA-linked University of Pennsylvania study found that employees who exercised regularly performed up to 50% better in the afternoon hours compared to those who did not. For entrepreneurs managing full-day workloads, that gap is significant.
How Do You Stay Motivated When Progress Feels Slow or Life Gets Busy?
Q: How do you stay motivated when progress feels slow or life gets busy?
KENT CHIN: I remind myself why I started. I also keep my routine simple and focused. I train even when I don’t feel like it because discipline builds momentum. Progress happens when the habit stays in place, no matter how crazy life gets. I love how movement makes me feel.
This is the core distinction between motivation-dependent performers and discipline-driven ones. Motivation fluctuates — discipline does not require it. The American Psychological Association notes that exercise functions as a reliable stress buffer, which means the days you least want to train are often the days you need it most. For founders managing high-stakes decisions, that consistency becomes a genuine competitive advantage.
💡 Pro Tip
Reframe the hard days: Kent trains even when he does not feel like it. On your lowest-energy mornings, a 15-minute session still delivers cortisol reduction and focus benefits — and it reinforces the identity of someone who shows up regardless of mood.
What Role Does Mindset Play in Your Fitness Journey?
Q: What role does mindset play in your fitness journey?
KENT CHIN: Mindset is everything. Training the body starts with training the mind. I treat workouts as appointments with myself. When I approach fitness with intention, I carry that discipline into every part of my life.
This reframe is powerful. When your workout is an appointment — not a suggestion — you stop negotiating with yourself every morning. That same decision-making clarity carries forward into business. Fitness and focus for entrepreneurs is not just a wellness concept; it is a systems concept. How you treat your physical commitments is a direct signal of how you treat every commitment. Kent’s approach reflects a deeply practical truth: the structure you build for your body becomes the structure you bring to your work.
Describe a Time When Your Fitness Routine Helped You Through a Difficult Moment
Q: Describe a time when your fitness routine helped you make it through a difficult moment.
KENT CHIN: During a time of high pressure and long hours while working in real estate, I felt drained and unfocused. I committed to short, consistent workouts before starting work each day. That time helped me clear my head and return to challenges with more energy and control.
What Kent describes is a cognitive reset — a structured pause that allows the nervous system to recalibrate before re-engaging with complex work. Mayo Clinic guidance on exercise and mental health supports this: even brief, consistent physical sessions meaningfully reduce the cortisol load that impairs decision-making. For anyone developing strategies for running your own business, that daily reset may be among the highest-yield investments of time available.
💡 Pro Tip
Schedule before you negotiate: Block your workout time in your calendar the same way you block a client meeting. Treat it as non-cancellable and your consistency will improve within two weeks — not because motivation arrived, but because the structure made it non-optional.
What Advice Would You Give to Someone Struggling to Find Motivation to Get Active?
Q: What advice would you give to someone struggling to find motivation to get active?
KENT CHIN: Start by making it part of your schedule. Pick a time and protect it. Keep it simple and stay consistent. Motivation will follow your actions. The key is to show up and keep showing up.
This sequencing matters. Most people wait for motivation to arrive before they act. Kent inverts it — action produces motivation, not the other way around. For founders and leaders exploring fitness and focus for entrepreneurs, the prescription is simple: build the structure first, and the feeling follows. As with any business system, execution precedes results. Start smaller than feels worthwhile, and let repetition do the work.
Kent Chin’s Core Performance Habits at a Glance
Kent’s approach to fitness and focus for entrepreneurs is built on a small number of repeatable habits. These principles appear consistently across his answers and map directly to high-performance business behaviour.
| Habit | Core Principle | Business Application |
|---|---|---|
| Train on schedule, not on mood | Discipline over motivation | Execute daily priorities regardless of energy state |
| Treat workouts as appointments | Self-respect through scheduling | Protect deep work blocks from interruption |
| Keep routine simple and focused | Consistency beats complexity | Repeatable systems outperform one-off efforts |
| Short pre-work sessions during pressure | Movement as cognitive reset | Clear your head before high-stakes decisions |
How Fitness Fuels Founder Performance
The science behind fitness and focus for entrepreneurs is well established. Here is how the benefits Kent describes map to measurable business performance outcomes.
| Physical Benefit | Business Performance Impact |
|---|---|
| Reduced cortisol (stress hormone) | Sharper decision-making under pressure |
| Increased neuroplasticity | Faster learning and problem-solving |
| Improved sleep quality | Greater energy and emotional regulation |
| Habit reinforcement through repetition | Stronger execution discipline across all work |
Frequently Asked Questions About Fitness and Focus for Entrepreneurs
How much time does Kent Chin spend training each day?
Kent emphasizes short, consistent sessions over long, sporadic ones. During high-pressure periods like his real estate years, brief pre-work sessions were his anchor. There is no fixed number — the key is daily commitment, even if it is only 15 to 20 minutes.
Does martial arts training offer advantages that standard gym workouts do not?
Yes. Martial arts require full presence — you cannot mentally drift during sparring or forms practice. This builds the kind of concentrated attention that transfers directly to business tasks requiring sustained mental engagement. The discipline component is also structural rather than motivational, which makes it more durable long term.
Can someone with no fitness background apply Kent Chin’s habits?
Absolutely. Kent’s own origin story began with poor health and a difficult environment. His advice — pick a time, protect it, keep it simple, show up — is accessible regardless of current fitness level. The system matters more than the starting point, and small consistent actions compound quickly.
How does fitness help with entrepreneurial stress specifically?
Exercise lowers the physiological markers of stress, including cortisol, within a single session. For founders managing uncertainty, conflict, and financial pressure simultaneously, a consistent movement practice provides a reliable cognitive reset that supports clearer thinking throughout the day.
Where can I learn more about Kent Chin’s work?
Kent Chin is an entrepreneur and personal development advocate based in Markham, Ontario. His profile is available on Crunchbase and F6S for those interested in his work and philosophy.
About the Author
Susan Wetmore is the owner of TOTS: Business and TOTS: Family, and a seasoned blogger with over a decade of experience covering entrepreneurship, small business strategy, and family wellness. A Mother of two and active volunteer with Second Harvest Food Bank, Susan brings a grounded, real-world perspective to every interview and feature she publishes at Thinking Outside the Sandbox.
