3514: How to Be the "Entrepreneur" of Your Own Health by Bret Gornik and Jason Loebig of LiveBetterCo on Healthy Habits

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily. Why everyone must be the entrepreneur of their own health. By Bret Gornik and Jason Loebig of LiveBetterCo. And I'm your host and narrator, Dr. Neal Malik. Hey, happy Wednesday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, where I read to you from popular health and fitness blogs to help you optimize your health. And always with a bit of my commentary at the end. Now today's Wednesday, which means we're due for a little bit of inspiration. So here we go. Quote,

[00:01:29] If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate. Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM. All right, now that we're in the right frame of mind and have that little bit of motivation and inspiration, let's get to today's post and start optimizing your life. Why everyone must be the entrepreneur of their own health. By Brett Gornick and Jason Lobig of LiveBetterCo.org.

[00:02:00] Let's start with the notion that there is no magic pill. There is no one strategy that cures our ailments, makes our biceps grow, and decreases our 5K personal record. In order for us to reach our goals, meaning find success, we must find a combination of effective and efficient strategies to take care of ourselves. Why must you be the entrepreneur of your own health? Because no one can do it for you.

[00:02:27] Even the wealthiest and best outsourcing of assistants can't work out and eat for you. You must put in the work. More on getting help to follow. Most people overlook the first order of business, which is their health, not their career. We spend time furthering our careers at the expense of our body and mind. But what should come first? Should we choose to prioritize our career and figure out our health later?

[00:02:54] Or spend time getting our training, nutrition, sleep, and stress management, think physical and mental health, in order to be able to pursue the career we want? Tough choice. But there is a proverbial line we don't want to cross. Let our health slip too far, and we face extreme consequences. Feel like it's difficult learning a new language as an adult? Try getting all of these health habits in order at the same time. It's very difficult.

[00:03:22] It's difficult to string together days, weeks, months, and years of practicing consistent healthy habits. Just remember, you also ran that many days, weeks, months, and years in the direction to get where you are today, good or bad. So, how do we go about being this entrepreneur in charge of our health? To start, here are five things great entrepreneurs do. One, learn to say no.

[00:03:53] Two, delegate responsibility. Three, self-review continuously. Continuously. Four, experiment. And five, just do. One, learn to say no. If we had a dollar for every, but my sister is in town for the weekend, and we're going out for her 30th birthday, and my best friends from college are here, and it's my co-workers' engagement party, there's something going on every single weekend.

[00:04:21] You'll always face social pressure to drink at work functions and weddings. Your significant other will feel guilty about eating dessert and drinking wine alone if you refuse. And that pack of Skittles will always contain added sugar. There is no way around it. Find one. The answer you should be giving is, Hey, thanks. I actually just grabbed a drink of my own, meaning it's soda, water, and lime. Or, I'm getting up early to crush this insert activity here. Want to join me?

[00:04:51] You don't need to make them feel badly about their decisions. You only need to ask them to respect yours. Put your foot down, and your fork, and do what you want. Then, ask them to join. Recommended strategy. Write down the five instances in which you say yes to unhealthy activities. Then list why, think, your excuse for partaking, each situation is difficult. Is it the environment? Specific people?

[00:05:19] Develop default answers to say no. 2. Delegate responsibility. It is impossible to pay someone to work out for you. It is possible, however, to pay someone to help you work out and stay accountable. We can find coaches for just about everything now, and they should be utilized for our weakest area of health and activities we're least interested in spending time thinking about. Maybe you love thinking about your workouts, but despise cooking food.

[00:05:49] Maybe you've developed a great meditation practice, but still have trouble falling asleep at night. These are instances in which we can outsource our weaknesses or hire help to do our thinking for us. Ultimately, you must do the work. But just as a great leader delegates responsibility, so must you in order to effectively prioritize your time. If you're time poor, let someone else spend their time cooking up good workouts and food for you while you spend time on your business.

[00:06:19] Then, prioritize crushing the workout or really enjoying the meal when it arrives. Recommended strategy. Draw out each part of your health that you want to work on. Fitness, nutrition, sleep, stress, whatever. What are the categories you are weakest in? What are the categories you really don't like spending time on? Hire a board of advisors to solve for each deficiency. Note, compensation here does not have to be financial.

[00:06:47] Trade services, use a free app, attend a class. There are many options that don't require money. Self-review. 3. Self-review. Every great innovator is under constant self-review. The hard part about entrepreneurship is that you're navigating uncharted waters. This also goes for changing parts of your health. No one has been there before as you. You are unique and have unique challenges.

[00:07:13] The same foods that are healthy for us might not work for you. For example, a person may have food allergies. The same workouts that help so many may not help you. If there is no blueprint for success, how do we know what is working? Self-review. We must document, be present, and rework our plan to continually reach our goals. Challenges will arise, and we must be self-aware enough to correct course before it's too late.

[00:07:42] Recommended strategy. Create micro, mezzo, and macro goals for each year that pertain to each section of your health. The micro and mezzo goals should be reviewed after a predetermined period of time. For example, daily or monthly. So you could review micro goals every week and mezzo goals each quarter. What works? What doesn't? Iterate and repeat. 4. Experiment. This is where the money is made.

[00:08:11] We are constantly falling into the trap of the perfect workout, the perfect diet, and the perfect mattress as advertised by your favorite Insta-famous influencer. What is perfect for them may be the worst thing ever for you individually. We've got thousands of brands of protein powder, boutique fitness options, and online training e-books to choose from. Experiment. There will be staples to your health that are non-negotiable, like you must drink enough water.

[00:08:40] However, the dosage, timing, and variety may be unique to you, like how much water, when should you drink it, etc. Recommended strategy. Pair the experiment section with the self-review section. Upon review, what worked and what didn't? Maybe you realized you love to run. Awesome. On what surface? What distance is your favorite? Then, sign up for a race. And 5. Just do.

[00:09:10] Just do it. Nike got it right. We must do. This is also why we encourage you to experiment. It keeps things fresh, exciting, and interesting. We tend to overthink our perfect workout instead of just getting to the gym, which is the real barrier to better fitness. In order to try new things, we must do them, not just think about them. In order to do them, we must prioritize and protect that time.

[00:09:38] We must be able to say no to other activities so we can do the ones we want. This is the final differentiator from those who have it and those who have thought about it. Actually doing it. Want to quit that job? Want to run your first marathon? Just do it. Recommended strategy. Book your workouts in your Google Calendar or your GoToPlanner and savagely protect that time as you would your next promotion meeting. It should carry equal weight and importance.

[00:10:08] Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur in the world of business. However, everyone must be the entrepreneur of their own health by necessity. Why? Because no one can or will do it for you. It's always been on you. Now, what are you going to do today?

[00:10:54] Except I hit a button on Carvana.com once. Okay, that's fair. It's like the lottery, except you always win. Not like the lottery at all, actually. Exactly! Inexplicably good. Offers worth bragging about. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply. Ultra running shoes are all about space. The space to go further. To feel better. To do something you never thought possible. And this space starts with Ultra Fit.

[00:11:24] Unlike traditional running shoes, Ultra Fit gives toes more room to move naturally. So every step is strong, balanced, and comfortable. Whatever you're lacing up for, stay out there. With Ultra. Shop now at ultrarunning.com. That's A-L-T-R-A running dot com. Dr. Neal here for my commentary. I want to repeat something Brett and Jason mentioned not only at the very beginning, but throughout this article. Do you remember how they said,

[00:11:53] even the wealthiest and best outsourcing of assistants can't work out and eat for you, you must put in the work? I'll explain why this hits home with me. I used to instruct group weight management classes. As part of the class, I would show what I thought at least was an inspirational video. The video actually featured Oprah Winfrey and chronicled her journey of weight loss. It showed us how she went from being not very active to completing a full marathon. After the video, I would ask my class attendees

[00:12:23] what they thought of Oprah's amazing journey. Without fail, someone would raise their hand and say something like, I didn't think it was very inspiring at all. I mean, she had people cooking her meals for her. She had a personal trainer to help keep her accountable. I can't afford those things. Can you guess how I would respond? I would respond using almost the exact same phrasing today's authors, Brett and Jason, used. I would respond with,

[00:12:50] Oprah's cooks and trainers didn't work out and eat for her. She put in the work. Her cooks and trainers didn't cross the finish line of that marathon. She did. And if you really think about it, it's pretty insulting to give the trainers and cooks all the credit, isn't it? Don't get me wrong. It absolutely helps to have a cook and a trainer. But the bottom line is, Oprah has had access to cooks and top-level trainers for years, but still struggled with her weight during those years.

[00:13:19] So what was different this time around? Why was she able to reach her goal of running a full marathon this time? The answer? She was willing to put in the work. To put it in Brett and Jason's terms, she became the entrepreneur of her health. When I explained the situation this way, my class would usually stay silent. It was then that I knew my message was received loud and clear. All right, that'll do it for another edition of Optimal Health Daily.

[00:13:49] Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits. We'll see you back here tomorrow.