Issue #314: 5 Tips From Amazing Entrepreneurs
Good morning. It’s Saturday, March 9th.
Stat of the Day
The percentage of workers experiencing burnout - and 41% of people feel more burned out after taking time off work. (Forbes)
Revisit
This week we dug into the finer points of sleep to improve your health.
Issue #312 - learn how syncing your lifestyle with your internal clock can boost health - from optimal sleep and eating schedules to morning sunlight exposure
Issue #313 - uncover the health implications of Daylight Savings Time (DST) and learn practical tips for adjusting to the change in time without compromising your wellbeing
Click HERE to check out the entire Thrive25 archive.
Inspire
Panel on Positive Energy
Last week I hosted a panel on how leaders take care of themselves and their teams.
Burnout is a real thing and as more and more companies try to “do more with less” it’s not getting any easier to find the right balance between our health and our productivity.
But the irony is that these objectives aren’t at odds - they’re connected.
Plus, it’s not just about being more productive at work - it’s about how we show up.
Research shows that there’s one thing that distinguishes a great leader - Positive Energy. In fact, the people that elevate the energy in a room (or Zoom) are 4x more effective leaders.
So here are 5 tips from a group of incredible entrepreneurs - Aaron Froug, CEO of Grifin, Lauren Benbassat, Co-Founder/COO of Realm Foods, and Jim Schimpf, CEO of Chattr - on how they avoid burnout and show up with positive energy just about every day:
Synapse Florida, 2/28/2024
1. Take Care of Yourself First
Don’t wake up next to your phone and immediately check email or the news. Whatever your morning routine, do something that puts you into a good physical and mental headspace before anything else.
For Jim this is getting up at 4:21am for meditation, journaling and a trip to the gym before packing his kids’ lunches. Yes - in case you were wondering, he goes to bed at 8:45pm to still get enough sleep for this schedule.
There’s no single routine for everyone. But if you’re going to show up the rest of the day with positive energy, then you need to start with you.
2. Be Intentional
I loved this quote from Aaron - “Do today what will make you look forward to tomorrow.”
Now most of us don’t have complete control of our schedule - but we probably have much more control than we think and can make that quote be a real-life mantra.
The more intention we set for what we want to do, what we need to accomplish, and how we want to feel - the more that becomes our reality.
Sure, problems and unexpected situations will no doubt pop up - but that’s ok. Focus on what you can control and how you respond (not react) to the day.
3. Spend Less Time Working
The irony is that for all three of these founders - spending less time on the business (nixing the 16+ hour days) and more time on their health made them way more productive.
45 minutes at the gym, 30 minutes walking or 15 minutes meditating delivers more benefit than just the activity, you are more effective when you get back to work.
Lauren said her team can tell when she’s just come back from a Barry’s Bootcamp class - she’s absolutely on fire. For Aaron he loves Rumble Boxing.
Don’t hesitate to schedule this time in the middle of the day. It’s not taking you away from the business - it’s setting you up to be better when you get back to it.
And lead by example - don’t hide the fact you’re working out. Put it on the calendar and set the tone so the rest of the team sees you doing it and will then feel open to do the same. For some of these leaders that includes everything from working out to therapy to personal time.
4. Be Crazy Positive
I absolutely loved this example from Lauren.
She and her Co-Founder ask themselves a positive question like:
“Why are we so good at building a high-growth consumer business?”
OR
“How do we attract such amazing people to work at Realm?”
They don’t just think about it - in this exercise they actually write it down.
This framing is incredibly powerful - it sets your mind into the mode of abundance, not scarcity.
This doesn’t even have to be about work -
“Why am I such an awesome dad?” or “How did I get such an incredible partner?”
We can be easily seduced into believing what we think - so pump those positive vibes.
5. Invest in Relationships
Success is predicated on the support of others. Plus, life is just better when we’re surrounded by great people.
Don’t try to solve all your problems yourself - others are there and want to help.
AND
Don’t celebrate your wins by yourself - others want to cheer you on too.
The more we bring others in and open ourselves up to be more vulnerable - both for the highs and lows - the more we can prevent burnout and bring that positive energy.
BONUS: Don’t Aim for Perfection
We all have shitty days. We’re all going to feel like we’re burning it on both ends and getting to the point of physical and mental exhaustion.
You’re ambitious. You work hard. But there will be setbacks, frustration, anger, and resignation at times.
These tips - sticking with a routine, putting yourself first, focusing on health, investing in your relationships - will help “prime the pump” as Jim calls it, to get back to that positive place and help you be the best version of ourself.
Huge shout out to Aaron, Lauren, and Jim for these awesome insights!
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Listen To
Stories for Sleep and Relaxation
Have trouble falling asleep or getting back to sleep after a 3am wake up? Then Kathryn Nicolai has you covered. Kathryn has written and narrated a series of bedtime stories about nothing much at all - to help you relax and sleep peacefully. We’re talking about all that happens at a bridge in the woods, or at a birdfeeder or how light penetrates fog. Asleep yet?
Brain Games
Logic Equations
My wife is huge on NYTimes Connections and Crossword right now, but how about some math too??
There are five variables - A, B, C, D, E - with five possible values - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. None of the variables can share the same number. Based on the following equations, what do the variables equal:
2E = B + D
2C = D + E
A > E
Please use some pen and paper!
Credit: Brainzilla
**For answer, scroll to the bottom of the post
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Thanks for another great week!
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** Brain Games Answer **
Answer: Yellow are the values for the variables. A=1, B=5, etc.
Why?…
First, from the last equation, A > E, we know A ≠ 1 and E ≠ 5
Next, solve for E and C in the first two equations respectively - we know the sum of B + D and D + E in both numerators must be even (otherwise we couldn’t divide by 2 to get a whole number)
And since D is in both equations, all 3 variables must be the same - odd or even. If the only potential answers are 1-5, B, D, E must all be odd
Now target the first equation, because it includes B, D and E. Solve for D…D = 2E - B. If E ≠ 5, is it 1 or 3? If E = 1, then D = 2 - B, and B would have to be 3 or 5. Either value would make D a negative number, this is invalid. E = 3
Plug in E = 3 into the equation and you get (1) D = 6 - B. We know B and D are 1 or 5, but we can’t solve this yet - we’ll save equation (1) for later
Let’s revisit A > E. If E = 3 and B, D, E are all odd, then A = 4. And if A = 4, then C = 2
Now, solve for B. Rearrange the second equation to D = 2C - E and plug D into the first equation, 2E = B + (2C - E). Move around the variables and this results in B = 3E - 2C. We know E and C, so B = (3*3) - (2*2) = 5
Let’s bring back equation (1), D = 6 - B. D = 6 - 5 = 1
That’s how we solved it - if you went about it a different way, let us know!
Why Thrive25
We’re 40-something dads that felt our bodies and minds start to slow down and we’re not ready for that. We found too much information on every subject. So we started Thrive25 to transform what we’ve learned into something useful for the rest of us to spend just 3-5 min a day to optimize our health & longevity.
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To health!
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