The Small Business Safari
Have you ever sat there and wondered "What am I doing here stuck in the concrete zoo of the corporate world?" Are you itching to get out? Chris Lalomia and his co-host Alan Wyatt traverse the jungle of entrepreneurship. Together they share their stories and help you explore the wild world of SCALING your business. With many years of owning their own small businesses, they love to give insight to the aspiring entrepreneur. So, are you ready to make the jump?
The Small Business Safari
The Four Pillars That Reset An Entrepreneur Brain | David Forster
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What if the biggest threat to your business isn't the competition—it's the exhausted person staring back at you in the mirror?
Entrepreneur burnout doesn't happen overnight. It creeps in through brain fog, poor decisions, sleepless nights, and the constant feeling that you're always "on." In this episode, Chris sits down with David Forster, founder of Systems Over Sweat, multi-business operator, and COO, to discuss how business owners can recognize burnout before it turns into a complete shutdown.
David shares his practical "three mornings in a row" rule for recognizing when it's time to make a change, along with science-backed strategies that improve mental clarity, energy, and leadership performance. From understanding how exercise boosts BDNF and helps reset your brain to creating better sleep habits, managing stress, optimizing nutrition timing, and finding real recovery, this conversation is packed with actionable takeaways every business owner can implement immediately.
If you've been running on caffeine, cortisol, and sheer determination, this episode offers a healthier—and more effective—way forward.
💡 Gold Nuggets
- Recognize entrepreneur burnout before it becomes a crisis with the "three mornings in a row" rule.
- Boost focus and brain performance with as little as six minutes of high-intensity exercise.
- Pair workouts with learning to maximize memory and retention.
- Build a sleep routine that improves recovery and decision-making.
- Use a simple "brain dump" notepad technique to quiet a racing mind at 3 a.m.
- Shift your focus from what you eat to when you eat with David's 40/40/20 nutrition approach.
- Reduce stress through prayer, quiet time, breathwork, and activating the vagus nerve.
- Create more productive workdays through flow-state scheduling, time blocking, and intentional recovery.
- Learn why truly disconnecting on vacation is critical for long-term performance.
🔗 Guest Links
- Website: Systems Over Sweat
- dforster.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdavidforster/
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Workout Energy And A Treadmill Wipeout
SPEAKER_05You get a good workout, you get lathered up. I mean, you're excited, you've got good energy, and you're you I could see that you could be making better decisions.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, most people just think like exercising puts me in a good mood, but it physiologically does change, it changes your your hormones and it changes your dynamic of how your brain is operating. So, yeah, the stairmaster, or put your um treadmill at like a high incline and um you know four miles an hour or something like that, and just like get after it.
SPEAKER_03Um and what it doesn't know is that my treadmill backs up. There's a wall right behind my treadmill. Uh and there is a tie there and oh yeah. Because there was one time I did exactly what he just said. I'm like, I'm like, I'm gonna put this thing way up there. I'm like, I'm gonna go, go, go. Trip, boom, bam. And the thing, guess what it doesn't do? It doesn't stop.
SPEAKER_05No, it just keeps shoving you against the wall.
SPEAKER_04Oh, just imagine a fat fucker sitting in the back, like, I couldn't get off and I had to roll off of it and turn them off.
Welcome To Small Business Safari
SPEAKER_03Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls, and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there, and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in Adventure Team and let's take a ride through the safari. Alan, will you let me finish what I was doing? Again, you always leave it in the green room. You never let us keep going. The music just ended, and now here I am reprimanding you because before we got started, once again, you left it in the green room, Alan. I'm the worst. You are the worst at that. And you're always making it about you. I mean, why do you put up with me? I don't know. This has been so hard. I can't believe we're partners in this. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_05Thank you for carrying me all those years.
SPEAKER_03Where was I, Alan? I don't know. I'm kind of in the fog. Yeah, you damn. Just in the gloom. It's raining out. It is, you know. So weather pattern, we went from the driest ever, Atlanta's gonna be in a drought, to we've had more water than ever. And of course, you listen to the news, they only tell you what they want to hear, right? Well, this still hasn't taken us out of the drought.
SPEAKER_05Oh, really? The connector downtown was flooded for the first time since I've lived here.
SPEAKER_04We actually had a Waymo take a take a dive into the water. No Waymo, no, and in it goes. It thinks it's a submarine. Whoosh.
SPEAKER_05You know, can you imagine the passenger in that Waymo at that point? Yeah, it's like, oh, look at me with a driverless car. It's like, uh, I need to take the wheel. Uh-oh. And yeah, get away from this. Where's my snorkel? Right.
Meet David Forster And Systems
SPEAKER_03So uh we got a great guest for you guys today. This is the one thing we keep talking about. Mindset makes a difference. How you treat yourself makes a difference. And what do we do as entrepreneurs? None of it. We absolutely burn it as hard as we can. We go out there and try to make it happen. Literally, this morning, guys, all I said was, Chris, put your battle armor back on and get your ass back out there and go fight some more. Because that's what you got to do every once in a while. You just got to get after it and get moving. And sometimes everybody thinks being an entrepreneur is glamorous and sexy. And we go out there and we play golf on Thursday afternoon with our friends, and then we drink till the wee hours.
SPEAKER_05Which we we did that.
SPEAKER_03But we did do that. Yeah. All right. For the longtime listeners, Alan, whose course did you finally get on?
SPEAKER_05I finally got allowed on your course, which I can see from your window right here. And thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_03You are welcome, Alan. And uh you should really you should really thank your friends who I like better. Yeah, they said let's get this together.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, clearly, you invited them, and then you were forced to bring me along.
SPEAKER_03So we did. We had a great foresome with uh two of our long time your longtime friends of my new friends. Uh we had a blast, got it in between the raindrops that happened here a lot, but man, we had a lot of good fun. And that was a Thursday. But with that Thursday comes a Saturday, Daddy working all day, getting caught back up. Guys, we got a great episode. We got to jump into it, don't we?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I mean you're burning the candle at both ends. What'd you have for breakfast?
SPEAKER_03I uh had a Chick-fil-A biscuit because we had training this morning with the good lots of fat and carbs.
SPEAKER_05That's right. Fuel fuel fuel you for the day.
SPEAKER_03I shoved it down with um with two coffees. I think that sounds uh really good.
SPEAKER_05What do you think, David?
SPEAKER_02Um Yeah, we could probably do a little better, but it's not bad. Better than a lot of people.
SPEAKER_03All right, okay. And who are we talking to? We're talking to David Forster, and he is going to talk to us today, guys. Getting your head straight, doing the things right, but talking about uh a lot of different stuff. We're excited about this. Uh David, I just blanked on, and you got your you got your name on your shirt, and I forgot. Tell everybody who what you do and what the name of your company is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, systems over sweat is the name of my company. I'm actually learning a toxic landscape polo today because I'm also COO of a landscape company here in Kansas. But um the uh systems over sweat, we focus on simplifying systems and actually working on your brain performance uh to be able to lead those systems at full capacity.
SPEAKER_05So and I think it's important for the listeners to know you've you've built and sold numerous businesses, right? I mean, very, very successful entrepreneurs. So this is uh this is not somebody just coming in and talking about gobbledygook about nutrition and sleep and stuff like that. It's it's uh somebody who's done it.
SPEAKER_02I'm not uh I'm not a career school kind of guy, uh dropped out of college. I loved well my education, I studied kinesiology, um kind of worked my way through the upper level classes of what I wanted to learn, and then realized that that career at that time, 20 whatever years ago, didn't pay very well. And I was making pretty good money working for a stonemason. So I started my own construction business. And uh 25 years later, I had four of those and a couple of retail businesses and a couple of logistics businesses, and um found the same pattern in myself of when I would hit burnout where the stress and anxiety would just get to be too much, and I'd built my way out of it using what I learned in school about exercise science and uh how that affects the brain and all that good stuff.
SPEAKER_03So let's talk about that. Uh, because uh I've never been through that, Alan. Okay, yes, of course we all know that, guys. If you listen to the podcast enough, you know that Chris goes through this uh almost on an umbrella.
SPEAKER_05Going to Vegas is not exercise.
SPEAKER_03No, no, well, that's the way I get myself out of my fog.
SPEAKER_05All right, but it does get your heart rate up.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that you get a lot of steps walking around the casinos.
SPEAKER_03That's for sure. I'm telling you, man. You you could stay in one casino and get 10,000 steps in without even blinking an eye, man. Those, especially when the blackjack cables aren't running right and you gotta go find the one that's gonna run right.
SPEAKER_05Vegas is more of a holistic approach. I I I guess it is.
SPEAKER_03I guess so. But what I want to find out is uh how do you know when you're in that or slipping down that slope? That's I think that's the hard part for a lot of us, is that I I I just said it before, you know, at the start of the podcast, man, I I strapped on the battle armor this morning. I said, get out there and let's go kick some ass. But how do you know when you're getting into that funk?
Spotting Burnout Before You Crash
SPEAKER_02Right. I mean, it's it's it's a slow fade, right? I mean, you you go through it and you can go through a dip, but really being in that place where you know you're about to throw in the towel, you're actually been thinking burnout in your mind more than a few times over the course of a month or so. Um, my wife and I actually made a rule and we didn't make the we didn't make it up, but we heard another couple that said if we wake up more than three days in a row and don't want to go do what we're doing, we have to make a change. And that doesn't mean like just sell it or get out or whatever, but you gotta make some adjustments. So I think a lot of people good gold nugget. That's a great one.
SPEAKER_03Three days in a row, but it doesn't have to be the jump off the ledge, it doesn't have to be the drop the company, stop, stop what you're doing. It's the no change what you're doing, right? So something's gotta change. All right, so give us give us that structure. Give give us some how do how do you hell do you get out of that stuff, man? I don't know.
SPEAKER_05Yes, uh, Chris is looking for free uh therapy, by the way. So go ahead. I need some, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. The paid stuff's not working right now.
The Bike Ride That Brought Clarity
SPEAKER_02What works for me, uh man, I'd say it's a funny story. I I I would get into that like seasonal kind of burnout feel in the construction industry. It's like feast or famine, summers, especially in the Midwest, right? Like your snow removal, and then in the middle of the summer, it's like, well, don't plant anything, it's only hardscapes, like you're just kind of all over the place. And I found myself just about every July, like, okay, let's just take a week off. Um, and so I was in that that place of running our third landscape business and um was praying about like there's gotta be something different, like something's gotta be different. For I'm 36, 35, 36 years old, uh, which isn't old, right? But it just like, is this what I want to do for the next 30 years? Um, and my wife pops in and she goes, Hey, by the way, that $5,000 bike hanging on the wall in the garage, if you don't go ride it, I'm gonna sell. And I was like, Oh, okay. Well, so I went for a ride, and uh about 20, 30 minutes into that ride, like something happened. I've ridden bikes my whole life, I've been competitive. I raced motocross, I raced bicycles, all that. And something just like it just all fell off. And all the problems that I was trying to solve over the last few weeks, I just all of a sudden was like, oh, I had clarity, I knew how to solve this. I was like, for the next 30, 40 minutes before I got home, I was just like solving problems. And I walked in and told my wife, like, I don't know what just happened, but that was amazing. And I gotta go tell as many people as I can about it. Um and about what I thought was gonna be position that business to sell, and like maybe we'll figure something out. Um about three weeks later, we signed a lease on opening a retail bike shop. So, Chris, you're gonna go out and buy a bike now, right?
SPEAKER_03So I was about to tell him the good news is is I really appreciate what you're doing. And um, and I used to ride mountain bikes when I was in college, but um one of my favorite phrases, Alan, is um I got a tender tank. You know what that means? No, that means my ass is raw, bro. Yeah, this this ass can't be raw, it's raw for other reasons. It's not that I shit too much. No, but what? No, that's even worse. I don't know. It's just tender tank. Bring it back. Come on, land the plane. I can't, I can't.
SPEAKER_04Oh my god. Not opening a bike shop, no, because I could give nobody.
SPEAKER_05You don't want to open a bike shop, you just need to go on a bike ride. By the way, I was in the coolest bike shop in Sisters, Oregon this year, and they had six different beers on tap. And I mean, it was uh it was the hardcore mountain bike shop, but you could also that's how an ice craft brew.
SPEAKER_03That's their idea of grad school. That's how I uh that's that was my outlet in grad school was to help drop weight after playing football. Was I started riding mountain bikes with these guys and I had a lot of fun, but but let's go back to this again. You you found an activity, and that that activity allowed your brain to kind of kind of uncouple from the problems you were having, and you're like, man, I'm out riding again. And you kind of freed your brain up to start talking through exercise.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So and I when I got back, I mean, so my kinesiology background like popped in to my curiosity of like, okay, like what happens? Because I've ridden bikes like a lot.
SPEAKER_05I never felt bad. I want to throw this in there. We don't talk about it a lot. Chris and I are both uh men of faith, so you prayed about it. Then you went on the bike ride, and then something happened. I think that's kind of a cool uh chain of events, don't you think, Chris? I agree.
SPEAKER_03I want to hear what you had to say. I could well, I'm still I'm uh you're right. Uh, because again, back in being men of faith and also uh you know having an engineering background, and I get into these arguments about well, then you must not believe in God because you're a scientist. I'm like, yeah, man, you're really who invented science. You're digging hard, man, because yeah, who came up with all of it? So um I I believe in that and um what you talked about, but I was going down the science path of um how did that happen? Um because for for all of us, it doesn't even have to be a bike, it could be a walk, you know. I uh I did that the other day. I just said, you know, instead of going to the gym today, I'm gonna go take a walk around my neighborhood. Just a man in his thoughts with the music playing, and I came back going, all right, okay, yeah. No, you're not that's right, I gotta get on this. Oh, I forgot that. But and you're right, you you you got out of it because I was just walking and enjoying outside. But that's just walking, that's not hardcore biking. And definitely not getting the tender tank, which is not the episode of this uh episode title. Chris does not want a tender tank. That's before I didn't want to think about that at all. You know, it's just be cool. And now, you know, when I say it now out loud, I realize now it's terrible. Well, it's because our society got really screwed up back when I was saying it, which is forever ago. I mean, it was okay. Because you've heard the phrase, haven't you? No, no, uh, I'm not looking at you, David. No, no, of course he doesn't. Damn it.
SPEAKER_02Not tank. I mean, I've heard tender other things, but oh yeah, well, yeah, those two.
SPEAKER_03Hello. I just I was trying to clean it up. Tender, I thought tender cake was cleaned. All right, anyway.
BDNF Cortisol And Why HIIT Works
SPEAKER_03So let's talk about the science of kinesiology. What did you find out when you came back and said, hey, that kind of worked. What happened? What was it? What's the what's the science?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, so when you're doing uh specifically in continuous aerobic exercise, your brain releases some uh proteins that are called BDNF, the brain-derived neurotropic factor. And it also then reduces cortisol. Most people are familiar with cortisol, it's a stress hormone, it's produced in your adrenal glands. Um, it's the fight or flight kind of mechanism, and it's really valuable, right? If you're running from a tiger or you need like a burst of like safety, like survival type stuff, right? So you're in a bank. I feel like I have buckets of cortisol.
SPEAKER_03I think I think I'm on cortisol overload. In fact, I think we're cortisol achiev overachievers, Alad. When I sweat, it's cortisol.
SPEAKER_02If you're entrepreneurial at all, it probably is, yeah. Most people are just living in constant like all right. So how do I find this BDNF?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's what I'm asking up your ass, is what he's saying. Consistent aerobic, right? Especially HIP workouts, high intensity intervals. Okay. Um, it takes about six minutes is enough to boost the BDNF production by four or five times in your brain. Um, so and and being at about 80% effort. So walking isn't gonna boost it that quick, right? Just a normal walk. Um, but if you go for like a an intense ruck, like a hike, or you're just like your pace is really high with the weight invest, and you can get into that heart rate zone, it's gonna release that protein. And what that does is rebuilds and repairs the synapses and the neurons, so you actually can create new uh brain cells. So sip away at the bourbon and don't be too worried.
SPEAKER_03Um, but here's what I just took away. I can drink bourbon uh all afternoon doing podcasts with Alan, and then all I have to do the next morning for six minutes is hit it, and then I'm back. And when you go to Vegas, you get plenty of steps. But I don't get the I just six minutes. He just said get your heart rate up for six minutes. Are you talking heart rate like at 110, 115, maybe?
SPEAKER_0280%, whatever. So probably like 150, 170. Whoops.
SPEAKER_03All right, so high intensity workouts get a kick and more. So that's one thing you found. And so uh you said rucksack, heavy weighted vests. Have you ever done that?
SPEAKER_05No, I've had like ankle weights, and I mean it makes a big difference.
SPEAKER_03I've had leg warmers too, Alan.
SPEAKER_04No, ankle weights.
SPEAKER_03Okay, whatever. That was a good one. I gotta give you that. Thank you. All right, let's find out some more of what else we can do. Shall we? You're wasting time. All right, let's go, David. Sorry, we're wasting your time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're good.
SPEAKER_03But we're fine.
SPEAKER_02Um so doing that is gonna actually, and I'll give you a little I missed something. Must have been amused ourselves. We we think we're hilarious.
SPEAKER_03And you're over there going, God guys, this is the worst one I've ever been on. All right, don't worry about it. It'll get better, David. Don't worry, don't worry. I'm glad you remembered.
SPEAKER_02We're just getting warmed up. I'm just getting warmed up. The uh a unique little thing that I like to do, and that some will call it dual tasking, but um, and that's another method you can do to actually create neural pathways that you're wanting to create and do things in uh and expand your brain's capacity to handle chaos. Um, but what I like to do is while that BDNF is high, so if you're doing an intense, an intense workout or within the last the 30 minutes after is like a podcast like this, or an audio book, or something that you're wanting to learn. And when it's creating those new pathways, you'll be thinking through the problem solving of what you're trying to learn, and it will actually help that new learning stick. It's kind of fun. We should work out before our next podcast.
SPEAKER_03I think we're going to. You know what? I got the gym right over there, Alan. We've never hit it once. Well, we're gonna go in there, we're gonna put our little damn nice gym too. It is a nice gym. I actually, I mean, I use it, uh, but that interesting because I will say I've done the uh I've got I've got the treadmill, we've got the weights, and then we've got the um the steer master in there. And I I've done the high intensity ones, and I would say, you know, 20 minutes on that, you're you're walking out there going, Oh, I burned some calories, bro, and I was burned, but I wasn't thinking about this, and now I'm I'm like looking forward to going trying that out.
SPEAKER_05And then I'm like, you know, I mean, after you get a good workout, you get lathered up. I mean, you're excited, you've got good energy, and you're you I could see that you could be making better decisions. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Most people just think of like exercising puts me in a good mood, but it physiologically does change, it changes your your hormones and it changes your dynamic of how your brain is operating. So, yeah, the stairmaster or put your um treadmill at like a high incline and um you know four miles an hour or something like that, and just like get after it. Um and what he doesn't know is that my treadmill backs up.
SPEAKER_03There's a wall right behind my treadmill. Uh and there is one time. Oh yeah. Because there was one time I did exactly what he just said. I'm like, I'm like, I'm gonna put this thing way up there. I'm like, I'm gonna go, go, go. Trip, boom, bam. And the thing, guess what it doesn't do? It doesn't stop.
SPEAKER_05No, it's shoving you against the wall.
SPEAKER_04So just imagine a fat fucker sitting in the back, like, I couldn't get off it. I had to roll off of it and then turn it off. David didn't want to hear all that. Okay,
Sleep Rules Entrepreneurs Ignore
SPEAKER_04keep going.
SPEAKER_05Uh well, so the opposite of the of the high-intensity workout is sleep, getting good sleep. And entrepreneurs, I mean, Chris and I were talking about it in the green room. I mean, we've both had some sleepless nights lately. And just to say, okay, I need to sleep better because I know it's good for me doesn't necessarily work. And I'm sure Chris has tried, and well, you know, booze doesn't give you good sleep either.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, give me some more. Yeah, okay. Thanks. So, yeah, so let's talk. So, working out's good. Uh and we're talking about your four pillars. Uh, I know that's what we're we're moving through. So uh let's talk about sleep because also when you tell yourself, man, I'm not sleeping well, but I really gotta sleep well, do you sleep any better?
SPEAKER_05No, or if you wake up at three o'clock in the morning and you're thinking about that person that pissed you off, or whatever that deal that you need, or the payroll you need to make, it's kind of yeah, it's kind of hard to make yourself go back to sleep. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So two or three things that like you guys just lit up for me, and even just what you said. So, one, you got to make sure set an alarm to go to bed, not an alarm to wake up, right? Like be more consistent with your bedtime and your melatonin production and all of that stuff will actually get in better rhythm and will cause you to start to want to go to bed sooner if you start that rhythm going. Um stop eating three hours before bed, stop drinking water two hours before bed, and no screens at least an hour before bed. Yeah, that's huge. That's the hard thing for so many.
SPEAKER_03No, that's a non-starter dude. I love sports. Um, can I wear them with blue light glasses? No, I didn't work.
SPEAKER_05I mean, is there some fun reality? How about you? The I still, the late night bowl of cereal. I mean, I crave it like at 10 o'clock.
SPEAKER_03So uh I I've heard this before. And so he he he uh one thing I want to go back, gold nugget, set an alarm to go to bed. Because I do work out in the morning, so I I go lift weights in the morning and then try to keep my cardio up while I'm doing it. Um, but to get it all in, I gotta get up by 5 30 or I'm gonna miss it. So to get up at 5 30 at my age, I'm not 36, by the way. If anybody's watching on YouTube, maybe you might have figured that out. I mean, I know I look, I mean, I honestly I look really good for 72. Yeah, you really do. Thank you. Um, but so I I've started to say, man, I like especially with NBA, NHL, uh, NFL games going late at night because I love sports. You're like 10:30. I'm like, dude, if I don't get to bed, I'm not getting up. And I've actually had to go, all right, click, record, and I force myself, my own internal alarm, but I said, I'm not gonna watch the game, and I'm gonna tick put ESPN on mute, and I'll get up in the morning and I'll check it later uh after I go.
SPEAKER_05So what's the what's the uh the science behind that, the chemistry or whatever, the the the blue light, the hour before sleep?
SPEAKER_02That um, so yeah, it's it it stops the melatonin production. It creates that that blue light is basically like what we would want in the morning. It's that same like level of light that it's can it's still not allowing your body to start shutting it. It's gonna keep stimulating, and so you're still in that like operating mode where if you take that off and even the lights in your house, if you do more of like a warm tone. versus the like daylight that a lot of people are using to keep things bright. Um it just flip just those lights on. So sometimes we'll turn our lights off and use lamps in order to set that tone, especially for like for our kids and stuff. And that will help bring that melatonin production up so that you can start moving in that direction.
SPEAKER_03Oh genius hack on the uh kids too how old are your kids now? Uh three and four months. Think about that one, Alan. If you would have known that shit then I was kept in the dark are a little bit older than you, David. A little bit, you know what I'm saying? Anyway, um so you just hit on something that's really good. And so uh we didn't talk earlier, but I have a remodeling and handyman company here in Atlanta. So I I talk with a lot of the trades and I just had one of the higher end builders come on my radio show and talk about circadian rhythms are being built into high-end homes for uh wellness lifestyles. And I that's basically what you're saying is that our bodies get in a rhythm and you need to bring your rhythm down at night to be able to knock yourself back down. Interesting.
SPEAKER_02And consistency is key. Like don't so many of us want to sleep in on the weekends or stay out late on the weekends and it takes like days or weeks to reset that once you throw it off. So whatever time you like to get up during the week if you can if you can just keep it consistent Saturday and Sunday also and it will be so much easier rather than Monday morning feeling like oh we're back at it.
SPEAKER_05So people who travel are screwed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah what are some travel hacks because um I used to travel for a living before I started this biz and um I would say now when I travel I am wiped out when I come back because I went out to Arizona for a conference I came back it took me like three days to get back on normal time and I was sluggish and I was like man what am I doing wrong? Well you're old uh and you did drink a lot while you're out there but anyway back to you David how do you do that?
SPEAKER_02Travel stay as consistent as you can during the traveling right if you normally get up at a certain time and work out try to fit that into whatever the scheduling is but at the same time like give yourself grace like there's there's the one off things and and maybe you travel a lot. So it's something it's building a rhythm that works for you in that that you can keep as consistent as possible on both sides. My system and my timing for my life with the season of life that I'm in with kids and my business and stuff like it's totally different than anything you're gonna need and anybody else is going to need so taking the concepts and building it in a way that you can give yourself grace on and that works for you.
SPEAKER_05So yeah you're gonna need that with a four month old but come on do you have any throws of it brought tricks for the waking up in the middle of the night worrying about your business getting back to sleep and having to take a pee.
SPEAKER_02Right at the role guys the water no water two hours before helps with the P I keep a notepad right and I try to offload everything I can before I go to bed. But if I wake up in the middle of the night and I'll start going through those things and I'm problem solving and then I think I I'll remember that in the morning and I'll go you know and I can go no I don't like it's that's false. Like you're not gonna remember we all know that. And so I I just have a notepad or I can if I have to my phone and I just brain dump as much as I can in that moment. And it's amazing how quick then I'm not worried about it anymore. I know my notes are there, my thoughts are there, I'll handle it in the morning I'm back up.
SPEAKER_05So I I actually believe that would really work and I've never done that before because the well because the the flip side of that the positive your brain is working on stuff all night long. And so like if I have to give a a speech I know now because I'm so old and I've done it a million times I'm not ready for you know I've I've worked on it it's just not feeling right and I know I go to sleep my brain's going to keep working on it and I swear to God I wake up in the morning the day I have to deliver the speech and I'm like I got it. And it's just because I've been processing it all night long. But if it's a neg if it's a negative thing it it eats at you all night long because you're whether or not your eyes are open or closed your brain's still chewing on it. So I like this idea of trying to dump it onto a piece of paper. I've never tried that I've heard it before or you know voice memo on your phone or something no blue light.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I uh I like the idea I tried it a couple times I have done it and I reread some of the stuff that I uh voice memoed uh and I thought that was entertaining uh it's entertaining guys my my dreams are a little effed up if you know what I mean uh and you're like did it what do what Chris what were you thinking and I I remember thinking this is a genius idea the next morning I'm like that's not even implementable I mean it's not even close I'm like what were you thinking? I'm like okay well all right keep thinking no I I think you're right uh and Alan you hit on something I use all the time in my uh in my business when I because I bring in a lot of I've got you know 32 employees and uh we bring on handy men and when I train them in culture training when they first start with us uh I said listen here's the good thing I'm gonna pour into you guys today here's the bad thing science says that you're only gonna remember 7% of what I said 38% of how I said it and 55% of the way you felt when I was saying it or my interactions because they were scared. Well no that's just the that's the science behind all of it. I said the other part of our science and and I'm gonna put this out there is that adult fully a fully formed adult brain needs one full sleep cycle to comprehend what you just learned today. So tomorrow morning here's the good news guys you're gonna say oh I get what Chris was saying he's a genius is that that's exactly what they say no they don't uh clearly we had training this morning no um but you know that's the kind of stuff we talk about that sleep is underrated and you have to protect that with all your life I mean I think that's the one thing we all miss is that there's one thing you've got to protect you were mentioning brain fog at the start of the show right and I'm um yeah sleep is it's not like if you can do it right uh uh and consistency sleep like you said Alan is it's when your brain can actually build um and so it's building and and processing those things that you haven't quite wrapped up yet.
SPEAKER_02It's always going to be doing that. But it also is the time when the trash man comes right it's that's when it cleans out all the junk. When you're asleep is when any of the cortisol and everything that was cleared while you were working out is now actually like if you just imagine it like while you're working out there's got like some the janitor is throwing it all in the trash bags and at night the trash man comes and hauls the bags away. If you don't get enough sleep the janitor even if you're working out the janitor is just throwing the stuff in the trash bags but now the trash bags are piling up and then they're starting to stink and flies are coming and it's like oh well crap.
SPEAKER_03That kind of worked but not really um so it's a that's a gold nuggets I think right there Alan I think that's when guys if you're listening to this and a lot of people listen to the podcast when they're sitting in the car or driving around in the car doing your thing maybe you listen to us on a walk doing this thing. You know, go out there and put that mental image in there and then when it happens here's what I want you to do. When you wake up in the middle of the night and you saw the trash man taking your shit out I want you guys to email me Chris at the trustedtoolbox.com and say hey Chris the garbage man just took it out and I'm gonna go hey brother I think it just happened to me too so I'm pumped because that's the mental image I'm going to bed with tonight and I'm getting the notepad and I'm leaving it right next to my bed. Are you really I am I'm gonna try it I think you are I'm gonna share since I think I'm gonna serious I'm gonna share I am seriously going to do it 100%. And then I'm gonna share some of the thoughts in the middle of the night oh that would be a good podcast right there. No it Chris great ideas in the middle of the totally incomprehensible I have some of them still in my phone.
SPEAKER_02I love them it's what I really what I really want to see is the sketch artist version drawing of the trash man that you get so that's what I want to see on the notepad.
SPEAKER_05And David wants to see a sketch of the trash man all right let's talk let's talk nutrition all
Nutrition Timing For Better Leadership
SPEAKER_05right the third pillar nutrition Chris had a had a chick fil a and a couple of cups of coffee that sounds like jet fuel to me.
SPEAKER_03And we're doing this podcast at five o'clock eastern at night ask me what I've had since then what have you had since then water really that's it is that normal I've been on the water Dr.
SPEAKER_01Pepper.
SPEAKER_03Nope no yeah no actually I've had to cut out uh pop um pop that's such a Midwest it was such come on David what do you call it I don't even know I I go back and forth pop's uh whatever don't be so snobbish we're in Atlanta everybody calls it Coca-Cola here i thought i thought I knew you're Pepsi guy but I haven't drinked but I but I have get it in now uh this podcast is over yep we just had a holy war right there a great day David I really David really appreciate you good luck with that buddy uh good you sleep on that because Pepsi sucks Coca-Cola forever we're in Atlanta bro that's where you know where Pepsi's made it's gotta be New Jersey uh that's okay RC with peanuts in it you know that's a Temp C thing that's a Tennessee thing um where is Pepsi made or where is it founded?
SPEAKER_05That's gotta be some cesspool in New Jersey like in the industrial armpit of New Jersey I do know uh Dr.
SPEAKER_03Pepper Waco Texas where my son's at and I could segue really hard right now because I have to kind of actually look at my phone to see if my lawyer son got his uh his FedExed passport to him so he can stay employed. That's a whole different story.
SPEAKER_05There's something for the trash man to take out tonight. Trash man's taking that sucker right the run out of here.
SPEAKER_03All right let's go to nutrition so uh let's talk about uh you said something before we got started give us the fourth pillar or the third pillar right now of nutrition yeah so uh I'm not gonna bore you with the same details that everybody else is going to talk about around what you need to eat.
SPEAKER_02Yes you need to eat as as clean and um natural as you can right we don't want a bunch of processed stuff blah blah blah um but for me fried cheese curds that is fried cheese curds on that list what a burger fried uh chick fil A again what a burger in and out no burger yeah not not so not clean so we're not gonna go with that guys everybody knows what clean is go look it up we've all know that plenty of vegan options out there you can go veg all you want go ahead all right let's hit it with the real thing what is it yeah it's it's for me it's more when you eat right so if you if you're looking at a vehicle if you're driving a Ferrari yeah it's probably not the best to put like you know whatever 85 octane fuel in it you want premium fuel right but at the same time if if you're about out of gas you really don't care what it is you need gas in that thing to get otherwise you're sitting on the side of the highway with a really nice fast car that won't go anywhere. So um when you are looking at what are by the important tasks, what are the things I need to do on a regular basis in my day building the way that you eat around that versus what most of us do and what I did for years was I need to go get this done and so I'm gonna go get it done and then I'll reward myself with food when I have time. And so then I was short tempered I was not a great problem solver. I was just a bulldozer or a bowl in a china closet like I could get crap done but my team really didn't love it. Because I was just like and my brain my brain was not burning right my blood sugar was low. I was just cranky um and that would happen a lot so I can't identify with that at all.
SPEAKER_05Yeah it doesn't sound like you at all so are you telling Chris he needs to actually scout yes I might be a little temperamental. So he needs to schedule his food along with his nightnight time.
SPEAKER_02Yep and I just the easy way for me to do it I used to not eat much breakfast I just have a cup of coffee and then I was out and um I might have lunch but I I like I said I would reward myself once I got this done then we'll have lunch and this was maybe like two o'clock so I didn't eat anything if anything before 7 a.m I definitely didn't have anything else until one or two and then I would just like pound it for dinner. I would just whatever I needed to replace because I was just so freaking hungry.
SPEAKER_03Um so I flipped that and I made sure that I ate at least 40% of my calories before 10 a.m and I'm not gonna tell you like what they need to be but like if you're eating a 2000 calorie diet try to eat at least 700 calories um or not 600 calories or so by 10 a.m and then if you can do lunch the same and then dinner 20 how many calories in a bloody marry hey Siri how many calories in a Chick fil A chicken biscuit you look that up Alan how many how many calories in a uh Bloody Mary because when we golf on the weekend 350 you can have two of them yeah baby you know what I didn't even eat the whole thing I actually uh took off the top of the biscuit and just ate the bottom and the chicken how about that hey Siri how many calories in a bloody Mary so Alan's doing some fact checking for everybody on food. So use chat BPP for 40% of your calories now how many percent of the calories before 10? 40 I try to do a 40 40 20 split on my meals. So you can have a lot of bloody marys before you get we start playing golf more in the morning I think so you drink bloody marys in the morning nobody thinks you're a drunk you bring out a six pack it's like a salad in the glass right so uh with all seriousness again back to the right foods and the right timing I think you're right because um when you're stroking and working really hard as an entrepreneur I I uh in fact one of my guys prides himself on this too we're not lunch guys like when we're out doing estimates and we're training new estimators we're like guys we don't do lunch we do because we'll stop and do some training and then grab some lunch um but uh but you're right I think uh that really does the thing and then the reward part gets really good because how about that Chris didn't have lunch so that means I get an extra thousand calories so on my three thousand calorie diet because I'm in the uh hiking up a mountain because I'm gonna do a lot of exercise that means I can really pound two double cheeseburgers at surprise and I'll be full of it maybe I think your definition of reward is different probably is as long as that's three hours before bed minimum then you're good. All right I think you're right the timing on this all right it's all timing. Alan we gotta hurry up and get this thing over because I gotta go I gotta go uh triple get a triple cheeseburger for Burger King. God you know what I just said I had not been to Burger King I can't even tell you when before COVID at least uh because I did a uh impossible burger burger king paste off just to see what the difference I just wanted to see what they're like but uh I haven't been there but their advertising is coming back so hard on TV that I just said that so they got me advertising works well good all right let's talk about the fourth pillar what's your fourth pillar to getting better as a head case or yeah recovery methods
Recovery Tools Prayer And Breathwork
SPEAKER_03um and that's gonna be a little bit different for everybody so for me it's prayer quiet time maybe some breath work um whatever your stress recovery method is um and a lot of times like yoga or breath work is pretty popular um breath work's kind of the sneaky one I used to think it was kind of woo-woo and like okay yeah breath work like whatever it's really woo-woo the science of it with if you do some deep diaphragmatic breathing it puts pressure on your vagus nerve which sends a signal to your brain like hey calm down um so you do even like in a really stressful moment you know they say take that deep breath and then like at the top of the breath like that little bit extra and then hold it and then breathe out for like six seconds. I know I had a vegan no dude when he said that he was speaking right to me I didn't he was I was like oh my god vegas nerve did he give me the he's give me the he gave me the bigger boy baby let's go everybody I got the he you know what David is speaking right to you everybody because you are the Vegas nerve too Chris just admits it for you don't worry about it it's all good so when do you do this in your schedule?
SPEAKER_02Um so it's when I can't I mean it doesn't have to be consistent for me when I have a downtime I will take uh you know 10 minutes it's not a lot it's just 10 minutes of strategic and there's a couple of different sources I've used um even some guys on YouTube that have some great like whim off and a couple other guys that are just that's what they do is breath work. And what does that do? It's what the pressure on the Vegas mirror kind of resets your stress response. So it's just kind of a quick signal but in that it does it brings down your heart rate um and it just takes everything and levels it out.
SPEAKER_03Hey Alan try it out because I just did I'm in my flow state. Try it now come on man do it this is me calm by the way David uh so uh you're you're you actually hit three techniques that are good because if you're not a faith-based guy uh when people say prayer um uh and you're not you're gonna roll your eyes if you are a faith-based guy you're gonna go okay I get what he's saying so if you're not breath right go out there and do that I remember going to a conference and uh guy got up and he talked about having um he basically um had a heart attack at the at his job he was an entrepreneur and uh coming out of it one of the things they trained him to do was take 15 minutes in the morning and meditate and do breath work and that 15 minutes saved him from what was a small heart attack but was setting him up for a large heart attack and he was talking and at that point he was in his uh 70s and that had happened in his 40s pretty interesting he does that every day takes 10 minutes and he he used that same line you may be faith based I happen to be if you're not listen to me and just taking that 10 minutes in the morning and I would tell you I did it for at least three days and it really worked for me. That's really good it was a big day big day big three days almost became a hell but when David brought that up I think that's a great point um is to find that time and you didn't take a lot of time to do it.
SPEAKER_02You're talking about 10 minutes man 10 15 yeah come on you can do that so okay so in in your 10 or 15 minutes you know some of it's prayer how much of that is breath work all of it I mean I'm I'm I'm doing like different different levels of breath work through the whole time um and when you say when I say prayer like a lot of people think prayer and it's like you're just talking to God the whole time but majority of my prayer time is trying to silence everything. So what most people would call meditation right just trying to clear your mind and think it's yeah like it's hard to hear somebody talking to you if you're talking the whole time right so um I try to let's just see how Chris shut up assimilates that I didn't hear what you said anyway please I'm fine.
SPEAKER_03All right back to narcissism what head cases what uh I love this no the guys this is great so let's uh just recap real quick uh because I would a I got a question for David so number one pillar government government number two sleep number three nutrition timing timing not nutrition people four uh recovery methods good job david passed the test good he does
Finding Flow State And Power Naps
SPEAKER_03his own shit that's awesome you gotta own it woo thank god one of the questions that I have for you David and I want to talk about this before we run out of time is uh I'm in a mastermind group uh I know you you're probably a big fan of them as well I saw that in the bio and one of the things we talked about in the mastermind group is when is the best time to think to do that real critical thinking you've been in so many businesses started them exited some you know moved out you know done your thing when is the best time to get in that flow state man I'm gonna give you a good question on this this is good all right it is a good question because because I I want to hear how he gets there because then I'm gonna tell him where I have a problem.
SPEAKER_02So that flow state it does where is that circle back it's coming back don't worry it's coming back all right what I like to do is early morning you know between five and six um right now in the season I'm in uh and I'm I mean I get it I usually wake up actually I'll tell you I wake up every single day at 404 it's been the weirdest thing for a long time my alarm set for 4 30 I wake up at 4 04 and I'm like really I got 26 minutes what is this what time do you go what time do you go to bed? Uh nine no fair okay which is also like I say nine but bedtime starts with my kids at like 745 and so it's it's I do miss those days uh when they were young like that uh you would come home and say yeah I'll put them down yeah I'll go up there read a story daddy's out yeah no you're right that can shut you down quick that is cool but so I like to do it early morning yeah early morning so that's when you think you're in your flow state that's when you get your best thing that's what I do best I know some people are like I ain't getting up that early and they might do their like uh better like mid-afternoon it just depends on kind of your your style and your what your schedule's like right now five to six doesn't work for me because generally at some point like I got to get some other stuff in because my daughter's gonna get up and like it just you know I gotta I gotta be flexible with it. So I try to be as I give myself grace and I find the right time where I can block it out when I need to.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I so as I've gotten older uh actually who am I kidding even when I was your age uh and I was in corporate worlds 36 yeah I let I started my business at 37 um my mid afternoons I would always have to go and block myself out for a power nap uh and I'm a been a huge fan of those I've talked about this a lot And you can make fun of it all you want, but I set my alarm for 14 minutes. Uh so back to his 404. I not 15, 14, set the alarm, close my eyes, and dude, I could go out anywhere. I mean, I could literally sleep standing up in an airport at 404. Not then, but in the afternoon. And I found that when I wake back up, I am ready to rock and roll and I'm back in a flow state. But when I'm down uh in the afternoons now, it's been really hard for me to do that critical thinking. So I've had to find that time in the morning. And as I'm working with uh some other people, they're like, hey, when can you meet? And I'm like, man, I'm too busy. I gotta meet in the afternoon. I'm like, no, no, that's stupid. I'm said if I'm gonna really make this work, we gotta meet in the morning, man. So uh can we do that? And that's been hard because I've had to put that discipline back in, and it's I'm not doing it as well as I need to right now.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05So people get so people can reach out to you to help them uh either help like you can coach them through
Coaching Programs Where To Find David
SPEAKER_05things like this. Is that one of the things that you offer? Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um, and so whether it's if you're right now in that place where, like, like I said, burnout has crossed your mind like more than once in the last three or four weeks, and you're like thinking about the white flag, and is this really what I'm supposed to do? And I thought I was called to be more, but man, it doesn't really seem like it. Like that, um, I have my group program is called Bike It Out, and we walk through like relieving stress, anxiety, getting out of that mental state. And then beyond that, uh, we go into more of like the capacity side. Uh, and I have a group called full capacity, and that's where we really work on expanding the capacity of the brain and not just like getting out of the survival mode, but actually, hey, I want to go to the next level. And it's more of a hardware software program at that time, right? Um, you got to upgrade the hardware, your physical brain and everything, before you can really change your mindsets and your beliefs and have them stick. So it's kind of like I like analogies. Imagine running a bunch of uh AI agents that are really move moving and grooving right now on Windows 95. Like it ain't gonna work, right? It's just like you have to get your brain firing in the right way and expand that capacity to handle it before you can actually start throwing these new levels of stuff at it.
SPEAKER_03That's so funny. You'd use the Windows 95 reference is so absolutely hilarious. I'm like, dude, um I can see you flashing back. I was flashing back so hard on that. And I don't want to digress too. Yeah, I am. So I started, I actually my in middle school, I got to go uh to a camp and actually built b uh punch cards and ran them through uh computers. And then I was on the first DOS-based program.
SPEAKER_05You said built punch cards. What does that mean? Oh, are you like actually poking the holes?
SPEAKER_03We had to poke holes in the punch cards and run them through the computer to get the program to set. Yeah, but uh and then I learned to in college I ran I had to write Fortran because I was in engineering and we were the first ones to ever not have to be on a mainframe. And then yeah, so when he said Windows 95, I'm like, dude, welcome to my world. All right, so uh let's uh let's pump these uh people up. How can everybody get a hold of you so they can find it if they're driving around right now? They just gotta hear it. Let's get it in their brain so they can get it all processed tonight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh Instagram is the easiest place to follow and reach me. Um it's R David Forster. And uh the other way would be on my website, which is just the letter D and then my last name, Forrester, F-O-R-S-T-E-R.com.
SPEAKER_05All right. I gotta ask. Vacation. Do you uh do you are you one of these people that thinks that they can go on vacation and work through the vacation
Vacation Boundaries And Final Takeaways
SPEAKER_05and it's still a vacation, or do you advocate just shutting it down, delegating it to other people?
SPEAKER_02No, I would shut it down. The the business side of things, yeah. My personal habits and routines, um, I keep that as consistent as possible. And some of that does, you know, involve like checking finances, and that's just so I just stay in that that continuous loop so I don't um drop out on any of that. But as far as day-to-day operations and tasks, uh it takes me about two, maybe three days. Yeah. So I can't take like a weekend vacation. I'm more of like, if we're gonna go, it's gotta be like a full week to ten days to really enjoy it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, because the last three or four are when you finally realized you decompress. But I mean, this is so huge for people to listen to because you know, and I've always been a bit big advocate. If if uh you know, you're grinding in your business, but if you're not taking care of yourself, you're just not the best you you can be. And so to to to sleep better, to eat better, to get some exercise, you know, if you were doing all that, just think of how good of a you you can be and how good that would be for your business, Chris.
SPEAKER_03Think about that. You were doing so good until you said that last little dig. Last little don't do, don't think I didn't hear that, Alan. We're gonna delete that, Cindy. I want that out. It was subliminal. It was good though. What? I didn't actually say it, you just heard it. Battle armor up. Feeling it. I was feeling it. You guys all you guys made some great points because when you're in the soup, though, and that's why I started the the podcast with this. When you're in the soup and you're trying to figure out what's going on, it's hard. You know, we we just had another podcast uh a couple weeks ago that you guys probably heard, and maybe you didn't, you've got to go back to it. Is sometimes as a leader, you gotta step out of the jar to read the label. Sometimes when you're in the soup, you gotta get out of the soup to see what you're actually cooking, and it's not what you think it is. And taking that walk or doing that six-minute high-intensity thing, changing your nutrition, writing something down, change a habit today, man. Make it you don't have to be it doesn't have to be a wholesale change. You don't have to be some you know, some zealot that says, Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're living like this. You guys, I can't believe you're beating animals, you need to be eating vegan. Oh but stop, just do one thing, man. One thing, try it, see if it sticks, write it down, see if you did it for seven days in a row. I mean, hell, I did that breath work and meditation for I mean a solid three days. Okay, maybe two and a half, because at the five-minute mark, okay. I gotta I gotta go. I'm good, David. This has been awesome, man. Guys, this has been uh mind expanding. I think so. I think so too. This guy's got something going on. I like it. Uh, he may have a three-year and a four-month old. And I think one of the things that we're gonna all tell you, David, as people who have kids who are older, I'm gonna use the Jack Nicholas quote. Hey, Tiger's really coming on in golf. And uh man, I we think he's gonna put more wagers than you. I'm like, yeah, just wait till he has kids and we'll see how he does. Hey, kids are the best thing you could ever have done, man. And running your own business. Keep doing it. The reason we're doing this is not just to run a great business. The reason is all those other things we just talked about. Take care of you, take care of your family, get some things going, strap on that battle armor. Let's go make it happen tomorrow. Don't forget, trash man Chris at thetrustedtoolbox.com. Get that shit out of here. Let's get going. Get up that mountaintop. Let's make it happen. We gotta go. Cheers, everybody. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Small Business Department. Remember, your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in the wild world small business understanding. Until next time, make it great.
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