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Main Street Reimagined Podcast
This is a podcast for dreamers, creators, developers, and entrepreneurs to learn, share, and be inspired to change your community through small business.
Main Street Reimagined Podcast
Episode 43: Self Leadership & Self Care for Entrepreneurs, Part 2 Deep Dive
After last week’s episode on self leadership and self care, we got a lot of questions and feedback, as well as a large amount of extra downloads, so it seems this topic is important and the information resonated. Luke decided to even deeper on each topic discussed last week, sharing more practical tips, personal experiences, and additional resources for further education and research. Luke admits some his habits and idiosyncrasies may be considered weird, but he shares how they have helped him keep his mind, body, and spirit in the right state to handle the demands of business, family, and personal life. Be sure to make note of the 10 books Luke recommends and add them to your reading list!
Please let us know, after listening to this episode, what resonated? How can we continue to add value to you and your business with additional topics?
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You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your team, you owe it to your family to be the best version of yourself, and nobody can do it. For you to be able to lead yourself well, to take care of yourself so that you can add into others. We have a great calling as leaders and entrepreneurs and business people to add value to our people, to our communities, to our families, and we can't do it if we're not taking care of ourselves first. So that's what this is all about. This is the Main Street Reimagined podcast, a show for people ready to turn visions into realities and ideas into businesses. Hey, I'm Luke Henry and each week I lead conversations with Main Street Dreamers who took the leap to launch a business, renovate a building or start a movement, their ideas, their mindsets and their inspirations, as well as some of the highs and lows along the way. This is a place for dreamers, creators, developers and entrepreneurs to learn, share and be inspired to change your community through small business. Enjoy the show. Hey friends, this is Luke Henry and this is the Main Street Reimagined Podcast. Thanks so much for being with me again this week.
Speaker 1:This is episode 43 and I'm really happy that you swung by to check it out. So this week I am going to be doing a continuation of the episode from last week. So if you had didn't listen to last week's episode on self leadership and self care, I invite you to press pause on this one. Go back to that one and listen to it first, because this is going to build upon that. I got a lot of really great feedback from folks reaching out saying, hey, this resonated with me, I needed to hear some of these things. Maybe I didn't want to hear some of these things, but I need to hear some of these things. Or they're asking kind of follow-up questions or asking me to share a few tactics follow-up questions, or asking me to share a few tactics and so I thought, well, if some people are asking that and this has been one of our most downloaded episodes in quite some time so I think that means that you're sharing with some friends and family members that maybe need to hear this episode. So if you haven't already shared it, I'd certainly appreciate and again invite you to do that Share last week's episode with somebody who could really learn something from some of the things that I shared, and then again, this week is going to build upon that. So I look forward to this ongoing conversation and, as always, invite your continued feedback and really appreciate hearing from you and letting me know where this is hitting, how it's resonating, if there's things I missed, if there's follow-up questions that you have and that can inform ongoing conversations. So I am looking forward to having a little more conversation about self-leadership and self-care.
Speaker 1:This is part two. We're going to go a little deeper on some of these concepts and hopefully fill in some gaps in maybe some of the information I shared or maybe get a little more tactical about how to try to incorporate these things in your life and then hang around till the end. I'm also going to share my top 10 reading list from kind of looking back in my archives the last couple, three years things I've read that have really informed, particularly these points of conversation. If you want to go deeper and listen to audio books or read hardcover books about these topics and really become a student, so I'd encourage you to hang around until then. I'll give you that list. So here we go.
Speaker 1:Last week we talked about the rain barrel analogy and hopefully that I know a lot of people told me that it did and in ways that you're finding to empty your barrel. Another way of thinking of this maybe you've heard the saying that you can't pour from an empty cup. And as leaders, as entrepreneurs, we are parents, we're leading businesses, we're working with others and in nonprofits and maybe our faith, community or wherever we're needing to show up and we want to be able to pour into others. We want to be good leaders and if we're not leading ourselves well, if we're not filling up our own cups or emptying our barrel I guess the risk of mixing metaphors here the bottom line is we're not going to be able to be effective like we want to be. And so hopefully last week's and this week's concepts are going to be what are going to help you show up the way you want.
Speaker 1:And again, I'm sharing from my own experiences, my journey that I've been on, especially over the last few years, to really level up in some of these areas, and just sharing what I've learned along the way, some places I've stumbled and where I'm trying to get back up and do better. So I'll go in the same order and just kind of add a little more commentary to the different things that I shared last week. So the first was tribe and community. We talked about how we can get involved with like-minded people and, man, I just wanted to start here again. I think that so much can be gained from this particular pillar of really trying to find people that you're able to pour into and that are able to pour into you, and I encourage you just to, if you don't have that in your life, to look around and look for opportunities to just reach out. I'll share a quick story that came to mind as I was preparing here.
Speaker 1:Just last night my daughter was playing outside and she's kind of recently taken up volleyball and we recently got new neighbors and she saw last week their daughter, who is a few years younger than her, out playing volleyball and it was both of them were sort of playing in their own backyards by themselves. Both of them were sort of playing in their own backyards by themselves and you know, we saw that happen and we encouraged her like, hey, just go over and introduce yourself and see if she wants to play volleyball with you. And so last night it kind of happened again. They were both out playing a little bit and I saw her kind of getting up the courage to go over and her mom encouraged her to just go over introduce herself and you know I'm sure she'll want to play. And she got the courage up, she ran over and they started playing and the next thing we know it's after dark and we're having to go get her from their house. She'd been there for two or three hours at that point.
Speaker 1:And she comes back in the house and she's like, yeah, she told me that she wanted to play, but she was too nervous to come and ask me. And I told her I was nervous to come and ask her. But then we did and we had a great time and she just went on and on about all the different things that they talked about and that they had in common and and and it just reminded me of this conversation of just finding our tribe and community and that's how a lot of us are we're playing in our own backyards, we're trying to do things alone that would be a lot easier to do in community and we're just a little too nervous to reach out or to step into a group that we don't know anyone, or to get uncomfortable to join a mastermind or something like that, and the relief and the joy and the energy that we could get from that is right on the other side of stepping through that fear and that little bit of anxiety to get into that room, but it could make all the difference. So I encourage you, if you see that opportunity, seize it, take it. So again, some some specific, tactical, tangible ideas to think about here.
Speaker 1:Are there industry groups or peer groups, either local or regional or national, that have to do whatever business that you're in, and I know that there's a lot of. I mean. There are industry groups, peer groups, trade associations, for everything, and most of them have opportunities for you to get into. Small groups share challenges, successes, share the emotions of it, the tactics of running a business and all of those different pieces, and I encourage you to get into those. I encourage you to find a balance of both local and maybe regional or national things, because here's what happens there are certain things that are really best done locally, and something great about local is that you can show up in person.
Speaker 1:There's nothing that replaces in-person gatherings and you can have that community. You can do it with regularity. You might be able to get together every week, two weeks, once a month, and it's not a stretch because you're not having to drive or fly somewhere long distances away. You're not having to do it over Zoom, and so you're able to have that local presence and be able to be in person and also maybe deal with specific local issues. And then there's also a benefit to being in groups that are with people from farther away. Um, for, for one thing, uh, sometimes you feel like things only happen like this in my community. Well, it's only like this here.
Speaker 1:This is a unique challenge that I have, and oftentimes when you get out of your own environment, you find out that other people in other areas or even other industries are having the exact same issue as what you are, and it's really comforting and maybe they can share some strategies that they've used to overcome certain issues or challenges and you're able to just share at that level. There's no risk in some of those cases because you're not direct competitors, so you don't have to worry about, you know, sharing some trade secret that's going to get back around. You know if you're in a small town and so and so, no, so and so, and you're worried about them sharing your, your private information or personal thing that you share, or just your again kind of trade secret. You don't have to worry about that when you're dealing with people that aren't your competitors and they're states away, and so that can have a real benefit. So just having different perspectives from different areas sometimes trends are different in different areas and if you're in a smaller town, maybe associating with people that are in bigger cities can help you see trends that are coming that just haven't made their way to your area and you can be on the front end of that kind of change or bringing that type of new thing to your business or your community. So there's just a ton of benefits from having both local and regional or national relationships and being part of those communities.
Speaker 1:Taking a step further, people were asking me like what? You know what? What are you involved with anyway? And I've done, again, a lot of different industry associations based on some of the different businesses, businesses that I've had over the years. But then there's a few groups that I'm in currently that have been really transformational for me and they're not industry specific and they are large and so so the first is EO or Entrepreneurs Organization. I happen to be involved in the Columbus chapter, so I have. It has a local presence. There's about 100 members there that I'm able to have face-to-face interactions, go to events, and then we're further kind of divided down into what we call forums, which is like seven or eight people where we meet monthly and we're really doing life together.
Speaker 1:I mean, yes, we're talking about business concepts, but we're also talking about parenting, we're talking about dealing with tough situations with team members or with vendors, or with cash flow or with changes that we're looking to make and are not sure exactly how to communicate them and some of those sorts of things, and so that's super helpful. But then it's part of actually EO Global, which is a worldwide organization and then further broken into different regions of the United States and then the then of the world, and so there's just tons of different ways that you can get involved with specific industry types that are global, or just all different ways that you can meet people and have community and just really learn about business but also do life with people that are shouldering a lot of the same weights and challenges that you are. Another that I'm involved with is called GoBundance, and that is an organization that is also national and it has certain entry requirements and everything but is a lot of entrepreneurs, real estate investors, people that are doing big things and there's some really heavy hitters and some really impressive people, smart people, successful people that are involved in that group that I've been able to learn from, and that's one of the things is that these mastermind groups are not typically inexpensive to be involved with, and there's some that are hundreds of dollars to be involved with. There's some some that you know are hundreds of dollars to be involved with. There's some that are tens and tens of thousands of dollars to be involved with and everything in between.
Speaker 1:But what they do is they get you involved with people that are interested in growing, in getting better, in really mastering what they're doing, and oftentimes they're really interested in, like, all different areas of life and not just being good in business or successful financially, but they're really looking at being, for example, in GoBundance. There's seven pillars and they're not just financial, and so health is a pillar, family is a pillar, relationships. So having those other areas where you're learning from people that are excelling in those areas is so important. It's been so valuable for me, is so important, has been so valuable for me, and just nothing is going to level you up more than being with people who are smarter than you, more successful than you. To me that has just it has raised my view. And so, if I was looking and thinking that this was possible, I get around people that are doing 2, 3, 10x that and I think, oh, wow, okay, there's more, that's possible. I get around people that are doing two, three, 10, x, that and I think, oh, wow, okay, there's more, that's possible. And so it just raises my viewpoint, my mindset and my vision that I can see broader, bigger, and it really has helped me to think differently, to think bigger, helped me to think differently, to think bigger and to do better, and so that's invaluable in my life and so it's been a big time investment for me. And so, again, I say investment.
Speaker 1:As business owners, we are often looking at things in terms of return on investment, and some people might say, well, I'm not going to like spend money to go and, you know, be in a mastermind or go, you know, just be part of a group and talk to other people. But when you look at it from the standpoint of investing and the return on investment that that has given, I mean me to be involved in things financially, in things financially, relationally, spiritually, you know, with my health. I mean just all different areas where I've gotten to level up by being around people that are really excelling in those areas again has just been invaluable and has brought a ton of return on that investment to my life, so highly encourage. And those are some very specific things and some ways that I've, in particular, have taken advantage of opportunities with tribe and community. So up next sorry I had to take a little drink is sleep, so got a lot of questions on this and so going to share some additional info here and a couple of things that I didn't necessarily mention that I wish I would have, and then also going a little deeper on some things.
Speaker 1:So first is with tracking. People say, you know, is Aura Ring the only way that you can track? No, there's lots of other options. I've seen some different like third party testing. Aura tends to be like the best, or one or two on all the tests that I've seen. So for me, you know, if other things are held equal costs are similar and so forth. I'm going to go with what I'm seeing is giving the best, most accurate results, and I've seen that.
Speaker 1:But some people are like I don't want to wear a ring. What are other options? Ok, smart watches are an option and you may already have one that has some functionality built in. Maybe it's not perfect, but it's a whole heck of a lot better than doing nothing, so you could start there. There's also the whoop band that I know some people that use and it is also pretty accurate. There are some other like rings coming on the market and I think that we're just going to continue to see more and more technology this way. So kind of stay tuned. But I've been, as I mentioned, really happy with my Oura Ring. They continue to come out with new features and tracking things on the software side, so the app is really robust and shows a lot of information and can actually track things. It'll tell me that it senses that I might be getting sick before I actually get sick, so just things like that that are really fascinating as you start to dig in and use this information.
Speaker 1:So, as far as sleep itself, some other things that I wanted to go a little deeper on One is I didn't mention just consistency. I mentioned that I was working with a sleep coach basically for a period of time and one thing that she really impressed upon me was just the importance of consistency. Your body needs that consistent sleep-wake cycle. So even if you're sleeping seven and a half hours a night, but one night it's from 10 to 5.30, and the next night it's from 12.30 to 8 am, and then the next night it's 8 pm to 3.30 am or whatever, that's not going to be the same as getting seven and a half hours consistently. That's 10.30 to six consistently, give or take a half an hour. Your body wants that consistency, needs that consistency. And even on the weekends, yeah, maybe okay to sleep an extra half hour hour to try to make up if you've got a little bit of sleep debt. Half hour hour to try to make up if you've got a little bit of sleep debt. You had a couple of, you know, rougher nights or whatever. But you don't want to sleep in three extra hours on the weekend and then you can't go to sleep at a good time that night and it throws everything off and then it takes you till the middle of the next week, kind of get back in track, and then you throw it off again. So consistency is also really key. And I saw that for me specifically and when I started to make that change, even if I was getting a little less sleep by not sleeping in as long on the weekends. Finding that consistency ended up just getting me into a much better place.
Speaker 1:People asked about you know my spouse is cold and they will let me keep the room as cold as I would like. You know possible solutions there a fan maybe that blows just on you if you're the hot-blooded one, the hot blooded one. If the room can be colder overall, you know another maybe supplemental air conditioning that just cools your particular bedroom If you don't want to cool the whole house to that temperature every night. There's also a couple of things. Again, these are kind of my wish list. I haven't pulled the trigger on one of these. Again, they're kind of expensive, but either 8Sleep or ChiliPad.
Speaker 1:So these are like a pad that goes on top of your mattress, that has cooling lines running through it and it actually will cool. It could either be for just one side of the bed or the whole thing, but it actually cools kind of from underneath. So this is super effective. You can also set it to kind of change throughout the night so you can have it follow kind of the ideal sleep cycle, where it stays or, you know, starts out fairly cool and actually gets cooler through the night. Sometimes some of us like gets cooler through the night. Sometimes some of us like get hot during the night. So it kind of gives you some extra cool during those periods and then, as it's time to get closer to waking up, it warms up a little bit so it's not so hard to get out of bed. We all know when it's really cold it's harder to get out of bed. So this kind of like warms up and so you're a little more apt to hop up and get up on time. So those are a really great solution and pretty cool too. Hopefully I'll get one of those one of these days and and can speak from firsthand experience, but I have several friends that have them and just say that they're awesome.
Speaker 1:Some other tactics in terms of making sure that your room is dark you know how dark is dark enough, how dark is dark, and what I've heard is you want it dark enough that you can wave your hand in front of your face and not see it. So I mean that's pretty, pretty dark. So things like improving your window coverings, you know, getting truly room darkening, blinds or curtains making sure that you're not getting any light coming in that way, if you need to put a towel or something up to your door. If there's a bunch of light coming in underneath closed doors that are left open, turn your digital clock around. If you still have a digital clock that's making light actually turning it around, and so it's not facing you. It might just be facing the wall or something and so you don't see it. It sounds so silly, but that actually made a really big difference for me.
Speaker 1:I know that some of these things are weird and I never profess not to be weird, so just sharing this and hopefully it helps somebody, though, I shared the 3-2-1 principle. I actually have heard an expanded version of that, which is 10-3-2-1. So I wished I would have shared that 10-3-2-1 is no caffeine 10 hours before you go to bed and again, for some of you that might be like a totally new concept, but caffeine actually has a half-life of about five hours and so five hours after you drink caffeine, half of it is still circulating through your body. So we know that if you've got caffeine in your system you're not going to get. You might be unconscious, but it doesn't mean that you're getting the highest quality sleep. So to actually try to have your last caffeine 10 hours or so before you go to bed could be a really meaningful change for somebody. So I wanted to mention that as well. And of course then the three two one is no food or alcohol three hours before, no work, two hours before, no screens one hour before. So yeah, really meaningful. Not easy to do, not easy to do, but a really meaningful change. And I've experienced that personally.
Speaker 1:When I have trouble sleeping, I just recognize that like I didn't move enough during the day. I'm not, I'm not tired enough, like physically, to get really good sleep, and so that kind of ties in with our next one movement. But just making sure that you know if you're having some trouble getting to sleep or just you know feeling tension, like maybe there needs to be more physical movement during the day, maybe that could really help you sleep better. So so yeah, moving into movement, the next one here. So some specific kind of additional detail there.
Speaker 1:I didn't necessarily mention like you know kind of what's. You know what I found or what I've read to be optimal. And that is like if we're talking, if we're trying to train our cardiovascular system, if we're trying to do strength training, really a minimum of three days a week. So exercising a minimum of three days a week for actually doing a session of whatever, that is, running, wrist walking, strength training of whatever kind at least three days a week. Now I will say that for me I have found that it's just easier to do it every day, and so I know that sounds maybe counterintuitive. Well, it seems like it'd be easier to do it three days a week than every day, but for me it's just, it's part of my routine. I just wake up at the same time every day. Exercising is basically the first thing I do for the day, and it's just easier to do it every day. I don't have to think about what day it is, I just I do something different. So different seasons. That's changed.
Speaker 1:Right now It's's like I'm kind of like just in a sort of maintenance mode. I'm not training for any like running races, so I'm uh doing strength training like four days a week, running two days a week and then having a one rest day or kind of active recovery. Even on that day I'll do like a sauna session, a little one person, sauna or walk maybe, do a little, you know, exercise, bike ride or something you know fairly easy, but still active, kind of still get the blood flowing for the day, and that way again, I just need that. I've grown to where I need it. I listened to something positive or educational during that time and it's just the way that I found I have to have to start my day in a positive way just to have all of those elements.
Speaker 1:I'll mention it at the end, but one of the books that's really informed my morning routine, that has set me up for success, is the book the Miracle Morning, and if you've not read it I highly recommend it. But a couple of the pieces there are movement or exercise, and then reading or listening, meditation. There's a whole kind of formula, but that has revolutionized my mornings and that's what just made movement part of them. That said, it's not the only movement I want to get during the day and I think that that is a really key part. Those of us that are running businesses and stuff.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I spend more time than I wish in meetings, driving or sitting at my desk on my computer and I'm not moving. And so some really practical ways of you know getting more movement in is just. You know I walk everywhere I can. You know I'm involved in downtown stuff and so I typically park my truck in the morning and people see me walking all over the place, and then I get in and leave one just in the evening. That's typically the way that my day goes when I have, when I'm working downtown, so I get a lot of walking in. I try to take the stairs, I go out of my way to get some extra steps or take the stairs an extra time or two, and again, I know that's weird, but I just feel better, I get. You know, I have a step school every day and it's fun for me and it's a way to just keep my blood flowing, keep my mind sharp and keep me energized for the day, because for me, sitting around I get sluggish and tired and I'm not at my best. So you know, and from a practical standpoint, 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day it depends on which study you read, whatever, but either of those points have shown to significantly reduce cardiovascular risk.
Speaker 1:So you know, if you're doing this for health, you want to be around a long time, you want to feel your best, you want to be at your best, just walking, just getting movement in during the day, is a really great way to do that. You say, oh, I can't, do, you know, an hour and a half in the gym in the morning or whatever? No problem, I still encourage you to do something in the morning, even if it's 20 or 30 minutes, but just get a lot of steps in during the day. Figure out a way to do that and you're already going to be a lot healthier. It probably will show with improved weight or other physical, maybe aesthetic type benefits, but it's also going to really help you from a overall health standpoint. So again, tracking my ring track steps, my Apple watch track steps, the whoop band I mentioned track steps.
Speaker 1:There's lots of other uh ways to get that in. Um, there's also a concept called exercise snacks. Uh, so it's. It's kind of what it sounds like. Uh, and that's just uh. If you can't get, you know, longer sessions in, you had to get up early and hop a flight or something. Uh, find some points during the day Maybe it's once every hour or two to do 20 air squats, do 20 pushups, do some jumping jacks, whatever, for just you know, that's like a minute or two of movement exercise, you know, gets a blood flow Like. It's amazing how that will just sharpen your mind, kind of get you back in the groove and can really help you from getting sluggish and tired and, and uh, worn out. So, uh, movement, uh, some some kind of practical ways there.
Speaker 1:Um, last thing, there is strength training. You're like, well, what do I do? There's a ton of different things out there and, depending on where you are and where you're starting so I've never strength trained before in my life there's lots of body weight stuff that you can do. It's 2025. There's some really easy ways to get to that information. Some Google searches, some YouTube searches will get you at least some basic stuff to get you going. Start building some muscle that you can then build upon.
Speaker 1:Spend a little time with chat, gpt. Talk about where you're at, what your goals are, what equipment you have to work with. Maybe it's nothing, maybe you have a chair and one 25 pound dumbbell or kettlebell or something. There's a lot that you can do with that, and so start somewhere and you can always build from there. Maybe you're a little more advanced, maybe you're ready for an in-person trainer that would help you to be more disciplined. Maybe you just need something a little more advanced and you haven't thought to engage chat, gpt or just a basic tool to help give you some ideas for some new exercises are going to work different muscles in a little different way or help you advance to the next level.
Speaker 1:I challenge you to do that. You're going to be happy that you did, not only from a mental acuity and body standpoint right now, but also your future self, from an overall health standpoint, is really, really going to thank you. And, as we talked about, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything, and so we can't sacrifice our health for our business or for other pursuits, because it's not going to be sustainable over the long term. Next, mental and emotional growth. So we talked about that. Shared some stories from my own journey on how I've really been trying to level up that way, been trying to level up that way, and here's where I'm going to just challenge you, encourage you to.
Speaker 1:If you're not a reader, if you're not reading nonfiction books, I encourage you to do that. Nothing wrong with reading fiction books, certainly better, I think, for your mind, than just watching Netflix. But also there's a lot of really great content out there that's going to make you better and I encourage you. Maybe you say, well, yeah, I do read. I read a lot of business books. This is where I might challenge you to go out. Maybe you need to read some marriage books, some parenting books, some relationship books, some other self-care books or learning about your personality the good parts and maybe the shadow side of your personality. I'm going to make some recommendations with some books here at the end, so, again, stay tuned for that. That have made a significant difference for me here. But the bottom line is that leaders are readers and I saw recently the average millionaire reads one nonfiction book a month. So if you're at that place financially and you're not reading, congratulations you made it.
Speaker 1:But I guarantee to level up. You need to level up your behaviors. If you're not there yet, there's a great way to do it tactically and make sure that you are getting better. Maybe you need a mentor in an area and maybe that's an in-person mentor. In my episode recently with Chad Hoffman, we talked about how we've taken on mentors that we've never met and those are people that are mentoring us through their books, through their podcasts, through YouTube channels where they're sharing a ton of great helpful information that we're learning from. We've never met them, but they're investing that time and putting that content out and it's really rich and they're someone who I want to be like in a certain area of life, and so I'm following them and I'm learning from them and trying to level myself up.
Speaker 1:Some advice that I heard recently that was really, really helpful is don't listen to someone who isn't excelling in the specific area where they're giving you advice or criticism. I'll say that again Don't listen to someone who isn't excelling in the specific area that they are giving advice or criticism to you. And so there's lots of people that I think they're spectacular business people, but I look at their marriage or romantic relationships, and they've been divorced six times. I'm not going to take marriage advice from them, and so I might really be in tune with their business advice, but if I hear them saying something about relationships, I'm probably going to disregard it, and vice versa. There are some people that are spectacular in their relationship. I really aspire to be like them, but maybe they're not an entrepreneur, so maybe I'm not going to listen if they tell me that they don't think that my next business idea is going to be viable, because they've never stepped out and taken a risk like that. So you've got to really be careful about not only who you're listening to, but what specific advice that you're getting from them, and making sure that the fruit that they're bearing is what you want your life to be like, and making sure that you're listening to their advice or criticism, accordingly.
Speaker 1:Next thing that we talked about was food. So we talked about an 80-20 rule or an 90-10. Uh, eating healthy versus, you know, maybe uh, loosening a little bit for a meal or two a week to to enjoy, um, a meal with friends or a special event or or something like that celebration. Um, but, uh, I don't know that. I did a really great job of defining like. Well, what do I mean by, you know, healthy meals? What is what? Is that 80 or 90% really supposed to look like? And so, again, I'll share some advice I've gotten with with reading and working with coaches in this way and everything.
Speaker 1:So one of the things is that we want to focus on whole foods, and there's a few different reasons here. First of all is that those whole foods are going to be so much more nutritious. They're going to have the micronutrients and fiber and those elements that are really important and that are lacking in highly processed foods, and we want to avoid highly processed foods. Processed foods. This is anything that's made in a factory, think Oreos, cereal, even things like bread, pasta. Those are fairly highly processed, but when we eat whole foods, they're much harder to overeat. We also get all those micronutrients, minerals important building blocks for our health and so the way that we can tell if it's a whole food is did it come from the earth or did it have a mother? So if we're looking for whole foods, did it come from the earth or did it have a mother? Did it come from the earth or did it have a mother? So obviously, whole foods are things like eggs, chicken, beef, vegetables, fruits, those sorts of things. We can easily say, yes, those came from the earth or they have a mother. So those are what we're really focusing on, and that doesn't mean it has to be bland, and it doesn't mean it has to be bland, doesn't mean it has to be disgusting Like there's a little bit of time spending online to find some new recipes, whole food focused recipes that are you know, maybe we'll talk about macros here in a minute but that are achieving specific macro goals.
Speaker 1:If you're trying to do higher protein, you're trying to do lower carbs for certain meals, or whatever, really Google it. There's so much out there. There's just no excuse to eat gross things when you can eat healthy things that also really taste good. So macros so what are macros? Macros? That means the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Those are the three macronutrients. You have to have all of those things in order to stay alive and be optimally healthy. And you can get those macros through a lot of different types of diets, whether you are choosing to be vegetarian or vegan, or you want to try something you know a little more you might say fad-based with a keto diet or carnivore diet or something like that diet or something like that. But in any case, you can still get to your macronutrient goals with any of those specific types of diets. I don't use any particular diet. I shared this last time that you know.
Speaker 1:Mine is just really focusing on eating healthy and also shooting for macro goals, especially when I was, you know, doing certain things. There was a period of time I was, you know, trying to shed some fat, and so I had macro goals that aligned with that goal and that helped me. By tracking every day, I could see exactly how many grams of protein, how many grams of carbohydrates and how many grams of fat, how many grams of protein, how many grams of carbohydrates and how many grams of fat and the percentage of each that I needed for the day. And so I worked with a coach to help me get to those percentages and then I just tracked my food and I targeted that. And it's really pretty simple with the apps and everything that are out there, because they'll break it down and say, I ate an eight ounce piece of chicken, I ate half a cup of rice and I ate, you know, a cup of broccoli or whatever, and it'll calculate how many grams of all those macros and then you do that for every meal and then at the end of the day you say did I hit? You know if my goal was to be under 100 grams of this? Did I make it or not? So that's a really important thing to know is macros and how to track those, and there's some of the apps can help you determine your macro target. Again, you can spend some time talking to ChatGPT, probably get some new insights around that If you're not in the place where you're comfortable starting with a coach until you kind of get a baseline or maybe you really want to coach because they're not only going to help you with the tactics of how many grams of this and that, but they're also going to help you be accountable. They're going to encourage you, they're going to answer lots of your questions. So there's lots of different ways you can get there, but I just encourage you to get there.
Speaker 1:Another really important tactic that has helped some people that I know close to me is that if you've got to start somewhere, just change breakfast. A lot of people either don't eat breakfast or they eat a really crappy breakfast and it doesn't set them up for success. So the things that we as Americans tend to think of as kind of quote breakfast foods donuts, pastries, cereal, toast, granola, like any of that those are really not very good building blocks at all for starting the day off right. We want to prioritize protein in general, but especially for breakfast. We're going to be fuller, going to just start the day off a lot better. So most people would be well served to prioritize protein at breakfast. And even if you just change breakfast, maybe that's a smoothie. That's what we do in our house. It's really easy, tastes really good, gets things started outright, can really dial in different macros easily with that by throwing in a few. You know, if I need some carbohydrates because I'm running a lot that day, I throw a little bit of sweet potatoes in there, or some blueberries, a banana, whatever. If I'm, you know, trying to be more protein forward, obviously there's protein powder, whey protein or whatever that can be used. Or maybe we want to do eggs or whatever. But just changing breakfast can sometimes really make a big difference. So again, some of these. I feel like I'm going deeper, but not as deep as what we could go on a lot of these conversations, but hopefully still helpful to at least get you going in the right direction.
Speaker 1:Next thing was caffeine and alcohol. The thing I thought about sharing here was just a concept from the book the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, where he talks about running a vice check. So he does this thing like once a year where he does a vice fast for 31 days and that really shows him if he's addicted to something, and I think that that's man. That's a pretty great indicator. So often we say, well, I could, you know, I could give up coffee if I needed, or the you know lots of wine at dinner, or the you know smoking, or whatever the thing is dessert, but to give it up for 30 days like really does show like if we could give it up at any time and that's a toughie but a really good indicator. Could I give it up? And if not, is there a way I can cut it back? Work towards that? Is this serving me well? Is it helping me be the best version of myself that I want to show up for my business, my family and people that are important to me? So that's what I wanted to kind of put out to give some thought to there, and it really kind of feeds into habits as well, just other habits in general. Are my habits serving me well? Are they good for me or are they not good for me?
Speaker 1:And I was reflecting a little bit on the book Atomic Habits by James Clear and he I mean, if you haven't read it, it's on my list, spoiler alert that I'm going to share but he goes deep into how we can change our habits and how we can really use our habits to help become the people that we want to be. But some you know a couple little snippets from that book to share here as it relates to habits is just when, if we identify something that is not serving us and there's a habit, a bad habit that we want to change, we want to stop, then we've got to make it harder to do that thing. So if it's dessert, you can't stop yourself from eating something sweet after dinner. Can't stop yourself from eating something sweet after dinner, then either don't buy it and have it in the house at all or make it really hard to get to. You know, in the garage, on an upper shelf behind something else, and it's like you really got to want those Oreos to go out and go to that trouble. And you'll certainly think twice before you do it. And when we make it harder it's not so mindless just to reach up on the counter or in the cupboard and grab the things and the next thing you know, you look up and you've ate a whole sleeve of Oreos and you didn't even think about it.
Speaker 1:But this makes it mindful and can help us to stop those bad habits. Same goes for any other habit that we could be talking about. And then the other is if we want to start a positive habit, then make it easier. So it's just a flip of that. So if we want to stop a bad habit, make it difficult. If we want to start a good habit, make it easier. So this is something I use, that very method when I want to start working out like I and I still do this to this day again Weird, ok, I'll own it, but it's effective and it helps me be who I want to be and that is to lay out my workout clothes the night before.
Speaker 1:So before I go to bed, I think about what am I doing working out in the morning. Am I running, am I lifting? Am I going to go outside? Am I going to go to the basement? Am I? You know what am I doing? And I'll lay out those clothes. And so once I get up and get going, it's easy for me to just throw those clothes on. And now I'm dressed for the gym or for the run, and I'm already halfway there. Because I made it easy, I made it simple, I didn't have to think about it, I didn't have to. You know, have my conscious mind overrunning. I'm tired, I don't know. It kind of looks cold out today. It's like I already thought about it. I already knew last night that it was going to be 46 degrees, and so I grabbed the appropriate clothes for that. Grab the appropriate clothes for that, and so I really have no excuse, and so I'm much more likely to get outside and run if I'm already prepared for it.
Speaker 1:Time blocking so we talked about the urgent versus important matrix, and the thing I wanted to add here in terms of tactical thing that we can do is just for me, I find that I really screw up my time blocking and have the wrong priorities and focus on the wrong things when I'm not building in time in my schedule for just thinking time, and that doesn't have to necessarily be an hour where I'm just staring at the wall. Maybe that's what works for you. Sometimes that's what I need too, but sometimes that's just for me to go out on a run and instead of listening to an audio book, I just put on some music instrumental, maybe it's with words, something where I can just let my mind wander. Or I'm going to say I'm going to think about this particular thing while I'm on my run today, and the combination of being intentional about thinking about that thing, the endorphins that are going, the fresh air, the good blood flow and everything has me in the peak frame of mind to be able to think through that thing and try to solve that problem that otherwise I'd be laying in bed all night and thinking about. So how are we scheduling time to think whether it is sit and stare, doing some movement, getting out in nature, and really one of the best practices that I've kind of been hot and cold on admittedly, all of these things I've said before, not things that I've kind of been hot and cold on, admittedly, all of these things I've said before, not things that I'm perfect at, I'm trying to improve and get better every day, just the same as you all but is to schedule like a day a month to do something that's valuable, energizing that's valuable energizing or just spending the time planning, thinking about the next month's goals, the next quarter's goals. Where do I really need to be strategic? Where do I need to put my time to get the results I want? What's the difference that's going to make the difference? Not just going, going, going every day, grinding hard but not necessarily stepping back to make sure that I'm moving in the right direction, I'm providing the right strategy and vision and everything for my team so that we're all moving in the right direction. It's so important as a leader that, especially when you have people working around you, that you're taking that time away to plan, to think, to strategize, to vision and to make sure that you're articulating that to your team, and so blocking that time is so critical.
Speaker 1:So I've added some additional detail here. I hope this has been helpful. I could go deeper on these things and still would like to. Maybe I will pick some of these in the future, go a little deeper. Maybe you're somebody that I need to have some more conversation about some of these with and invite those conversations.
Speaker 1:But before I let you go, I promised you a list of top 10 books, kind of along the lines of these particular habits and behaviors and pillars of life that I've been talking about. So here they are, not in a particular order, but books that have really changed me and my mindset and my habits and my behaviors around some of these different parts. So first, the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. I mentioned that really really fantastic book. I'm having both my kids read it as they're going through their teenage years, understanding how small changes impact our lives. Really really powerful book. Anybody of any age is going to get value from this. Same thing with Atomic Habits by James Clear I mentioned that if you're looking to start or stop particular habits. There is just everything. This is a master class. You will learn a lot and I believe that you'll be better for it.
Speaker 1:Next, the book Buy Back your Time by Dan Martell Newer guy that I've started following a little bit Enjoyed this book Particularly good with some time. Blocking Also changed my thoughts on some other ways of handling particular parts of my businesses. He's really up to his content. He's sharing on YouTube and some other ways of handling particular parts of my business businesses. He's really up to his content. He's sharing on YouTube and some other channels. That way, encourage you to check him out, dan Martell. Next, the Power of One More by Ed Milet. I enjoy Ed. I listen to his podcast sometimes. He's a good thinker, he's a visionary and this book really helped me from the standpoint of just mental discipline and toughness, and so I believe you'll enjoy it as well.
Speaker 1:Next, the Road Back to you by Ian Cron. So this is a book about the Enneagram. If you're not familiar with the Enneagram, it is something you can go really deep on, and I did. I worked with Enneagram Coach for a period of time. I read this book and a couple others on Enneagram, listened to some podcasts, like really went down this road, learned a lot about myself and some people close to me, about the pros and cons of different types of personalities. Every type has a good side and then a shadow side, and this book helped me a lot in that regard and has helped me have more self-awareness and has helped through some of that mental and emotional growth that I talked about. So the Road Back to you. Next I mentioned this also Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod really helped me a lot to craft a really effective morning routine many years ago. This is a little bit older book 10 years old or something, maybe more than that and started doing this and have stuck with many of the principles pretty darn consistently through the years and it's made a really significant difference for me.
Speaker 1:Next, sleep Smarter. This is by a guy named Sean Stevenson. I think it's like 21 things that you can do to improve your sleep. I mentioned like five or six, so he goes quite a bit deeper on some other ones. Really good, if you're looking to improve your sleep, this is a really good one.
Speaker 1:Sleep Smarter Next. The Case Against Sugar. This is by a guy named Gary Taubes. Man changed really changed my mindset around some foods, the toxicity of sugar, the addictive properties of sugar. It's a little scary. I learned about big food and you know I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything like that. It's not that kind of I mean, it's scientific. You're learning about sugar, but also the realities of how much sugar is in a lot of foods that you never think about. This is, you know, another piece of food. I didn't mention this, I meant to, but is that just when you start reading labels and seeing, like, what's in food, super, super fascinating, kind of scary? But having that awareness can really change some of your behaviors and I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 1:Next one is lovable by Dr kelly flanagan, again one that helped me. Uh, my wife lindsey also went through that. We've done a lot of this work together, uh, and just learning, uh and growing from this mental and emotional standpoint. Um, it's a good one, uh, it's. It's hard, uh for a hard driving task oriented person to kind of like stop and think about feelings and and some of that stuff and past uh, things that have happened and how those have affected and and and how we mask shame or whatever in our lives. But, um, it's, it's work that needs done and, uh, some of us uh would be really, really well served and really much better off to do that work. So I encourage you to Dr Hyman is a guy that I follow again Um, you know scientific, research-based talks about different foods.
Speaker 1:If, again, if you're on one of those where you're like man, I want to eat better, I literally don't know what to do. If you want to go a little deeper than kind of the the little bit of uh that I shared during this episode, this is another good book to start with. So hopefully that's helpful to you and I just encourage you keep working on this stuff, keep getting better. You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your team, you owe it to your family to be the best version of yourself, and nobody can do it for you to be able to lead yourself well, to take care of yourself so that you can add into others. We have a great calling as leaders and entrepreneurs and business people to add value to our people, to our communities, to our families, and we can't do it if we're not taking care of ourselves first. So that's what this is all about.
Speaker 1:I hope you got a little better today and I hope that you'll share this with somebody and you'll keep growing and keep benefiting. I so believe that small businesses are the backbone of our country, of our communities, and the people that are leading them are really courageous, really important, and you're doing great work, and so I hope that you'll do it with a full cup and an empty rain barrel and that you'll share and help others get better along the way. So I will look forward to another conversation next week. Let me know what you thought of this. If you want more topics around some of this or a deeper dive on some of these, let me know.
Speaker 1:I've got some other interviews that are lining up here I'm really excited about over the next couple of months and I'm going to be bringing those to you and hopefully lots of value. So I hope to see you back here real soon on the Main Street Reimagined podcast. Thanks for listening to the Main Street Reimagined podcast. To learn more about Main Street Reimagined Henry Development Group or our work in downtown Marion, ohio, please visit MainStreetReimaginedcom If you want to connect or if you know someone who we need to interview. Shoot us an email at info at MainStreetReimaginedcom. Until next time, keep dreaming and don't be afraid to take the leap.