by Healthy Habits “Finding Your Frequency”
Interview By Jeff Spendry & Ryan Treasure (Podcast - 1/11/19)
You've been described as "the most physically and physically prepared CEO around" by Inc. magazine. What does this mean?
Around 25 years ago a senior reporter from Inc. magazine saw me fight in a martial arts tournament. His nephew got walloped by me back in New York in 1984 or 1985. He saw me wearing a suit and he said, “Why is a professional like you doing this crazy fighting stuff?”
Form follows function. Our body follows what we do and I want to do something intense to keep my edge… and I still do it. So, years later, he came back and said, “I want to follow you around and write a story, log what you do during the day.” My ex-wife looked at him and asked “What time do you wake up?” and the reporter is like, “Maybe 10 or 10:30 AM.”
My wife was like, “He wakes up at 4:45AM every day” — and you should have seen the look on his face!
So, this reporter is up at 4:45 A.M. and lugging all this camera stuff around, and I am running and jogging. At 2 P.M. we can’t find the guy. We looked around and he was in the back room snoring, totally wiped out.
So, we let him sleep for 3 to 4 hours. And when we read the article, turns out he went around and asked people about what he missed while he was still asleep. He faked it.
While he was following me around, he realized that I sat and planned the day before.
On Sunday, I plan the week. I plan what I’m going to do and where I’m going. That’s my way of controlling the distractions and noise. You have to decide where you’re going to go and what you’re going to do, otherwise you’re just going to get relegated.
That’s how “The most physically and psychically-prepared CEO around” tagline came about: he saw me as physically very prepared and organized, and mentally & timewise prepared as well.
So, this was 25 years ago?
Yeah, and if you talk to people who know me, nothing has changed. Somehow, when I was young, I figured out a routine that worked… and I never stopped.
When I was 14 years old, my mother used to complain because I’d wake up early and clank around the house at 4:45 A.M. and go for my run. She said, “You’re a nuisance! Why do you wake up this early?”
When I was 30 and I went home to visit, she was amazed and said, “The guy still does the same thing!”
And now I’m 60 and it’s still the same thing: you know exactly where I am, at any time of the day, based on my habits. It’s just healthy habits.
HEALTHY HABITS
That alone time of you in motion is like your meditation and peaceful time. How far of a distance are you running?
I found that when I ran for long distances, my lower back would start stiffening up. There’s constant thumping coming from your feet. I do a knock-down form of martial arts so I’ve got to be limber. I don’t run more than 3 miles now. I sprint mountains, I run about 3 miles on flat ground, but I spend a long time stretching and moving.
The medical community will tell you that your sacral bones are fused and they are stiff… kind of so, but I beg to differ. You can really make it move, and stretch and be limber… and it’s extremely important.
