Because the internet is loaded with posts about how to reduce stress in one’s life, this post is going to focus on how to handle the stress you have. I thought this might be important to blog about because 1) some people can’t reduce the stress in their lives because of what they do for a living or 2) even if we are reducing stress on the front-end, it’s still useful to know how to handle it on the back-end as well. This will be a quick rambling entry that addresses some of the things I do to mitigate the constant wear and tear I’m putting on my body from 70-80 hour work weeks, sleep deficits, loads of travel, and high managerial demand. I know the many ways to reduce stress on the front-end but quite frankly, most of the ways are already in place in some fashion and / or are not realistic for my situation. So here are some of the little things I try to do:

• Inside-Out Care:
  • Exercise: I try to exercise 6 days a week with a decent balance of strength training, aerobic and metabolic fitness training. This primes the endocrine system to fight stress, keeps the metabolism high, makes sleep higher quality, and gives you an outlet for stress. Thankfully, I don’t have to go far to get in a great workout…I own Athletic Lab, a sport performance training center with all the fitness and training toys I could want.
  • Super foods: I try to consume the following in moderation every day: dark chocolate, red wine, white tea, and coffee. Likewise, I try to eat berries, oily fish, healthier nut varieties (almonds, walnuts, etc) at least a couple times a week. These are all great for reducing reducing the effects of high stress levels on the body.
  • Eat right: In addition to the super foods, I eat a high protein diet rich in vegetables, meats, and beans. I avoid process foods of all kinds and anything that is or could be white (bread, pasta, rice) for 6 days out of the week.
• Outside-In Care: While eating well, exercising and getting regular doses of so-called super foods will do the bulk of the work, make sure you take care of the outside shell too. I’m a no-fuss guy and hate to use froo-froo body wash and lotion products but I still want to take care of the shell of my body too.
  • Shaving: Shaving the face with a blade rather than an electric razor is a manly man way of exfoliating and following it up with some moisturizer for your hide will keep you looking good.
  • Moisturize: Skin is the biggest organ of the body and it subconsciously tells others a lot about our health and well-being. I’ve been using Lubriderm men’s 3-in-1 lotion because I can use it post-shave, on my face, and on my body…a plus because I don’t want to use 3 different lotions. The path of least resistance will be the path most easily adhered to.
• Physical contact: Do it anyway you want (it can be as g-rated or x-rated as you want) but there’s an increasing amount of research that suggests that humans NEED some form of physical touch (could be with a child, your spouse, or even a pet) as a means of reducing anxiety levels.
• Work: yes, I said work. If you’re not in super-busy workaholic group you can probably safely overlook this one, but those that have as much on there plates as me will appreciate that often the best way to reduce stress is to actually work. Because when you DON’T work, it’s constantly on your mind that the work you’re not doing is accumulating. Sometimes doing work is less stressful than not doing work.
• Allow yourself a little down time: I don’t get much down time but when I do I use it effectively. I sleep, I spend time with my family, I do things I really want to do. Likewise, I typically only get one half to one day a week off and I use this as a ‘cheat day’ from my otherwise very healthy diet. It makes the other days easier to adhere to and gives a foodie like me something to really look forward to.

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So I’m waiting in line at the NC DMV (actually I was…but now I’m not) to get my drivers license transferred from NY (where I haven’t lived for 2 years) to NC (where I’ve been living for a year). Everyone had told me that the NC DMVs were bad for wait times and they weren’t wrong. Anyhow, this down time is giving me the opportunity to update this blog (sorry it’s been a while). Given the circumstances, I figured it would only be fitting to write about how you can make the most of your each and every one of the 86,400 seconds in your day. Given that I have the tendency to always overload my schedule I’ve become pretty adept at jamming as much as possible in to my day. Here’s some tips that I’ve personally found useful. Note that these aren’t going to work for everyone but if you’re a hard driver like I am then consider giving some of these tips a try.

1. Multitask whenever appropriate – While recent research indicates that multitasking may actually hurt productivity I think there’s enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that multitasking is a necessary part of getting things done effectively for many people. The key here is to only multitask when it’s appropriate and with tasks that are compatible for high effectiveness. I’ve found that my ADD brain tends to operate best when there are little ‘distractions’ and if I can make these distractions things I actually need to do then it’s a win-win situation.
2. Stay up late and sleep less – Although many people in today’s society get too little sleep, many of the most productive people in history were either insomniacs, night owls or both. I’m a nightowl who can quite easily stay awake until 3 or 4 am and generally do fine with just 5.5 hours a night. If I feel tired I try to listen to my body and take a nap or get to bed early. I can only speak for myself but I find I am actually MOST productive late at night….especially at tasks involving high cognitive effort or attention. While there’s no doubt evidence regarding the pitfalls of insomnia, for many it can lead to getting more done.  Read this interesting article on why night owls make more money and are generally smarter.
3. Make eating productive – I love to eat and because of my fast metabolism I do it often. While I certainly appreciate sitting down to a leisurely meal with family and friends, a meal can also double up as an opportunity to get things done. That might mean working at your desk while you eat lunch, having a lunch or dinner meeting, or grabbing a snack while you drive somewhere.
4. Drink coffee and tea – Not only are coffee and tea great for you due to their antioxidant properties, they can also help increase productivity by increasing alertness, ability to focus, and capacity for higher level cognitive thought processing. Read this blog I wrote about the positive effects of coffee.
5. Overload your schedule – I’ve found that if I bite off more than I can chew I often find a way to chew it anyhow. By overloading my schedule I force myself to get things done. I will say that this has backfired on me at times and that trying to do everything is never a good strategy.
6. Eliminate wasted time – We’ve all got times in our day when we find ourselves standing around waiting for someone or something. This is inevitable. Instead of just letting this time go to waste use it to knock out small tasks. I’ve found if I can knock out a short call, send an email on my iPhone or jot down notes in my moleskin that I can reduce the number of seemingly small tasks that would otherwise quickly add up over the course of the day.
7. Schedule and plan ahead – Failing to plan is planning to fail. If you’ve only got so many hours in your day and you want to make the most of them take the couple minutes it takes to sort out what needs to be done and when it should be done so that you ensure you get everything done and do it in the most effective order.
8. Set hard deadlines – Deadlines mean you’re accountable for a task within a given time constraint. When you’re accountable you’re more likely to get things done. When setting deadlines make them realistic but ambitious and don’t get mushy with ‘next month’ deadlines…use hard deadlines with specific dates and times.
9. Maintain fitness – Exercise is not only great for your body but it’s great for your mind. Exercise improves our ability to focus and there is some research to indicate that it is linked to increased cognitive abilities. Taking a couple hours a week to do some vigorous exercise will really help you to relieve stress, think more clearly, and get more done.
10. Rest hard – This one’s important. If you’re going to red-line the productivity meter on a regular basis you’re going to have to stop for a tune up and refueling every now and then. When you do, do it well. Don’t half ass your R&R or you’ll return to work less productive. Avoid the temptation to ‘do a little’ or ‘get ahead’ by thinking of the time spent relaxing as an investment that will pay big productivity dividends when you resume work.

I know many will flame me for some of these suggestions (especially the first 6) but I have a rationale explanation for all of them and they work well for me. Can you think of any others that I should add to the list?

A simple phrase but one that’s really rung true for me. Right now I’m working around 80-90 hours a week off getting my training center, Athletic Lab, off the ground. So far things are going well and we’re meeting early revenue predictions even if the revenue isn’t coming from the exact places we expected. My days now start at 7 to be training or doing administrative work by 8. Training adult fitness and then the elite group takes me up until noon. Then I have the luxury of an hour and a half to 2 hour lunch break when I can go home, see the fam, and take a short nap. Then back to Athletic Lab for more training, emails and phone calls that typically don’t stop until 7. On Wednesday’s they go all the way until 10 PM because of a late night pole vault session. Somewhere in that mix I try to throw in a couple mini-workouts (I do own a gym…no excuse to be out of shape!). I try to not do any work between 7 and 10 PM but then after that I’m back at it handling correspondence trained athletes, managing marketing / social media strategy, placing inventory orders, shipping customs, answering emails, etc until 2 or 3 AM. I train people both Saturday and Sunday morning and also spend much of the weekend doing the ongoing improvements to Athletic Lab that my OCD brain requires to stay sane. By most counts that would be an excessively long work week but I love it. I get to spend more time with my family than I have in the past 3 years because I see them for lunch, they’re often in at Athletic Lab with me during the day and although I work on weekends now I have a lot more flexibility and control over my time and there’s a lot more to do in the Triangle than the last couple places we’ve lived. Also, knowing that you’re working for something you truly love to do makes the work a lot less like work and a lot more like play. Have you found that thing you love to do?

My last blog post was about how things seem to go in cycles. Well today, I had another experience of this happening. 4 months ago I moved to Cary, NC from NY (by way of a short stop in OH) with the idea that I’d be moving in to what is at the time a mega fitness facility to manage their rebranding from a failing fitness center to a high-level sport performance center. After an unexpected change of operational control of the facility that put me in a holding pattern for a long time and then seemingly nixed the entire collaboration went through I started to look to go out on my own. It had always been my original plan to open up my own stand-alone location but when the proposal for collaboration came from the mega facility four months ago it seemed like a great opportunity and I jumped at it. So when the collaboration seemingly fell through it didn’t bother me so much as knowing it had wasted my time. Well this morning, I actually had a meeting with the new management team and a potential collaboration might still be in the works. Same meetings, same location, different people. Funny how that works.

I’m not sure how this will play out and I’m moving much more cautiously this time so I don’t end up holding out for promises that will never come to fruition. The one thing I do know for certain is that I’ll be in a place come hell or high water by the middle of June. My equipment has started coming in so the only thing holding me back now is an actual physical address. I work well when dealing with deadlines and this self-imposed mid June deadline should be no different.

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So to continue where I left off yesterday, much has happened in the last month or so. First the Impact facility opportunity fell through due to a complete staff overhaul from the ground up. Then things quickly picked up as the very people who had brought me in to that deal (only to later be laid off) partnered with me and we made a whirl wind tour of every possible option in the triangle area….leasing our own facility, having one built from scratch, or moving in to an existing sport or fitness facility. All scenarios had strengths and weaknesses but one particular opportunity clearly came to the fore. We had several meetings with another huge sports complex (to go unnamed by request) in the area and the owner was VERY interested in what we were trying to do. He has a pre-existing business operating that would be very complimentary to what I am already doing and that would benefit from a high-profile, high-end training center. The problem was that the facility that he owned was already spoken for….leased out for several years. The current leaseholder wasn’t interested in giving up space (we’d asked for 10k sqft) and losing what he had developed over the past couple years so it looked like it wasn’t going to work. Instead, it seems that it may work out better than any other possibility as the owner is so interested in what we have to offer that he is researching building a new neighboring facility from the ground up to house my training center along with some complimentary medical groups (massage, ART, chiro, orthos, etc). This means that it can be ‘built to order’ and made just how I like it. The drawback is that it will take some time to build and get the medical groups at the table. The estimated time that I’ve been given is 6-9 months. I would love for it to be that short but realistically, it’s probably more like 9-18 months. So in the meantime, I know I can’t sit around doing nothing in the HOPE that it panned out. I knew I needed to find a temporary facility which is another story altogether. Ont that I’ll discuss tomorrow.