Leadership and Longevity: 8 Healthy Habits for Entrepreneurs and CEOs
As a forward-thinking CEO or entrepreneur, your health is your most valuable asset. It's not just about you—it's about the impact you can make on your community, the energy you bring to your team, and the vitality you maintain for your family. In this Executive Health & Life episode, we dive into eight common health pitfalls that can severely impact your well-being and offer practical solutions to help you avoid them. Let's explore how you can maintain optimal health and performance, ensuring you're always at the top of your game.
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1. Combat Executive Isolation
Isolation is a significant issue for many leaders. As you climb higher, you may find fewer people who truly understand your challenges. This loneliness can lead to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, which in turn affect your decision-making and leadership abilities.
Solution: Commit to building a strong support network. Seek mentorship, coaching, or advising, and engage with groups of like-minded leaders. If these options aren't available, consider creating your community to offer support and understanding.
2. Manage Unmitigated Stress
The weight of leadership decisions can lead to constant stress, which not only affects your mental health but can also manifest physically, leading to chronic conditions like hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Solution: Implement stress management techniques such as meditation and regular exercise. Delegating responsibilities and taking time to unwind with stress-relieving activities can also help you maintain mental and physical health.
3. Develop a Business Travel Strategy
Frequent travel can wreak havoc on your health, leading to poor diet, lack of exercise, and disrupted sleep patterns. Without a proper strategy, business travel can significantly impact your well-being.
Solution: Develop a comprehensive travel strategy that includes your nutrition philosophy, workout routines, and sleep schedules. Plan and anticipate what you'll do to maintain your health on the go, and think of yourself as an athlete, managing your well-being carefully.
4. Set and Respect Boundaries
Constant availability can lead to burnout and strained relationships. It's crucial to establish clear boundaries between your work and personal life.
Solution: Set and respect boundaries to ensure you have time to recharge. This includes setting work hours, taking strategic breaks, and making time for hobbies and family. More precise boundaries lead to better work-life integration and overall well-being.
5. Reduce Constant Connectivity
In today's hyper-connected world, the constant pressure to stay connected can lead to burnout and reduced effectiveness in your personal and professional life.
Solution: Unplug regularly to give your mind a break. Consider implementing a digital detox period and creating tech-free zones to reduce the impact of constant connectivity. Unplugging, especially in nature, can help you recharge and return to work with more energy.
6. Ensure Accountability
Without accountability, it's easy to let health goals slide. CEOs and entrepreneurs often prioritize business over personal health, neglecting well-being.
Solution: Have someone or a system to hold you accountable for your health goals. This could be a trainer, a health coach, a trusted friend, or a family member. Accountability makes a significant difference in maintaining healthy habits.
7. Keep Your Ego in Check
An out-of-control ego can prevent you from seeking help or admitting when overwhelmed. This can lead to taking on too much and neglecting your health.
Solution: Stay humble and recognize your limits. Be willing to seek assistance when needed and embrace a mindset of continuous learning and growth. Acknowledging that you can't do everything alone is a sign of strength, not weakness.
8. Personalize Your Health Plan
Generic health plans often don't work for CEOs and entrepreneurs with unique needs and challenges. Personalized health plans provide tailored solutions to address your specific requirements.
Solution: Opt for personalized health plans considering your specific stressors, travel schedule, genetics, lab work, and dietary preferences. Personalized health will pay dividends in your personal and professional life.
Conclusion
Avoiding these common mistakes can significantly improve your health and leadership performance. Remember, your health is your most valuable asset. Investing in it will pay off in both your personal and professional life. If you're ready to take control of your health and ensure you're performing at your best every day, don't go it alone. Reach out for a complimentary executive health meeting with us at Executive Health. Our comprehensive, bespoke approach leverages personalized, cutting-edge, data-driven solutions so you can operate with world-class health and performance.
Transcript
(0:00) The game of business is 24-7 and careers span decades, and your health is your most valuable (0:07) asset. Maintaining it isn't just about you. It's about the numerous people that you lead daily.(0:13) It's about the impact that you can make in your community. And most importantly, (0:17) it's about having the energy and vitality for those closest to you.
(0:26) Welcome to another episode of Executive Health & Life.I'm your host, Julian Hayes II, (0:30) and this is the place where we aim to help you operate with world-class health and sustain (0:35) optimal performance, and most importantly, to maximize your impact in business, community, (0:40) and family. And so today we're discussing the common mistakes that can severely impact your (0:46) health and well-being as a forward-thinking, mission-driven CEO, entrepreneur, or in general, (0:51) a business leader.
Now, as an ambitious leader, your health is your most valuable asset, (0:57) and avoiding these eight pitfalls that I'm getting ready to discuss are crucial when it comes to (1:03) sustaining your performance.It's crucial for sustaining your health over the long run. (1:07) And so let's go ahead and dive into the first one. And the first one is isolation.
So imagine (1:12) working late into the night, making tough decisions that affect the entire company (1:18) and each team member's family as well. But more often than not, you have no one to share these (1:24) concerns with. Over time, this isolation can erode your mental resilience amongst many other things.(1:32) And think of this as executive isolation. So as a CEO, as an entrepreneur, the higher you climb, (1:39) a lot of times, the more isolated that you might feel. And with fewer people who truly (1:44) understand your challenges, the sense of loneliness can become overwhelming, (1:48) and this can lead to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and many others.
(1:54) And this, in turn, can then affect your decision-making and your leadership abilities. (2:00) And in the ninth annual, this is a research study, in the ninth annual 2024 State of the (2:06) Workplace Empathy Study from Business Solver, 55% of CEOs stated that they experienced a mental (2:14) health issue in the past year. That's up 24% from 2023.And 60% of millennial CEOs are more likely (2:24) to have or experience a mental health issue such as anxiety, depression, loneliness, obsessive (2:33) compulsive disorder, or burnout.
And so here are a couple solutions when it comes to isolation. (2:42) Commit to building a strong support network.Seek mentorship. Seek coaching. Seek advising.(2:49) Start engaging. Start joining groups that can help you mitigate some of this executive isolation. (2:58) Or lastly, if none of those are an option, start to create your own community of like-minded (3:03) leaders, like-minded individuals who can start to offer support and understanding for you.
(3:09) So the second one here is unmitigated stress. (3:13) And so I want you to consider the stress of having to decide on major layoffs, (3:18) the stress of if you can make payroll, the stress of growing a startup, (3:24) the stress of navigating a financial crisis, dealing in a tough economic climate. (3:29) And so the weight of these decisions can oftentimes, as some of us probably know, (3:34) can cause some sleepless nights, can cause some irritability, can cause a nice simmering (3:40) constant state of anxiety.
Now, I often remind myself that anxiety comes with a title. Anxiety (3:48) comes with trying to go against the grain. Anxiety comes when you are doing something that's (3:56) completely different that a lot of people are not going to understand.Anxiety is part of leadership. (4:00) Anxiety is part of growth. Anxiety is often about the future.And in our positions, and a lot of you (4:07) all listening and watching later on, part of our role is to think about the future. So it's no (4:13) surprise that many of us often have anxiety that's always simmering in the background.
(4:20) And so this constant pressure to make high stake decisions, this can lead to unmitigated stress.(4:27) And this intense stress not only affects your mental health, but it can also manifest (4:34) physically, leading to chronic conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, (4:39) and numerous others. So potential solutions for this unmitigated stress. Well, number one is (4:49) to realize that you're never going to get rid of all the stress.
And you don't want to. (4:57) Stress leads to growth. Pressure leads to growth.So it's more about how can we control (5:02) the stress and not let it just get out of control. So number one is just to simply implement (5:09) some type of stress management technique such as meditation. Now, an app I use every day is (5:15) Insight Timer.I use it morning and night. And I do a session. And next, after that is (5:23) consistently and intensely exercise.And this is a great way to exfoliate some worries and (5:30) stressors. And next after that is to delegate some responsibilities that's going to help reduce (5:37) your burden.
And continuing on, taking time to unwind, taking time to practice some stress (5:45) relieving activities can help to maintain your mental and physical health.And long term, (5:51) all these things mentioned right here will improve your performance across the board (5:56) in business, community, and family. And so the third thing here is no system or strategy (6:03) for business travel. Now, picture flying across multiple time zones, eating whatever is available (6:09) at the airport, skipping workouts due to tight schedules.
Over time, this lifestyle easily is (6:15) going to lead to weight gain, fatigue, and a weakened immune system. And frequent travel (6:21) is often part of the CEO's life. It's part of the entrepreneur's life.It's part of a lot of (6:25) business leaders' life. And without a proper system, without a proper strategy, this can wreak (6:31) havoc on your health, your energy levels, and so many other areas. Poor diet, lack of exercise, (6:37) disruptive sleep patterns.These are three of many others that are an issue when you're (6:46) constantly traveling.
And not to harp on this even more, frequent travel can significantly (6:54) impact an individual's physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Business travelers had (7:01) higher claims than non-travelers for all health conditions across the board, along with a higher (7:06) likelihood of stress-related disorders.And this was reported in the Harvard Business Review. (7:14) And another one here is this was shared in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (7:20) that frequent business travel adversely affects overall body composition, leading to risk of (7:26) obesity, and various other ailments if left unmanaged, such as heart disease and diabetes.
(7:32) So a couple solutions here when it comes to business travel is to develop a travel strategy.(7:39) Develop a strategy that includes your nutrition philosophy, your workout routines, your sleep (7:47) schedules. That's going to help you maintain your health on the go. Planning ahead can make a (7:51) difference in staying healthy while traveling.Thinking of yourself as an athlete here. And what (7:58) do I mean by thinking of yourself as an athlete as you're traveling? Well, just as a professional (8:02) athlete requires careful management of their physical, their emotional, of their mental (8:07) well-being, so do business travelers. Business travel is a stressor with a high burnout rate (8:13) and decreased performance across the board.
But as you revamp your health, consider your (8:20) approach to business travel as the sports team thinks about traveling for an away game. (8:27) So the fourth one here is neglecting boundaries. So I want you to imagine working late into the (8:33) night, answering emails during a family dinner, never taking a vacation, missing some weddings, (8:40) missing some birthday parties, which is fine in my deal, but I don't want to sound like a scrooge, (8:45) but missing a lot of other things as well.This lack of boundaries, for some, can lead to chronic (8:53) stress, can lead to straining relationships. That's a big one. And obviously can lead to (8:59) decreased productivity.And neglecting boundaries between your work, between your personal life, (9:06) leads to burnout, typically. CEOs, entrepreneurs, business leaders, they often feel the need to (9:15) constantly be available. And this can prevent you from recharging.This can prevent you from (9:22) enjoying personal time. So some of the solutions here, these are some of the things that I do (9:28) myself or some that I'm actually continuing to work on, because it's always a process of (9:35) continual refinement. So as a philosophical thing, it's important to set and respect (9:44) boundaries to ensure that you have time to recharge.It's important to set and respect (9:50) boundaries and enforce those with the people around you, even if they get mad sometimes.
(9:57) And they probably will. So this includes setting work hours, taking regular breaks, or I should say (10:06) taking strategic breaks and making time for important hobbies, making time for family, (10:12) making time for things that are most important to you.So go ahead and put those on the calendar (10:16) and keep those on there. When you have clearer boundaries, this can lead to a better work-life (10:23) integration. This can lead to a better overall well-being for yourself.(10:29) Hobbies lead to you being a more reliable, innovative, and effective leader. I know a lot (10:35) of times we don't think about that. But it's actually true.You can look at things such as (10:40) improv, learning a language. These are things that on the surface seem like it's a frivolous activity. (10:47) Some of the top CEOs have taken time out of their day to go to improv classes.
Some of the top CEOs (10:55) are learning a language. Now some of it's for business. But on another thing, learning a language (11:00) is enjoyment.Learning a language can help you immerse in culture. Learning a language can help (11:07) with brain development and continual refinement of your brain as you get older. (11:11) And if you're interested in that, I recorded an episode on the benefits mental health-wise when (11:17) it comes to learning a language.Now passion outside of work matters. It most definitely (11:23) matters. So number five here is constant connectivity.So in this hyper-connected (11:28) modern business world, it takes a toll on our health. It's hard not to let it do that. (11:35) And constantly checking your phone for work messages, even during personal time.
This (11:39) constant connectivity leads to burnout, can reduce your effectiveness in both your personal (11:45) and your professional life again. And one of the most damaging effects of this hyper-connectivity (11:52) that we have in this world now is something called attention residue. And I first heard about this (11:56) term reading Calhoun Port's book, Deep Work.And this is the cognitive cost that's accumulated (12:01) when you're shifting from one task to another. And this being constantly connected through emails, (12:07) through calls, through messages, this leads to mental exhaustion. The pressure to always be (12:13) available can prevent you from fully disconnecting, from fully truly recharging.
Now a Stress in (12:20) America report by the American Psychological Association reveals that one in five Americans (12:25) cite technology as a significant source of stress, with levels that are escalating as technology use (12:33) increases. So one of the solutions here is to simply unplug regularly to give your mind a (12:41) break. I know that's hard.And then a double bonus, unplug while out in nature. One of the (12:50) things that I'm doing more of now is taking a weekly walk, just out in nature. It's still (12:57) for me a workout, but it's also a way for me to get away from the sounds of the city, from just (13:05) people in general, and just to really get out there in nature and really think.
(13:10) And going back to this connectivity, consider implementing a digital detox period. (13:16) Creating a tech-free zone to reduce your impact of constant connectivity. Now this is going to (13:22) help you recharge.This is going to help you return to work with more energy. And more talk (13:29) on digital detoxes. These offer solace from the virtual world.This allows you to recharge. This (13:37) allows you to reinvest in your most important relationships. And research from the International (13:44) Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health indicates that unplugging from social (13:50) media for as little as one week can enhance mental well-being and cultivate and lead to greater (13:58) social connectedness.Taking back control over your technology can start with keeping devices (14:05) out of your bedroom, prioritizing technology-free zones when you're eating, and being on a digital (14:13) free task, or I should say being digital free when you are on your vacations and holidays. (14:22) Now, for us, completely abstaining from technology is unrealistic.
(14:28) But given your expectations, given your varied responsibilities, (14:32) taking over the reins of technology is still very much critical.So your version of a digital detox (14:39) can take various forms. You could probably do a lot of those things that I mentioned earlier. (14:46) But the key is to nevertheless still tailor your approach to suit your specific lifestyle (14:51) commitments.And number six is no accountability. So imagine setting a goal regularly, but finding (14:57) the business demands always take precedence. And that's part of life.But you don't have someone (15:04) to hold you accountable on a lot of things, particularly your health and fitness. And it's (15:09) then to skip workouts. It's easy then to make unhealthy choices and to grab what's convenient (15:13) to get back for the sake of work.
So without accountability, it's easy to let health goals (15:19) slide. CEOs and entrepreneurs often prioritize the business over the personal health, leading (15:25) to neglect of their well-being. And it doesn't have to be like that.The pursuit of business (15:30) excellence doesn't mean and doesn't have to come at the cost and the expense of your well-being. (15:39) And neglect of your well-being doesn't just affect you. It affects your family, (15:43) affects your community, and it affects your organization.So a solution here is to have (15:50) someone or have a system that's going to hold you accountable and can keep you on track. This (15:56) could be a trainer, a health coach, a health optimization team, a trusted friend, a family (16:01) member, whoever it is that helps you support your health goals and will keep you on the straight (16:06) and narrow. Accountability can make a significant difference in maintaining healthy habits.
(16:12) And so number seven is an out-of-control ego. An out-of-control ego can prevent you from seeking (16:17) help or admitting when you are overwhelmed, admitting when you need help on maybe your (16:24) health and fitness, maybe help on sticking to a fitness plan. And this can lead you to take it on (16:32) too much.This can lead you to, as mentioned, neglecting your personal health, neglecting your (16:37) well-being. So picture a CEO who refuses to delegate tasks, believing that they can only do (16:42) things right. One, they're not going to grow that much.Two, the entrepreneur especially. (16:50) This attitude can lead to overwork, stress, and ultimately burnout. Now, a solution is quite (16:56) simple.Stay humble. Recognize your limits. Be willing to seek assistance when needed.You're not (17:03) weak when you are asking for help and assistance. And that is a sentence that was really hard for me (17:10) to come to grips with.
But lastly, also embrace a mindset of continuous learning.Embrace a mindset (17:17) of growth that can help you stay grounded, that can have you more open to support. Just because (17:22) you're highly competent in one area doesn't mean that you are in another area. And number eight is (17:29) a lack of personalization with your health.Now, generic plans often don't work for CEOs and (17:34) entrepreneurs who have unique needs and challenges. Mainstream health is probably close to a decade (17:41) behind. And this number is going to expand even further when it comes to the suggestions, solutions (17:51) to us unique top performers who are looking to extract the most out of life.
Personalized health (17:57) plans such as those offered by concierge health services can provide tailored solutions to address (18:03) your specific requirements. So, think about the typical way that things are. It's a one size fits (18:12) all health and fitness plan that doesn't take into account your specific stressors right now, (18:19) your travel schedule, your genetics, your lab work, your current standing in life, (18:25) and your dietary preferences.This is only going to lead to frustration, lack of progress, (18:31) and even worse, this is going to lead to more of you being taken away from doing the things that (18:38) you most want to do. So, avoiding these common mistakes can significantly improve your health (18:44) performance as a leader. And I can never say this enough.Remember that your health is your (18:51) most valuable asset. And investing in it will pay dividends in both your personal and your (18:57) professional life. And so, with that said, if you are ready to take control of your health and (19:04) ensure that you are performing at your best day in and day out, don't go at it alone.Reach out (19:09) for a complimentary executive health meeting with us at Executive Health.
And our unique, (19:14) comprehensive, bespoke approach leverages a personalized, cutting-edge, data-driven approach (19:21) so that you can operate with world-class health and performance. So, visit the link in the description (19:28) below or head over to executivehealth.org. So, until next time, stay awesome, be limitless, (19:36) and as always, go be the CEO of your health and your life.Peace.
