How I Design My Life For Business Success

I just want to make sure you are performing at your best every single day. And I'm here to tell you what separates the best from everybody else. It's what they're doing off the field to make sure they're playing at their best on the field.

Hey. Hey. Welcome back to the Accelerate your insurance sales podcast. How are you? Andy Neary here in today's episode, I am going to teach you how to design your life for performance by sharing what I'm doing today to design my life so that I can perform at my best on the field of play we call business. Today's episode is inspired by a conversation I had with a business peer of mine here locally. We were grabbing coffee last week and he's probably in his upper 50s. I think he might even be pushing 60 years old. And he does not look like it. He looks like he's still in his early to mid-40s. And we were just talking about fitness and he had made a comment that he was speaking at a conference last year and he's in the financial services industry, so retirement planning. And very fit. It's obvious he's very fit. And he was standing on stage talking about, you know, when you, when you are seeking out a financial advisor that you want to trust, who are you going to trust? And he made a comment about the fact that he takes care of himself. He makes it a, a very important part of his life to, to be fit, be in. And wouldn't, wouldn't you want an advisor who cares about themselves enough to show up every day? Isn't that the advisor you would want to put in front of your employees, whether it is selling retirement planning or benefits? And we were talking about the survey results he got after that keynote speak speech and he said it was really interesting. Some people who are into fitness said, this guy is awesome. I absolutely love it. And then probably the people that are not insane, such good shape, did not like it because they thought he was pompous by talking about it that way. And it was just amazing how divided our society is today on things like fitness. But I wanted to share what I do to design my life for performance. I get a lot of questions about it. And I felt the same way Todd. I feel the same way Todd does. When I was selling health insurance, I took it upon myself that I better be in shape if I'm going to go out and I'm going to deliver a 20 to 25% increase to a company and I'm going to look them in the eyes and I'm going to say the reason your rates keep going up is because your employees are unheal and I don't look like a beacon of health. I'm an imposter. If I were that business owner, I'd be like, really? You? You're telling me my rates are going up because my people aren't healthy? Look in the mirror, dude. So that's what we're going to talk about today. I know this might be tough love. Some of you might not want to hear this, but I got to be honest with this now. I'll preface today's conversation by saying I understand.

I have a different life than most. I don't have kids. I don't have certain obligations you might have. So what I ask you to do today is just listen. I just want to share some nuggets I'm doing right now to really help myself perform on the field. Play. And if you can take one or two of them, great. Take them all, awesome. If you can't, because you've got obligations you're dealing with today, I respect that. I know I have an advantage when it comes to time because Amy and I don't have kids. We have more schedule freedom than a lot of people. But I'm just going to walk through what I do every day, especially when I'm at home and what I do when I'm on the road for business. Just little things I'm doing, new things I've incorporated, that I've done that are really up in my game right now that I want to share with you because I think they can help. So if you take them and you get offended by them, I'm sorry, but at the same time, I want to help because I know, trust me, if you are listening in and you're one of our ideal listeners, you know, you're that. You're that former high school athlete, college athlete, maybe even a pro, a former pro athlete. You understand, it's the work you put in off the field that determines how well you'll perform on it. So I'm just going to share what I do. So let's start. Let's dive in. What does my typical week look like when I'm at home like I am today? You know, I'm going to walk you through what I do from the moment I wake up till I go to bed. Now, not hour by hour, but the little things throughout the day that I do. And I'll start by saying this. The perfect day starts the night before. You know, when I think about getting prepared for Tomorrow, the first thing I do every night is I prepare my breakfast and I prepare my lunch. Even when I'm at home, even when I'm living literally in my office at home right now, 100ft from the kitchen. I don't want to waste any time preparing breakfast or lunch, but I, I want to eat it because I got to put fuel in my body, but I don't want to waste time preparing it the day of. Some days I have eight coaching calls. Last week I had eight back to back coaching calls. From eight o' clock till four. I have very little time, no time to prepare meals. So I start the night before and I do it right after I eat dinner. When we clean up dinner, I'll go right into tomorrow's food prep. Takes 20 minutes. My breakfast, always the same. It is eggs and a smoothie and then lunch is usually turkey and apple and our well known famous congee, which is jasmine rice protein collagen. It's just a protein bomb. And I make those so that I know when I get up in the morning, they're ready to go. If I've got a 15 minute break between calls, I can go grab my breakfast, eat it, plenty of time, come back. So that's where my planning starts, is the night before. Now when I get up in the morning, here's a big change I've made in the last two to three months that has been, I think, a game changer. I don't use an alarm anymore. Now you might be saying, what? How in the world can you not use alarm? I need an alarm because I got to get up and then I got to get the kids up. Or I need an alarm because I get up at 4 and then I work out before the kids get up. Listen, I was that guy. I had an alarm that went off at 4:30 every single morning. And then I stopped. And guess what happened? I still get up at the same time. Nothing's changed. My body is now programmed to get up. However, I will tell you, it makes a big difference. Getting up naturally versus hearing that alarm go off. Forcing my eyes up and then I get up. I wake up in a very different state of mind. More energized, more clear, more ready to go. Now when I get up, first thing I do is I go jump in a cold shower for 30 seconds just to wake myself up. The other big change I've made in my morning is what I do next. I was the guy that would get up after the cold shower, go make myself my first cup of coffee of the Day, I do not do that anymore. I wait 60 to 90 minutes before I had a have a cup of coffee. I was listening to a podcast a couple months ago from modern wisdom Chris Williamson, and he's talking about the fact that, you know when you have a cup of coffee right away, literally first thing in the morning, it can actually set off triggers in your body, set off cortisol, some anxiety, some stress. And I had days in the past where I would be asking myself, why do I feel so stressed and anxious? Makes no sense. So I stopped, I started delaying my coffee until 60 to 90 minutes, sometimes two hours into the morning. And I will tell you, it has made a big difference. Especially I don't feel that stress, I don't feel that anxiety anymore. And so in the morning, first thing I'll make is actually a mixed drink of element salt. The salt packets, creatine, and then a little lemon juice. I mix all three of those together. That's my first drink of the day. 20 to 24 ounces. The creatine's good for brain clarity.

Yeah, that's been a big game changer having that glass of those three things, element salt, creatine and lemon juice. I feel more alert right away, first thing in the morning. And then I'll go into my breath work. Then I jump into my cold plunge. We got a cold plunge in the garage. You could do that with a cold shower as well. And I'll sit in there for three or four minutes, really wakes up. I do that, by the way, before I exercise for my athletes in the on the podcast who do cold plunge and exercise science. Again, I'm not a scientist by any reasons, by any means, or a researcher. But I've heard enough people tell, listen, enough people say that you should be cold plunging before you exercise, not after. Because if you are especially lifting to create muscle growth, well, think about this. You've torn down your fibers lifting, and then if you jump into a cold plunge, at that time you're kind of contracting muscle growth as well. So I cold plunge before, before I go to the gym. And so I'll cold plunge for three or four minutes, head to the gym. Workouts are non negotiable in the mornings. And then I come back and that is when I have my first cup of coffee. As I get ready for the day, whether it's my first coaching call, recording a podcast like I'm doing right now on Monday mornings, that's when I have my first cup of coffee. Now I have two cups a day and I'll try to have my coffee done by 10, 10:30 at the latest. I just feel like if I have coffee any later in the day I get sleepy in the afternoon again not good for performance especially if I have coaching calls. 2, 3, 4 in the afternoon I gotta be alert and alive for my clients. What else am I doing in the morning? That is the primary, primary things I do in the morning to set up my day for a good day. And then throughout the day the day may go where it may. I'm a very, very religious believer and plan your, plan your calendar and let the calendar tell you what to do. I've got my meals prepped right but breakfast, lunch ready to roll so when I have those 15 minutes they're ready to go. I eat my breakfast, I eat my lunch. I try to go about three or four hours between meals. That's good for the digestion, digestive system. So I'll usually eat breakfast about 8 or 9 o' clock then I'll eat lunch about 1 and then we'll have dinner anywhere from 5 to 6:30. So that's what my typical day looks like when I'm at home. Now throughout the day when I do have that 15, 20 minute break I'll go outside to get fresh air, the sun's out, get some vitamin D because again that those little things just keep you alert and alive throughout the day. Now when the day's done there are some days I will work out twice. Yes I understand. I don't have kids, I don't have to take them to sports, I don't have to pick them up from school. Totally get it, respect what you have to do. But some days I will work out twice. I love the lift in the morning and then when I end the day go out for a short run just to divide the end of the workday up from the evening, the dinner and then my evening routine. So some days probably two, three times a week I will actually do two workouts. Just what I love to do. It's just my thing. So when it gets to the evening Amy and I typically eat a very protein heavy dinner so steak, chicken, turkey, burgers, beef and then I usually have vegetables and probably sweet potatoes. That's my staple type of dinner. And then I told you I prep my meals. Now in the evening I try to let my body wind down between 7 to 9pm so that I can get a good, well a good night of sleep. Now I understand again if you have kids, gotta help em with homework, get them ready for bed, bathe them totally get it. But for me, 7 to 9 is kind of that time to start to unwind. What I'll do is I'll go in our sauna, I'll sit in there for 20, 25 minutes and then jump right back into the cold plunge for a couple minutes. Contrast therapy hot to cold. I usually do that about an hour before I go to bed. I take magnesium before I go to bed and I also take CBD Gummy before I go to bed to help with sleep. I stretch at night before I go to bed. Those little things I think go a long way to help make sure I get a good night's sleep. And then Amy and I are usually in bed by 9:15 and asleep by 9:30. So that's what my typical day looks like when I'm at home again. I know I've got time freedom because we don't have as many obligations as other people do. But I want to share these little things because I think they go a long way so that you show up every day and perform at your best. There is no secret to success outside of consistently showing up every day. Do not take plays off this episode is brought to you by True Captive Insurance. 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Take the next step today. Visit trucaptive.com and discover a smarter way to manage healthcare that is truecaptive.com now. Another big change I've made in the last few weeks and I don't post about it publicly. I see all the people talk about this all the time. I stopped drinking. You know. Some of you know that about four years ago I dealt with a bad leg infection that hospitalized me for a week and all the antibiotics that I had to take from that leg infection just destroyed my stomach. I had to go through a good 12 to 15 month repopulation of good good bacteria into my stomach and ever since doing that when I drink alcohol my stomach just doesn't feel good and so I stopped. I start today. I only drink Athletic Brewing. I think they make a great non alcoholic beer. It actually tastes like beer. So that's My thing, I just drink NA beer now. Still like it tastes good and I don't drink alcohol anymore and I again do what you want. I just think it helps me wake up alert every day. I don't feel like any hangover or any just mental block when I wake up in the morning. So that's been another big change for me. That's been, been really, really good. That's helped me.

Yeah, just helped me show up every day. My workouts throughout the week I am a big. I do a mix of a couple things. I lift four times a week. I'll do one hyrox workout. If you're not sure what that is, go look it up. It's a combo of and lifting or running. And it's like, it's like CrossFit meets Marathon I guess is the best way to look at that. I love to do track workouts for speed. Try to get that, try to get out on the bike once a week if I can. Yeah. And I'll run, just go for, for three to five mile runs in the evening. So anyways, try to mix up my workouts a lot. But again I understand that, that when you have a lot more time than others you can do that. But I just wanted to share with you what I'm doing now. Let's talk about business travel. This is a big one. I will tell you. The key to good business, healthy business travel is preparation. Perfect example. Last week Amy and I were on a three day tour between Chicago, New Jersey, back to Chicago, back home Monday through Wednesday. We probably spent a good hour, hour and a half on Sunday preparing for the trip. Now packing clothes is one thing, it's the last thing we do actually. But we spend the bulk of our time preparing by packing our supplements, our protein powders. I love to make a snack bag of protein, heavy calorie, light snacks. So protein powder, those almond butter packets, beef jerky, almonds. What else do I put in there? I get my creatine, my, my morning mix, drink mix I talked about with the salt pack, the salt, the element salt, the creatine and the lemon juice. I don't put lemon juice in of course when I go on the road. But the element and the creatine, I get all that ready. The other things I do to prepare for a good business trip is when we book a hotel. I try to book a hotel near a Whole Foods if it is available in that geographic area because I know when I'm on the road I can go there, know exactly what I'm going to get for food and I can eat healthy because I know exactly what the ingredients are. So that's a big deal. Now when we're not near a Whole Foods, we will spend time researching what restaurants are around the area that are healthy. Whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner. We'll research where we could go. Because again, it is important when you're on the road. I see so many people that have a good routine at home and then they go on the road and they just eat like they don't work out and it just destroys them. It's important that you play at your best when you're on the road. For me, there's only one reason I'm on the road. I'm either doing a half day or full day workshop or I'm speaking. It is important that I am alert and on my game. So taking care of myself on the road is ultra important. So booking a hotel near around Oho foods. The other thing I will do is research the area, probably 5 or 10 mile radius around the hotel to see what gyms are in the area. Because let's be honest, the hotel gym is not always good. Some hotels I've stayed at don't even have one. So I'll research the gyms in the area to and and go buy a one or three day pass if I'm going to be there for a few days. Because again, I don't want to negate my workouts I do at home just because I'm on the road. A lot of it's lifting. So I want to make sure I get access to the gym that have the, have the machines and the weights. A lot of the gyms by the way nowadays offer free one day pass. I do that all the time with Planet Fitness, but otherwise they offer very inexpensive day passes. The only one I'd tell you to stay away from is lifetime fitness. Fifty dollar day pass. Really guys? Lifetime? You're not that good. But I digress. So between where we're gonna eat, where I'm gonna work out, that is the most important thing I'm looking for when it comes to business travel. Because even though we're on the road, I do not want to be off my game. So I hope these tips helped. Again, I just wanted to share with you what I'm doing on the regular Monday through Friday, especially when I'm at home, what I do when I'm on the road to give myself the home court advantage even though I'm on the road. Guys, this is what it takes to Win. It's not product knowledge, having a better strategy, all the garbage we bought into in this industry that we've been told it takes to win, yes, that stuff's important. But I'm here to tell you, you want to look at the best guys like a Chris Hamilton who just won Broker of the year, a complete game consulting client. Chris, if you're listening, congratulations. Probably one of the most well deserved winners of this award I've ever seen. Nancy Giacalone, two years ago, another client who won it in 2023. This is what they're doing. It's not just what they do between the lines that matters. They're taking care of themselves. They're making sure that they are taking care of their bodies and their minds so that they can show up, up at their best every single day. So whether you are 61 years old listening to this episode, knowing you need to change it up or get back on Track, or your 23 year old new advisor wondering what the heck do I have to do to succeed in this industry, I just shared it with you.

You will get the product knowledge, you will have access to good products and strategies. But I promise nothing will take your career to the next level or put it back on track as fast as what you do off the field. So if you got any questions about the the supplements I take, the type of protein powders I use, anything I do throughout my day, reach out, shoot me a note. After listening to this episode, I'm happy to share it with you. But anyways, please take what I just shared with you today. Use it. Whether you use one thing, all of it, I don't care. I just want to make sure you are performing at your best every single day. And I'm here to tell you what separates the best from everybody else. It's what they're doing off the field to make sure they're playing at their best on the field. So be good. That's all we got for this episode of the Accelerate your insurance sales podcast. One of the most valuable things you can do to help us and other new potential listeners find our show is for you to rate the show and leave a review. So as a special bonus for you, if you leave us a review, take a screenshot of your review and send it to me as a DM to my LinkedIn profile. I will send you a free copy of our LinkedIn Diamond Playbook, our proven four step strategy to grow your business on LinkedIn. So go right now, leave us a review, screenshot it and send me a DM on LinkedIn. Also, please share this podcast with anyone you think would enjoy it. That's it for now.