The Secret to Taking Breaks (And Other Health Hacks)

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Hey, my friends, it's Brendon Burchard. And welcome to the Brendon Show.

Hey.

This is a podcast all about your motivation, about your habits, about real reaching, high performance in your life. What we call hpx, the High performance experience, where you're more vibrant, you're more connected, you're more excellence driven and you're more fulfilled because you're living a life of personal freedom, because you're living a life of service, because you really believe in what we talk about, which is the desire for each of us to reach that highest level of performance in our life so that we can love and we can lead and that we can serve others. So honored to have you here today. Before we start this episode, specifically I wanted to let you know about something I'm so excited about. You know, we spent the last four years in deep research and development in creating our HPX Wellness line. It's a nutrition line of three specific products, three specific supplements that have really helped me in these last couple years optimize my brain, optimize. Optimize my overall physical well being, for longevity, for joint health, for digestion, and frankly also give me that energy boost that I need once in a while. So the HPEX Wellness line is just three products. So we're not starting some, you know, big supplement company or some MLM or seeking downlines here. I'm not trying to compete with any other supplement companies out there. Just like you, I take a lot of different products from a lot of different companies and I love them all. So this is not a judgment against anybody else. This is just that I couldn't find these specific functional products that I wanted that I knew was well sourced, clean and frankly, uncompromising. And so here's what they are. We've got HPX Optimized, which many of you know is my brain health and mental focus supplement. That is how I maintain that creative edge, that ability to have the mental stamina I need to make through the day, to frankly just be focused, you know. Cause I don't know about you, but mental fatigue and energy, it's something I gotta deal with, you know, especially trying to serve as many people do as many things as I do. So HPX Optimize keeps me mentally focused. Then we've got HPX Organic Boost. This is a 100% organic energy drink mix. You just basically tear open a little of these travel packets, you pour it in water, you mix it up and boom, you're boosted. It is delicious. And as I said, It's 100% organic energy. It comes from beetroot, goji berry, coconut water powder, maca root, Yulethro, schisandra, rhodiola, and organic clean energy from organic green tea. Just 60 milligrams. So much less than a cup of coffee. And you will not find a blend like this at these dosage levels anywhere on the marketplace. Plus it's delicious, so I love that. And then finally we've got HPX Essentials, which is basically like a functional multivitamin that we really built to support longevity. So it's got astragalus, resveratrol, chaga to support your joint health. So we've got ginger, boswellia, turmeric and our vitality blend in there for L Theanine, ginseng and schisandra. It is an awesome blend as a functional multivitamin. And here's what I invite you to do. Go check these out@hpxwellness.com that's hpxwellness.com altogether, hpxwellness.com, and check them out. And I really actually invite you to compare and do some price shopping around. You will not see ingredients at this dosage levels in products like these anywhere on the marketplace at all, period. Because most supplement companies could never afford to do this. What they do is they'll release like a proprietary blend that might have a few of these things in there, but they won't tell you what what dosage, meaning what amount per serving per ingredient is in the actual product. So they kind of sprinkle it in there with just tiny dosage amounts that literally don't do anything. But when you see the dosage levels we put in of these amazing ingredients, you will feel the difference. And so go check it out. I invite you to compare and contrast again. I'm not trying to take on the supplement world. You know, there's companies out there that sell hundreds of supplements, different products. For us, it's just three built specifically to optimize your performance, to give you that edge, to give you that high performance experience in a way that was uncompromising, with well sourced, well researched ingredients and dosages that will make a difference in your life.

Go check it out.

Hpxwellness.com and with no further ado, let's jump into today's episode.

You need one to two breaks per hour. One to two breaks per hour. Okay. Most people don't take breaks and that's why they're wiped out. Because we just know from everything in performance studies that you need a break one to two times.

Per hour.

If you've studied my work before, I always have taught this, and now it's been validated by one of the biggest studies ever done on productivity. An app called I'm gonna blank the name of it. It's like desk jockey or something like that. And they did 500,000 data points across one of the biggest productivity studies ever done. And they're a productivity app.

So they found out, how do people.

Identify what's productive for them? They went through it, and here's what they found out. That the most productive people in the world took a break on average at exactly 52 minutes. And at 52 minutes, they took a break for 17 minutes. Now, I've taught forever, take a break at 50 minutes. So if you ever know how I do it on my phone, my rule is this. Triggers, right? I'm always setting triggers. So my trigger is, butt hits chair, Timer goes to 50. Butt hits chair, timer goes to 50. And when that timer hits, boom. I stand up, I get some water, I do that qigong I taught you before, that body breathing activity. So remember how you felt when you did that? I feel that every hour. Every hour. It's how my mental stamina goes on and on and on. It's how I feel great every day. I don't have a lot of tension in my body because I'm doing that activity. Open up those meridians. Breathing powerful once every 50 minutes is my rule and my client's rules. So we just set it up every 50 minutes. You need a trigger. So when your butt hits the ground, set a timer for 50 minutes. When it's people go, but, Brandon, what if I'm on a roll? What if creativity is there and there's magic happening? It's not going anywhere. You're the one creating it. Because here's the thing. I don't want to stop because it's better if I just stay and work through and I go. But that's exactly why everyone gets burned out. They stay and they work through, meaning they're not building reserves throughout the day. That little 50 minute break. Most of the time, I don't need the break. I feel great. I could go another three, four hours without taking a break. My back would hate me for sitting that much more. But for three, four hours, I could keep going. But by taking that little break, I've got mental stamina for 7, 8, 9, 12 more hours. How many follow? You're recharging every hour. One to two breaks is a must across all performance sciences right now. Many people would argue it's got to be 40 minutes. Some people say 50 minutes, but universally people are calling it 60 minutes or less now. So give yourself that break. It's funny, we're kind of going back to school here in the US do you remember how we used to have class in like middle school and high school? They were 50 minute classes. And then you had 10 minutes before the next break. Right. That was back when school was really fun. And then we started encroaching on breaks and we stopped giving kids time to go outside and we stopped allowing people to play with free time because we had to structure everything. And now how's it going for us? Not as good.

How many breaks per hour do you need?

If you will own that, you will be stunned by your mental clarity.

Right.

And it can be very simple. It doesn't have to be a 17 minute break.

I don't do that.

I probably do about three and a half, four minutes. I'll stand up, I'll drink that water. And depending on what I'm doing, I might walk around the house or walk quickly around the block, or I'll just do that full body qigong, getting breath into my airways, eyes closed to rest my eyes. A lot of your fatigue is visual fatigue. It's not like, look, it's not like your wrist and your fingers are making you so tired. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not what is making you tired. It's the lack of mental break and the staring at a screen. Those two things add up and they wipe you of energy. Well, at home, some of you go all day without giving your mind or.

Your eyes a break.

And that's why it feels miserable. Have you ever gotten so, like, your eyes are just like burning and wanting to rip out of your body and you're just. Have you ever been so tired that your legs hurt for no reason? You haven't done anything, you're soaked, your legs hurt because you're so tired. Anyone ever been there before? Yeah, that doesn't happen anymore when you take breaks. Okay. Just doesn't happen. Second big thing on this one nine letter is two to four. Two to four meals per day. Duh, Brendan, everyone knows that. Let me give you some conditions on this. Two to four meals. Okay. And why I tell you this now, Many people, nutritionists might say something like, well, Brendan, no, no. I advise my clients take five to seven grazing meals throughout the day to graze. And I say that's a wonderful thing to do. Except in the United States of America, because you know what, when somebody is obese, what you don't tell them to do eat more often. It doesn't work. Food is an addiction. For most of our culture, how many people agree? For most of our culture, food is an addiction. Telling them to hit that thing more often throughout the day is the wrong strategy. I understand all the metabolic reason people say to do that. They say, well, this will speed up your metabolism is what they say. And that's very true. And that is only relevant for a very long few percentage of the society, especially those who are training for a specific result. Most of our society is not training for a specific result. So we have to dial that in. Because, you know, the health magazines and all these said, oh, just eat more. Just graze throughout the day. But you can't tell an addict to graze throughout the day, right? The more hits they're getting, the more we're hurting them. So we have to get back down to sensible meals. Two to four, and it's so simple, and you're gonna hate it, but it's the most simple thing. If you have struggled with your weight and you're struggling with what to do, all I want you to do on your two to four meals, I want you to follow the simple rule. It's called the one plate rule. The one plate rule. That means lunch is one plate. You know, especially here in the United States, when we go out to lunch here, first you sit down and they don't bring you a small plate with a piece of bread on it. What do they bring you? A bread basket. Basket. They bring you a basket of bread. Okay. Now you haven't even started your meal yet. You get a basket of bread. Now, if you order a salad with it, the salad is this big. Then your main meal comes and it's 20 ounces of meat and another 17 ounces of potatoes. And then you get all that. And because you've been training yourself to do that, consumption at that large level, you got still some room in there. Cause you're used to that. You still got some room. You look at it and go, well, ma', am, I'm not sure if I have some room, but I think I can handle some dessert. I might immediately explode. It sounds so good. Allow me to have some cake right now. And then you're consuming so much more.

And you think, like, how much you ate.

And a basket of bread with oil and butter. Then you consumed as much meat and potatoes as possible or as salad as possible, and everything comes out. It's not like a dish, it's a saucer, a flying saucer. And people wonder what's going on. I'm like, hey, you know what? You want to get your health under control? One plate rule. That's all you get. Lunch, one plate. You don't get to have any other extra plates. One plate. That plate should be mostly plant based. It's good for everyone's health and it's probably the most scientific. So mostly plant based. If you want a piece of meat on there, that's okay. The meat isn't the main meal. The meat is like the complement to your greens. Right? It should be on there. Unless you are training for a very specific result in weight gain in mass, which 90% of our culture is not doing. So the advice that we hear from this super chiseled out dude on the men's health cover, it's not applicable to most people, right? It wasn't applicable to me. I said, I just want heightened and sustained energy. Do you know the number one and the only validated scientific studies that have been done, meaning they were replicated and validated with our construct in the first place. The only ones that led to longevity still to this day, and I know it's a sensitive topic, so let me qualify it, but it is the research. The long, the only proven diet to lead to longevity across replicated studies is still a calorie restriction programs, calorie restrictions. Now that people get really sensitive about that because that can cause like, oh wait, but Brendan, then people are going to go, well, I should, I shouldn't eat anything and that's going to lead to disorders. That's not what I'm talking about here. If you've ever had an eating disorder, then you need professional therapeutic support on that. This is not what we're talking about here. We're talking about people who are not dealing with a disorder.

Hey, it's Brendan. I'm bopping in here real fast for you to urge you to go to HPX wellness.com and check out our products to help you get more of that mental focus and energy. You need to stay at your best, to deliver with excellence, to feel like vibrant again. Because I know we all struggle with mental fatigue and mental focus. We all sometimes get tired and sometimes we're worried about our overall health. And so I created three specific products to help you with that. Go to hpxwellness.com check out our nutrition line and let's get you to high performance baby. HPX wellness.com.

What we're talking about is that less calories. And when I say less calories, it means Something specific, right? In the US where people are consuming so many thousands more calories than they need, we have over 30% of our society here in the US obese, but we have 70% of a society overweight. So out of that, it's like, whoa, we're struggling. We only have a third of society at its appropriate weight. And there is the word appropriate in that, right? And you know it. If you're not in good condition, if you're not in the right place, this is not a judgmental conversation with you. It is to say, rein in your consumption. If you're struggling in that department, maybe you need to do yourself a favor, which I think everybody in this room, everybody should go see the best nutritionist in your town. Like, the best. And people complain, oh, that costs a couple hundred bucks. I'm like, the best thing you can do is go sit down with a nutritionist and say, hey, I'd like to tell you about my goals and what I know, and I would like to take all your tests so that I can see what I'm allergic to, what I should not eat, what is healthy for me, and maybe you can shape a plan for me, because you would not try to fix your car yourself. And if you haven't been able to fix your health after this many years, why would you try yourself? Go see a nutritionist. If you read my book High Performance Habits, I recommend a whole line of people you should go see, right? Go see your best nutritionist, but also go find the best sports med doctor in your town and go work with them because they have a different worldview of looking at performance. Look at the book for the recommendations. My thought here and my training here is go down to two to four meals per day. Don't graze unless a nutritionist or a professional trainer told you that for you and what your goals are, more than that is appropriate. Then strip it down to one plate dinner. That means a plate, right? You might have a salad or greens or fruits and vegetables, a mix. You might have a little piece of meat and you might have on there a healthy carb, right? But don't overdo it. So I'm not here to tell anyone. Notice I'm not espousing anything. I'm not here saying, hey, go Paleo. I'm not saying, go vegan. I'm not going to be vegetarian. So anyone who thinks that's what I'm saying. I'm not saying that I don't know what the right thing is for you. I'm saying you better figure it out. And it's great for most people to minimize how much they're consuming when we have a society that's 70% or more overweight. Now here in the US might not apply to everybody where you're from, but we got an epidemic here. Would everyone agree with that? We got a very serious epidemic. So get interested in your health and get committed to that, whatever that means for you at this stage. My rule, two to four meals per day, even if you're training, unless advised by a professional that it would be more than that. Next up, 4 to 5 liters of water per day. 4 to 5 liters of liquid per day. Now, if you've heard about the big controversy right now, Tom Brady came out and said, I. He said that he attributes a tremendous amount of his performance excellence to being super hydrated, super hydrated. Now, he got a lot of flack for it because he said he believes that people should drink their weight in ounces of water per day, right? So he was saying, hey, look, if you're 120 pounds, drink 120 ounces of water per day. And people went crazy about that because not everybody's an athlete, right? And he sat in there, he said he told his sister that he thought he wasn't getting sunburned anymore because the amount of water he was drinking. That's when you hire an editor for your book anyway. Same. But 4 to 5 liters is not unreasonable. A lot of athletes know you're up in six to seven to eight. I do up here to maintain what I have to do that marathon I'm running a day. I'm 9 to 11 liters of water per day on this stage, 9 to 11. Otherwise, I'll lose my voice. I'll cramp up, I'll get sore. Remember, I'm not here in athletic trainers. I'm here in dress shoes, right? Wearing a suit, right? It's warm up here. I sweat up here. I'm moving up here. I'm trying to give you everything I got up here. It's a lot of work. I gotta hydrate. But even on my off days, when I'm at home, I'm drinking. So when people are around me, they're.

Like, man, you drink a lot of water.

And you know what the great thing about drinking a lot of water is that one to two breaks per hour, you ain't gotta force that. You're gonna do that. But many of you don't drink anything. You're like, well, but, Brendan, I had some whole milk and I had Some you know, 40 gallons of pop soda, doesn't that count? No, it doesn't. Okay. No, Diuretics count.

Okay.

I don't want you to count that in. I want you to consume more liquids. You'll feel it immediately, especially when you're in hotels or on the road. I encourage most of my clients. I say when you're traveling, double your water intake. Just double it. When you're traveling, double it. All right.

Hey, it's Brandon. I hope you enjoyed that episode and I hope it helped you reach out another level of high performance in your life. Whether it's just a shift in your mindset or shift in your habits or a shift in your intention for the day. I really honor you for listening to the Brendon show and I'm deeply thankful. So could you do me a favor? Could you just go onto itunes or Apple podcasts and rate and review this episode or any of our episodes? And also while you're there to help me, me just download the last five episodes too, onto your phone because, you know, Apple really cares about the downloads and the rating and reviews.

And I've never really asked for that.

In six years of podcasting.

And finally my friends convinced me to.

Ask you to do that for me. I've never asked anything with my podcast community ever, but I really, really appreciate if you could do that. Also, if you would like some more in depth training, please don't forget that every single month I go live for two hours and teach new and original personal development research new frameworks to my entire virtual community in our HPX coaching program. And you can just go to hpxcoaching.com that's hpxcoaching.com to learn all about the different options there. But listen, I'm live two hours every single month with literally thousands of high achievers from around the world who tune in to get these new frameworks from for reaching high performance in their life. Sometimes we talk about relationships, sometimes we talk about breaking bad habits. Sometimes we talk about achieving another level of confidence or discipline or goal attainment. But we are there every single month and I'd love for you to join us. Just go to hpxcoaching.com to see all of your options and really join us. Dedicate yourself to personal mastery. Dedicate yourself to this journey not just once in a while with an episode here or there or a book there, but literally a program that could change your Life. It's called HPX Coaching and you can go to hpxcoaching.com until next time my friends, please remember every single day, you can choose to be average or ordinary or just kind of go through the motions, or you can be more intentional, more disciplined, more excellence driven what you do. Because you know you need to serve those you love and those that you lead. You can choose to be extraordinary. So, my friends, go out there today and be extraordinary.