Do You Know What “Holistic” Really Means?

Pacing yourself is essential. So we've talked about balance. We've talked about intentionality, a holistic approach. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. You don't have to overhaul your life overnight. And so many times when people get this wild hair, wherever they get wild hairs, they're like, and I need to fix it right now. No, you don't have to overhaul your life overnight. Start small. Build habits gradually. Allow yourself time to adjust. This is how you're going to avoid burnout, by the way. This is also probably how you're going to avoid, like, backsliding into things that you're trying to change and not do. You have to remember, it's not about how fast you can get there. It's about building a sustainable lifestyle that keeps you balanced over the long haul of your beyond. Your default journey.

Welcome back to Beyond. You'd default. I'm your host, Liz Moorhead, and as always, I'm joined by the one and only George B. Thomas. How the heck are you, bud?

I'm doing okay. I'm doing pretty good. It's Monday morning. I am trying to get this week scheduled and organized and we're doing good. We're doing good.

We're baby stepping. We're doing the work.

Yeah, right. Yeah, we're doing the work.

I'm about the same. I'll go ahead and dig into my highlight and low light from the weekend. The highlight was. Let's see. Highlight was yesterday. I got to see a ton of fast cars. A ton of fast cars. There is this event, apparently that takes place annually here in downtown historic Annapolis called Carriages on west street, which is not about Carriages. It's about Corvettes. And they had Corvettes lined up and down the street from 1953 all the way up to present day. And it was so flipping cool. There must have been like 40, 50, 60 different Corvettes. It was unbelievable. So I got to do that and drink some coffee, and it ended up just being a super fun day. After that, I watched the Terminator and I watched Tombstone and I felt really good about life. It was awesome.

Tombstone is one of my favorite favorites.

It's the best movie ever. You won't be able to relate to this part, but it is definitely a formative movie for me as a girl because that's when I fell in love with Val Kilmer and Michael Bean at the same time.

Yeah.

And it was just like a really good time for me. You know, it was. The 90s were nice. The 90s were nice.

Yeah. Val Kilmer Killed that. I mean, there is no other doc after that.

The fact that he wasn't nominated and then the fact that he did not win is violently upsetting to me.

Yeah, I'll be a huckleberry. Anyway, we gotta keep going.

We gotta keep going. My low light. You know what? I'm gonna sum it up this way. I heard this theory recently called the let them theory, where it's like, people are gonna do whatever it is that they're gonna do, so just let go and let them. And I wrote about this last week in our newsletter, beyond your fault.com forward/newsletter. I wrote about how I have been really challenging myself now that I'm moving into this next phase of my life where I have a lot of exciting things that I want to do. Like I. I gotta figure out who are the ghosts and what's real, what's gotta go and what's gotta stay. And so my low light this weekend is I had to let someone. I had to let go and I had to see what happened. And it wasn't great. It wasn't great. I thought people would make different choices. But I will say, even though that was kind of a lowlight and the reason why I'm speaking vaguely about it is just because, you know, it's circumstantial. The details matter. The lesson in it for me, though, is that the pain was. Is temporary. And I have to remind myself of that. But the truth is clarifying, which creates space for other things and for my energy to go in different places.

Yeah, there's only so much space in your brain, in your, like, life. And I have been also going through this phase of like, I just need to chop stuff off, get it done, like, type thing, because it's not on the brain. It's funny, Liz, because I too have a saying that's quite like yours, but it's a little different. Mine starts like yours. Let go. And then I say let God. So, you know, and it's like, because I realized that there's going to be pain, there's going to be turmoil. So the next phase of whatever it is that we let go, man, you're. You're going to need some help. I'm going to need. At least I personally am going to need some help. So. Well, low lights, highlights. It's funny because I was getting sort of made fun of before we hit the record button by you because. Because I was like, yeah, I didn't get as much done on the weekend as I wanted to. And, you know, I was watching Dogs for the fam. Because they went on a little mini trip over the weekend. And it's funny because I was like, oh, darn it, I didn't get work done until you started to make fun of me. And then I was like, oh, darn it, I'm an idiot. Because I didn't realize it was a blessing in disguise that I didn't get work done. So. So, like, my highlight and my lowlight probably are one in the same where I didn't get a lot of work done. Yay. I didn't get a lot of work done.

So I'll just say here what I said to you, which is, oh, no, your weekend. And ended up just being a weekend. Yeah, the saddest.

It doesn't happen a lot, but, yeah, this weekend was. It kind of was just a weekend. It was watching some tv, it was eating some food. It was watching the dogs.

And you had alone time. You had alone time.

I did. I did have a long time. Although I will say. Actually, you know what? One of the highlights I will say is I did get a chance to take my son out to dinner, and we sat and had a conversation and ate dinner together with just him and I. And that doesn't happen a lot either. So maybe that's the highlight and the not working is a mix of both.

Or we're going to have to regroup on that categorization later. But that's okay.

Yeah. Send. Send your thoughts, listeners. Send your thoughts.

The Thomas men had their own night out on the town.

Yeah.

What was your favorite part about spending time with your son?

Oh, man. You know, just being able to spend time with him and, like, break bread and eat a meal and talk about things that we typically don't talk about. I mean, it's. Yeah, it was just. And it's low key with him. It's always low key. Noah's low key. Like, we just, like, we're very much two peas in a pod where we're just like, okay, so how's the. Yeah, good. Okay. So it's not like it was, like, exciting and we were, like, dancing on top of the bar or anything while we're there, but, you know, that's adorable, though.

Just two vibing peas in a pod. Nobody asking questions that are too deep. Just kind of chilling.

Yeah, we were. We were chilling. I had some great salmon, a sweet potato, and some broccoli. And he had this burger from heaven. I don't even know. Like, I was like, holy crap, dude. What? Who made that thing? But, yeah, it was it was good times. Oh, and. And here's the thing, too. He's 21 now, so we were able to sit and actually have a beverage over dinner. So we were, like, adulting. So that's even, like, next level. Like that. Yeah. That's my highlight for the weekend.

You got to have, like, an adult meal with your son for the first time.

Yeah, well, maybe not the first time, but him.

And adult beverages.

With adult beverages.

That's what I mean.

Chilling. Yes. Yes.

Fantastic.

It's almost like it was. I can't even. I'm trying to tie it into today's topic. I don't even know how I do that.

We're not. I will say, though, I call this topic today. It's kind of like anybody out there who's watched the Big Labowski. It's the rug that tied the whole room together. You know, we have spent a number of the past few weeks going through all of the different pillars of the Superhuman framework, which is our blueprint, our manual, the different areas of our lives that we need to have buttoned up and addressed in some way in order to live a life beyond our default.

Yeah, Right.

And how. How these different things manifest in our lives is entirely up to us. Right. We're each on our own individual and personal journey. But today we are doing the final pillar of the Superhuman framework, and that is holistic.

Yeah.

Now, what I'm really excited about for today's conversation is, quite frankly, this is a word that gets abused. It gets abused in business circles where everything is a holistic solution. What does that mean? Well, we holistically holisticize all of your business needs, like everybody taught. It's like, authenticity.

Right.

So what we're doing today is we're having a conversation about holistic. What does it mean in the context of the Superhuman framework? What does it look like in practice? And why we all need to have a big reset on how we define this word so we start taking it seriously again. Because I think it's a word. George and I. I'd love to get your take on this, where we hear the word holistic and our brain kind of turns off.

Yeah, it's funny. And I can't wait to get your thoughts on this as we go through this episode, too, because I'm curious, very curious about this topic. I love this topic. Just sometimes I wonder if I think about it the same as most. Probably. But you know how I do with my brain. But it is funny, Liz, because it's like the. When you hear this word, you're like, I know what that is. I think I know what that is. It literally is the, like, turn your head sideways and have to think for a second because it's so many times mushy or elusive even, because you think that you're thinking in that way. And then all of a sudden there's like these two or three things that creep up on you and you're like, oh, maybe I wasn't thinking in this way. Or maybe I'm thinking about this in the wrong way. Anyway, we'll dig into that as we go.

I'm in the same boat as you. It's one of those words where it's like, you hear, you go, yes, I know. Wait, what do I know what that means? Yeah, I mean, there's a reason why the title of this episode is do you really know what holistic means? Yeah, that's where we're at today.

We'll find out.

We're going to find out. So, George, let's dig right in. You describe holistic as the great stabilizer in your framework, which is unlike health, which is the great equalizer.

Yeah.

Can you explain what the heck you mean by that?

Yeah, it's interesting that you chose to start there because I think when we understand what I mean by stabilizer, then versus equalizer, and when we really can embrace this word, which, by the way, I. I almost feel like this needs to be the first H in the superhuman framework. It isn't right now, but I feel like it should be because then it's like the dominoes after. Because once you kind of get here, this is where the magic can start to happen. And when I talk about holistic being the stabilizer, I say that holistic well being is like the glue that holds all of the other pieces of our lives together. So imagine you're trying to like and. And I'm not a big surfboard, but I am a big analogy person. So imagine you're trying to balance on a surfboard in the ocean, right? Everybody kind of close your eyes. Visualize you're on the ocean, you're riding the waves, and waves are coming from all directions. Well, without stability, you're going to be tossed around and probably tossed off the surfboard. Okay, so now I want you to, like, open your eyes. Quit thinking about waves coming from all around. Quit thinking about that. Holy crap. I probably couldn't even get up on my surfboard to begin with. Forget about that. Like, you were on it, you were surfing, but things were coming from all directions. That's how life is things come from all directions. And if we don't have a way in which we're looking at those directions, one of the waves that we're not paying attention to is going to knock us off our surfboard. It's, it's the thing that historically has set you back. It's the thing that historically took you by surprise. And so when we think about it being the great stabilizer, when we think about that, we have to think about the word balance in our life. And so when we are thinking about holistic world well being and we think about stabilizing and balance, what I want us to also think about is this word anchor. An anchor helps hold us in place. It keeps everything in our life, from our career to our relationships to our personal growth, steady and in sync. And I have to ask the listeners, have you ever felt non steady and out of sync? Right. This is when I talk about the like peaks and valleys. Or it's when maybe you feel like your entire body exploded into about a million pieces, then you had to bring it back together. Plato actually has a really cool quote. The part can never be well unless the whole is well. Now, we've spent the last couple weeks talking about different parts. Happy, healthy, you know, hustle, the hunger, the health, physical and mental. Like these are all parts. And you can focus on each individual part or you can focus on the parts as a whole, right? And this is what we, this is holistic thinking. This is, and again, this, if you think about it, what does the framework do? The framework gives us a starting point of points to pay attention to so that we can have, it's like itself, inside itself, a holistic view of our, our life. So you, you might be sitting wondering like, why is it so essential? Because life in general, us as humans, full of moving parts, we're juggling ambitions, responsibilities, we've got our professional goals, we've got our personal passions. And if one part of your life is out of whack, like all sudden you have a weekend where you thought you were going to do a lot of work, but you end up watching dogs, well, it can throw everything off of balance or you can readjust and then you're not off balance. You're actually exactly where you're supposed to be anchored in that moment. And unlike I did this weekend, realizing that that moment is actually the wave that you're supposed to be riding, the place that you're supposed to be, that you've been given it for a reason. And so when we think about this holistic, well Being, it makes sure that all of these parts of our lives, all of these waves that could come crashing in this surfboard that we're on, amazingly, it all starts to work together in harmony, creating a strong and stable foundation. You know, that's the thing that I love about surfing. It's like harnessed chaos. Like the ocean is this massive beast of water, and then there's this beautiful individual human on a toothpick, like, able to do crazy, amazing stuff and that we can visualize that same thing in our life. We're an individual human who can do these amazing things when we can harmonize, when we can anchor, when we can sink, when we're have a holistic view. And so if I get out of the, like, analogy world and I start to really drill down here, it's about alignment. It's about aligning your mind, your body, your soul so that you're not just surviving a day, but you're thriving through the day because of that alignment. There's a great quote by who knows, because it's unknown, but the mind, body and spirit are all connected. When one is out of balance, it affects the others. And so, so many times in my life, and I don't know about you, listeners, I don't know about you, Liz, but so many times I knew that I was out of balance, but I also just ignored the counterweight that I needed to get in balance. I ignored the places that I knew were actually like, eroding from toxicity, you know, somewhere on the holistic being that was trying to, like, journey down this road. Now, Liz, it's funny though, because you mentioned health and the Great Equalizer, I, I want to take a minute and if this is somebody's first podcast episode, I want to talk about the flip side. When I call health the Great Equalizer, I'm saying that no matter who you are, where you're from, or what you're chasing after, the physical and mental health levels, like, however high or low they are, they straight up level the field. Like you can be chugging along and all of a sudden your mental and physical health levels plummet. It's going to be a minute. If your health isn't in check, if you're not taking care of your body and mind, if you're not equipped with the energy, resilience, or even clarity to take on anything life throws your way. Like how, how are you going to be holistic? How are you going to have holistic vision? If the health is the crippler, is the thing that is stopping you from being able to actually do the thing that you're doing. But here's the truth. If your health is suffering, whether it's physical, mental, or both, it doesn't matter how ambitious, talented, driven you are. I am. We're going to struggle. I mean, we might try to push forward, but we're going to be carrying this whole ocean. It's going to be heavier. So here's the deal. Let's circle back around and talk about holistic well being as the stabilizer. Here's the deal. It stabilizes your life. It makes sure everything is in balance. It's the foundation that keeps you and I grounded, keeps you and I focused, keeps you and I connected. Janet Kingsford said, balance is not something you find, it's something you create. I have to ask you listeners, are you creating a space for holistic vision, for holistic well being, or are you just thinking that it's gonna magically show up? We have to be intentional with this word. We truly have to dive in and understand what it means for us. Therefore, we can put a method to the madness and we can ride that wave to the shore that we're trying to do. Look, when you think about physical health, mental health, and holistic, by the way, I feel like they create this trifecta that we have to pay attention to because they are so important to each other. They're this powerful trio that helps us manage life, empowers us to have this well rounded, fulfilling, and yes, what, dare I say, possibly a superhuman life play on the superhuman framework. Just, ladies and gentlemen, hang in there with me. Because to me, that's what the superhuman framework and living a life beyond your default is all about. It's living a life that's not just balanced, but because it's balanced, it's extraordinary.

So what's interesting about this particular part of the framework is that it seems to be more of a mindset. The way you think about your life, the way you tie all the different pieces together. And I love that idea in theory. In practice, however, I start getting a little bit like, okay, so how do I practically apply a mindset, right? Because you're telling me fundamentally to look at my life differently. Because I could wake up every single day with a one day I could have a holistic approach and one day I could not, or vice versa. And the to do's on that to do list for those days might look exactly the same. So what I'm curious to hear from you is what do practical steps look like to begin integrating this holistic approach into their wellbeing. Because I'm seeing, I'm hearing mindset. I'm not seeing the steps lay out before me.

Yeah. And I think there might be a happy mix of the mindset. Right. Because I feel like, by the way, the superhuman framework is a holistic framework. A holistic mindset. A what can be measured. But then I think there's holistic inside the framework, which might be what you're digging into now, Liz, is the practicality of it. And, and what I want to do actually, is I want to. I want to break this down in a way that let. And I love the word that you use, practical. I would even say powerful. And more importantly, let's just talk about this and get straight to the point, the way that I like it. You like it in the beyond. Your default listeners like it. Right? So think about practical, powerful, and straight to the point. That's what we're going to give you right here. There's seven things that I want to hit upon, Liz. Seven things. When I think about this. The first thing you've got to start with a self assessment. Okay? You can't fix what you don't know is broken. So we have to take, and we've talked about this in other podcast episodes where I've either had to do this, you've had to do this, or we suggest that the listeners do this. You have to take a good hard look at your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. Right. Consider looking at, by the way, the whole H framework of the superhuman framework. But for sure, the foundation, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual is a good place to start. But you have. You have a bunch of other Hs in the framework that you could do. This is your starting point. This is your foundation, Liz. This is actually why I shared last week. Not on the episode, but behind the scenes, ladies and gentlemen, this is why I shared last week that I want to do an episode on identifying your identity. Who are you? What do you love? What do you want more of? Where do you want to go? These are questions, by the way, that help with the self assessment that I literally just talked about so that you even know where to start. This aligns who you are and where you're at with the goals you need to get, where you're trying to go. You might have to rewind that piece. There's a lot of, like, goals, getting and going. But, like, anytime you map out a map, you've got the beginning spot, you've got the ending spot, and then you've got places where you have to stop and fuel up along the way. But that, that assessment, that's that planning out your roadmap, that, that gps. So knowing where you stand helps you set intentional milestones or intentional goals. And, and tr. I tell you, the milestones and goals, they're important. But what's maybe more important than the milestones or the goals is the fact that they're balanced, that they push you forward in every aspect of your life or at least the aspects that you're paying attention to or feel need elevated at that point in time. Because, Liz, I'm going to go back to something you said. I feel like it could be different every day. And you're right, it be could, could not. Every day do I need to work on all 10, but I might need to work on three. And I'm saying three of the superhuman framework. See, these goals, these milestones, they are like or part of your gps. They guide you and keep you on track. Once, once you've got these goals, then, and this is for many, difficult. Once you have the goals, it's time to build the daily habits around them. Small daily steps where, you know, it could be a morning meditation, a quick workout, it could be a few minutes of journaling. I'm not a big journaler, but. Liz, I know you do that. But whatever it is, whatever you're adding to the thing that needs to be amplified or elevated in your holistic thinking of the framework, it's going to lead to significant changes over time. So remember, when I say holistic and when we're focusing on the ones that need improvement, Remember that it's 1% better each and every day. We're not trying to like, rocket launch these suckers. We're just trying to move the needle a little. So these habits are what I'd call our secret weapon for integrating a holistic approach into your life without feeling overwhelmed, because they just become part of your day day. They become habits that you follow. It doesn't feel like you're doing anything extraordinary because you're building them up one brick at a time, not trying to throw the entire wall up. So if we think about this and we go into the mind, body connection, it's not enough to focus on one or the other, your mind or your body, they must work together. Like we've kind of talked at the beginning of this, there has to be harmony. And the reason I'm bringing mind and body is because of mental and physical health. And so if we start to think about practices like yoga, again, I'm not a big yoga person. But you might be yoga person. Me, I'm fascinated by Tai Chi. I might want to do some Tai Chi.

I'm fascinated by yoga from a distance. I'm someone who is in a constant fight with gravity just sitting down. So like I'm not going to introduce posing into that, you know, it's just not right.

I don't know. But practices like yoga, Tai Chi, some sort of mindfulness help you connect the dots between your physical and mental health and it's helping to reduce stress. And again, it's all tying back to this word. Balance is helping keeping you balanced. And speaking of the balance, don't forget about the mental health and how foundational it is. Caring for your mind is just as crucial as caring for your body. Whether that's through regular mental check ins therapy, simply taking a break. Oh man, I just got slapped in the face with a 2x4.

There we go.

This weekend.

There we go. There we go. It's all coming full circle.

Yeah. So nurturing your mental health is critical to staying resilient and focused. By the way, this is why the two episodes we did before, the one that we're doing right now on being holistic was about mental health and physical health. Because listeners and by the way, you might have gotten this far. And if you hadn't listened to those two episodes, I would almost say pause right here, go listen to those episodes. Because those two episodes put you in the what I'll say the right space, mind space to carry on this holistic conversation or this idea of balance in the core parts of your life. But. But here's the deal. You can't do any of this if you're running on empty. And that's why prioritizing rest and rejuvenation is for me and it should be for you listeners and Liz, Rest and rejuvenation should be a non negotiable quality. Sleep, relaxation and taking time to recharge aren't just nice to haves, they're essential. Man, I'm getting hit over the head with a two by four.

So. So we're gonna replay this part of the episode anytime you feel. Anytime you get fussy with me.

Yeah.

About self care about a weekend. Oh no. I couldn't just spend all my time working all weekend. And by the way, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. My slack was exploding regardless.

Yeah, well, you know, because I have slack on my phone. But here's the thing. So relaxation, taking time to recharge, they allow us to recover. They allow us to reset and they allow us to show up as our best self themselves daily. And I love this quote, by the way. Sleep is an investment in the energy you need to be effective tomorrow. And that's Tim Roth, so.

Tim Roth, the actor dropping bombs about self care.

I love Tim Roth. Yeah. So remember to stay flexible. Life isn't static. And your approach to well being shouldn't be either. Liz, it's funny because you're like all the things and like daily. No, no, no. Like, it's not like the static thing. It's. I almost envision like, you know, back in the day. I'm sure they still have them, but back in the day I had this stereo that had an equalizer and the different lights would light up, like dependent upon the music. I feel like that's the framework. And what should be happening in your daily life is the light should be lighting up at different levels versus like static stagnant thing. Because it's about adjusting and adapting to what you need from the framework or. Or what you need to invest in the framework, AKA the. The framework being you and how you're using it to be able to adjust and adapt to what life throws our way. This flexibility, it helps you balance. And again, there's these repeat words that keep coming to my brain. They help you balance no matter what comes your way. And Liz, you know me, I'm a big Bruce Lee nerd and I know I've used the quote about be the water, not the cup before, but I actually went and did some research on and. And do you know that usually only like part of the quote is quoted?

That's not. It's like kind of like Jack of all Trades, Master of none. That's very famously underquoted. Because the whole point is actually to. You keep going. I'm now going to look that up. Yes, tell the whole quote.

Yeah. So what's interesting is it actually before the part that I guess I would say takes on being popular, it says, be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless. This is where it gets to the popular part. Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water. My Friend. But I want to go back to this. Be like water making its way through the cracks. The cracks and crevices of life. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object and you shall find a way around or through it. What in life do you need to find a way around or through? And how can the flexibility of paying attention to a holistic lifestyle help you actually have that balance, therefore, that flexibility to do that? When I think about it, that, to me, a roadmap to integrating a holistic approach to your life. You start with a self assessment, you set the intentional goals, you build your daily habits, you connect your mind and body, you nurture your mental health, you prioritize, rest. And then, freaking A. You stay flexible with what life actually gives you. If you do this, then you'll be well on your way to living a more balanced, a more fulfilling, and dare I say, a life beyond your default, but as a superhuman.

Right, but this leads me directly into my next question, because you and I, as well as our audience, we're a bunch of do everythingers, right? You have.

I don't disagree with you.

You have literally just laid out and said, guess what, guys? It is important to focus on everything. I feel it's like there is a tipping point here where we have to be very, very careful.

Yeah.

But before we dive into that question, I can't believe this. But of course, this is exactly how this, this podcast works. Of course, I was making a joke about how, like, just like that Bruce Lee quote, there's that famous jack of all trades, master of non quote that's often misquoted. The correct quote is perfectly applicable to what we're talking about. Oh, the real quote is so jack of all trades, master of none. That is actually not the full quote, nor is it the message of the quote. In fact, it's backward. The real quote is a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.

Oh, yeah.

So the whole point is, right, you are mastering nothing. In theory, yeah. But you are encouraged to possess skills.

And focuses in different areas because it is better to be a jack of.

All trades than a master of one.

I love that. I love that. Do you want to know a little hidden gem of my life based on this thing? There was a day back in the day when I thought I wanted to grow up to be a rapper and I would write rap songs. And I literally had this verse in this one song that I wrote. It went a little something like, jack of all trades, master of none. But when I'm on the mic, I get the job done anyway. So there you go, listeners. There's that.

You wrapped. You've only ever rapped with me in private. Now we have it recorded.

Yeah, we have it recorded. There's more of those songs out there. I literally have a notebook of, like, songs that I either wrote as rap songs or when I played the guitar. But there's a little tease. We should probably move on why we're here.

Okay, so back to what I was saying before, right? We have all of these go getting growth mindset oriented people who are in the room with us as well as listening to this podcast, which means we have to walk a very fine line here, right? How do you differentiate between embracing a holistic approach and just trying to do everything right? That's where we start running into challenges. Because I. I hear what you're saying, George. Right. If we have tunnel vision, we will miss everything that's happening around us if you don't do what you said, right? Which is like. So you have a. You want to build a map to where you want to go. Well, have you taken a moment, stopped, and looked around to see where you actually are? Because you can't build a map to anywhere if you don't know where you're actually starting from in every dimension of your life. But that switch can easily get flipped, right? Well, I have to keep track of everything. I have to. Like, it's. It's like the growth mindset version of multitasking, which means nothing gets done.

This is a great question because it ties to burnout, by the way. Some side tangent that came to my brain when you're saying that it's a really unique place to find yourself when you say, hey, I want to set this goal for xyz, and then you stop for a second and you realize, oh, crap, I'm already there. Anyway, so that's the importance of knowing where you're at, truly. And by the way, not knowing where you think you're at, but knowing where you're at, which then takes some, like, questioning those around you to where they believe you to be at, because that's going to be closer to where you're at than where you think you're at. Anyway, let's get back to Liz's question, because I think it's a great question. And what I don't want is I don't want people to end up getting burnt out. So when we talk about holistic approach, we're talking about integrating all aspects of your life. Mind, body, soul, spirit into this harmonious whole. It's about making sure that every part of you is aligned and working together, not just trying to do everything simultaneously like you mentioned. It's like I'm just trying to do it all. It's funny because all parts of a motor run at the same time, but it's not like the motor gets burnt out unless you run the motor too hard. But that's a whole nother different podcast. So trying to do everything at once is like juggling too many balls. Eventually, something's going to drop. And again, that's where this burnout, this place that many of us, overachiever, growth, mindset, you know, want to be successful folks. And that was. We just got too much going, and then all of a sudden, it just all falls down. So when I think about what are the keys to making sure a holistic approach doesn't lead to burnout? And again, some of these words are going to sound familiar because I used many of them, and I think I'll probably continue to use many of them as we go through this episode. The way that you make sure that it doesn't lead to burnout is it's about balance. It's about intentionality, and then this thing around pacing. Okay? So, ladies and gentlemen, if nobody's told you this before, you've got to pace yourself. This is a marathon. It's not a sprint. Right.

But taking notes on this, George. I just want to. Yeah, There we go. Hi.

Okay.

Hi.

Hey.

I have to do it, too. I have to do it, too.

Yeah. But let's back up. Balance is critical. A holistic approach doesn't mean that we're simultaneously focused on everything equally. Everything equally. Now, I didn't say that we weren't focused on everything but everything equally. Instead, it's about understanding which areas of your life need attention at any given moment and adjusting your focus on the everythings that you've decided to pay attention to accordingly. For example, if your mental health is feeling a bit off, you're like, I just don't feel feel. Exactly. Maybe that's where you put your energy for a while. If your physical health is slipping, it's time to shift your focus there. Like, and again, the thing that I love about the superhuman framework is I could be like, wow, I'm not really finding humor in much, and I don't see myself as being humorous like I used to. Well, then focus on it. Like, the key is to keep all areas in view, but prioritize them as needed. That's why the superhuman framework is nice. You have 10 gauges in life that you can watch and then dive into the right ones at the right time. The right ones at the right time lead me from balance to intentionality. You have to be purposeful with your actions. And a holistic approach isn't about adding more to your plate. It's about being more intentional with what's already there. It's about making choices that serve multiple areas of your life together. For instance, a morning walk might boost your physical health, clear your mind, and give you time for spiritual reflection. Bam. Left, right, right combo. Like a. A tko and. And you went for a walk. But you're able to do those things, like being able to pair habits together. Intentionality, being able to focus on the right gauges at the right time. Intentionality, like, one action that can serve many purposes. Like, how can you take the framework and be like, oh, if I do this, I'm focused on four of them. And if I do this, I've got these other three covered. And now instead of feeling like you got to do seven things, you do two things, but you covered seven of your holistic superhuman frameworks. Like, and then here's the thing. Pacing. We should stop recording. So Liz doesn't have a recording of this part, but pacing yourself is essential. So we've talked about balance. We've talked about intentionality. A holistic approach. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. You don't have to overhaul your life overnight. And so many times when people get this wild hair, wherever they get wild hairs, they're like, and I need to fix it right now. No, you don't have to overhaul your life overnight. Start small. Build habits gradually. Allow yourself time to adjust. This is how you're going to avoid burnout, by the way. This is also probably how you're going to avoid, like, backsliding into things that you're trying to change and not do. You have to remember, it's not about how fast you can get there. It's about building a sustainable lifestyle that keeps you balanced over the long haul of your beyond your default journey. A holistic approach involves integrating all aspects of one's life in a manageable and sustainable way. This is how we keep moving forward, strong and steady. This is how we keep moving forward on our journey to becoming fantastic humans. This is how we have a journey that leads us to superhumans who are living a life beyond their default. This is the thing that we need to think about. Balance, balance, balance. There's so many times that we don't have balance in our life and we need that balance because it's critical and we need to let that balance end up leading us into that intentionality, that one action that's serving many purposes in our life that then allow us to get into this better place, this almost easier way to have a holistic mindset and a holistic journey as we move forward.

I'm going to tattoo the word balance on your head.

Ah, thanks. I. There were a couple times there, I didn't want to stop in the middle of that. There was a couple times where I was like, oh, yeah, isn't it funny.

How we always end up having the conversations where you're supposed to have? It drives me absolutely batshit sometimes. Sometimes I just sit here and I'm like, we are doing such a great job having this conversation for our listeners. And then I'm realizing, oh, so maybe I should also be listening.

Yeah, I literally was punched in the cranium of I need to quit juggling the balls around the book and just freaking focus on the, like, intentionality anyway.

Not why, focusing on everything. Oh, no, no, I completely understand. It's kind of like when I read my newsletter, sometimes I'll read it like a day or so after I send it just to kind of relive the magic and then I realize, oh, you just wrote that to yourself, you big ding dong.

But everybody gets value out of it. So everybody gets value.

Everybody gets value. So what role though does community, or let's say social support play in achieving holistic wellbeing? Because we're talking a lot about ourselves, right? We're talking a lot about our individuals, our own individual locus of control. But we've also spent a lot of time on this podcast talking about the importance of relationships, communities, those OneToOne connections, those one to many connections. So how can community and social support play into this aspect of our lives?

Yeah, I love this because I want people to realize that it doesn't have to be like this lone soldier mentality that people can come along for the ride. And I think, Liz, to answer your question, community and social support play, what, I'll use this word intentionally, by the way, a massive role in achieving holistic well being. And let me tell you why this is so crucial and how we can start to cultivate this community, this support in our life right now. So first of all, speaking to myself and speaking to any humans like me, no matter how strong, independent or motivated you are, we are however you want to put that so your brain can digest it, we can't do this alone. We're wired as humans for connection. And having a strong support system is like having a safety net that catches you when life gets tough. And trust me, I have had moments in life where it got tough and I did not have a safety net. And boy, did that hurt. You see the people around you, your family, your friends, your colleagues, mentors, they lift you, but they keep you grounded and push you forward as well. They help you see blind spots, celebrate wins, and navigate the challenges of life. It's funny because I alluded to this earlier, Liz, when I said, like, look, many times you're going to have to ask the people where you're at versus where you think you're at. Like, if you don't have the community, if you don't have the support, if you don't have people who are helping you see the blind spot, celebrate your wins and navigate the challenges. That has to be a piece of your life. If you don't have that, by the way, punchline, you're not living a holistic life. There's no way you can have a holistic mindset because you're missing in an entire module that's supposed to be plugged into this. So this is what community does. It reinforces your well being on all levels, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually. I could keep going down the list. So the question is, how do you cultivate this essential support in your life? And again, I'll beg you to be intentional about building and nurturing those relationships with purpose. Relationships, intentionality and purpose. I. I feel like somebody should be jotting that down as a note. I need to build relationships.

I like how you're just like, Liz, somebody should be jotting this down as a note.

I'm literally talking to the listeners, but I feel like there's somebody out there that should be like, when I'm building relationships, it needs to be with intentionality and purpose.

This is like the let go, let them conversation. All right. I've been really good this whole episode about staying out of the hot seat. Yeah, I've been kind of like, yeah, that's right. You should focus on balance, George. It makes me realize we need to come back and have a conversation about relationships again. Because this gets into something I have been focusing on a lot recently. And I alluded to this at the very beginning, which is I've had to get really clear with myself on where my energy is going. I've almost done like an energetic roadmap. Right. Like, I need a certain amount of energy in order to get to where I want to go, to build the life that I want to live, to achieve the things that I want to achieve as an individual, the things I want to achieve with you as my partner. Like, there's so many different things that I want to do. And I couldn't escape this feeling that.

I felt really tired.

And I started observing, well, how do I feel when I interact with certain people or I'm in certain places? And in some cases, it's like you feel great. Like sometimes, you know, like, not everything's perfect. Like this is, you know? But then I started noticing there were areas and with people where I was consistently feeling drained.

Yeah.

But the thing is, is that nobody was doing anything.

Yeah.

And that's when I started realizing I had ghosts. I didn't have relationships with intention or purpose. I was holding onto things that were energetically dead, like zombie relationships that were still roaming around. And it's because I was the only one holding on Y. And then I had this horrible experience. I mean, I'll be honest, the past few weeks have been great and clarifying and also not fun. I did it with three different people who were very important to me all at the same time, and said what would happen if I either let go forced important conversations, or otherwise just let it be and see what happens?

Yeah.

And I realized, like, so much of this holistic approach that we're talking about requires kind of an energetic audit. You have to be, you know, you can't do anything with intention or purpose, whether that's projects or people or anything else, professionally or personally. If you are not honest with yourself about what is lacking intention, what is lacking purpose, or if the only purpose that exists is just being able to continue to liar to yourself about saying something's over.

Yeah. It's funny because my brain is going to. When we do that other episode, it should be something around energy vampires and emotional zombies. Like, should be probably, like, some phrases that we use. But. But here's the thing. I love that this is feeding into where you're at, where you're headed, because it is about intentionality. It is about purpose. And I. I think there's a couple things that we can pay attention to as we kind of journey down this road of like, okay, well, I. I want to make this change. I want to cultivate these relationships. And. And so the first thing that. And nothing new. No news flashes here, by the way. But first thing on my brain is be vulnerable and authentic. Right. So real connections. Real connections are built on authenticity. You Create a foundation of trust with others by sharing your true self. Not your mask, not the fake you, not the Instagram you. By sharing your true self, your struggles, your victories, and everything in between your struggles and victories. This openness, this authenticity invites deeper, more meaningful relationships that support a holistic journey. So be vulnerable, be authentic. The other piece of this is surround yourself with positive influences. Liz, you were literally just kind of talking about the opposite of that. Like the people you spend time with directly impact your energy, your mindset and your well being. So make sure you surround yourself with individuals who uplift you, inspire growth in you and align with your core values. Positive influences will help you stay motivated and grounded. And so make sure that's who your circle is, the 5, the 10, however many people around you. But then also you got to make sure that you're not that guy or gal. So make sure you're engaging in community activities like join groups or like participating in community activities that resonate with your interests. If you can inject yourself into places of interest, it's a powerful way to connect with like minded people. If they're, if you're growth focused and they're growth focused, guess what? Like these shared experiences foster a sense of belonging and provide support as you pursue this holistic life, this holistic well being. And here's the thing about this because, and by the way, I have found times, my wife is great at recentering me, she'll say, well, when's the last time you reached out to them? Or something along those lines, like you have to give as much as you receive, right? So when you think about holistic well being and relationships and community, it's a two way street, ladies and gentlemen. By offering your support to others, whether through listening, helping or simply just sometimes being present, you strengthen your connections and create a balanced, mutually supportive community. This reciprocity enriches both your life because you were there and the lives of those around you. So again, those kind of four actions I feel are foundational to building a robust, supportive community that uplifts you towards this idea of living a life of holistic life or holistic well being. And so if you focus on these and your relationships, they'll become more powerful, they'll become a source of strength. And most importantly, if we go back to our original word that I kept saying, balance these relationships, become a source of stability in your life.

I think that's what a lot of us are looking for, you know, that idea of stability because you know, I think what can happen, you know, and, and I Think sometimes this is what the trap that I fall into. Sometimes I don't want to embrace a holistic mindset because it means I start looking at everything, right? And it's a great real. It's a great way to feel unsteady. It's a great way for it to feel like your life is kind of a bit like a game of whack a Mole. Whereas when you have tunnel vision and you're focusing on one thing and you're focusing on doing it really well, you.

Can trick yourself for a moment into.

Thinking you've got it all figured out, Right? It's like how twice a year I will buy a printed planner, and for that, for those seven days, my life is banging, right? Because I have a planner. It's just. It's just a bit. Of course, the planner ends up falling by the wayside. I remember I like to do everything digitally, and everything I was working on was fine the way it was before, if I would just follow through with it. But, you know, it's that funny thing where it's, you know, we think stability comes from focusing on as little as possible. And to some degree, that is true. Right. There's a reason why people say multitasking doesn't work. You know, monotasking is a much more efficient and effective way to professionally or in any sort of work capacity, get things done, focus on one thing, move on. Sure, you might do a little bit of multitasking here and there, but in our lives, we have to realize that stability comes from acknowledging that. Yeah, it's. Oh, it. It can feel a little bit like whack a mole. Your priorities are going to shift here and there. You know, you're going to have to make changes. You're going to have to change your balance. But true stability is only achieved when you're looking at yourself as a whole. Right. So in this framework, I want to end our conversation here. You compare holistic well being to firing on all eight cylinders. Right. So what advice do you have for someone like me who feels like they're only firing potentially on a few cylinders? Yeah, just one or two. What does that look like?

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out if this question is also tied to the fact that there was a bunch of Corvettes and you were saw, like, maybe and stuff, you know? You know me, I love a great analogy. So, Liz, I'm gonna try to keep it while I answer your question. I'm gonna see how well I can do here. But if you feel like you're only firing on a few cylinders. The first thing I feel like I need to unpack for the listeners is you're not alone. Like, we've all been there. Life is gonna throw us off balance. Sometimes it feels like we're just not running at full capacity. But what I will say is there's good news. You can get back on track and you can start firing on all eight cylinders. I'll say eight because I mean, it could be 12, it could be six, maybe four. Depends who you are. I'm going to say eight cylinders because I can. So let's go ahead and break this down. And by the way, we've talked about some of these things throughout the podcast, but to answer your question, Liz, you need to start with a tune up or what we called earlier a self assessment. Right? Think of yourself as a high performance engine. When something's off, the first step is to pop that hood and see what's going on. So you have to take a step back and you have to assess which areas of your life are running smoothly and which need a little tlc. Are you neglecting your mental health or your humor? Is your physical health or happiness lagging? Maybe it's your emotional or spiritual well being that's taking a hit. Like pinpointing where you're struggling so you know exactly where to focus your efforts is a great first step. Like I think about how you can go to like, you know, Pep Boys or autozone and they can plug in that thing to your car and also they get a readout of like all the stuff that needs to be. What are you plugging into and what is your readout say? And how do you then move forward from there? How do you move forward from there Is it's prioritizing the misfiring cylinders, if you will. Like, once you've identified the cylinders that aren't firing, it's time to prioritize those. It's to time. Time to maybe replace those spark plugs. If, if you will, as we mentioned, don't try to fix everything at once. Like, if only one of the spark plugs is burnout, you don't necessarily need to replace all of them, right? Maybe it's just the one. Like it doesn't have to be everything at once. You're going to get overwhelmed. By the way, if that's the mindset that you get stuck into. Instead, what I want you to do is focus on one or two areas that need the most attention. Attention. It could mean incorporating more time into your humanity or humility or dedicating Time to mental health practices or like mindfulness or, or even going to therapy. Like focusing on the areas that need the most work will help you see improvements across the board or across. I'm trying to think of like a, an engine version of that anyway. But, but here's the thing. The, the next thing is that you have to fuel your engine with positive influences. Again, tying back to that piece about where we talked about the community. Just like a car runs better on high quality fuel, you'll perform better when surrounded by positive influences. The community that we chatted about earlier. Connect with people who uplift, inspire and support your growth. Whether it's friends, family, mentors or. This is where I'll say the beyond your default community. These relationships will provide the encouragement and energy that you need to keep going even when things get tough. And here's one that I should be preaching to myself and I do actually preach this to myself. I wish I could preach it to my younger self. You have to check in regularly, ladies and gentlemen. Maintenance is key. Once you start firing on all cylinders, keep that momentum going. Like keeping that momentum going is important. Well, regularly checking in with yourself to ensure you maintain balance across all areas of your life. And I'll, I'll pause for a second for you if you asked yourself that question right now. Am I giving myself room and space for maintenance? Am I checking in with myself to make sure that there is balance across my life? Listen, just like a car needs regular maintenance to keep running smoothly, you need regular self assessments and adjustments to stay at your best. Overwhelm, overload, burnout typically is because we don't pay attention to this piece. You have to be patient, but you have to be persistent. There's a magical like mix. You know how like some engines you got to do like this percent oil, this percent gas. There's a magical mix of being patient and persistent. Like getting back to full capacity takes time to happen. It takes time, patience and persistence. So the thing that I would beg for myself, Liz, for you, for any of the listeners, is don't get discouraged if progress feels slow. Because every step forward, no matter how small, 1% better each and every day, it's a victory. It's a frickin victory. It doesn't matter if it's small, so keep at it. Over time, you'll find yourself firing on all eight cylinders. You'll find yourself feeling more balanced, more energized. You'll find yourself ready to tackle whatever happens next on this fabulous journey to a life beyond your default.