Personally, I think entrepreneurs ignore their health in order to spend more time working, then their health starts to deteriorate. And then they find themselves with no energy to enjoy the life they built and wonder what all the work was for.
Dr. Chaz Ebert
Full Potential Chiropractic
Chad: When you moved from Wisconsin to Georgia, what made you decide to start from scratch a second time, rather than purchasing a pre-established practice?
Dr. Chaz: Number one, I had some great mentors that I could model my practice after, and number two, I’d already done it. I’d established a great practice in Wisconsin, so I knew I could replicate that.
The build-out was gonna take at least 90 days, so there was nothing I could do other than get out and meet people, network, and get involved. And that was a big part of hitting the ground running once we got the doors open.
Josh: This is when I met you. You went out and built your network and got people excited about your business before you even opened the doors.
Dr. Chaz: And I’ll be honest, I am a huge introvert. It’s a big energy drain for me to be out and meeting new people and starting conversations, but I did it because it was what I had to do in order to start out successfully. So any group I could find, I joined.
Chad: I see plenty of young entrepreneurs who want to get everything perfect before they go live or go public, but you just decided to get your clients before you even opened.
Josh: One of the first unique things that caught my eye was that I never had to schedule an appointment with you. There were time blocks when I could come in to get adjusted. And you had a flow for how you did things that felt established and not needy.
Dr. Chaz: I’m big on a couple things. One of them is balance, in life and in your body. Also I’m good at observing and modeling people that I look up to, and I’ve seen a lot of chiropractors who, as they age, are breaking down and burning out physically.
If you’re burnt out or tired, you’re not going to serve your clients at your best.
Dr. Chaz
When I started my second practice, I got to take everything I learned from my first practice and start over.
I’m big on efficiency. I don’t like wasting time. So I figured out ways to create systems for efficiency without losing the connection with our patients.
I’m a big believer in “you can’t give what you don’t have,” so I can’t tell my patients to avoid stress and avoid toxins and take care of themselves and not walk that walk myself. Personally, I think entrepreneurs ignore their health in order to spend more time working, then their health starts to deteriorate. And then they find themselves with no energy to enjoy the life they built and wonder what all the work was for.
Josh: So what can entrepreneurs do to avoid burnout and find balance even when they’re running hard to get a business off the ground.
Dr. Chaz: I think if you put focus on health and wellness, it multiplies and grows your business.
For me there are five main areas of health. If you do these five things, there’s a really good chance that you’re going to stay healthy. So this is what I do.
1: Eat well. Decrease grains and sugar, increase healthy fats.
This is especially effective blended with intermittent fasting. Either a dinner to dinner fast once or twice a week, or a 16-8, which is when you keep an 8-hour window when you eat, then don’t eat outside of that 8-hour window. Usually for me, it’s either 12-8pm or 1-9pm. And I don’t do it every day, but I keep it pretty consistent.
Water is an exception to the fast, some people say that coffee is fine, some people say to give your body a full break. But definitely don’t drink caffeine past 2 or 3pm at the very latest anyway if you want to rest well.
2: Move well. Even if you are in your office and you stand up and run in place for 60 seconds, that’s a good workout.
The minimum amount of movement you should get in a day depends on your job. If you work at a desk, you should at least get up every hour and stretch, do a couple yoga poses, march in place, touch your left hand to your right knee and vice versa a few times.
HIIT training is a short duration, high intensity workout. 20 seconds on, 20 seconds off, three times. Done in 2 minutes. Any kind of cardio movement at a high intensity, even in place. And then you’ll burn fat for up to 38 hours afterwards.
3: Think well. Minimize stress. Be grateful. Meditate.
4: Minimize toxins. Drink half your body-weight in ounces every day to flush out toxins. Avoid toxins in your environment.
5: Proper nervous system function. Breathing techniques, yoga, chiropractic… Making it so your brain and body can communicate well.
I think there’s a huge need to bring health and wellness to entrepreneurs. I think meditation studios and consultants will be brought in within the next 20 years to bring health to the business world.
I truly believe the saying… Rest is a weapon.
Dr. Chaz
Chad: Personally I’m a living, breathing example of that change. I spent 10 years of my life working more so that one day I could work less. And when I turned 35, I started seeing the health effects of those things. I made time for sleep, working out, and eating well, and it has made me so much more productive now than I have ever been.
Dr. Chaz: What would you say is the one thing that made the biggest difference for you?
Chad: Exercise by far. I started getting up early to exercise for 20 minutes, then 30, then even longer. I crave that so much now. And if I do not get up in the morning and do it, I feel lost during the rest of the day.
Dr. Chaz: All it takes is a small nudge to get you going in the right direction. Just a little positive momentum.
Josh: I heard you talk to someone once about intermittent fasting, and you told them not to change their diet at all at first, just change the hours where you can eat.
Dr. Chaz: Any type of movement is a great start, but research shows that if you can throw in some strength training, even once a week, it’s going to make a huge difference. In the book “Body by Science” by Dr. Doug McGuff, he has you do one set of five exercises, five to six repetitions. You move the weight as slow as you possibly can. It takes about ten minutes once a week. And just that is going to make a huge difference for your cardiovascular health and tendon and ligament health.
You don’t have to do these things, but life is a lot better when you do.
Dr. Chaz Ebert
You only have one spine, you should probably take good care of it.
Now this could change, but if you asked me now, I don’t ever plan on retiring. There’s a lot of research about the detrimental effects of retiring. The loss of purpose and routine affects people really negatively.
Josh: You wrote a book a couple years ago, I really love it. Tell us about your book.
Dr. Chaz: “The Art of Optimal Health,” by Dr. Chaz Ebert. I can’t stand books that are 400 pages that could’ve been 150 but they’re filled with fluff. So this book is about 70 pages. You can read it in an hour. I wanted people to be able to read it quickly and get what they need.
Josh: And what’s your favorite book you’d recommend right now?
Dr. Chaz: “Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It.” The original book is about 60 pages, they just expanded it. I think that book is as good as any business or marketing book you could read.
Resources:
The Art of Optimal Health: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Radiant Vitality
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It
Body by Science: A Research Based Program for Strength Training, Body building, and Complete Fitness in 12 Minutes a Week
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