Body, Being, Mind

As a founder and Managing Director of theSPACE (along with cofounding of a number of other startups), a single father of a 17 yo and 4yo (2 startups in their own right) and someone who likes to keep fit, I admit to “burning the candle at both ends” in order to manage everything. It was normal to find myself at the gym at 10pm at night and despite being someone who meditates daily, I was finding increasing levels of stress, anxiety and in general, really starting to feel overwhelmed at the enormity of stuff I had to do. I’m not sure if you can relate?!

I was feeling that something had to change, but in order to know exactly what to change I needed to know what. So like starting a business I set about collecting data to effective a strategic decision.  

With the help of Kylie Clooney & Christine Clifford… we measured:

• Body: Measured B12, Zinc and Cortisol levels
• Being: Measured how I was valuing my time day to day
• Mind: Measured the effectiveness of my ability to regulate my mental state

What we found:

• Body: My zinc levels were low causing excessive anxiety. My cortisol levels were significantly low during the morning periods when they should have been high, plus drinking caffeine into the night for late gym sessions were resulting in an unhealthy biorhythm. The writing on the wall was that if I continued in this way, I would likely reach a burnout event in the near future. 
• Being: Non-office hours were almost completely consumed by work, family or training at the gym ie: time allocated to personal relationships, holidays, hobbies and socialising outside of work events was almost zero. Creating an imbalance in general well being.
• Mind: My ability to effectively regulate my mental state was high (I’ve been meditating for 17 years). This is likely why/how I was able to manage my wellbeing with the imbalances above. This however put additional pressure on my system as I had to work extra hard to effectively manage my state.

What we did:

• Body: Supplemented Zinc and moved my gym training to the morning when my energy should be naturally high (not late at night). Cut any stimulates after 3pm.  Bed by 10pm and up at 5am, ensuring a minimum of 7 hours sleep most nights.
• Being: Explored (with facilitation) any blocks towards different aspects of life. Read “Essentialism - Greg McKeown” and “Deep Work - Cal Newport” and implemented strategies to remove clutter and non-essential tasks from my life.  This increased my efficiency with essential tasks (ie: getting more of what matters done in less time), leaving more personal time.
• Mind: Continued daily practice of meditation and yoga.

The result… More flow, joy and a greater sense of wellbeing.

The reality is that entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint. There will be times to sprint, but you can't sprint for years on end. Where are you in your entrepreneurial journey? Burnout is real. I encourage you to reach out to mentors of theSPACE who can help you understand where you are vulnerable and keep you strong on this journey.

• Body: If you are interested in levelling up your body I encourage you to reach out to Kylie Clooney - http://www.cairnsnaturopathic.com.au/
• Being: If you are interested in greater general wellbeing I encourage you to reach out to Christine Clifford - http://christineclifford.com.au/
• Mind: If you are interested in learning around meditation contact me on troy@thespacecairns.com {it’s the shit}

We all deserve mentors/coaches in our life

Troy