#40: Three Healthy Steps Every Entrepreneur Should Take To Function To Their Highest Capacity

The Business Growth Show

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon is a functional medicine physician specializing in the concept of muscle-centric medicine, which focuses on the skeletal muscle, as the key to health and longevity. Dr. Lyon works closely with the Special Operations Military & has a private practice in NYC. In addition, her practice services the leaders, innovators, & executives in their prospective field. On the show, Dr. Lyon is going to discuss three healthy steps every entrepreneur should take to function at their highest capacity.

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Host: Brian Webb

Guests: Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

Episode 40: Three Healthy Steps Every Entrepreneur Should Take To Function To Their Highest Capacity

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TRANSCRIPT

Brian Webb:

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. It's awesome to have you on the show today. How are you doing?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

Brian Webb:

Yeah, it's going to be a fun conversation. I know that you're here to talk about three things that an entrepreneur or a business leader can do to function in their highest capacity. Before we jump into that, why don't you talk real quickly about some of the impediments that you see with all the business leaders that you work with that does impede or prevent us from functioning in the highest possible capacity?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Absolutely. And I have to say that entrepreneurs are near and dear to my heart and make up a large portion of my practice. And one of the things that I see over and over again is business, family, everything else comes first before their health,

Brian Webb:

Yeah, boy, that's true.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

And that doesn't necessarily mean working out. It means staying on top of testing, supplementation, lifestyle behaviors are really, a really secondary.

Brian Webb:

I've seen that in my own life. So I can relate to everything that you just said. So, okay, we're going to talk about the three things that we can do to function better, maybe even at optimal capacity. What's the first thing that we can do?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

First thing is understanding that you are predictable. Human nature is incredibly predictable. What does that mean? What does that mean specifically for an entrepreneur? Entrepreneurship has battle rhythms and whether it's a launch, whether it's a new business that you're starting, whether it's an incredible collaboration, there is a predictability in the way that you're going to push and a predictability in your vices.

Brian Webb:

Break that down a little bit. Yeah, go ahead, I want to hear more about that.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Yeah. That means that some people stress eat or they go to alcohol. Maybe drugs, maybe more stimulants to keep up with the ever present schedule of really long hours. What is so fascinating about this and I've been in, I've been seeing patients for 15 years. And what I will tell you is that it's very predictable that we repeat patterns. For example, you probably have a very specific pattern that may be more subconscious in terms of what you are going to do and how you are going to manage stress, that is not just internal. A lot of the women that I have, they might walk by, they might be eating late at night or having an extra meal or another glass of wine and this predictable nature of the habits that happen. We all know exactly what they are and then we're all shocked that we do it again.

Brian Webb:

It's true, yeah it's true.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Brian, it's we're surprised. Oh my gosh, I can't believe that I had five glasses of wine or I decided to smoke marijuana or I decided to do whatever because I'm stressed. You know you've got a big event coming up. You know following that event, you may go for something that is going to have a derailing effect of your health. And you tell yourself that you're not going to do it this next time or that you're just going to stop after this one launch or you're going to stop after this next project and you don't because human nature becomes very good at what it repeatedly does. The first thing an individual has to understand is you have to identify your predictable nature.

Brian Webb:

So once we've identified that, what do we do with that information once we have identified it? In other words, how do we take that and use that to optimize basically?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Well, let me ask you this. Do you have one that comes to mind?

Brian Webb:

Yes, I love to have a drink in the evening to wind down. That would be a vulnerable confession here on the podcast today. Yeah.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

And the question is, is it one drink?

Brian Webb:

Two, I would say on average.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

And when you have a launch or a stressful event or something that is very stimulatory, whether it's a talk or a summit or whatever it is, do you find that you do more?

Brian Webb:

No, no. When you said that, when you talked about being predictable, I resonated with that right away because I'm extraordinarily pattern oriented. Maybe even more than the typical person.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Okay. Is that something you'd like to stop or reduce or cut back?

Brian Webb:

Yeah, I think I would actually. Yeah.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Okay, then and I agree with you. I think that alcohol over a period of time, even if it's not a tremendous amount actually affects brain function. My fellowship was in nutritional sciences and cognition, part of memory and aging. And I will tell you that when an individual reduces alcohol, it does help brain function over the long-term. So let's think about something action oriented. Now we can predict this is going to happen. And even if you tell yourself you're not going to do it, you probably will follow through on that.

Brian Webb:

That's probably true.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

However, I think the better strategy would be practicing what you could do instead in your mind, prior to the moment where you would reach for a drink or a cookie or something else, what would that be?

Brian Webb:

That's a good question.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Because you're going to want to wind down. So it's going to be something, we can't just take it out and assume that there's nothing to replace it. We have to implement something else for a wind down that arguably should be something that would augment your health rather than take away.

Brian Webb:

Yeah. So what would be a good example of that in your mind, in your experience? I should say,

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

A great example is going out for a walk, reading, meditating, red light, doing, I know this might sound crazy doing some kind, I mean, it's in the evening but doing some kind of activity or just knowing that it's going to happen and then perhaps writing or doing something or having a game plan of maybe some literature you're going to review or a task that you're going to complete that's fun. But you have to plan for it. And this is one of the major things that takes entrepreneurs down because at the end of the day, the health of an individual determines everything about the trajectory of the business. And from what I've seen-

Brian Webb:

And their output.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Yeah. Well, it's interesting because entrepreneurs are really a hard charging group. Their level, their capacity for suffering is incredibly high. When an individual's capacity for suffering is incredibly high, then there's not necessarily an awareness of the fact that they could feel better or that they're limited. But what I've found is I've seen individuals that are really putting in a ton of hours and pushing really hard, which I would say that happens either early on in entrepreneurship or it becomes an addiction. That's stimulatory pushes becomes an addiction. The inevitable burnout that happens again is also predictable. You know that if you're going to go, there's that battle rhythm, you know that you're going to push and there is going to be a, just an exhaustion. So many entrepreneurs are just exhausted.

A better way to approach this is to understand that the battle rhythms happen and then really being disciplined about that predictable nature and putting in very specific boundaries and those individuals, those individuals are the ones that truly Excel because the business is ultimately limited, the vision of the business, the capacity of the business is limited by the entrepreneur. For example, even if the entrepreneur has a CEO or a COO, when that entrepreneur, when that visionary feels their absolute best, they are so much more creative. Even if they have a six, seven figure business, eight figure business.

Brian Webb:

John Maxwell calls that the law of the lid, basically no organization can rise any higher than that of its leader or its leadership. So, that makes sense. So number one, optimization. Number one is to identify patterns that are either not healthy or could be healthier then look for opportunities to replace those behavior patterns with something that, as you said, augments the quality of your life, what would be number two?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Number two is nutrition.

Brian Webb:

Nutrition.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Number two is really nailing your nutritional strategy. And you know what I really should say? Is I should say lifestyle interventions, meaning nutrition and exercise that has to happen and and really taking good care of an individual. Typically the long hours lead to elevated cortisol or gut dysfunction, going for carbohydrates, going for sugar. I just need the energy, I just need it for my brain. And then they're on the hamster wheel of ebbs and flows of blood sugar, where they feel great in the morning. They're up, they're feeling great after lunch, they're totally tanked. They need to take a nap under their desk or they're going for another cup of caffeine or some kind of stimulant to get the job done. And when you nail your nutrition and what does it mean to nail your nutrition?

It means to really think about being protein forward. And obviously this is more of an entrepreneurial podcast. We don't need to go into the science of it, unless of course you want me to but high quality protein as your first thing that you put into your mouth, will help balance blood sugar and also help maintain skeletal muscle and improve body composition. One thing that entrepreneurs always want, is they want to have good brain function.

Brian Webb:

Of course. Yeah.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

And we know the data is clear that the more over fat an individual is, the wider their waistline, the lower the brain volume. Keeping body composition in check allows... Alzheimer's is type three diabetes of the brain, cognitive impairment, feeling brain fog, brain fatigue in part is metabolic in nature. And you can address that by really focusing on tight nutrition. And this does not mean smoothies. This does not mean some of the hype that you see. It means, have a burger or have a steak or some fish, something with protein in it.

Brian Webb:

I'm saying Dr Gabrielle Lyon says no more pasta, right?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

I mean, sure have pasta, if you want to be... If you want to provide subpar performance, then having pasta would be a great choice for lunch.

Brian Webb:

Yes absolutely. Okay. So one, identify patterns, figure out ways to improve those patterns, nutrition, protein forward. Exercise of course I know is always great. What's the third thing that we can do to optimize our performance?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Well before I move on to the exercise. I just want to mention the protein, the way in which you plan your meals, if you are too busy, hire a chef. If you do not plan ahead, you'll fail yourself. This goes back to this intertwines with the predictable nature of, if you don't have your meals planned, you're going to, you'll fail. You'll eat off the cuff. You'll never reach that really high state of health to bring that vision forward and then exercise. People, the one thing I hear from entrepreneurs is they don't have time. "Oh, Gabrielle, I just don't have time to exercise." If you are effective and efficient at doing a pretty intense, if you can get your mind into it, you can do a very intense training session. No problem.

And you will actually get incredible benefits. That's high intensity interval training. If you do heavy lifting or at least lifting to failure but making that resistance training and or a high intensity interval training, non-negotiable, you will feel so much better. And this is kind of obvious to people but instead they will choose to do what they've always done, whether it's on the treadmill or aerobics or whatever it is that is not going to suffice for the long haul.

Brian Webb:

I went to a seminar once and ironically, it was a Franklin day planner seminar. It was about 25 years ago. And interestingly enough, it was an eight hour seminar. One of the best I've been to in my life, by the way, which again, sounds crazy. But the lecturer, the guy that was talking that day said, "Brian, if I ask you tomorrow." He's speaking to me in front of a room of let's just call it a hundred people or so he says, "If I ask you to start waking up every single day at 2:30 in the morning, would you do it?" And I said, "No, I wouldn't." He says, "What if I told you, I would give you $50 if you did it?" I said, "Nope, I still wouldn't do it."

He said, "What if I told you I was going to be standing over your bed with a .357 Magnum revolver and if you don't wake up, I'm going to shoot you right in the head?" And the point that he was making is if our why is powerful enough, we will find the time, we'll do what we're supposed to do. And that's what you're talking about. You're and when we understand that when we do the right things, that the why being able to perform better, being able to serve better, to extend our lives, to improve the quality of our lives, we'll find the time.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Absolutely. Yeah. You just make it a non-negotiable.

Brian Webb:

Yeah. Okay. Number three. What's the third thing that we can do?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Yeah, number three is interesting. And I actually think that people don't... I think people are actually becoming more aware of this now and this ultimately becomes the environment. What do I mean by environment?

Brian Webb:

Environment, okay.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Our space is very tech oriented now. People are in front of their computer, people are sitting next to their modems, people are inside. An entrepreneur's life, depending on what they're doing. It is very, like I said, tech heavy, this definitely impacts the wellness of an individual. We are not designed to do that.

Brian Webb:

How so? Just talking about just consumption of information or just always being distracted, is that what you're referring to?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Actually the screen lighting, the fluorescent lighting, the EMF, the high electronic load. I think that the science is still new to all this but I will tell you individuals that work outside, get outside early on, use a light box at their desk and that's a blue light box. It really helps their energy and their focus also taking screen breaks. Making sure that you're blinking appropriately, making sure that if you can even sit outside and work, like I'd mentioned earlier, is better because we take away that nature aspect and quite frankly, humans aren't designed to sit and work at a desk. Yes a standing desk is great but think about it. Think about you're in a studio right now. You have a studio that has a ton of electronics.

Brian Webb:

Oh my goodness, yeah, huge.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

That you might feel more fatigued after being there and it might be subtle and you might feel better when you're not recording and you're not with multiple computers and multiple screens. I do believe that there's an effect on the human body. And while the science is still early, it should be brought to the forefront as it relates to something that you're thinking about. So if it's possible to add in those bright lights, there's blue light, there's red light. You can use a red light in the evening. You can move the modem outside of the room. You can, if you're sitting there working and you don't need to be on the computer, you should have a kill switch. I think really understanding that the environment plays a role in the way in which you function. Let me give you an example, one of the causes.

So I did a fellowship at Wash U in Saint Louis. And that was like I said, memory aging was one part of the fellowship. One of the risk factors for dementia was individuals sleeping with their phone next to their head or living near the power sources. And that's just, it's just interesting. And this, you have to understand Wash U isn't necessarily progressive. They just look at the science and by understanding that these things do have an effect on our brain and our health really figuring out ways to mitigate the exposure or at least, the Apple watch all these wearables on our body should definitely take a break. Should definitely take a break from the wearables and the electronic.

Brian Webb:

Let me ask you this question and I know you're not expecting this one. There are so many things. Now I'm a marketer. So that's what I do. I serve as a fractional chief marketing officer, basically as a consultant for all kinds of businesses, different brands. And there are times where I'm giving them advice about marketing, not their health, that's the last thing you want me to be doing.

And, but I'll tell them, "Listen, you should be doing this." And I'll tell them but I admit it's hard and I'm not always consistent at doing the things that I know my business should be doing. You as a doctor, I would imagine, I don't really know hardly, most of the physicians that I know are both clients and friends, colleagues, they generally tend to be pretty disciplined but how good is Dr Gabrielle at executing all of the things and this is a vulnerable question but I think it's a fun one to ask, how good are you at doing the things that you know, you should be doing? Be it avoiding alcohol or planning your meals or getting away from electronics. Is it a struggle for you or do you feel like you've conquered those things?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

No not at all. Not at all.

Brian Webb:

Really? Okay.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

And I think that the best physicians are those that live in alignment with what they tell. I am not the kind of person that makes recommendations that I don't do. I don't actually drink, I'm up and outside the house before seven in the morning, we have a kill switch. The modem is in a fair day cage. I'd love to move it out to the other room but I have two very little children and my meals are planned. If we can't plan it, we have a chef come in and cook it. No, I'm incredibly, it's not even disciplined, it's a secondary way of life for me.

Brian Webb:

It's habit at this point.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

I've also been doing this for 17 years, so the whole education process and everything has been an entire lifetime.

Brian Webb:

So identifying patterns, making them better, making better choices, obviously making better nutrition choices, exercise, we all know that one's almost a staple. And you really said some things interesting about our environment. So when you say red and blue light, do you literally mean go to Home Depot and get a bulb that is red or blue or are these a specialty product that have a specific color temperature when you say red and blue and things like that?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Great question, you can do either or.

Brian Webb:

Really, okay.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

You can go to Home Depot, Home Depot has some of it. Our lights are again, I use a blue light in the house and then we have amber lights in the evening. Red light is a component of photo. Biomodulation, that's really good for recovery and mitochondria. Sometimes I use that at my desk. If I'm not recording or I'm not on video, these, you can get them, they have different wavelengths, you can get them online. There's a, I think it's called, yeah there's a couple companies but the smaller companies seem to be better. I think it's called EMK is one. I can send you another one that I've been looking into.

Brian Webb:

Yeah, if you do send that link, I'll put it in the show notes, okay.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

And then VeraLux is a great one. Yeah, they're great.

Brian Webb:

Now when you say these colored bulbs, are we talking like GE smart bulbs? Are you talking about do you put it into a lamp or do you just have it in a fixture that is only for health purposes?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

You can do either. So you could actually buy a certain type of bulb and it fits everywhere.

Brian Webb:

Okay, wow.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Yeah. They're spectrum lights. Yeah. There are all different kinds. Very easy, these are very easy things to do and understanding in the evening you shouldn't have full lights on. Understanding that if you want to get good, deep sleep, really being aware of your environment, we don't... Well, the one thing is Aires, my daughter is really into turning on the lights these days but typically we don't have big overhead lights on when the sun goes down.

Brian Webb:

Interesting.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

We really try to keep the environment non stimulatory in the evening and we try to go with the rhythms of what's happening outside.

Brian Webb:

Wow. Well thank you for sharing and dropping so many value bombs today. For those in our audience, who just want to be more connected with you, learn more about you and what you do. Where's the best place for them to find you?

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

The best place. If you want to work with me, I have an application process or if there is certainly referrals, we don't advertise. They can find the application on my website, drgabriellelyon.com. And you can fill that out. Also you can message Peter at drgabriellelyon.com. I'm pretty active on Instagram. And I have a YouTube channel where I do a lot of education and a newsletter that has curated material.

Brian Webb:

Okay. Fantastic. And audience, just to be clear, when you say Dr Gabrielle Lyon, that's D-R gabriellelyon.com. Yeah.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Yep, that's right.

Brian Webb:

Well, thanks for being here today. Promise me you'll come back and be on the podcast again sometime in the future.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

I promise.

Brian Webb:

It was great to have you.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

Thanks for having me.

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