Health & Wellness Edition: A Day in The Life of Founders Part 2 (Self-interview)
Long Four Issue #3
I closed out July at 17 total workouts, I set a goal of 25 workouts. Future gives me one-on-one training, feedback, and recommendations, and Sarah, my trainer, is usually the first person who reaches out to me in the morning to let me know what’s on tap at the gym. She sent me the screenshot below to kick off the week. She also adjusted my workout regime as I am focused on preparing for a half marathon sometime in 2023. So now, we are incorporating more running into my workouts. I am able to get the workouts in on my time and share videos, ask questions, and get feedback from my trainer. I can also set goals for myself. I am all in on losing the 10-15 pounds I have gained since becoming a dad so my workouts focus on weights and cardio.
Check out Future for 50% off for the first three months using our exclusive link and let me know what you think.
I figured I could not get accurate insights on how the best founders are managing their health, diet, and physical activity without doing some hard analysis on myself. Measuring what I eat, drink, and how many steps I am taking a day was all something I would not have even have been able to tell you five years ago. But since moving to San Francisco in 2017, starting a company, raising venture capital, and being submerged in the culture I will say things have changed. Not only am I smack dab in the middle of my 30s but I now have a wife, a son, and a few businesses I run so my responsibilities have grown tenfold. How I feel day-to-day can be the difference in how I perform at home, professionally, and in life.
This is a safe space to shed light on a growing area of fitness tech that is helping us track and manage our sleep, fitness, and mindfulness.
This week I want to evaluate how I manage mental health, alcohol, spirituality and faith, reading, family relationships, and personal finances.
Let’s dive in.
Part 2: Mental Health, Alcohol, Spirituality, Reading, Family & Friends, Personal Finance
Mental Health
Mental health was something I started to think about three years ago. I struggle with anxiety and while I do not take any medication, I have had issues with panic attacks. Last year, I got a therapist that I worked with as I was getting ready to get married. I think it is a viable resource to use. I do not see my therapist currently, and fortunately have not had too many panic attacks in the past year, but I am definitely a fan of managing the mind and it is one of the reasons I and becoming so much more cognizant of how important it is.
Do you subscribe to therapy on a regular ongoing basis?
I have an on-again-off-again relationship with therapy. Last year before getting married I saw my therapist twice a month. I have not regularly been seeing my therapist in the past year or so. Recently, I have signed up for BrightSide Health which offers a subscription-based therapy package.
How else do you maintain a healthy state of mind?
This is an ongoing lifestyle decision in my opinion. I think it begins with health and wellness and the addition of having a loving wife and a son definitely helps. It is not easy to maintain and it is a constant battle to keep a strong approach to having a healthy mind. I do not subscribe to any mental health apps currently.
Alcohol
Alcohol is one of those subjects that everyone has an opinion on. If I ask my mom, I need to watch my alcohol because of how alcohol has affected my family over the years. If I talk to some of my friends that drink they will say alcohol is not the problem its the person not knowing how to control their drinks. I fall somewhere in the middle. I have fortunately never had an extreme moment with alcohol where I was hurt or harmed someone else, on the other hand, binge drinking throughout my twenties did not necessarily help me. Now as a father, if I want to have a night out drinking my son is not going to care when he needs to be fed at 3-4 AM in the morning. I say all that to see I am working on alcohol management and tracking it constantly.
Are you a drinker?
Yes, I drink alcohol.
Do you have a certain relationship with alcohol?
I would say I am digressing from an unhealthy relationship with alcohol to an evolving one. When I say abusive I’m referring to my twenties when I spent a lot of time binge drinking. It is hard to remember weekends when I was not drinking heavily at least one night a week. That has drastically changed in the past few years. While I have definitely had my blunders in my thirties, it is a much rare occurrence. Alcohol beats you down as you get older. Parenthood has also influenced this even more because kids don’t care if you have a hangover. So if I choose to drink I will suffer the consequences even more. I don’t plan to practice complete sobriety but I do think it could be a possibility.
What has changed about your relationship with alcohol over the past year?
In the past year, I have started to use an app called Sunnyside. It helps me manage my drinking by sending me a daily text to reply with how many drinks I had the previous day based on data I provide them with. This is helpful and gives me accountability. It also gives me a real-time gauge of how drinking affects how I feel, and what my energy is like. These are the two most important factors I am trying to assess.
What has changed about your relationship with alcohol over the past 10 years?
I am heading into my 35th birthday this month so I would say drinking ten years ago was not even on the radar of things I was tracking. I am honestly blessed that my drinking never led to any detrimental issues like DUIs or doing something stupid that landed me or someone around me in harm. I began to binge drink in college and did so throughout my twenties and early thirties. The more I research, the more I understand how many successful people don’t drink. I do think I lost some productivity by being a binge drinker. Here’s to a healthier and more responsible relationship with alcohol in my mid-thirties and beyond.
Spirituality and Faith
Faith, religion, and spirituality are ironically terms that mean the same thing depending on where you are in the world. I grew up in the deep south so faith and religion were table stakes for mostly everyone. I have lived in the Bay area for the past five years and faith and religion are replaced by spirituality. Over time I have evolved my views and practices and I think that will continue for the rest of my life but I think I will keep a core foundation of beliefs.
Do you consider yourself spiritual?
I identify as a Christian, but I am not a regular member of a church. I would say we go as a family once a month. I do believe Christianity is an impactful way to think about life in general and I have always believed it gave me structure. I am the first to admit my imperfections and the true belief of a Christian is that we all have sins and issues we need to work on. This is an area of my life I want to improve because I think besides health and wellness it can be a big driver of peace, calmness and focus. I admire the dedication of more devoutly religious people and I think net-net having some type of spirituality or religion is good for the world.
Do practice any type of daily devotionals?
I read a daily devotional about 3-4 times a month. Currently I am reading one I that was given to Whitney as a gift. It is short sweet and too the point.
Do you practice any types of prayer?
I lead prayers at family meals and probably pray two times a week if I am actively thinking about it. I also try to pray when I am in the steam room at my gym. Asking God for grace, expressing gratidude, and asking for forgiveness are all things I pray about in addition to my family, my local surroundings, and any big decisions that are on the horizon.
How do you practice gratitude in your daily life?
I do not have a formal gratitude journal but I typically say thanks in my prayers. This is an area I need to be more intentional about throughout my life. I think the past few years we as a human race has become a lot less grateful for what we have. I honestly have countless things to be grateful for and my beleif is that you have to be grateful with what you have to expect to receive more.
Reading
Reading is one of the most stress-reducing things I do. I can typically read books all day if I do not have other responsibilities. I am an Audible subscriber and I will say this year I finally feel good about blitzing through books at 1.7x speed. If the book is exceptional I will purchase or borrow a physical copy from the library and read it again. I think reading is the cheat code and it unlocks information, ideas, and stories like no other medium.
What type of written content do you consume?
I am consuming 95% non-fiction and about 5% fiction on the regular. I read a mix of articles, books, newsletters and blogs focused on a bevy of subjects from business, health and wellness, lifestyle, history and more.
Do you set goals to finish books?
I typically go back and forth with whether or not I should finish every book. Just yesterday I did a calculation on all the books I have on my Goodreads and it would take me roughly 27 years to finish every book I want to read.
If so how many a year?
This year I set a goal of 48 books. So far I am 38% towards my goal. I utilize Audible as a big driver. I am completely comfortable reading books for fun more than research on Audible and actually prefer that over music and podcasts on most days.
How do you select what types of books to read?
I am fairly data-driven and tend to use GoodReads filters to figure out what books I want to read next. Sometimes I may be in a biography mood so I have folders for the different types of books that I read. Once I am in a certain folder I can filter by publication date, overall rating, or how long the book has been on my list.
What's your favorite genre?
I have a folder titled “Business Thrillers” where I currently have 63 books. This list is a fusion of nonfiction stories on businesses and people. The books skirt along the lines of scams, controversies and scandals. Below are my top three rated books in this folder from my list. If I could only read this genre of books I would.
Family & Friends
Living three thousand miles away from where I grew up is never easy. Two things typically happen you grow further away from the family and friends you grew up with but also have better relationships with them over time because when you get face time with them you do not take it for granted. Additionally, when you get married you add a new group of family and friends. For me, it helps that my wife is from the Bay area, but I do miss the subtle things of the east coast from time to time.
Are you single, married, or somewhere in between?
I am married to my amazing wife Whitney (also my newsletter editor). We got married in Cabo last summer. We had been dating since late 2017 before being married. Prior to that, I was single for pretty much all of my twenties.
If married: What does your wife/husband/partner do?
My wife is a global experience manager. She curates and sets up corporate events across the world for her company and their partners, customers, and prospects. Since my business is currently domestic, I look forward to her planning international events so I can tag along.
What’s your dating life like? (married or single)
We recently had our son so we have to be quite strategic to make sure we fit in times to take dates together. We like fine dining so it's good that we live in San Francisco which has a fair share of options. We also like basketball games, so it is good that the Golden State Warriors are a dynasty, but with their ticket prices we have to be strategic about what games we attend.
What is your relationship like with your parents?
I was raised by my mom and my great-grandmother in rural South Carolina. Unfortunately, my father passed away four months after I was born from a quick battle with lung cancer. I talk to my mom on average 2-3 times a week. She also gets a lot of information about my life in this newsletter. Our relationship is strong as I am her only child and now that she has a grandchild and is retired she is always checking in. She will be out to visit for the second time this year next month. Distance is definitely a barrier to how close we are but we do our best to stay in contact.
What about your extended family?
I had a good opportunity to see my extended family in Atlanta last month for a family reunion that my brother hosted. Rarely if ever does anyone besides my mom from my family come out to the Bay area to visit so I try and make it back east once or twice a year to strategically be at family events.
Personal Finance
Keeping up with personal finances has become a more intricate part of my life. Having a son who needs child care adds another expense. My philosophy is increased income but that is not always so easy. Being married also changes things, as Whitney and I decided to merge our finances. It is an ongoing journey to keep up with things because the day-to-day expenses add up considering we chose to live in a city like San Francisco.
Do you have a personal balance sheet and profit loss statement?
Yes, I have to maintain a sharp division between my personal finances and the business finances at my company and side business. I have a personal balance sheet I track individually and Whitney and I utilize Truebill to track all of our income and assets together.
Do you typically handle your own personal finances?
Currently, as a HENRY, I do not have a financial advisor tracking my every dollar. I see the value there at the next stage of wealth but right now it is up to me to track everything. Again, Truebill helps with this and I have an accountant for my businesses that closes the books monthly.
Do you use any apps?
For personal: Truebill, Albert, Chase, Capital One, Credit Karma
For business: Silicon Valley Bank, Ramp, Brex, Mercury, Quickbook, Stripe
Do you have a certain percentage of the money you save each month?
I earmark to 5% of my net income for saving accounts. With deflation and even in a down market there are still better places to put my money from my perspective than a near zero interest yielding savings account.
Do you invest in:
Real Estate
Currently, I am actively putting away some cash for a real estate transaction Whitney and I want to make in the next 12-18 months. My monthly goal is 24% of net income after bills being put towards this.
Equities
Yes the markets are bad, but I cannot think of a better time to buy stocks of good companies. I have been mostly conservative and sticking to index funds, but still feel like equities are a good place to be buying. I am setting a monthly net income goal of 13% to put into the market.
Luxury goods
Lastly, I am putting 2.5% of my net income into saving for luxury items. Whether it is bags, watches, or hype-beast streetwear I am dedicating a small amount there. I think this is an underrated area and while I am not an active user yet, a friend has a company that helps quantify your wardrobe as an asset class called Firma. Also, I like to do that in StockX and Goat where I will go see how much an item is reselling for to see if it is a good investment.
Crypto
I hold some crypto and NFTs that went to shit this year. I chalk it up as a learning experience but currently, I am not actively investing or buying new crypto assets.
Do you have a 401k?
Yes, I put about 8-10% in my 401k each pay period.
What do you think about company stock?
Company stock is paper money until it is not. This works well for founders because it forces you to think long-term and hold, but also you get rewarded if your company is hot and you are good at raising money because you can likely tap into a secondary. My company is in-between Seed and Series A currently, so right now my stock is paper money. I pay myself a good salary to afford my lifestyle but startup stock value is what I am focused on.
Home owner or renter?
Renter.
This is the end of part 2.
I would love to know how you manage the areas I shared today. Particularly if you have any related to personal finances as I think that will be the next focus I deep dive on.
If you are able to I would love your feedback on this survey I put together. I would love to add to my knowledge of any health and wellness products, apps, or tools I might not be aware of.
Thanks again to Future for sponsoring this edition of the Long Four newsletter be sure to check out the link to receive 50% off your training for the first three months.
Back to the trenches.