Anchor: Fuel First | Season 2, Ep. 3

Dane 00:00
The way it was put towards me by a coach was, Oh, you're arrogant.

Dane 00:03
You think that you're the special case that you can add, add, add, add, add without consequence because you're special and you think you can do something different. The finite nature of us being humans and, and the reality of if you don't put fuel in fuel, will, Get burned and where are you going to be after that?

Dane 00:22
We know where that leads leads to death.  

Dane 00:24
I fill up every day because if I don't, I'm playing from a deficit.

Dane 00:29
I actually want to play more than just my talent.

Dane 00:32
I actually want to be a professional when I think about how I live my life, I don't want to just win a moment. I want to win the day. I want to win the year. I want to win the decade. And if you want to do that. You show up in a professional way.

Dane 00:46
make sure you're awake at the wheel and take responsibility for who you're becoming every single day. It's all a vote for who you're becoming, says James clear and fueling is critical. We say fuel first.

Dane 00:58
As humans we prefer the path of least resistance. We crave convenience, the payoff without the price. But when our lives revolve around comfort, it doesn't deliver. Living in perpetual comfort leaves us weak and asleep. This podcast is an invitation to flip that script, to choose the unlikely path, to get the life you really want through voluntary discomfort.

Dane 01:23
This is Strong & Awake. I'm Dane Sanders.

Dane 01:27
So Mitch, I want you to think about your car for a second and that moment in your day where you're like, yeah, you looked at the gauge could be electric car and you're looking at electricity, you're looking at gas or whenever someone's watching this in the future, whatever we're fueling our cars on, you know, whatever the point is, the fuel to make the thing go is dipping towards empty.

Dane 01:50
And you know, there's an inevitability in your life. There's still fuel in there, so it's not really urgent, but you know that at some point you're going to, you're going to need to stop and put, put metaphorical gas in the metaphorical car. And there's something in you that's resisting that chore. It's just seven minutes to find a gas station and pull in.  

Dane 02:12
But the point is, it's an inevitability. It has to happen. No one disagrees that if you wanna keep the car running, you need to put fuel in the car 'cause. Of the drift. It's entropy. Energy is dissipating from the car. You need to put it in. And I want to, to pay real particular attention to the two things, one, the resistance to do the important, but not urgent.

Dane 02:34
And then two, the inevitability that I have to put fuel in anyways. So with those two things in play, I want to talk about this idea of fueling first on why it's so critical to put gas in the car early and often and not just treat it like, Oh, no, when it's really, really empty, then I'll go. Like, it's not a putoffable task because there are implications to not fueling early and often feeling first, this is how we talked about it at MWOD, that I think is largely unappreciated, except when people do it. When people fuel first, the entire experience of driving the metaphorical car or if you think beyond the metaphor to your life, the entire experience of your life radically transforms towards the positive in ways that is, I think, are radically misunderstood and And not taken advantage of, not actualized.

Dane 03:31
People aren't grabbing a hold of it and taking advantage of this huge benefit, this disproportionate unfair advantage you could have in life if you did it. So it's not just a, a nice to have thing that we're talking about today. What we're talking about today is mission critical. And I, my invitation is for listeners to kind of perk up a little bit and go, wait, this is something that I'm going to have to do anyways, no matter what.

Dane 03:53
But if I just did it at a different time of my day, I'm going to get an advantage in my day. Yes. That is precisely what we're talking about today. And I can't wait to get into fueling first.  

Mitch 04:04
That's a great distinction and set up. And before we get to kind of that, you know, giving, giving you an advantage, all these things, I do want to camp out a little bit on the reality that we do have to fuel.

Mitch 04:17
Like it's a necessity because I think, I mean, it's sad, but I've lived life not believing that. We're not living in that reality. Uh, so I do want to camp out on that, whether that's, you know, you're going, you know, all nighters for school or work, or you're kind of burning the candle on both ends.

Mitch 04:36
Eventually your body will force you to sleep. Like you will get sick, you will crash. I mean, teachers experienced this with, you know, a summer break or, uh, you know, any kind of holiday break. Like I worked at school for a long time and it's the inevitable, like everyone gets sick. Um, so this is a reality, but I think we think that even though the fuel gauge says empty, we think that that extra, you know, 50 miles, 60 miles is, is infinite.

Mitch 05:02
Um, So, so I want to talk about the cost of running on empty, uh, before we get into some of these other strategies and topics,

Dane 05:11
I think you're right. And I, and I have a hunch that in a moment, I'm going to say some words that folks at home are going to go. Oh, oh, that's me. Um, and it really comes down to. Um, the way it was put towards me by a coach I had in my world was, uh, this individual said, Oh, you're arrogant.

Dane 05:30
I'm like, what do you mean I'm arrogant? I'm like, you think that you're the special case that you can add, add, add, add, add without consequence because like regular people. You know, bless their heart. They're regular people. You're special and you think you can do something different. And, and there, there probably is some degree of like, uh, belief that, um, you know, in the spectrum of humanity, uh, people who practice things and have skills in certain ways are better than others who haven't had the opportunity to do those things maybe, but the, the finite nature of us being humans and, and the reality of if you don't put fuel in fuel, will Get burned and where are you going to be after that?

Dane 06:16
We know how where that leads leads to death.  

Mitch 06:18
Mm hmm.  

Dane 06:18
Full on death.  

Mitch 06:19
Yeah.  

Dane 06:20
Don't put food in the thing in the body. Guess what happens? You die. Uh, so because because energy is dissipating and once the energy is gone, there's no, there's nothing there. So this is the part where. Where it's, it's a deficit to have a skill set or a confidence or a sense of like, oh, no, no, I, I'm ready for this.

Dane 06:40
I can, I can go further. Um, it's a, it's a deficit for a couple of reasons. One, it, it's betraying the reality of what we are as humans. Human beings need fuel. I mean, fuel period, it is an inevitability. And, and the second part is because we've had experiences where like, no, no, I actually have had several seasons where I've burned the candle on both ends and I went really, really long and I got through the end of the school year and didn't, I wasn't sick all year.

[00:07:08] What are you talking about? And, and this is where I think we deceive ourselves, um, with, we're kind of cursed with these experiences where we think, no, no, we really are special. Cause we've done extraordinary things with minimal, uh, fuel. And, and what I want to suggest is the other side of the equation.

Dane 07:28
What if you had had fuel, how could you have done that year? And, and what if you could avoid the sickness entirely, like never get sick? Don't get sick, like sick off the table because you were so fueled comprehensively in your life. Now, I'm not speaking of things like you get some hereditary illness or whatever, but even then you probably pushing it off a little bit, uh, with fueling first.

Dane 07:52
But this, it's the advantage of fueling first that I think is the emphasis of today's conversation. Not, can I get away with it?  

Dane 08:02
Because yeah, you can for a minute, but the inevitability of it is it'll take you down. And more importantly, you're missing out on the advantage you get when you don't fuel early first.

Dane 08:17
Like the, the thing that happens right away when that happens. You gain a delta that that's the part that is largely ignored, especially by high performers, especially by people who have experiences where they've done a lot of cool things with very little resource. Um, imagine if you had the resource. You had the right mindset and the resource.

Dane 08:39
Well, you could have gone a lot further. That's precisely where we need to go.  

Mitch 08:43
Um, let's go there. Okay. I mean, I think, and you know, there's two sides of the coin too. It's like, yes, you can have optimal performance or poor performance. You can be anxious or you can be kind of living from a place of strength and courage and less anxiety.

Mitch 09:00
So I think, you know, you know, as we talk about the benefits of feeling first, we're inevitably going to be exploring what happens when you don't feel first, which I think people are more familiar with likely.  

Dane 09:10
Well, the first thing to recognize, and there's so many different metaphors to pull from, but, um, you know, we talked about the car metaphor already. Another one might be like, If this is more in tune with people's experiences, would be, uh, you know, Ram on a computer. If I have, um, several applications open at the same time, the device that I'm working on slows down, uh, takes more.

Dane 09:37
Um, energy from the thing that I'm working on and, and another way to look at it on the positive is if you close all those tabs, if you have one tab only, or if you have only one app running at a, at a moment, uh, think of the performance that is enhanced as a result of that thing. So, uh, that idea connects deeply to

Dane 10:04
getting fuel in the tank. So picture your life with a full tank, not the moment of like running around, resisting, filling it. If you have a full tank, the whole machine will work better. It will operate better. This happens in work. It happens relationally. It happens in performance with our goals. Um, now one kind of anecdote on this that I just, or maybe.

Dane 10:30
Kind of qualifiers, probably a better way to put it is it, there could be folks at home who go, no, no, I'm motivated by not having much fuel in the tank. And, and, uh, if I, if I have all the, you know, you, you get a, you get a, a new tube of toothpaste and you. You don't care that you squirt way too much on the, on the toothbrush.

Dane 10:51
It's like, and, but at the end when there's hardly any, and you're just like, no, just a little, I just need a little, you know, pebble worth. Um, I, and I, I hear what people are saying, but imagine a world where you are flush. You have all the toothpaste you need. And with the first squirt, it's just enough. What you're setting yourself up for is performance, man, again, forgive all the mixed metaphors of cars and computers and now toothbrushes.

Dane 11:19
But the point is, if you're disciplined with the full tank, you will perform far better than this fear based. I don't have much left. I got to do a lot with a little, um, it, it, it just does not set you up. It sets up more stress and you're, and you're using, um, your fuel inefficiently and effectively, and you don't have to. I can say this from experience as someone who loved, you know, cramming the night before for an exam or whatever, and contrasting that with a methodical approach to to deep learning where I was really committed to learning over the course of a semester versus the night before to get a good grade on a test.

Dane 12:01
It's, it's radically different. And when you pace it over time, you end up coming back to the material over and over and over again, layering it. So if you have, if you have a rich bank of resource and you can be disciplined in how you relate with that resource, you will get demonstratively more benefit than you will if you're just trying to be motivated to, to get across the finish line or hit a mark in a given moment.

Dane 12:25
Uh, it, it kind of misses the point. So first advantage, right? I would argue is performance. Uh, you will perform better if you have a full tank and back to the car, think of a car that's sputtering with not much gas left in it. And as soon as you fill it up, it's like, it kind of feels like I just got a new car.

Dane 12:45
Like, why is it driving differently? Well, it's, it's cause Gas is going everywhere it needs to. The car doesn't need to make decisions about where gas isn't going to go in order to keep the major things running. Everything has what it needs to perform. And when you have that, you're in a significant advantage.

Dane 13:04
So that's probably one. Um, anything I'm missing in that that occurs to you?  

Mitch 13:10
No, but I like that distinction about decision making because oftentimes the like, I recently just took my car into the shop because my battery was totally dead. We charged it. We didn't know it was the battery. It was actually the alternator.

Mitch 13:24
So it wasn't actually re recharging the battery as I was driving. So what appeared to be great, actually. Ended up not being great because we put a brand new battery in there and then just sure enough after driving it for back from the shop basically I start pulling into my driveway and the power steering goes out and the lights start flickering and the ac is going out and it's exactly that like when you're operating out of a place of constantly just trying to just Barely keep enough in the tank to keep it running, uh, from place of, you know, scarcity.

Mitch 13:57
That's when those decisions have to be made. And it's like, okay, do I allocate these resources towards this or this? And we don't want to be in a position where we're having to make those decisions. Um, because. Usually, it's a kind of choosing the lesser of two evils at that point, or who do I serve myself or my family or my employer or myself.

Mitch 14:19
So I think the more we can put ourselves in a position, not just for optimal performance, but just like a fuller, fuller life and less anxiety, which I think is probably where we should be. Could go next in this conversation.  

Dane 14:30
Yeah, there's no doubt when we're performing well, there's a kind of a self unconsciousness that happens.

Dane 14:38
Um, so you have enough fuel, the fuels being disciplined and distributed appropriately, everything's working. There's no. Question of like AC versus, you know, dome light when the door opens, the car door opens, it all works. So when the performance works, you're not thinking about power steering versus car light versus, you know, whatever it's, it's like, it's all there.

Dane 15:04
So as a result, anxiety drops, confidence goes up. Um, and this is both, you know, literal with the metaphor of car, but it's metaphorical because it goes far beyond the car. This is true in our own lives. When, when we're, you know, we, we have phrases in our culture, things like firing and all pistons.

Dane 15:25
What does that mean? Well, it means everything's working. And when you're firing all pistons, you're not thinking about will it fire or not? Uh, it, it is firing. And. And you get to take all of that cognitive resource and apply it to far more important problems than do I have enough? Uh, we hear a lot of conversations in our culture around people who live in a scarcity mindset versus abundance mindset.

Dane 15:53
Well, that's abundance of what? Fuel. Uh, scarcity of what? Fuel. Uh, so that if you, if you're suffer from a scarcity mindset, well, um, Get fuel in the tank before you need it. And you're fine. And, and even as I say these words, I know there are people who are maybe screaming at the radio or they're on a run and they're saying, gosh, this is me.

Dane 16:17
Like, you don't understand. You can say that from your high horse cause you have all this resource, uh, cause you know, uh, you know, you're, you're in a position of privilege and I'm in a position of want and I, and what, it, it almost, When people are in that state, and I, believe me, friend, I've been in that state so often, there's a correlation between being in that state and the tank being empty.

Dane 16:42
And, and it's like, there's just not much to pull from you. You're at the end of your rope. And, um, and it sounds so counterintuitive to say, I don't have anything. I can't go get what I need. I need to go do the work. And it's like, You're actually setting yourself up for inevitable failure if you don't pause and go get fuel because back to our metaphor, there is a scenario where the car just runs out of gas and you're on the side of the road and then what are you going to do with your urgency?

Dane 17:14
Not much, you're, you're disqualified, you're out of the game. So the smartest thing you can do when you're feeling in a scarce space is to go fill the tank up with as much as you can find. Don't use it right away, fill it up and do it not just once for the month, uh, like a Costco run or something like, uh, you do it, you do it daily, every single day.

Dane 17:40
You fuel first, it's not measured over the course of long periods of time. It's measured every single day. Cause you think about that, then feeling first, actually, it's like topping it up. It's not like empty to full every day. It's like, no, no, I always feel first. I always, I start with a full tank every day.

Dane 17:55
It's like, Even if yesterday I only had to use a smidge, if I had to use a lot, it might take a little longer to fill up, but I fill up every day because if I don't, I'm playing from a deficit. So if I, if I want the enhanced performance, great. If I want the lower anxiety, cause by the way, this is a lot more enjoyable way.

Dane 18:12
To live before we started this recording, we were talking about our actual real lives and the different things we're both navigating. And, um, and we both have a lot going on. I mean, crazy amounts. And I don't experience either of us is really uptight about it. It's like, okay, I guess we'll deal with the hard day. Uh, and we're in a position where we get to do that and it is a privileged position, but it's also an earned position because we had to do something when we woke up this morning to put ourselves in that disposition.

Dane 18:45
If that makes sense.  

Mitch 18:46
Yeah.  

Dane 18:46
Does that make sense when I articulate it that way?  

Mitch 18:49
It does. And I think it's goes back to this kind of reactive versus proactive. I think feeling first. Not only begets that, but like feeling first, uh, with the very action of being proactive, uh, is fueling. So it's, it's, yeah, it's, I mean, we could list all the benefits for days, which I think we're making a compelling case in my opinion.

Mitch 19:13
Uh, but. But what, like, what, what can we do? Because I am someone that for a long time has told myself the story that, no, I'm only motivated when it's, when it's urgent, when I'm running on empty, like, you know, it's, it's funny. Like I think of my kids, you know, they could take forever to do a task that I've asked them to do, but it's only when I'm like, Hey, look, we've got like two minutes left of your story time, and we haven't even started your story yet.

Mitch 19:43
And all of a sudden, all of their clothes get put away or something happens like that. And I used to think that's, that's, that's my motivation. That's when I'm in my sweet spot. That's my superpower, actually. Um, it's only after kind of beginning to practice this more proactive fueling where I've realized like, wow, I've lived my whole life just right on the edge in a, in a really unhelpful way, not on the bleeding edge, not in a place of.

Mitch 20:08
of proactive living for others being fueled and overflowing for others, but rather just trying to play catch up and chasing the pack from behind. And uh, yeah, I think all these factors are, are really important to keep digging into.  

Dane 20:22
Yeah. I want to make one more note on this cause I think it's, it's really important that cause you're, you're not alone.

Dane 20:27
I can relate to everything you're saying that that motivation and the kind of the last minute I think of like, um, when kids are trying to, you know, they're at a basketball hoop and they're by themselves and they're. They're trying to create a scenario where they perform, they go 10 seconds left, nine, eight, seven, two, one, you know, and, and, uh, and what are they doing?

Dane 20:49
They're creating the exact same conditions that you're describing in order to have a An outcome and have it feel like there's cheers, you know, celebration. They did it. He's a hero. I can't believe he did it. It's such an amazing story. I want to suggest that you don't lose that part when you feel first, you actually give your best shot at making the shot in the last 10 seconds when you that. And the other part of it is if you've ever watched a basketball game, it's longer than 10 seconds. Um, it's, you know, let's call it 48 minutes, depending on the league you're in. And if that's the case, then you are to put yourself in a position to make the last second shot requires you did a lot before those last 10 seconds, which requires a lot of fuel.

Dane 21:39
So this is this kind of professional grade approach that we're describing it, especially when we're young. It makes sense. Like, I can get away with a dad. Why would you, why would I do all those things? I get it. But I'm hoping that we're actually speaking to an audience of folks that are like, I actually want to play more than just my talent.

Dane 21:58
I actually want to, I actually want to be a professional when I, when I think about how I live my life, you know, I don't want to just win a moment. I want to win the day. I want to win the year. I want to win the decade. Uh, and if you want to do that. You show up in a professional way. Um, it's interesting.

Dane 22:18
There's some lore around, uh, the great late, uh, Kobe Bryant, where early in his career, uh, he was, you know, in Southern California playing for the Lakers and he would go to In N Out Burger. And, um, I think one of his early team teammates pulled him aside and said, you are a once in a generation talent and you won't be if all you do is lift off burgers.

Dane 22:44
And i, I'm not poo pooing into that burger, believe me, I've logged my time there, but, but it was this kind of moment for Bryant where he turned a corner and went, oh, I actually, I do this. I'm a pro everywhere else. Why? It was this reveal of like, I could be a pro with my nutrition, check it, fuel differently there.

Dane 23:03
And of course he did. And of course. Sets himself up for last second shots to score 60 points in his final game in the NBA. Like, no one's done that. Probably no one will again. Not because he was really good at last second shots, which he was. But he was really good, especially at that point in his career of fueling first and, and did it comprehensively.

Dane 23:24
And why, why we're so grieved with him not being here anymore. Cause we're like, we, he was doing this everywhere. If only he had had more time, it could have even gone further. So that's what I would say. But I think you're, you're right to point to like, we need to get into the practicals. How do you feel first every single day?

Dane 23:40
And, and the first thing I just want to say is it's every single day. I've said it already. I'm going to reemphasize it again. You don't, this is a habitualized thing. That's, it's who you are. You fuel at the beginning. Um, and, and if it's better to say top up every day, that's great. If you're in that kind of a season, but I like feel first because it's doesn't matter what level you're starting your day with.

Dane 24:04
You need to get it to the brim before you get going. And, um, and then, you know, And I recognize these benefits, like the, the, a, we call asymmetrical benefits of like, when you feel first, you set the tone for the entire day. Like the phrase we hear all the time is, you know, when the morning, when the day, well, how do you in the morning?

Dane 24:22
Well, you get the right stuff in you so that you get to enjoy the benefits. All day long, as opposed to, uh, great, you fueled at five to six on your way home from work. Um, and you got the fuel in, but you, there's all those hours where you didn't get any of the benefit. None of the, the, you got through the day, but you kind of want to barf.

Dane 24:47
It doesn't feel very good. Um, and we want to say, well, you take the time. Prioritize the important, uh, you get to have that benefit all day long. And, and that's all we're saying is start every morning with the fuel that you know you need. Say sleep, get an average of seven hours sleep every single week. Uh, try to shoot for seven.

Dane 25:08
That means eight hours in bed to get seven hours sleep a night. That's just sleep. What about hydration? At MWOD we say 96 ounces of water minimum spread out over the course of the day? So the first thing I do when I wake up. I grab my jug of water that's almost empty because I started drinking this much of it right out of the gate.

Dane 25:25
When I woke up, I have a hunch. Did you hold yours up too? I didn't see.  

Mitch 25:28
Yup. Yup. This is like my third one for the day, but yes. There it is. Yeah.  

Dane 25:32
And, and, um, uh, the other things that fuel you to wake you up for me, it's a cold shower right out of the gate. It's such a gift. I also like to practice trying really hard of around things, not cognitively, but with an embodied sense of that sense of effort.

Dane 25:50
Uh, and I do that with. Holding my breath, holding my breath helps me do a tremendous amount of like fueling. It brings refinement to my thinking. It grounds me and brings me into the present moment. I'm not lost in the past. I'm not worried about the future. All these are categories of fuel. And even when your kitchen opens to start your day, whenever that is, what you actually put in your mouth, actual fuel, uh, that you take the energy and time.

Dane 26:19
That's My family make fun of me all the time because I intermittent fast. So when, when the fasting window opens, my first meal of the day is rather substantive. Um, there's a lot and, uh, it's the, it's the joke of the house, right? And, and, and, but they're also starting to realize there's benefits. Like I'm less grumpy all day long.

Dane 26:39
And I, I have what I, you know, I have what I need before I need it. That's the spirit. What am I missing that we need to make sure to emphasize when it comes to the hows and the practicalities. I think  

Mitch 26:51
Yeah, I think that was a great succinct overview. I Do you want to break it a little bit out of just the daily routine and expand our understanding of that?

Mitch 26:58
Because yes, you can watch, you can go on YouTube and find every single celebrity's daily routine, like her morning routine or whatever. You can hack it and optimize it. And that's great. But oftentimes it starts the night before. And so like your, your daily fueling isn't just constrained to that particular day.

Mitch 27:20
That's right. Or that part, that part of the day. That part of the day, exactly. But even beyond that day, that morning, that night before really. This is about a practice. You can get really great sleep before a race, but if you haven't been training for that race for the months leading up to that, sure, it'll like maybe impact your performance slightly.

Mitch 27:42
But really, it's the preparation, the practice leading up to that. That is the real deeper macro fueling, if you will. That's right. So let's let's talk about the practice. Something not unfamiliar with our audience.  

Dane 27:54
Yeah. So in our world at men and women of discomfort, we really are in an exercise of building a practice that's sustainable and doable for the rest of your life.

Dane 28:02
And by practice, we mean, we start with identity based habits. If anyone's ever read, James Clear's Atomic Habits, they know what I'm talking about, but it's just the good stuff that you've attached to being that kind of person who does these kinds of things every single day. You don't miss a day. So it starts with a stack of habits.

Dane 28:19
Usually that stuff gets routinized into a, Um, a pattern like I do this and then I do this, like it's sequenced in a way that works for you. Um, and when you can control the variables, that works great. But when you can't, let's say you're traveling for work or your kids wake you up in the middle of the night or whatever your situation is and you can't control the variables, it's what you do in response to those variables where you You still don't miss a day, even though it didn't go the way you were planning the, the ritual or the routine you were hoping, uh, and that's when, you know, you graduated not just from a stack of habits to routine, but to an actual practice.

Dane 28:54
So committing to fuel first is a practice that you do when you start your day. That's what most people talk about, but it begins the night before to your point earlier. And also when you sustain your day, you get to that part of your day where you're kind of, no, you know, it could be right after lunch. It could be whatever.

Dane 29:11
It's like, what are you doing to wake up in that moment? What are you doing to fuel in that moment? And then, and then as you kind of, Head towards the end. How are you reflecting on your day and setting up the next day? All these things contribute to the fuel how you're relating with the thing and it fills your metaphorical tank So the pattern of start sustain and set up for tomorrow is one way to look at it Never missing a day is another way to look at it and in the segments of any given day thinking through what fuels me the most Really consistently at this portion of the day and this portion of the day and this portion of the day it might sound counterintuitive that I say fuel first, but I don't eat when I wake up, but I don't eat when I wake up.

Dane 29:53
Because that's actually part of my fueling. Um, I don't want to lead with that. I want to lead with. Waking up and I want to lead with gaining my ground and my focus and then getting into my deep work And then when I'm about to transition to more collective work stuff like recording podcasts or being in meetings or interviewing people for stuff or whatever that's when I I start getting food in my body because that's the best time. But I don't miss, I promise you, um, Mitch has been in enough meetings where I'm gobbling food, uh, with me while we're talking because it's, it's, it would be betraying my practice if I didn't do it.

Mitch 30:29
I think a lot of times these things could be abstract ideas or overly concrete, like thinking about fuel just as food or just as water or just as sleep. But framing it in that way, where are you thinking about? Starting your day, sustaining your day and ending your day, starting that cycle again is really helpful and it's a helpful exercise to to in that evening routine to sit back and reflect because doing this day over day, you start to not only get the reps, but you start to observe patterns, which can inform how you Do the next day, how you kind of tweak things, how you adjust how you're feeling, uh, because inevitably there's going to be a change of scenario, a whirlwind that comes, uh, noticing gaps and drifts like we've talked about in the past and hold having the capacity.

Mitch 31:17
Being fueled gives you that, that margin, uh, and you create that margin so that you can actually have those compounding effects and, and growth, uh, time over time.  

Dane 31:27
So the precision around what kind of fuel you need, when it's an important question for our listeners to ask, what do I need when I wake up?

Dane 31:34
Yeah. What do I need when, like, so I mentioned what I do when I wake up, what do I do when I'm low, like, tempted to kind of lose energy or whatever I get up, I move, uh, I've adjusted the timing of my workouts, especially kind of more functional fitness, kindness of workouts, because it gets my body from a, from a seated state or a leaning state.

Dane 31:53
I'm on a leaning chair right now, but, uh, into, into my body more, less cognitive, and that tends to give me a new lease on life. Um, sometimes I'll do some breath work, uh, to do that, but end of day. You know, journaling, reflecting, like I said, I was going to do this. What did I actually do? Where did I miss it?

Dane 32:10
How could I correct course with that? Um, which is a future conversation we're going to have. Um, and, and, uh, and getting agreement with the people in my home around when we're going to bed and, uh, having the discipline to not just let the thing that ever I'm watching go long or. Uh, or even a really interesting book that I love, like, yeah, it'll be here tomorrow.

Dane 32:33
These are the kinds of things that I have found resourceful and in our community. Uh, people are very creative. They have a lot of, there's a lot of discoveries going on, on different ways to fuel and set yourself up for success. If there was a thing that you. Mitch, we're in this, this is a, you've been a part of this as long, I mean, not as long as I have, but for a long time.

Dane 32:53
Um, when you think of like folks at home, what they need as we're finishing up this conversation, what would you wish for them right now? What do you wish that they would have or take action with maybe? On the heels of considering this for themselves,  

Mitch 33:08
I would say lean in with curiosity. I think you, you opened up talking about, you know, your, your coach or your mentor calling you arrogant, uh, for thinking that, Oh no, I'm a special unique case or, or whatnot.

Mitch 33:21
And I would just not say you're not calling our listeners arrogant, but just open that hand a little bit. Be curious. Try it for a bit more than one night more than one day. Uh, give it a go that that's what I want I want a little bit of like leaning in and curiosity because I resisted that for so So long and when I actually put myself on the hook and actually through through MWOD, our community, Like was able to actually feel first for you know Months over and over time where I really got to see.

Mitch 33:55
Oh what I've been doing actually hasn't been living life strong and awake. I've been asleep and I've been weak. So that's what I would want for the listeners, just as a first action, just get some reps under your belt, actually give it a go.  

Dane 34:10
But to your point, it's not just curious. Cognitively is curious in an embodied sense. Absolutely. People are doing something.  

Mitch 34:14
Absolutely.  

Dane 34:15
They're doing, they're curiously trying stuff.  

Mitch 34:17
Yes.  

Dane 34:17
Right? And if they don't wanna try it on their own, find a buddy. Apply for MWOD do something.

Dane 34:23
Yeah, so that they're navigating it within and with the sense of I'm not all by myself in this effort  

Mitch 34:30
Yeah, I have a hunch that a lot of people have had that openness or that curiosity cognitively But unless it's embodied unless you're actually Taking action. What good is that? Um, so yeah, that's what I want.

Mitch 34:45
What about you, Dane?  

Dane 34:46
Right there. I don't want to add anything else. I actually want people to just be irritated by if you thought about it, but haven't done it. What are you doing, friend? Get off, get off the podcast and go, go do something unless it's somehow fuel for you, which good for you, but just be clear, make sure you're awake at the wheel and take responsibility.

Dane 35:07
Um, for who you're becoming every single day. It's all a vote for who you're becoming, says James clear and fueling is critical. We say fuel first.  

Mitch 35:18
On that note. Thanks, Dane.  

Dane 35:20
Thanks, Mitch.  

Dane 35:21
Men & Women Of Discomfort is our membership community and we are open to everyone but keep in mind our tagline is it's probably not for you if we're wrong about that or if you want to find out for yourself you can find us at mwod.io. The information and material that we're sharing both of this podcast or anything connected to men or women of discomfort or flying s incorporated it's all for general information purposes only. You should not rely on this material or information on this podcast as a basis for making any kind of decision.

Dane 35:46
We do our best to keep everything up to date and correct, and we do a lot of due diligence, but the responsibility is on you to make sure that you're in sync with your own medical professionals that you wouldn't see what we're offering here as somehow a warranty or representation in any kind expressed or implied about this being complete, accurate, reliable, suitable, or comprehensive in any kind of way.

Dane 36:00
It's critical you own your agency, which is at the heart of everything we do at Men & Women Of Discomfort, we invite you to take the input that we're offering and consider it for yourself. And if it's helpful, please do take advantage of it. But if you do, it's you who is taking the opportunity and we're assuming that you've done your due diligence with it.

Dane 36:12
Thanks.

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