In this Instagram Age, people mostly just see other people's wins. Talk about your losses. What were the major losses that taught you some lessons?
I still have losses all the time. I've had races that I've dropped out of, I have losses with my kids, with my wife, business losses. The thing is: the things that I recognize that I've had regrets about, I also recognize that if it's fixable, I try to fix it. I don't want to have the long-term regrets when I'm 70 and I'm like, "I could've run this race and I didn't do it. I should've tried this business but I was scared. I could've gone on this trip, but it was the wrong time." So I'm very aware of future regrets, and I really try to avoid those.
Also, I look at my wins no differently than my losses. I don't think back about all the accomplishments or failures. I look at my window as being from today until my time is up. The first 51 years, they're in the record books already. I look at everything through the front window. I don't dwell on my successes. My scorecard immediately goes to, "What next?"
"Wellness" is super huge now. What have your wellness practices taught you?
It's always been a hot button for me. When I was 21, I was running my first marathon and I read a book, looking for any kind of edge, called Fit For Life. And in the book the author challenged the reader to only eat fruit until noon for 10 days, and then go back and have your regular breakfast. So I tried it and I felt amazing. And then on day 10, I had my regular breakfast and I felt disgusting. And 29 years later, I've only had fruit till noon.
Never messed up a day?
It's been pretty unwavering. It's all about energy for me. You only have a limited amount of energy and you use a lot of energy for digestion. So for me it's like if I could streamline my digestion through what I eat, it would free up energy for everything else.I discovered that at a really young age, and I've been feeling very vibrant since then.
I don't think there's anything more important, man! You could have all the money in the world, billions of dollars, sports teams, airplanes, this and that, and if you have a sore throat? None of that matters. You're like, "I got to get rid of my sore throat." So that's how important health is.
"It takes years to build stuff. There's a patience involved. Most of the people that I know that are super successful are patient."
Another thing that's big right now is mental health. What has living with a Navy SEAL, or living with the monks, or any of your other experiences, taught you about mental health?
The only way you can really be in tune with your gut is to spend time alone. We get bombarded with information. And I invest a lot in time spent alone. It's not like I'm going to go sit in the Himalayas-not that kind of alone. It could be a run, it could just be 10 minutes. But I invest time thinking, about work, about what I want my kids to experience, about how I want to live my life and. Thinking versus being influenced.
The physical side has always been important to me, but when I realized I was neglecting the spiritual side, I said to myself, who are the masters? I learn through experiencing and immersing myself in stuff. And the masters of spirituality to me were monks. I lived with them for 15 days. I was never where my feet were. At my kid's soccer game, man, I'm thinking about my run, my work, everything. [With the monks] I learned two things. One, to really re-establish my relationship with time. And two, to be where my feet are.
How do you still do that on the day-to-day?
If I see myself drifting, I'll catch myself and be like, "I got to come back to where I am right now." And I also put parameters around the distractions. So, my phone's not by my bed anymore. I'm not bringing my phone to a lot of events. I didn't check it once today yet. I put some parameters around me to limit that.
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