As a father, husband, and CEO, I’m the kind of guy who exerts lots of energy in numerous different directions. But my health and protecting the health of my family is my highest priority—it allows me to take care of everything else, ensuring that my plans and projects run seamlessly and that my family is taken care of.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that many other business leaders often focus solely on running their businesses while ignoring signs of impending physical and mental health challenges. They tend to neglect the preventative maintenance of their bodies and minds that could otherwise keep them healthy and enable them to perform at their highest levels.
While we all know that every member of any team is important, CEOs, senior executives, and key leadership team members play an important role in impacting the overall trajectory of an organization. Whenever these leaders encounter health issues, their businesses, teams and families are put at risk.
It’s imperative that business leaders maintain their health; it benefits them, their families, their businesses, and their goals. However, having good health doesn’t simply mean making sure you’re not sick. It also means taking a proactive approach toward your wellness to continually minimize risks and optimize your performance both mentally and physically—whether that be sharpening your decision making skills, having more energy to play with your children, or being able to hit the golf ball even farther.
The first step toward protecting and improving your health is education. You need to be able to see past misinformation in order to ensure you are on the right path toward achieving optimal health. To do this, there are three critical mindsets that you must embrace in order to build longevity and increase your performance through executive health services.
Three Mindset Shifts Around Executive Health
1. Address Small Problems Before They Turn Into Life-Changing or Threatening Ones
The critical question – Do I really know the state of my health? What data am I using to test my assumptions?
If you’re like me prior to EDISON BIO’s executive health services, then your answer is most likely “No.” I get it. You’re incredibly busy and you probably feel pretty good and even very “healthy” most of the time.
But, you’ve also likely wondered about the things you can’t see or feel. Do you ever worry about what might be discovered if you had an MRI or extensive lab tests? Are you concerned there might be something going on under the radar?
Have you ever had one of those typical 7-minute routine physicals? You know the ones; your physician rushes in, listens to your heart, looks in your ears, and takes a few blood samples. If you really think about it, that type of care seems rushed and a bit archaic compared to what today’s advanced medical technology has to offer.
Modern technology enables us to use advanced preventative testing to understand and discover the things that might be lurking deeper inside of us. Determining the underlying health challenges that you’re facing is essential; it allows you to address the issues proactively instead of letting them develop into much larger problems that could be potentially life-changing or even fatal.
This critical mindset shift can be scary. It should be; your health is your most important asset. When your health is impacted negatively, it arguably affects every aspect of your life. If you carry significant responsibility for others (your teams, families, etc.) and have the resources to invest in your health as risk mitigation and also as a performance optimization strategy, we believe it is critical to do so. Unfortunately, today’s healthcare system isn’t incentivized to encourage this shift in perspective, meaning you’re going to have to take on the investment yourself.
When I finally dove into this new way of thinking, I arrogantly assumed that I wouldn’t discover much I didn’t know already. At the time, I was living a healthy lifestyle. I was exercising 5 days a week, eating very clean, stretching, meditating, and tracking what I call “consumer biomarkers” such as sleep and activity with devices like the Oura Ring. I was investing in all the “normal” high performer “health conscious” things. I felt good, which led me to believe I was in great health.
But when I received my results, I was shocked.
Here’s a look at just some of what my EDISON BIO Executive Health Exam revealed:
- Plaque on my heart, an early sign of heart disease needing to be monitored.
- “Red zone” dangerous blood marker ranges.
- A genetic condition that I potentially passed onto my daughter which she will need to monitor throughout her life.
- Cellular deficiencies that could be impacting my immunity, energy levels, and putting me at risk for other diseases.
Learning about these challenges while they were “small” before they had the chance to develop into more serious and potentially life-threatening problems empowered me to take proactive action to protect my health and the health of my family.
2. An Ounce Of Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure
The critical question – Do I routinely monitor my health risks or am I flying blind?
While discovering hidden health issues is the first step toward optimizing your wellness, further prevention and avoidance is the next one.
Through the use of advanced medical technology, we have the ability to identify different genetic risks. While it’s not easy to circumvent genetics, understanding all of the potential threats to your health can help you prepare to fight off potential challenges.
Being aware of your genetic risks gives you the ability to monitor them closely. When you’re unaware of these risks, you don’t know what to look out for. However, through acknowledging what health issues could be on the horizon, you and your team will be able to monitor the factors surrounding them.
With this knowledge at your disposal, you can then make lifestyle, dietary, and healthcare monitoring choices that provide the best possible chance of mitigating your risks.
Understanding your risks allows you to work toward preventative maintenance that enables you to overcome them while they’re still small before letting them grow into nasty, potentially unbeatable, monsters.
Now that I know my own risks, I make intentional lifestyle choices that help me to avoid them as much as possible. I am equipped with the information necessary to keep a close eye on issues such as the plaque on my heart and my children’s genetic risks. Investing in preventive care and the maintenance of my health empowers me with the peace of mind that I am doing everything I can to protect myself from experiencing major illness and injury in the future. We believe flying blind poses a far greater chance of tragedy versus being proactive.
3. Tailor Your Diet, Exercise, And Lifestyle To Your Unique Mind & Body
The critical question – Do I make diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes without understanding their impact on my unique mind and body?
If you answered “yes,” then you could be putting yourself at risk while also wasting valuable time and money as well. It’s always discouraging to make difficult diet and lifestyle changes to only discover that they were the wrong moves to make. But the good news is, there are a number of things that you can learn about your body and mind before you decide which changes to incorporate into your life.
To achieve the greatest results, you need to gather as much personalized information about your body and mind as you possibly can. Thanks to various advanced medical technologies, you have the ability to collect a huge amount of data on a wide range of health areas. The best leaders know that understanding what questions to ask and having the data to answer them is 95% of the battle.
Just think back to the last time you tried to change your diet or start a completely new workout routine. It was probably very challenging, wasn’t it? Would you still have done it if you knew it made no impact on your wellbeing?
This time around, don’t be so quick to give up that glass of red wine—it may have little effect on your health goals overall. Why try giving something up that you enjoy before knowing whether it will be effective or not?
Why invest in running a marathon if long distant, highly repetitive movement is not matched to your unique body profile?
Why risk injuring your tendons if you are the body type that could save yourself a lot of time doing shorter, more intense movements?
Think about those popular, pre-workout caffeine-packed stimulants that are heavily marketed to get you pumped up before a workout. My own test results indicated that they would be ineffective for me and possibly even harmful. Had I not been aware of this fact, I could have wasted money buying into the marketing hype while also putting something in my body that could potentially hurt me.
Meat is another personal example. Through better understanding my own body, I’ve been made aware that charred, grilled meat is an increased risk for me. My genetics and other factors suggest limiting my consumption of meat or cooking it in a specific manner to best protect my health. But maybe you don’t have this same high risk and love charred, grilled meat. Why would you even worry about it and take blanket “advice” without knowing what is best for your unique body?
Executive Health at EDISON BIO
With an EDISON BIO Executive Health Exam, you can uncover your potential risks in order to mitigate health challenges and optimize your performance and longevity.
We compile and analyze your data through the use of bioinformatic technologies in order to provide you with preventive and personalized care.
Whether or not you choose to follow your personalized recommendations is up to you. But at least you will be equipped with the knowledge necessary to recognize what lifestyle changes have the best chance of being effective. We believe this executive health approach is much more valuable than simply guessing what’s best and following fad diets and exercise routines that are actually working against your health, time, and wallet.
About EDISON BIO
Most of us worry about our health. EDISON BIO advanced, comprehensive, and convenient health screening uncovers hidden disease and health challenges early. You’ll be confident about your health and primed to perform at your highest potential.