Special Guest Expert - Craig Bruce: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Craig Bruce: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
How many times have you said to yourself, I'm going to succeed? And yet you keep coming up short? You probably noticed that high achievers with heart do things differently, but you just can't put your finger on it. You're curious about why high achievers accomplish more and have more satisfying relationships. It's because success is the result of your mindset and the consistent actions you take. This show is designed with your success in mind by revealing these powerful patterns of our dynamic individuals and guest experts, you can model what they do and apply to your future success now. Let's roll up our sleeves and get started. My name is Brigitta Hoeferle this is the Success Patterns Show. And Happy Tuesday. Here is the gold nugget. Access patterns are more valuable than ideas. Let me explain. Ideas about very powerful require trial and error and a lot of time to actually put into action. Let me explain. Ideas Think about manufacturing. First you have an idea, then you have a proof of concept, then a working prototype, then small production batches, and finally, maybe a full scale production. This may take months, maybe even years. And you probably have met some people that are collectors of great ideas, but do little else. Forget everything you've heard about ideas. You're not looking for ideas. You are looking for success patterns. Success patterns are different and success patterns are better. And I'll tell you why. Well, first of all, patterns proven. They have logical sequence step to follow. They have an action imperative and they deliver consistent results. And in today's Success Pattern Show, you're going to learn valuable success patterns from our very special guest expert. I want to encourage you to have something to write on and something to write with, because I know that you want to take notes because one of the laws of success is expert modeling and this individual actually all of our success guest experts are modeling what they have learned. And it's not all success. The success came from being aware, becoming aware of what's not working and how one can do it differently and then teaching it to others. Our guest expert today is Craig Bruce, and he is a former burned out global executive who struggled with exhaustion, poor sleep, inconsistent and poor food choices, and just not feeling confident in his own skin.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
So he was so driven in his global lifestyle that it started impacting his health. And he has since transformed his health and changed his lifestyle through the use of science based behaviors. Now, as a high performance lifestyle consultant that he is he empowers other high performing business leaders and to achieve success and more success in life without sacrificing the career and the key relationships and the health and all that is connected to that. So I am super excited that I have Craig Bruce here with me on this beautiful day. Craig, thank you for being here on the Success Pattern Show.

Craig Bruce:
Rajita. It is such an honor. I've been looking forward to this. I'm glad we're finally connecting. So thank you.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Thank you for making time out of your busy schedule or may I say, productive schedule to take time to share your insights, your expertise, U.S. consumers around the world. And I think you have learned a thing or two traveling around the world, being in a global executive. Tell us what was that like And when being in a global executive and traveling around the world? And when did you decide that, wait a minute, I am actually in this rat race. What happened?

Craig Bruce:
Yeah, it's such a great question. I want you to imagine for a moment, if you if you will, that you are you're you're boarding your return flight home and it's been a 15 hour day and you have probably another 3 to 4 hours before your head hits the pillow. And as my southern grandma would always say, I was sick as a dog. But you know what? I pulled off that meeting and I get settled into my window seat and the flight attendant approaches me and I think she's going to offer me something to drink. But instead she bends over and Bergita. Do you know what she said to me? She said, you look horrible.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Well, that's not a nice compliment, Craig.

Craig Bruce:
It wasn't. And I turned and stared at my reflection in that tiny little airplane window. And at that moment, tears started welling up, uncontrollable. And I looked at myself and I said, Craig, you're a grown man and you're crying in public. Stop it. Your life sucks.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Mhm.

Craig Bruce:
But to everybody else, Bergita. Man, I was killing it. But actually, the truth was, I was killing myself.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah, I was going to say that. So the outside perception and I love that we're having this conversation conversation because so many people want to have this outside outward perception of, look, I have the perfect life. I have it all. I have the house and the boat and the this and the job and the that. Why? For what reason?

Craig Bruce:
Yeah, well, because. From the moment we come out of the womb, we are told. That we need to do and we need to have. And as high performing executives, business leaders, entrepreneurs, we're doers, we get stuff done. So that we can have all these things that the world tells us. Are. We're successful. And don't get me wrong, I like nice things. And and so we push. And we push. And we push and we push. Because that's. That's that's. That's the. Dream.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
By and by. Yeah. By whose standards? Like, who came up with that?

Craig Bruce:
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, probably some of the billionaires. Right. I know you're all your audience is international. For those of us here in the US, it's that American dream. To have possessions. And so we come to the table and we live our life with a have do be mentality. I've got a I've got a I've got to have all of this stuff. I've got to achieve all this stuff. I've got to I've got to achieve promotions. What do I need to do? I just work myself so that then I can be successful.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
The being. I mean, if we if we truly look at the concept is in the present, it is not something that we constantly well, in a philosophical way, it's not a constant battling to get there. It's it's already here. Yeah. So. You work now with? Executives like you used to be. Yeah and. Before we hopped on. This podcast today and on this show, we talked about how many people are identifying themselves with their job description. Yeah. Or with their their company that they're representing. It can be also their own company, right? Absolutely. But there is so there's a there's an identity, may I call it crisis amongst executive leaders? That when you strip it all back. What? Who are they? And. And and and who are they in their being? Who are they be? Yeah.

Craig Bruce:
Yeah. You know, I had recently I was coaching an executive and most of my clients are over the age of 45 for obvious reasons, and they are extremely successful. They've traveled the world. They continue to travel the world. They can buy anything they want, and yet they at some point they reach a point in their life where they're asking. What's next for me? Who am I? Because for so many years I've been associated with. Well, I'm the executive vice president of or I am the managing director of. And this executive said to me he was actually a little older. And we were talking about we're working on what's his next chapter, because honestly, we're living longer. We have more discretionary income and we want to do something in the next chapter of our life, which is aligned with our purpose and our mission and our values, because we want to leave our legacy. And this executive said to me, I asked him the question, So what's getting in the way of you leaving your corporate role? And he said something to me that was very insightful. He said, I'm afraid to go from who's who. To whose he? In the matter of less than six months. How powerful was that? How insightful is that?

Brigitta Hoeferle:
And that takes some real reflection on oneself, because that's a that's a that's a hard thing to look at.

Craig Bruce:
It is. It is. And, you know, I love I love the way that you start your your success pattern show with regard to the the fact that success patterns are it's about mindset and the consistency and the actions that you take. I completely agree, because what I have found is that in coaching hundreds of high performing business leaders, like the people who are listening to us today, is that there are really three areas to focus on that are actually going to move you in the direction of living your best life now, which actually, at the end of the day, I think that's what it's all about. It's about being present and living your best life now. And one of those areas is what I call consciousness. It's often referred to as mindset. And I and I use the word consciousness intentionally because I believe that it's a higher state of being. So let's get clear about who you want to be and how you want to show up every day. And then let's get intentional about that. Because as we think about living our best life now, yes, our career is certainly part of that. It's not the only part of that. And what I find is that and I found this myself. Is that as a busy global executive? You make sacrifices along the way? Sacrifices in your health, your wellness and sacrifices in relationships that are important to you. And so let's get very clear about who you want to be and how you want to show up going forward and then get intentional about making that happen.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Craig, let's talk about this, because you hit a nerve here. Yes. You want to be intentional and everything that you do when you're in a corporate position, when you have climbed the corporate ladder, you're pretty high up. Yeah. Um, you will put things you will put your own relationships, your own time, your own health. You know, you'll, you'll eat the the Big Mac, although you actually hate it, but it's just something. It's better than nothing. So you just kind of scarf it down. Um, so you give up. You put yourself. Behind everything else and you put your business first, may you be employed or have your own business. And and you and I have. We're probably guilty as charged as everyone else. Absolutely. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Why? And how can we do it different?

Craig Bruce:
Yeah. Well, I'll tell you that the kind of the the second part of my story was that after that flight attendant made this grown man cry in public. I. The next day I landed in the doctor's office and my doctor ordered bed rest. Wow. But my version of bed rest. It was my laptop, my cell phone and conference calls from my bed. That's how driven I was. That's how focused I was, because that was my definition of success. And I was on that proverbial hamster wheel and I just didn't know how to get off. Jump off. And what I wish I had known then, which I know today because of this journey the last eight years, is you can continue to have that success. But you don't have to sacrifice your health and your wellness and your key relationships. And so literally what that means. And when I spend a lot of time with my clients actually coaching them on their lifestyle and there are just some simple science backed behaviors that if if I had known, then what I know today would have allowed me to continue to perform at that high level, but not sacrifice. My health. Little habits like. First thing you do in the morning. What do most what do. Most of most people do first thing in the morning when they wake up, they jump out of bed. They get on this cell phone, they check their email and they have a coffee. It's the exact wrong thing to do.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yep.

Craig Bruce:
First thing in the morning to actually set you up for success. For the day. Is to drink some water. Why? Because our body, our body dehydrates overnight. Our brains. Yep, yep, yep. You can make it. You can make it lukewarm. Some people put lemon in it. Some people put salt in it. Right. Just because of the iodine. Just drink that. Now, I will tell you, the first thing I do in the morning is connect to my source. And I put myself in a state of gratitude because I also know that that impacts my mindset and my consciousness. And then I drink my water and then I have to take care of my dogs because if I don't, then they then they're then they're all over me. But that's an example of a of a of a of a behavior that would I think have allowed me to start my day with more energy. Another example. Every every afternoon I would go down and and I don't drink coffee, but I did drink a lot of teas. Every afternoon around 3 or 4:00, I'd go down to Starbucks and get get, get a green tea. Well, it's got it's got some caffeine in it. Again, the absolute wrong thing to do. Caffeine actually stays in your system for up to six hours, which if you're drinking coffee, you actually are going to have more. I mean, how many people go down and get a shot of espresso in the afternoon or drink coffee at dinner? That's actually impacting your sleep, preventing you from getting into deep sleep and REM sleep and recovering so that you set yourself up for success the next day. Little habits like this that in working with my clients, we build out a morning ritual. We build out an evening ritual. And I think had I had those rituals, I could have continued to work at that high level and not sacrifice my health.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
So those those habits, those rituals, those patterns. Yeah patterns will. Will, will break up. Some of the high intensity of the the the work life that people that you work with have, you know, just just taking care of a dog that already gets you out of your own mindset and allows you to be there for another being. And then maybe.

Craig Bruce:
I often say to my clients, What if we just lived our life like a dog? And let me let me tell you what I mean by that. What do dogs do? The first thing they get up, first thing they get up and do is they stretch. Right. They drink some water. They go take a poop, right? And then they're, you know, and then they go for a walk. Yeah. And then they eat.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah. And then they sleep.

Craig Bruce:
And then they sleep. Exactly. So let's all live our life like a dog. And then they wag their. They wag their tail instead of their tongue. So there's probably some some truth in that as well. Right.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
That's interesting. Now, let's talk about sleep, because you talked about caffeine and a lot of people get into the into the habit of drinking coffee later in the day or or in the evening. How important is sleep?

Craig Bruce:
Critical. It is, I would say the number one. Um, area that can have the greatest impact on your overall health. And most of us suck at it because why? What do most people do up until they go to bed?

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Here it is. Again.

Craig Bruce:
There it is. It's that. It's a laptop. It's. It's the TV.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
And.

Craig Bruce:
Right, it's. It's all of those electronics. And what that is doing is our body actually wants to shut down in the evening. It's a it's a it's it's the it's the rhythm. It's it's our circadian rhythm. And what that, what those lights do is they actually send a message to our body through our eyes, through our pupils, that it's daylight and your body gets confused and we don't get into deep sleep and REM sleep. Deep sleep is where our body rejuvenates. Rem sleep is where we our memory gets consolidated. And and, and and, you know, in those deeper REM sleep, deep sleep, our body flushes out all kinds of toxins in the brain, especially. And that's why it's so critical to create an evening ritual that sets you up for a good night's sleep.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
And those rituals become part when you do them, consistently become part of your identity.

Craig Bruce:
They do. And to to use your use your words, those are success patterns.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Totally. So you talked about morning rituals like early morning. What do you do? And here's the word again being clear and conscious and intentional, being clear conscious and intentional in what you're doing from the moment that even before your feet hit the ground, what is it that you're doing? And with what outcome are you doing it? Yeah, right. That's the that's the whole thing about being intentional. And then so and then you, you talked about the evening ritual, truly unplugging so we can recharge.

Craig Bruce:
Yeah. Love it.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
What what other rituals throughout the day because I can still see executives go and I include myself in that. Okay. So I got my I got my bookends, and now I can just go ten hours straight. Let's go do it. Let's go crush it. Right. Well.

Craig Bruce:
That's that's a really good question. And I will say that I'll tell you that my evening ritual actually begins in the afternoon because I don't drink a lot of caffeine. However, I, I shut off all my caffeine by 2 p.m. in the afternoon. So that's part of that evening ritual. But it actually starts in the afternoon. Other kinds of rituals that can have an impact. Lunch. Now, when I was right when I was doing global consulting, I remember I'd be in the office and I'd go down to the cafeteria and I would I would buy this. I create this amazing salad, you know, healthy, had some salmon or chicken on it. I'd bring it back to my desk. And I jump on conference calls. And I would look down 30 minutes later and the salad was gone and I'd like, did I eat that salad?

Brigitta Hoeferle:
You weren't even present for the food that you were taking in.

Craig Bruce:
Wasn't present. That's such a great way of describing it. And I think that's that's part of. And I also I know that. So so here is the here's the here's the recommendation. And there's science to back. It is be present when you're eating your food because up to 20% of the digestive process begins before food actually hits our mouth.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Aha.

Craig Bruce:
Have you ever thought about food and your mouth starts watering?

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Mhm. Yep.

Craig Bruce:
Right. So when we see food, when we think about food, our digestive juices actually begin to secrete and that's up to 20% of the digestive process. So when you are not being present, when you're eating, you could be missing up to 20% of the digestive process. So food is not digesting. It's not getting into the cells for energy to make, which is where energy is created. And and and so take 30 minutes. And just d plug. Schedule it. What I find is that if you will schedule it any time I'm working with an executive. It sounds a little structured and a little overkill. However it works is if we get if we get activities on their calendar, we increase the likelihood significantly that it's going to happen.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Well, it's a. Pattern that they know how to do. Love it. Right. So. So it's connecting the known to the unknown. If you don't if you've skipped lunch for, you know, weeks, months and years, you first have to reprogram yourself and you want to connect it to something that you're known. So I can relate to that a lot. Oh, yeah. Um, guilty as charged, right? Yeah.

Craig Bruce:
I think the other thing that's very helpful is B.J. Fogg in his book, The Success Habits, Tiny Habits, he says that that to to change a behavior, you need three things. And he uses he uses an acronym map M as in Mary A as in Apple, P as in Paul. You need the motivation. You need the aptitude or the ability, and you need a prompt. And what I find is that in working with my clients is we'll set alarms. And it's a prompt, right? For example, I have clients who say to me, I want to stop working by 6 p.m.. Okay, well, let's set an alarm. At 6 p.m.. And then you know what? What that does is it breaks your it breaks your it breaks your your work cycle. Now you can decide to continue working, but let's actually. Rather than just continuing to work. Let's. Let's make a decision. Bring it to the bring it here into the into our consciousness and make a decision as to whether we're going to continue or not. Because if not, our inclination as high performers and doers is just to keep doing keep going.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
And then you Yeah and. Then 12:00 midnight comes around and you're like, Actually, I'm hungry now. I keep I can keep going, but I'm really hungry. Yeah. And then in there, yeah. And then you get GrubHub or DoorDash or some junk and then and now the cycle just becomes really vicious. It does. It does, Yeah. People need you, Craig. People. People need people like you. How? How do people learn more? Think you came bearing gifts, did you not? I did. I did. What did you bring?

Craig Bruce:
So I would love to give folks if you type the word ignite. Two, two, six, seven, eight, six. I have my three secrets to ignite your energy and live limitlessly now. So a lot of what we talked about today is in that. So not ignite 226786.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Text that now. Now we need this thing because it's smart, but sometimes it's too smart for our own good. So text ignite the word ignite 226786 and get the three secrets to energy. Live limitlessly now I love that I will get mine for sure. Great how people work with you. How do they get in touch with you?

Craig Bruce:
Yeah, I would say the best way to get in touch with me is through email. That's Craig at evolve health and lifestyle.com. And I think we said type success patterns in the in the in the subject line. In the subject line. Yeah. Thank you. In the subject line. And I would love to offer anybody who wants to chat a complimentary 30 minute ignite you call and we'll just we'll we'll talk we'll talk about what's working, what's not working and maybe some insights into maybe some changes.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah. Yeah. I think people can absolutely gain a lot more years, days, months. Everything counts at this point in their life and and and live some healthy relationships and really get to take some inventory on who they really are in their identity.

Craig Bruce:
Agree. Agree. And I will say that it is. It's about progress, not perfection.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
And that's why not perfection. Share with us.

Craig Bruce:
Yeah, because I will tell you that you're speaking to a reformed perfectionist who for years and years and years being a perfectionist served me well. But it's not continuing to serve me well now. And what we really want to focus on is the progress that we're making. Let's celebrate. Those success patterns. Because with those small steps in success patterns, in our rituals, in our behavioral change. We eventually change our life and live our best life now.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
It sounds very simple, but you got to start somewhere. You do? Yeah. So start now. Get. Get with Craig. Make sure that you send him an email. I'm going to put it here again. Craig at Evolve Health and lifestyle.com Get with Craig. Either way, you're going to have an incredible half hour. I mean we literally just modeled it for you It's going to be even better than this and that's hard to top. Craig any parting words for us as we end our show today?

Craig Bruce:
Yeah, I think the parting words were we are we're all living longer.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yes, we are right.

Craig Bruce:
And and it's in and and and we have a lot to offer as as as elders. We have so much to give back to the world that the world needs. Our level of emotional intelligence is is so high. The our desire to leave our legacy and impact the world. And so the time to start is now.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
That's right. Absolutely. Get with Craig. Craig, thanks for being here, guys. Tune in again next week, Same time, same place. Get with Craig. I'll see you soon. Thanks, Craig. Thank you for tuning in and you will notice opportunities to apply success patterns daily while eagerly anticipating next week's content rich success patterns.

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