6 Learnings From a Founders Summit

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Welcome to The Movement Memo, a bi-weekly newsletter where I share actionable tips to help you live your best day ever, every day.

Today's Programming 

• Movement: Partner Hyrox simulation 

• Quote: McKeown on opportunity costs 

• Lesson: 6 learnings from a Founders Summit

• Optimization: How air quality impacts performance

Today's Movement 

Complete for time with a partner:

• 100 burpee box jump overs

• 400-meter run

• 400-meter walking lunges

• 400-meter run

• 400 meter farmers carry (70 lbs.)

• 400-meter run

• 1000 cal ski

• 400-meter run

• 1000 cal row

• 400-meter run

• 100 wall balls (20 lbs)

Today's Quote

Every decision we make (or don’t make) has opportunity costs.

Most of the time we say yes before we think about what the decision actually entails.

The more we can evaluate a decision before making a response, the easier it becomes to say no.

And the better we become at keeping the main thing the main thing.

Today's Lesson Learned

6 Learnings from a Founders Retreat

This week, I hosted a group of 35 entrepreneurs for a retreat in Denver, Colorado. 

Some of the individuals are building the next generation of health + wellness businesses. Others are local business owners looking to take their company to the next level.  We spent some time workshopping business, but the majority of the conversation surrounded really meaningful conversations about insecurities, purpose, the future, and mistakes. 

In my SISU Sauna on Sunday, I sat with the conversations to determine my key insights from the retreat:    

My 6 lessons learned (that can help every entrepreneur are below): 

#1: Entrepreneurship Is Hard, Long Path

The beauty of being around a group of entrepreneurs is the shared optimism.

To take the jump, to start building something for yourself requires a certain level of delusional blind faith.

Every entrepreneur shares a common, unspoken bond from having overcome a similar set of obstacles.  

A Harsh Truth: entrepreneurship is hard. 

Everything takes longer, requires excess capital, and more perseverance than we originally think.

The people who believe in themselves enough to take an idea and turn it into a profitable business with enterprise value are a rare breed.

It requires the ability to work in a singular direction for a sustained period of time, without seeing the reward.

For many, this feels as if you are walking an unknown path alone.

Which is why getting around other people who share the same burden is so important. 

#2: Vulnerability Over Ego  

Everyone who attended is in the top 1% of their chosen field.

Everyone has earned the right to have a bit of an ego. Yet, no one carried one into the weekend.

That’s not the ethos of this community.

The best in the world leave their ego at the door.

True leaders communicate their vision effectively and enroll others in their ideas.

They do this by making others feel seen, heard, and remembered.

They do this by getting vulnerable.

They do this by checking their ego. 

#3: Push Your Limits, Not Someone Else’s

Every person and business has different constraints.

For some this is financial. For some this is time. For some, this is physical, mental, or emotional.

The point of adding self-imposed obstacles to your calendar is not to push yourself past your breaking point.

The point is to add the proper amount of stress to create a specific adaptation to grow.

This is by definition, an individual threshold based on your innate desires, motivations, and limits.

Self-awareness is rare. But the best in the world know their zone of genius, operate within it and ruthlessly hire others to help bring their visions to life.

#4: Success Is Not a Monopolistic. 

When we summited Mt. Morrison, there was room for everyone at the top. 

A common limiting belief is that to have a winner, there must be a loser.

That success is a binary outcome.

However, one of the founders shared a statement that had a profound impact on me.

“We have never run a comparative ad, which goes against every rule in the book. At the end of the day, I don’t care if you buy our product or a competitors, I started this business to create a community that promotes a healthier society. Obviously, I believe in our product, our team, and the solution we provide. In the end, I believe this will differentiate.”

This statement came from a founder who’s boot-strapped his company to a $55M valuation.

If he’s found a way to win without putting others down, so can we. 

#5: Everyone Has Unique Insights

One of the youngest founders in the group led an impromptu 45-minute keynote on SEO when one of our speakers had to catch an early flight home.

We put a 26-year-old on the spot and made him present to a group of serial entrepreneurs, some of whom have been building businesses since before he could walk.

But he passed with flying colors. All of us walked away with “Golden Nuggets” on why SEO is a long-tail investment (and AI proof).

A Note For The Next Generation: You have value to share based on your unique knowledge and experiences. The world you grew up in is totally different.

A Note For The Older Generation: We blink and we’re no longer trying to get in the room where things happen. The key is finding a way to remain open to new ideas and innovate ways to achieve results.

#6: It’s O.K. To Give Yourself A Break 

The world we live in is more interconnected than ever.

Work used to stay at the office.

Then email made messaging faster.

Eventually, phones made working on the go seamless.

And now it’s “normal” to be on call 24/7.

In a lot ways, technology is great because it expedites the rate at which we can accomplish work. One idea, however, that came up over and over again this weekend was the need for a break, a brief separation from work to reset and recharge.

Our best ideas never come at the end of a 10-hour workday. Our best work doesn't happen at the end of a massive work sprint. 

Having the confidence to give yourself a 24-hour reset will give you the space needed to think creatively.

Today's Optimization

I recently got to spend the day with Mike Feldstein, the founder of Jaspr, a company that is the industry leader in Air Cleaning Machines. I wasn’t aware of how impactful (or detrimental) air quality can be on performance and overall health. Living in Denver, at the foot of the mountains, we’re actually in a bubble and routinely have some of the worst air quality in the country.

An environment with elevated levels of CO2 creates brain fog and increases fatigue. Usually when we’ve been inside for a while, we start getting tired but don't know why. We think, we just need to go outside for a breath of fresh air because it's stuffy inside. Really what this means is that the CO2 levels in our room, gym, or office are high.

Here are 5 lessons I learned about poor air quality (and why I ordered 3 Jasprs for my house):

• We spend 90% of our time indoors, where the air can be up to ten times more polluted than outside.

• Modern homes are efficiently airtight, trapping harmful contaminants from cooking to personal care products.

• Pet dander, hidden mold and indoor allergens can exacerbate asthma and allergy symptoms, impacting sleep and daily activities.

• Chronic exposure to indoor pollutants is linked to severe health conditions like cardiovascular disease and cancer.

• The majority of your exposure to outdoor air pollution actually occurs from the air you're breathing indoors.

Since adding the Jaspr units to my home I’ve been able to maintain bouts of deep work for longer, have improved my sleep quality, and felt significant improvements in my overall health and performance, which is why I am excited to offer Movement Memo subscribers a deal: $180 off their Jaspr using code “Hinman” at checkout!

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Publisher: Eric Hinman

Editor-in-chief: Bobby Ryan