Brooke Summer 0:00 Hello, hello amazing business owners. Welcome back to another episode of bold with broke the podcast in place to be if you want to actually make a living doing what you love, the former name of this podcast is business straight up. The reason that I'm telling you that is because today I have an older recording to share with you. And if you remember a couple of weeks ago, I shared that there were a few episodes that kind of fell through the cracks, I lost one of my team members, and they just never got published. So today is one of those conversations, it is still an amazingly valuable conversation, I wanted to share it with you all about taking care of yourself while running a business. A quick note on any links that you may hear, because this is an older recording. If I give any links that have a businessstraightup.com in front of them just substitute boldwithbrooke.com. All of the redirects are working wonderfully or they should be so substitute in boldwithbrooke.com. And you should be able to get to wherever you need to go based on the links that I provide. My guest is Jane Wenning and I can't wait for you to hear this episode. Let's listen in.

Brooke Summer 1:08 Hello, amazing business owners. Welcome back to another episode of business straight up. I can't wait for you to hear this conversation today. Now, if you are watching on YouTube, I want to apologize for my post bike workout mess that I am in right now. But I did make a commitment to show up for you guys even when it's not perfect. And even though it's killing my recovering perfectionist self a little bit, I am still here. I wanted to make sure that you get this information because it is so important. Today's guest is Jane Wenning. And she is a specialist in helping business people, especially entrepreneurs with taking care of themselves. And dare I say starting to like mother ourselves and make sure that we're getting enough sleep and make sure that we're eating the right things. And I think that's so many of us have this idea of health meaning like 1000 calories a day working out five hours a day lifting weights and going way over the top and the bottom line as Jane shares with us as we can make these little changes every day to start to feel better, because when we feel better, we can show up in a more complete way for everyone around us, for our kids, for our clients, for our students, for anyone we work with, or touch on a day to day basis. So I'm so excited for you to hear this conversation today. If you love it, do me a favor, head over to iTunes and leave a review. And if you're looking for additional resources, I have something brand new. That's out head over to businessstraightup.com/emailsdone to get all the details.

Brooke Summer 2:40 Let's talk with Jane, all about how the heck do we take care of ourselves so that we can be successful and more productive in our businesses?

Brooke Summer 2:49 Hello, they're gorgeous business owners. Welcome to Bold with Brooke the podcast for creative business owners to learn the marketing and business skills they need to get more clients and design their lives on their terms. So we can actually make a living doing what we love. Am I right? I am your host Brooke summer, and I'm an entrepreneur, educator and champion of women reminding them to embrace and step into their power and bringing almost 20 years of business and marketing experience straight to you to help you get more clients and run a sustainable and successful business without burnout or overwhelmed. Let's jump into today's topic.

Brooke Summer 3:30 Welcome back amazing business owners. I am so excited to bring you an amazing guest and an amazing conversation today: Jane Wenning. Jane was body shamed at age 11 and went on to become an amateur bodybuilder and realized that health was more than vanity. Jane works specifically with business professionals because feeling good in your body in your life can drastically change your business and help you be more productive. And I have to tell you guys, I made the commitment at the beginning of this year to show up more even when things aren't perfect. So this is me post bike ride, sweaty mess. No makeup because you know what this conversation matters. It's important. And I want everyone to hear exactly what Jane has to say cuz it's crazy good. Thank you so much for being here today, Jane.

Jane Wenning 4:17 Oh my gosh, thank you so much for inviting me, Brooke. I'm so excited to share all my knowledge. I think it's a gift and I'm so excited to share it with your audience.

Brooke Summer 4:26 Absolutely. I know we talked a little bit, but can you tell me a little bit about your journey and why you have stepped into helping business owners with their health?

Jane Wenning 4:34 Sure, sure. So my journey starts way back when I was 11. And I was body shamed. And I remember being 13 and using my babysitting money to buy diet pills. That love hate relationship with my body continued for 10 years. And finally, I just told myself in college that life has got to be better than this. I was not letting anyone into my circle I wasn't trying to enter anyone else's circle out of fear of what they would say or what to think. A year after having my third baby, I competed in my first bodybuilding competition, and I won. And it was a huge boost to my self esteem.

Brooke Summer 5:15 Wow, that's amazing.

Jane Wenning 5:17 And my husband calls me and says, Hey, because I was also in charge of our finances at home, he calls me and says, you know, what, a paycheck that I got a couple months ago, didn't get deposited in the bank. Can you follow up on that? So sure, I had no idea where that paycheck was, I found that paycheck in a briefcase that I hadn't used in years. And I realized at that moment, that even though I had gotten control of my body composition, there was something else that needed my attention. And it was my brain health.

Brooke Summer 5:52 Yes. Oh, my gosh, I know that most of my listeners run their own businesses. And I feel like that tends to be so draining sometimes when we allow it and our health often takes a backseat. What have you seen in your work that stands out for entrepreneurs and business owners, even aside from the corporate professionals,

Jane Wenning 6:10 I'd have to say that the biggest thing is recovery. That's one of my pillars, I have four pillars to help. Recovery is the first one because it ties into all the other ones.

Brooke Summer 6:20 Yes, running a business is totally a distraction from taking care of ourselves. And a lot of my listeners are also moms. And you and I had talked a little bit about this, being a mom means even more distractions, right. And it keeps us from making ourselves a priority, we just tend to go more to the bottom of the list, underneath all the things that need to be fixed. What is one thing that we can look at and implement every day to start to prioritize ourselves and our health and well being

Jane Wenning 6:49 Sleep. And I know that's really hard. As a mom, one of my favorite hacks, I thought to sleep, and I thought I was doing great until I wasn't, was my husband would always want me to come to bed with him at 10 o'clock. Okay? The house is quiet. This is my productivity time, I can't go to bed. I thought I had the greatest hack for this, I would drink like two or three big glasses of water before I'd go to bed. And I'd go to bed at 10 o'clock. Knowing that in a few hours, I had to wake up to use the bathroom. And when I did, I would just stay away. So I thought it was great and the house was quiet, I could get so much done. Until I had that episode with the paycheck that really that was the epiphany moment that hey, wait a minute. And then I started doing some research on sleep, and found out that one of the sleep stages, deep sleep is where our brains detoxify, our brains actually condense and fluid is pushed through our brains to help get rid of plaques and toxins that are in our brain and help us think clearer. And deep sleep doesn't happen according to the clock on the wall. Deep Sleep happens in more in tune with your circadian rhythm.

Jane Wenning 8:04 Generally, for most people, it's between 11 o'clock at night and two in the morning is when you're you cycle in and out of deep sleep. That's when your brain detoxifies. Well, I have one tip to give your listeners it would be to hit that sleep window, be in bed before 11 and sleep until at least two so that you are getting some deep sleep. And then the last thing that can help you get deep sleep. But deep sleep is very important. I thought I was thriving on four hours of sleep. But only 5% of the population 5% can thrive on less than six.

Brooke Summer 8:42 Yes, I have found for me, I actually feel my best between eight and nine. So not even eight. But like between eight nine. I mean that rest and the wake up fresh and stuff like that. We were just having a discussion in one of the Facebook groups that I work in. And someone was talking about where they spend money. And it's so funny. We were having this conversation because I drive a 2011 car like I'm not really a car person. But we just bought a very expensive mattress because I love my sleep.

Jane Wenning 9:16 Absolutely. That is one place that if you are going to spend money, spend it on your sleep. I have three kids, my youngest one is getting ready to move out and he talked to me he's 21 and he talked to me about all he's going to try and save a couple dollars and have a blow up mattress for a while and I said I will. I will buy you a decent mattress. It needs to be on a boxspring and it needs to be up off the floor so that you can get the full effect of your bed. Yeah. Not only that in this little studio thing that he's getting. Then he's got some space under the bed for storage.

Brooke Summer 9:53 Absolutely.

Jane Wenning 9:54 Yep, the mattress is so important.

Brooke Summer 9:57 Yes. I love that. In the past year and a half, I have really started looking at my own health, physically as well as where my energy is. And I know how important it is for me and how much better I'm feeling. What are your four pillars of balanced health, you said recover is one, what are the others.

Jane Wenning 10:17 So recovery is my first pillar. My second pillar is emotional energy. And the third pillar is nutrition. And the fourth pillar is movement. And some of the clients that I work with people gravitate to the nutrition and the movement pieces. But with some of the clients that I work with, I haven't picked a survey. And I find that sleep, if we start with sleep, then I can get by getting them to sleep the right amount of hours. And in the right timeframe, I can give them the energy that they've been lacking energy so they can start putting movement into their day. Or when you have that energy from a good night's sleep, you're not reaching for all that quick energy stuff so you can make better food choices. Yeah, the first one is definitely sleep. My second one is emotional energy. The third one is nutrition. And the fourth one is movement.

Brooke Summer 11:10 Yes, I love that. I know that one of my coaches, Tara Newman, has a framework that the first pillar is energy, because the reality is, especially as a business owner, or a mom, or anyone who's a caretaker for other people, if you don't protect your energy, you're not going to be able to serve anyone else, because you're gonna be walking around like a zombie.

Jane Wenning 11:33 Yeah, yeah, that's my airplane rule. Take care of yourself first before you try and help anybody else.

Brooke Summer 11:38 Yes, but that feels so wrong to us. I know I've really struggled with the word selfish, right? And that goes back a long time. But I really struggle with seeing myself as selfish. When I take care of myself. And it's just in the past year, year and a half that I've said, I can show up, I can be a better mom, I can be a better teacher, I can be a better leader for my clients when I'm taking care of myself.

Jane Wenning 12:04 Absolutely. Absolutely.

Brooke Summer 12:06 Oh, I love this conversation, that energy is so crazy important. And part of that, too, that I think a lot of people don't talk about, like we have our four pillars, but in the emotional energy can also be not dealing with the vampires.

Jane Wenning 12:21 Yes. Saying no, one of the things that I like to say in that emotional energy is just because somebody is in your inner circle, doesn't mean they're in your corner might be in your inner circle, but they are still toxic. Those are the sneaky ones. I mean, it's easy to see people that are on the outside of your circle that are toxic, but it's hard to see the ones that are on the inside of your circle that are toxic. And that is something that you really need to become aware of.

Brooke Summer 12:52 I'm writing that down just because someone is in your inner circle doesn't mean that they're in your corner that is so true. And so important to think about. Oh my gosh. So what is one tip in each pillar that can be implemented right away to start seeing better health or feeling better?

Jane Wenning 13:10 Okay, in the recovery, again, I'm gonna go back to sleep, try and hit that 11 to two window. For a lot of people, they like to use their blue light, they'd like to use technology, iPads, phones, whatever it is, get those things turned off a couple hours before you go to bed. Because the reason is they emit a blue light that keeps your brain excited, and your brain thinks that it's daytime and it doesn't start producing the melatonin that it needs for you to drift off into sleep, you should drift into sleep and not crash into sleep. When your body produces that melatonin, then you're also able to get into that deep sleep sleep as for my recovery pillar, or the emotional energy pillar, one of the things that I like to give business owners is that sometimes we have very little transition time, especially if we're officing from home, and we might walk right from our office into our kitchen. And it's crazy. Before you shut off your computer and you've got your day organized or your next day organized. Just sit back and take two minutes and do some deep breathing exercises to transition you into the crazy of what the rest of your evening might look like. I know especially as a mom, things get super hairy. After five o'clock with running kids to activities and homework and food. Give yourself that two minute transition time and do some powerful breathing. It will make you a better person as you switch hats and become a mom instead of that business person. Yeah, school nutrition. My biggest tip for nutrition is know your oils. You have to know the fats that you're consuming because there are healthy good ones and there are ones that you should not be doing it all, they actually modify your gene expression and create unhealth at the genetic level. Those are oils that should not be in your cabinet at all. I don't like to tell people to throw this out or show that out. But that is one thing I will tell you throw those out. And start using good oils, you want to use coconut oil, you want to use olive oil, you want to use avocado oil, those are some really, really good oils to use. And here's the thing, it doesn't take any time out of your day to use those oils over the processed oils over the vegetable oils over the canola oil that doesn't take any time at all. It's just a difference when you go to the grocery store, and it is a difference in your wallet. But the health benefits will pay off far, far into the future.

Brooke Summer 15:53 Wow, I have no idea.

Jane Wenning 15:55 And then for the fourth pillar for movement, I live under the three C rule. I live under consistency, creativity and compassion. And I like to apply this to movement. I have good plan. But Sometimes life happens when it comes to movement. And while I might be thinking in my head, I'm gonna get in a half hour workout today. And then my phone starts to ring. And all of a sudden, I've only got 10 minutes before I've got to be jumping in the shower and heading out to my next activity or meeting with the client trying to be as consistent as possible. You need to involve creativity. Instead of that half hour workout. You know what now I'm going to do a 10 minute hit workout. And I'm still going to get my workout in. But I use a little creativity on the side to do it. And if I just couldn't get it done, then I give myself some compassion. I give myself some grace. Because I know my whole world isn't going to fall apart. And tomorrow I can pick up where I left off.

Brooke Summer 17:01 Yes. Oh, I love that. I know that for me. Personally, we have an elliptical and I won't touch it just That's boring. It's soul sucking for me. I don't enjoy it. But we go to the gym and play racquetball Now don't misunderstand me, Okay, we are not competitive are like super amazing at it. But we don't even know the rules. We just hit the ball. But it doesn't matter. Because that's fun. And it's movement. Yes.

Jane Wenning 17:26 You know what, where I've often wondered, Where did the word play vanish and the word workout pickup? If we looked at movement more just like play, I think more people would be attracted to doing it.

Brooke Summer 17:39 Yes. Oh my gosh, I love that so much. And I love to play and with my kids, you know, basketball, stuff like that. And those things matter. Those steps matter, too. Sometimes, especially as a business owner, if you can't get to the gym, maybe you just take your kids outside and play tag. Something simple writing this down play versus workout for sure. Oh, my gosh, if you could talk to an overwhelmed business owner that is just trying to do all the things right now. Maybe a parent or just even non parents who are business owners, what would you offer to them as encouragement to increase their productivity and overall wellbeing,

Jane Wenning 18:21 I'd have to go back to the recovery piece, I'd have to go back to sleep, because sleep ties into all of the other pillars. Again, if you're not sleeping well, then you have less patience with your clients, with your co workers with your employees. All these little things just seem to add up when you don't have sleep. When you haven't recovered your body when your brain hasn't had the ability to flush itself out and be refreshed and renewed. That would be my biggest tip is Yeah, make sure that you're recovering and part of recovery. And not only involves sleep, but it involves getting outside and being out in nature.

Brooke Summer 19:05 Yes, absolutely. So I have a question for you. I am a night owl. My natural schedule tends to be sleeping from midnight until that 830 But based on what you've said, should it be a habit to get up earlier in the morning so that I go to bed earlier? Like I'm feeling a little scared to ask this but but really would that be better off for me even though it doesn't feel normal for me?

Jane Wenning 19:32 give it a try. Try and bump your sleep time back in 15 minute increments. Just don't just jump in and try and go to bed at 1030 If that's not a time that you would normally go to bed, but try and sneak your bedtime back either in 10 minute or 15 minute increments until you've got it maybe close to that 11 o'clock. Now, if you routinely go to bed and you drift right off into sleep, then having that 11 o'clock I'd time, that would be a great start. And then doing your eight or nine hours of sleep time would be a perfect way to help your body to be recovered, but yet capture as much of that deep sleep window as you can.

Brooke Summer 20:15 That's interesting. I love the 15 minute increments, because I think so many of us, especially as business owners, we hear all of these people, we look up to say, I get up at 5am. So I can get things done. And I can't do that I have tried. I can't if I force myself, but why? Why am I going to force myself I run my own business for a reason

Jane Wenning 20:34 Yes, for the freedoms, and then not only the freedoms, but you don't want to be walking around angry or like a zombie. And especially with kids at home, you want to make sure that you're present for them. Yes, you want to be that good role model? And how can you be that good role model? If everything sets you off? If you're so you think that you are?

Brooke Summer 20:58 Yes, oh, this is so important. I think that so many times we talk about the hustle, right? And the Go, go go and get things done. And you have to have your editorial calendar and all this stuff. And that stuff is important. But if you're not taking care of yourself first, none of that matters.

Jane Wenning 21:15 Right? Right.

Brooke Summer 21:16 Oh my gosh, thank you so much for being here. Today. Jean, I know that your journey is inspiring. And so many business owners could use a productivity boost and maybe a few extra sleep hours of for anyone listening that wants to learn more, where can they find out more about you and connect with you and learn more about what you do?

Jane Wenning 21:37 Okay, they can go to my website is four-pillarshealth.com. And on my website, there is a productivity secrets that is one productivity secret for each one of my pillars. And then there's also a link to a four minute full body workout, that if you've got five minutes that day, you do it once. If you've got 15 minutes, you do it, take a minute break and repeat it as many times as you have time for but it's a full body workout. So you get the cardio and you get some strength training in. And it's a great way to do that creativity piece and follow the three C's getting in consistency, creativity. But yeah, giving yourself some compassion.

Brooke Summer 22:26 Yes. Oh, I really love that. I think that anyone listening, if you are feeling that tag of I know I'm not taking care of myself like I should be, definitely reach out, talk to Jane, get that download because it is so worth that I can tell you in the past year, year and a half, that I personally have benefited so much from losing the hustle and starting to take care of my body. And I know that speaking of a larger woman that sometimes this conversation is hard to have because it turns into something that we feel shame about. And it doesn't have to when you're moving and you're taking care of yourself. It doesn't matter what size you are right?

Jane Wenning 23:04 No. And then there's another thing that I like to tell my clients every day, every day you learn, you win, but you never fail. And you never have guilt. Maybe I didn't hit my mark that day. I didn't fail. What did I learn from that? And if I hit my mark, yay, that's a win for me. Every day is a win every day is a learn, but there is no fail.

Brooke Summer 23:29 Yes, absolutely. To all of the listeners and business owners who have joined us today. I am so honored that you press play and spend this time with Jane and I I have some homework for you because you didn't think I was letting me get away with that homework. I want you to write down one thing that you want to implement to help you with your health and your energy this week and shared in the community you can access that community at businessstraightup.com/community You can also tag Jane and I on Instagram. I'm at business straight up and Jane is at Jane that wedding. Because I know she would love to hear it too. If you are someone that wants to help other people and you know someone who can use this information, maybe you know someone that's just running ragged, taking care of everyone but themselves, please forward this episode over to them. If you were like, wow, this content was amazing, Brooke How can I thank you? Can you head on over to iTunes and leave a review. I know it's small. It takes a little bit of time, but it helps me know exactly how I can serve you and it helps me to get amazing guests like Jean, if you're watching on YouTube and see in my host bike mess. Welcome there to hit subscribe down below. Either way, I'm so happy to have you here today. Take care of yourselves first so that you can serve everyone else whether we're talking about clients, family or anyone else. I can't wait to see what you do with your business and how you change the world. Thank you so much for being here today. Jane.

Jane Wenning 24:54 Thank you. Thank you for having me, Brooke.

Brooke Summer 24:56 Have a wonderful rest of your day everyone.

Brooke Summer 25:00 Hey, thank you so much for joining me today and listening in. You can find all of the show notes for this and every episode over at bold with brooke.com/podcast where you can also find all of the links or resources mentioned. I can't wait to work with you have an amazing rest of your day.