Do You Know What “Holistic” Really Means?

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
George B. Thomas (00:03):
Pacing yourself is essential. So we've
talked about balance. We'vetalked about intentionality. A
holistic approach. It's amarathon.
It's not a sprint. You don'thave to overhaul your life
overnight and so many times whenpeople get this wild hair,
wherever they get wild hairs,they're like, and I need to fix

(00:24):
it right now. No. You don't haveto overhaul your life overnight.
Start small.
Build habits gradually. Allowyourself time to adjust. This is
how you're gonna avoid burnout.By the way, this is also
probably how you're gonna avoidlike backsliding into things
that you're trying to change andnot do. You have to remember

(00:45):
it's not about how fast you canget there.
It's about building asustainable lifestyle that keeps
you balanced over the long haulof your beyond your default
journey.

Liz Moorhead (01:00):
Welcome back to Beyond Your Default. I'm your
host, Liz Morehead. And asalways, I'm joined by the one
and only George b Thomas. Howthe heck are you, bud?

I'm doing okay. I'm doing pretty good.
It's Monday morning. I am tryingto get this week scheduled and
organized, and we're doing good.We're doing good.

How about you? Stepping. We're doing the work.
Yeah.

Right? Yeah. We're doing the work.

I'm about the same. I'll go ahead and dig into
my highlight and low light fromthe weekend. The highlight was
let's see. Highlight wasyesterday. I got to see a ton of
fast cars.
A ton of fast cars. There isthis event apparently that takes
place annually here in downtownhistoric Annapolis called
Carriages on West Street, whichis not about carriages. It's

(01:47):
about Corvettes. And they hadCorvettes lined up and down the
street from 1953 all the way upto present day. And it was so
flipping cool.
There must have been, like, 40,50, 60 different Corvettes. It
was unbelievable. So I got to dothat and drink some coffee, and

(02:08):
it ended up just being a superfun day. After that, I watched
the Terminator, and I watchedTombstone. And I felt really
good about life.

It was awesome. Tombstone is one of my
favorites.

It's the best movie ever. You won't be able to
relate to this part, but it isdefinitely a formative movie for
me as a girl because that's whenI fell in love with Val Kilmer
and Michael Biehn at the sametime.

Yeah.

And it was just, like, a really good time for me.
You know? It was the ninetieswere nice. The nineties were
nice.

Yeah. Val Kilmer killed that. I mean,
there is no other doc afterthat.

The fact that he wasn't nominated and then the
fact that he did not win isviolently upsetting to me.

Yeah. I'll be a huckleberry. Anyway, we gotta
keep going.

We gotta keep going. My lowlights you know
what? I'm gonna sum it up thisway. I heard this theory
recently called the let themtheory, where it's like people
are gonna do whatever it is thatthey're gonna do. So just let go
and let them.
And I wrote about this last weekin our newsletter beyond your

(03:14):
fault.comforward/newsletter. Iwrote about how I have been
really challenging myself nowthat I'm moving into this next
phase of my life where I have alot of exciting things that I
want to do. Like, I I gottafigure out who are the ghosts
and what's real. What's gotta goand what's gotta stay. And so my
low light this weekend is I hadto let someone.

(03:36):
I had to let go, and I had tosee what happened. And it wasn't
great. It wasn't great. Ithought, people would make
different choices. But I willsay even though that was kind of
a low light, and the reason whyI'm speaking vaguely about it is
just because, you know, it it'scircumstantial.
The details don't matter. Thelesson in it for me, though, is
that the pain was a istemporary, and I have to remind

(03:58):
myself of that. But the truth isclarifying, which creates space
for other things and for myenergy to go in different
places.

Yeah. Because there's only there's only so
much space in your brain, inyour, like, life. And I I have
been also going through thisphase of, like, I just need to
chop stuff off, get it done,like, type thing because it's
not on the brain. It's funny,Liz, because I too have a saying
that's quite like yours, butit's a little different. Mine

(04:27):
starts like yours, let go, andthen I say, let god.

Mhmm.

So, you know and it's like because I realized
that there's gonna be pain.There's gonna be turmoil, so the
next phase of whatever it isthat we let go, man, you're just
you're gonna need some help. I'mgonna need at least I personally
am gonna need some help. So,well, low lights, highlights.
It's funny because I was gettingsort of made fun of before we

(04:52):
hit the record button by youbecause because I was like,
yeah.
I didn't get as much done on theweekend as I wanted to. And, you
know, I was watching dogs forthe fam because they went on a
little mini trip over theweekend. And it's funny because
I was like, oh, darn it. Ididn't get work done until you
started to make fun of me, andthen I was like, oh, darn it.

(05:15):
I'm an idiot because I didn'trealize it was a blessing in
disguise that I didn't get workdone.
So so, like, my highlight and mylowlight probably are 1 in the
same where I didn't get a lot ofwork done. Yay. I didn't get a
lot of work done. Oh. Boo.
So, like say here what

I said to you, which is, oh, no. Your weekend
ended up just being a weekendYeah. Yeah. Saddest.

It doesn't happen a lot, but, yeah, this
weekend was it kinda was just aweekend. It was watching some
TV. It was eating some food. Itwas watching the dogs.

And you had alone time. You had alone time.

I did. I did have alone time. Although, I
will say, actually, you knowwhat? One of the highlights I
will say is I did get a chanceto take my son out to dinner,
and we sat and had aconversation and ate dinner
together with just him and I.And that doesn't happen a lot
either.
So maybe that's the highlight,and the not working is a mix of
both. Or

We're gonna have to regroup on that
categorization later, but that'sokay.

Yeah. Send send your thoughts, listeners.
Send your thoughts.

The Thomas men had their own night out on the town.
Yeah. What was your favoritepart about spending time with
your son?

Oh, man. You know, just being able to spend
time with him and, like, breakbread and eat a meal and talk
about things that we typicallydon't talk about. I mean, it's,
yeah, it was just and it's lowkey. With him, it's always low
key. Noah's low key.
Like, we just, like we're verymuch 2 peas in a pod where we're
just like okay. So how's theyeah. Good. Okay. So it's not

(06:47):
like it was, like, exciting andwe were, like, dancing on top of
the bar or anything while we'rethere, but you know?

That's adorable, though. Just 2 vibin' peas in a
pod. Nobody asking questionsthat are too deep. Just kinda
chilling.

Yeah. We were. We were chilling. I had some
great salmon, a sweet potato,and some broccoli. And he had
this burger from heaven.
I don't even know. Like, I waslike, holy crap, dude. What who
made that thing? But, yeah, itwas it was good times.

That's amazing.

And and here's the thing too. He's 21 now. So
we were able to sit and actuallyhave a beverage over dinner. So
we were, like, adulting. Sothat's even, like, next level.
Like, that yeah. That's myhighlight for the weekend.

You got to have, like, an adult meal with your
son Yeah. For the first time.

Yeah. Well, maybe not the first time, but
him and

I beverages. With adult beverages That's

what I mean. Chilling. Yes. Yes.

That's fantastic.

It's almost like it was I can't even I'm
trying to tie it into today'stopic. I don't even know how I
did that.

We're not. I will say, though, I call this topic
today it's kinda like anybodyout there who's watched The Big
Lebowski. It's the rug that tiedthe whole room together. You
know? We have spent a number ofthe past few weeks going through
all of the different pillars ofthe superhuman framework, which
is our blueprint, our manual,the different areas of our lives

(08:06):
that we need to have buttoned upand addressed in some way in
order to live a life beyond ourdefault.
Yeah. Right? And how how thesedifferent things manifest in our
lives is entirely up to us.Right? We're each on our own
individual and personal journey.
But today, we are doing thefinal pillar of the superhuman
framework, and that is Wow.Holistic.

Yeah.

Now what I'm really excited about for today's
conversation is quite frankly,this is a word that gets abused.
It gets abused in businesscircles where everything is a
holistic solution. What doesthat mean? Well, we
holistically, holisticize all ofyour business needs.

Like Yeah.

Everybody taught it's like authenticity. Right?
So what we're doing today iswe're having a conversation
about holistic. What does itmean in the context of the
superhuman framework? What doesit look like in practice?
And why we all need to have abig reset on how we define this
word so we start taking itseriously again. Because I think

(09:06):
it's a word, George, and I I'dlove to get your take on this,
where we hear the word holisticand our brain kinda turns off.

Yeah. It's funny. And I can't wait to get
your thoughts on this, as we gothrough this episode too because
I'm curious, very curious aboutthis topic. I love this topic.
Just sometimes I wonder if Ithink about it the same as most,
probably, but, you know, how Ido with my brain.
But it is funny, Liz, becauseit's like the when you hear this

(09:36):
word, you're like, I know whatthat is. I think I know what
that is. It it literally is the,like, turn your head sideways
and have to think for a secondbecause it's so many times mushy
or elusive even because youthink that you're thinking in
that way. And then all of asudden, there's, like, these 2
or 3 things that creep up onyou. And you're like, oh, maybe

(09:58):
I wasn't thinking in this way,or maybe I'm thinking about this
in the wrong way.
Anyway, we'll we'll dig intothat as we go.

I'm in the same boat as you. It's one of those
words where it's like you hearit go. Yes. I know. Wait.
What? Do I know what that means?

Yeah.

I mean, there's a reason why the title of this
episode is, do you really knowwhat holistic means?

Yeah.

That's where we're at today.

We'll we'll find out.

We're gonna find out. So, George, let's dig right
in. You describe holistic as thegreat stabilizer in your
framework, which is unlikehealth, which is the great
equalizer.

Yeah.

Can you explain what the heck you mean by that?

Yeah. It's interesting that you chose to
start there because I think whenwe understand what I mean by
stabilizer versus equalizer andwhen we really can embrace this
word, which, by the way, I Ialmost feel like this needs to
be the first h in the superhumanframework. It isn't right now,

(10:55):
but I feel like it should bebecause then it's like the
dominoes after. Because once youkind of get here, this is where
the magic can start to happen.And when I talk about holistic,
being the stabilizer, I say thatholistic well-being is like the
glue that holds all of the otherpieces of our lives together.

(11:18):
So imagine you're trying to,like and and I'm not a big
surfboard, but I am a biganalogy person. So imagine
you're trying to balance on asurfboard in the ocean. Right?
Everybody kinda close your eyes,visualize. You're on the ocean.
You're riding the waves, andwaves are coming from all
directions. Well, withoutstability, you're gonna be

(11:39):
tossed around and probablytossed off the surfboard. K? So
now I want you to, like, openyour eyes, quit thinking about
waves coming from all around,quit thinking about that, holy
crap, I probably couldn't evenget up on my surfboard to begin
with. Forget about that.
Like, you were on it. You weresurfing, but things were coming
from all directions. That's howlife is. Things come from all
directions. And if we don't havea way in which we're looking at

(12:04):
those directions, one of thewaves that we're not paying
attention to is gonna knock usoff our surfboard.
It's it's the thing thathistorically has set you back.
It's the thing that historicallytook you by surprise. And so
when we think about it being thegreat stabilizer, when we think
about that, we have to thinkabout the word balance in our

(12:24):
life. And so when we arethinking about holistic
well-being and we think aboutstabilizing and balance, what I
want us to also think about isthis word, anchor. An anchor
helps hold us in place.
It keeps everything in our lifefrom our career to our
relationships to our personalgrowth steady and in sync. And I

(12:47):
have to ask the listeners, haveyou ever felt non steady and out
of sync? Right? This is when Italk about the, like, peaks and
valleys, or it's when maybe youfeel like your entire body
exploded into about a 1000000pieces, then you had to bring it
back together. PLATO actuallyhas a really cool quote.

(13:08):
The part can never be wellunless the whole is well. Now
we've spent the last coupleweeks talking about different
parts, happy, healthy, you know,hustle, the hunger, the health,
physical, and mental. Like,these are all parts, and you can
focus on each individual part oryou can focus on the parts as a

(13:31):
whole. Right? And this is whatwe this is holistic thinking.
This is and again, this if youthink about it, what does the
framework do? The frameworkgives us a starting point of
points to pay attention to sothat we can have it's like
itself inside itself, a holisticview of our our life. So you you

(13:52):
might be sitting wondering,like, why is it so essential?
Because life in general, us ashumans, full of moving parts.
We're juggling ambitions,responsibilities.
We've got our professionalgoals. We've got our personal
passions. And if one part ofyour life is out of whack, like
all of a sudden you have aweekend where you thought you're

(14:13):
gonna do a lot of work, but youend up watching dogs. Well, it
can throw everything off ofbalance, or you can readjust,
and then you're not off balance.You're actually exactly where
you're supposed to be anchoredin that moment.
And unlike I did this weekend,realizing that that moment is

(14:34):
actually the wave that you'resupposed to be riding, the place
that you're supposed to be, thatyou've been given it for a
reason. And so when we thinkabout this holistic well-being,
it makes sure that all of theseparts of our lives, all of these
waves that could come crashingin, this surfboard that we're
on, amazingly, it all starts towork together in harmony,

(14:58):
creating a strong and stablefoundation. You know, that's the
thing that I love about surfing.It's like harnessed chaos. Like,
the ocean is this massive beastof water and then there's this
beautiful individual human on atoothpick, like, able to do

(15:18):
crazy amazing stuff.
And that we can visualize thatsame thing in our life. We're an
individual human who can dothese amazing things when we can
harmonize, when we can anchor,when we can sync, when we're
have a holistic view. And so ifI get out of the, like, analogy
world and I start to reallydrill down here, it's about

(15:41):
alignment. It's about aligningyour mind, your body, your soul
so that you're not justsurviving a day, but you're
thriving through the day becauseof that alignment. There's a
great quote by who knows becauseit's unknown, but the mind,
body, and spirit are allconnected.
When one is out of balance, itaffects the others. And so so

(16:04):
many times in my life, and Idon't know about you, listeners.
I don't know about you, Liz, butso many times, I knew that I was
out of balance, but I also justignored the counterweight that I
needed to get in balance. Iignored the places that I knew
were actually, like, erodingfrom toxicity, you know,
somewhere on the holistic beingthat was trying to, like,

(16:25):
journey down this road. Now,Liz, it's funny, though, because
you mentioned health and thegreat equalizer.
I I wanna take a minute. And ifthis is somebody's first podcast
episode, I wanna talk about theflip side. When I call health
the great equalizer, I'm sayingthat no matter who you are,
where you're from, or whatyou're chasing after, the

(16:46):
physical and mental healthlevels, like, however high or
low they are, they straight uplevel the field. Like, you can
be chugging along and all of asudden your mental and physical
health levels plummet. It'sgonna be a minute.
If your health isn't in check,if you're not taking care of
your body and mind, if you'renot equipped with the energy,

(17:08):
resilience, or even clarity totake on anything life throws
your way, like, how how are yougoing to be holistic? How are
you gonna have holistic visionif the health is the crippler,
is the thing that is stoppingyou from being able to actually
do the thing that you're doing?But here's the truth. If your

(17:29):
health is suffering, whetherit's physical, mental, or both,
it doesn't matter how ambitious,talented, driven you are, I am.
We're gonna struggle.
I mean, we might try to pushforward, but we're gonna be
carrying this whole ocean. It'sgonna be heavier. So here's the
deal. Let's circle back aroundand talk about holistic

(17:51):
well-being as the stabilizer.Here's the deal.
It stabilizes your life. Itmakes sure everything is in
balance. It's the foundationthat keeps you and I grounded,
keeps you and I focused, keepsyou and I connected. Jana
Kingsford said, balance is notsomething you find, It's

(18:14):
something you create. I have toask you listeners, are you
creating a space for holisticvision, for holistic well-being?
Or are you just thinking thatit's gonna magically show up? We
have to be intentional with thisword. We truly have to dive in
and understand what it means forus. Therefore, we can put a

(18:37):
method to the madness, and wecan ride that wave to the shore
that we're trying to do. Look.
When you think about physicalhealth, mental health, and
holistic, by the way, I feellike they create this trifecta
that we have to pay attention tobecause they are so important to
each other. They're thispowerful trio that helps us
manage life, empowers us to havethis well rounded, fulfilling,

(19:01):
and, yes, what, dare I say,possibly a superhuman life. Play
on the superhuman framework.Just, ladies and gentlemen, hang
in there with me. Because to me,that's what the superhuman
framework and living a lifebeyond your default is all
about.
It's living a life that's notjust balanced, but because it's
balanced, it's extraordinary.

So what's interesting about this
particular part of the frameworkis that it seems to be more of a
mindset. The way you think aboutyour life, the way you tie all
the different pieces together.And I love that idea in theory.
In practice, however, I startgetting a little bit, like,
okay. So how do I practicallyapply a mindset?

(19:47):
Right? Because you're telling mefundamentally to look at my life
differently. Because I couldwake up every single day with a
one day, I could have a holisticapproach and one day, I could
not or vice versa. And the todos on that to do list for those
days might look exactly thesame. Mhmm.
So what I'm curious to hear fromyou is, what do practical steps
look like to begin integrating

mix of the mindset. Right? Because I feel
like, by the way, the superhumanframework is a holistic
framework, a holistic mindset, awhat can be measured. But then I
think there's holistic insidethe framework, which might be
what you're digging into now,Liz, is the practicality of it.

(20:39):
And and what I wanna do actuallyis I wanna I wanna break this
down in a way that let and Ilove the word that you used,
practical.
I would even say powerful. Andmore importantly, let's just
talk about this and get straightto the point the way that I like
it, you like it, and the beyondyour default listeners like it.
Right? So think about practical,powerful, and straight to the
point. That's what we're gonnagive you right here.

(21:01):
There's 7 things that I wannahit upon, Liz. Seven things when
I think about this. The firstthing, you've gotta start with a
self assessment. K? You can'tfix what you don't know is
broken.
So we have to take and we'vetalked about this in other
podcast episodes where I'veeither had to do this, you've
had to do this, or we suggestthat the listeners do this. You

(21:24):
have to take a good hard look atyour physical, mental,
emotional, spiritual. Right?Consider looking at, by the way,
the whole h framework of thesuperhuman framework. But for
sure, the foundation, physical,mental, emotional, spiritual, is
a good place to start.
But you have you have a bunch ofother h's in the framework that

(21:44):
you could do. This is yourstarting point. This is your
foundation. Liz, this isactually why I shared last week,
not on the episode, but behindthe scenes, ladies and
gentlemen. This is why I sharedlast week that I wanna do an
episode on identifying youridentity.
Who are you? What do you love?What do you want more of? Where

(22:05):
do you wanna go? These arequestions, by the way, that help
with the self assessment that Iliterally just talked about so
that you even know where tostart.
This aligns who you are andwhere you're at with the goals
you need to get where you'retrying to go. You might have to
rewind that piece. There's a lotof, like, goals getting and

(22:28):
going. But, like, anytime youmap out a map, you've got the
beginning spot, you've got theending spot, and then you've got
places where you have to stopand fuel up along the way. But
that is that assessment, that'sthat planning out your road map,
that that GPS.
So knowing where you stand helpsyou set intentional milestones

(22:51):
or intentional goals. And andtrust me when I tell you the
milestones and goals, they'reimportant. But what's maybe more
important than the milestones orthe goals is the fact that
they're balanced, that they pushyou forward in every aspect of
your life or at least theaspects that you're paying
attention to or feel needelevated at that point in time.

(23:15):
Because, Liz, I'm gonna go backto something you said. I feel
like it could be different everyday, and you're right.
It could. Not every day do Ineed to work on all 10, but I
might need to work on 3. And I'msaying 3 of the superhuman
framework. See, these goals,these milestones, they are like
or part of your GPS. They guideyou and keep you on track.

(23:36):
Once once you've got thesegoals, then and this is, for
many, difficult. Once you havethe goals, it's time to build
the daily habits around them.Small daily steps where, you
know, it could be a morningmeditation, a quick workout. It
could be a few minutes ofjournaling. I'm not a big
journaler, but, Liz, I know youdo that.

(23:58):
But whatever it is, whateveryou're adding to the thing that
needs to be amplified orelevated in your holistic
thinking of the framework, it'sgonna lead to significant
changes over time. So remember,when I say holistic and when
we're focusing on the ones thatneed improvement, remember that

(24:19):
it's 1% better each and everyday. We're not trying to, like,
rocket launch these suckers.We're just trying to move the
needle a little. So these habitsare what I'd call our secret
weapon for integrating aholistic approach into your life
without feeling overwhelmedbecause they just become part of
your day.

(24:40):
They become habits that youfollow. It doesn't feel like
you're doing anythingextraordinary because you're
building them up 1 brick at atime, not trying to throw the
entire wall up. So if we thinkabout this and we go into the
mind body connection, it's notenough to focus on 1 or the

(25:01):
other, your mind or your body.They must work together like
we've kind of talked at thebeginning of this. There has to
be, harmony.
And the reason I'm bringing mindand body is because of mental
and physical health. And so ifwe start to think about
practices like yoga, again, I'mnot a big yoga person, but you
might be yoga person. Me, I'mfascinated by Tai Chi. I might

(25:24):
wanna do some Tai Chi.

I'm fascinated by yoga from a distance. I'm
someone who is in a constantfight with gravity just sitting
down.

Yeah.

So, like, I'm not gonna introduce posing into
that. You know? It's just notRight.

No. It I don't know. But practices like yoga,
tai chi, some sort ofmindfulness help you connect the
dots between your physical andmental health, and it's helping
to reduce stress. And, again,it's all tying back to this word
balance. It's helping keepingyou balanced.
And speaking of the balance,don't forget about the mental

(25:56):
health and how foundational itis. Caring for your mind is just
as crucial as caring for yourbody, whether that's through
regular mental check ins,therapy, simply taking a break.
Mhmm. Man, I just got slapped inthe face with a 2 by

4. There we go.

This week.

There we go. There we go. It's all coming full
circle.

Yeah. So nurturing your mental health is
critical to staying resilientand focused. By the way, this is
why the 2 episodes we didbefore, the one that we're doing
right now on being holistic wasabout mental health and physical
health because listeners and bythe way, you may have gotten
this far. And if you hadn'tlistened to those 2 episodes, I
would almost say pause righthere. Go listen to those

(26:38):
episodes.
Because those 2 episodes put youin the, what I'll say, the right
space, mind space to carry onthis holistic conversation or
this idea of balance in the coreparts of your life. But but
here's the deal. You can't doany of this if you're running on
empty. And that's whyprioritizing rest and

(27:02):
rejuvenation is for me and itshould be for you listeners and
Liz. Rest and rejuvenationshould be a nonnegotiable.
Quality sleep, relaxation, andtaking time to recharge aren't
just nice to haves. They'reessential. Man, I'm getting hit
over the Yeah. Head with a 2 by4 game.

So so we're gonna replay this part of the episode
anytime you anytime you getfussy with me. About self care
About

a weekend.

Oh, no. I couldn't just spend all my time working
all weekend. And by the way, Iwouldn't have been able to tell
the difference. My Slack wasexploding regardless.

Yeah. Well, you know, because I have Slack
on my phone. But here's thething. So relaxation, taking
time to recharge, they allow usto recover. They allow us to
reset, and they allow us to showup as our best selves daily.
And I love this quote, by theway. Sleep is an investment in
the energy you need to beeffective tomorrow, and that's

(28:03):
Tim Roth. So

Tim Roth, the actor, dropping bombs about self
care?

I love him. Tim Roth. Yeah. So remember to
stay flexible. Life isn'tstatic, and your approach to
well-being shouldn't be either.
It's funny because you're like,all the things and, like, daily.
No. No. No. Like, it's not likethe static thing.
It's I almost envision, like,you know, back in the day I'm
sure they still have them, butback in the day, I had this
stereo that had an equalizer,and the different lights would

(28:31):
light up, like, dependent uponthe music. I feel like that's
the framework, and what shouldbe happening in your daily life
is the light should be lightingup at different levels versus,
like, static stagnant thing.Because it's about adjusting and
adapting to what you need fromthe framework or what you need
to invest in the framework, AKAthe the framework being you and

(28:54):
how you're using it, to be ableto adjust and adapt to what life
throws our way. Thisflexibility, it helps you
balance. And, again, there'sthese repeat words that keep
coming to my brain.
They help you balance no matterwhat comes your way. And, Liz,
you know me. I'm a big Bruce Leenerd, and I know I've used the
quote about be the water, notthe cup before, but I actually

(29:19):
went and did some research onand and do you know that usually
only, like, part of the quote isquoted?

That's not an it's, like, kind of like jack of
all trades, master of none.That's very famously
underquoted.

Yeah.

Because the whole point is actually to you keep
going. I'm now gonna look thatup. Yes. Tell the whole quote.

Yeah. So what's interesting is it
actually before the part that Iguess I would say takes on being
popular, it says, be like watermaking its way through cracks.
Do not be assertive, but adjustto the object, and you shall
find a way around or through it.If nothing within you stays

(29:59):
rigid, outward things willdisclose themselves. Empty your
mind.
Be formless, shapeless. This iswhere it gets to the popular
part. Empty your mind. Beformless, shapeless like water.
If you put water into a cup, itbecomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle andit becomes the bottle. You put
it in a teapot, it becomes theteapot. Now water can flow or it

(30:23):
can crash. Be water, my friend.But I wanna go back to this, be
like water making its waythrough the cracks, the cracks
and crevices of life.
Do not be assertive, but adjustto the object and you shall find
a way around or through it. Whatin life do you need to find a

(30:43):
way around or through? And howcan the flexibility of paying
attention to a holisticlifestyle help you actually have
that balance, therefore, thatflexibility to do that? When I
think about it, that to me, aroad map to integrating a
holistic You nurture your mentalhealth. You prioritize rest.

(31:10):
You nurture your mental health,you prioritize rest, and then
freaking a, you stay flexiblewith what life actually gives
you. If you do this, then you'llbe well on your way to living a
more balanced, a morefulfilling, and dare I say, a
life beyond your default, but asa superhuman.

Right. But this leads me directly into my next
question because you and I, aswell as our audience, we're a
bunch of do everythingers.Right? You have

literally disagree with you.

You have literally just laid out and said, guess
what, guys? It is important tofocus on everything. I it's
like, there is a tipping pointhere where we have to be very,
very careful. Yeah. But beforewe dive into that question, I I
can't believe this.
But, of course, this is exactlyhow this this podcast works. Of
course. So I was making a jokeabout how, like, just like that

(32:03):
Bruce Lee quote, there's thatfamous jack of all trades master
of none quote that's oftenmisquoted. The correct quote is
perfectly applicable to whatwe're talking about. Oh.
The real quote is so jack of alltrades, master of none. That is
actually not the full quote noris it the message of the quote.
In fact, it's backward. The realquote is, a jack of all trades
is a master of none, butoftentimes better than a master

(32:26):
of 1. Oh, yeah.
So the whole point is, right,you are mastering nothing in
theory. Yeah. But you areencouraged to possess skills and
focuses in different areasbecause it is better to be a
jack of all trades than a masterof 1.

I love that. I love that. Do you wanna know a
little hidden gem of my lifebased on this thing? There was a
day back in the day when Ithought I wanted to grow up to
be a rapper, and I would writerap songs. And I literally had
this verse in this one song thatI wrote.
It went a little something like,jack of all trades, master of

(33:03):
none, but when I'm on the mic, Iget the job done. Anyway, so
there you go, listeners. There'sthat.

You've rapped. You've only ever rapped with me
in private. Now we have itrecorded.

Yeah. We have it recorded. Episode effort.
Effort. There's more of thosesongs out there.
I'd literally have a notebookof, like, songs that I either
wrote as rap songs or when Iplayed the guitar, but there's a
little tease. We should probablymove on why we're here.

Okay. So back to what I was saying before. Right?
We have all of these go gettinggrowth mindset oriented people
who are in the room with us aswell as listening to this
podcast, which means we have towalk a very fine line here.
Right?
How do you differentiate betweenembracing a holistic approach
and just trying to doeverything? Right? That's where

(33:50):
we start running intochallenges. Because I I hear
what you're saying, George.Right?
If we have tunnel vision, wewill miss everything that's
happening around us.

If we

don't do what you said, right, which is, like so
you have a you wanna build a mapto where you wanna go, Well,
have you taken a moment,stopped, and looked around to
see where you actually are?Because you can't build a map to
anywhere if you don't know whereyou're actually starting from in
every dimension of your life.But that switch can easily get
flipped. Right? Well, I have tokeep track of everything.

(34:21):
I have to like, it's it's likethe growth mindset version of
multitasking, which meansnothing gets done.

This is a great question because it ties
to burnout. By the way, some aside tangent that came to my
brain when you're saying that,it's a really unique place to
find yourself when you say, hey.I wanna set this goal for x y z,
and then you stop for a secondand you realize, oh, crap. I'm
already there. Anyway so that'sthe importance of knowing where

(34:48):
you're at truly.
And, by the way, not knowingwhere you think you're at, but
knowing where you're at, whichthen takes some, like,
questioning those around you towhere they believe you to be at
Because that's gonna be closerto where you're at than where
you think you're at. Anyway,let's get back to Liz's question
because I think it's a greatquestion. And what I don't want
is I don't want people to end upgetting burnt out. So when we

(35:10):
talk about holistic approach,we're talking about integrating
all aspects of your life, mind,body, soul, spirit, into this
harmonious whole. It's aboutmaking sure that every part of
you is aligned and workingtogether, not just trying to do
everything simultaneously likeyou mentioned.

(35:31):
It's like, I'm just trying to doit all. It's funny because all
parts of a motor run at the sametime, but it's not like the
motor gets burnt out Unless yourun the motor too hard, but
that's a whole another differentpodcast. So trying to do
everything at once is likejuggling too many balls.
Eventually, something's gonnadrop. And, again, that's where
this burnout, this place thatmany of us overachiever, growth

(35:56):
mindset, you know, wanna besuccessful folks end up as we
just got too much going, andthen all of a sudden, it just
all falls down.
So when I think about what arethe keys to making sure a
holistic approach doesn't leadto burnout. And, again, some of
these words are gonna soundfamiliar because I used many of
them, and I think I'll probablycontinue to use many of them as

(36:19):
we go through this episode. Theway that you make sure that it
doesn't lead to burnout is it'sabout balance. It's about
intentionality, and then thisthing around pacing. K?
So, ladies and gentlemen, ifnobody's told you this before,
you've gotta pace yourself. Thisis a marathon. It's not a

(36:40):
sprint. Right?

Alright. Let's take any notes on this, George.
I just wanna think it. Yep.There we go.
Hi.

Okay. Hi. Hey.

I have to do it too. I have to do it too. Too.

Yeah. But let's back up. Balance is
critical. A holistic approachdoesn't mean that we're
simultaneously focused oneverything equally. Everything
equally.
Now I didn't say that we weren'tfocused on everything, but
everything equally. Instead,it's about understanding which
areas of your life needattention at any given moment

(37:13):
and adjusting your focus on theeverythings that you've decided
to pay attention to accordingly.For example, if your mental
health is feeling a bit off,you're like, I just don't feel
exactly maybe that's where youput your energy for a while. If
your physical health isslipping, it's time to shift
your focus there. Like, and,again, the thing that I love

(37:36):
about the superhuman frameworkis I could be like, wow.
I'm not really finding humor inmuch, and I don't see myself as
being humorous like I used to.Well, then focus on it. Like,
the key is to keep all areas inview, but prioritize them as
needed. That's why thesuperhuman framework is nice.

(37:57):
You have 10 gauges in life thatyou can watch and then dive into
the right ones at the righttime.
The right ones at the right timelead me from balance to
intentionality. You have to bepurposeful with your actions.
And a holistic approach isn'tabout adding more to your plate.

(38:18):
It's about being moreintentional with what's already
there. It's about making choicesthat serve multiple areas of
your life together.
For instance, a morning walkmight boost your physical
health, clear your mind, andgive you time for spiritual
reflection. Bam. Left rightright combo like a t a TKO, and

(38:39):
and you went for a walk. Butyou're able to do those things,
like being able to pair habitstogether, intentionality. Being
able to focus on the rightgauges at the right time,
intentionality.
Like, one action that can servemany purposes. Like, how can you
take the framework and be like,oh, if I do this, I'm focused on

(39:00):
4 of them. And if I do this,I've got these other 3 covered.
And now instead of feeling likeyou gotta do 7 things, you do 2
things, but you covered 7 ofyour holistic superhuman
frameworks. Like and then here'sthe thing, pacing.
We should stop recording so Lizdoesn't have a recording of this
part, but pacing yourself isessential. So we've talked about

(39:22):
balance. We've talked aboutintentionality. A holistic
approach, it's a marathon. It'snot a sprint.
You don't have to overhaul yourlife overnight. And so many
times when people get this wildhair, wherever they get wild
hairs, they're like, and I needto fix it right now. No. You
don't have to overhaul your lifeovernight. Start small.

(39:45):
Build habits gradually. Allowyourself time to adjust. This is
how you're gonna avoid burnout.By the way, this is also
probably how you're gonna avoid,like, backsliding into things
that you're trying to change andnot do. You have to remember
it's not about how fast you canget there.
It's about building asustainable lifestyle that keeps

(40:08):
you balanced over the long haulof your beyond your default
journey. A holistic approachinvolves integrating all aspects
of one's life in a manageableand sustainable way. This is how
we keep moving forward strongand steady. This is how we keep
moving forward on our journey tobecoming fantastic humans. This

(40:30):
is how we have a journey thatleads us to superhumans who are
living a life beyond theirdefault.
This is the thing that we needto think about, balance.
Balance. Balance. There's somany times that we don't have
balance in our life, and we needthat balance because it's

(40:51):
critical. And we need to letthat balance end up leading us
into that intentionality, thatone action that's serving many
purposes in our life that thenallow us to get into this better
place, this almost easier way tohave a holistic mindset and a

(41:13):
holistic journey as we moveforward.

I'm gonna tattoo the word balance on your head.

Thanks. I You're welcome. There were a
couple times there I didn'twanna stop in the middle of
that. There was a couple timeswhere I was like, oh, yeah.
Isn't it funny

how we always end up having the conversations we
are supposed to have? It drivesme absolutely batshit sometimes.
Sometimes I just sit here, andI'm like, we are doing such a
great job having thisconversation for our listeners.
And then I'm realizing, oh, somaybe I should also be
listening.

Yeah. I literally was punched in the
cranium of I need to quitjuggling the balls around the
book and just freaking focus onthe book. Like, intentionality.
Anyway, not why I'm writing.

On everything. Oh, no. No. I completely understand.
It's kinda like when I read mynewsletter sometimes.
I'll read it, like, a day or soafter I sent it just to kind of
relive the magic, and then Irealized, oh, you just wrote
that to yourself, you you bigding dong.

But everybody gets value out of it.

So Everybody gets value. Everybody gets value. So
what role though does communityor, let's say, social support
play in achieving holisticwell-being? Because we're
talking a lot about ourselves.Right?
We're talking a lot about ourindividuals, our own individual
locus of control. But we've alsospent a lot of time on this
podcast talking about theimportance of relationships,
communities, those one to oneconnection, those one to many

(42:32):
connections. So how cancommunity and social support
play into this aspect of ourlives?

Yeah. I love this because I want people to
realize that it doesn't have tobe like this lone soldier
mentality that people can comealong, for the ride. And I
think, Liz, to answer yourquestion, community and social
support play what I I'll usethis word intentionally, by the
way, a massive role in achievingholistic well-being. And let me

(43:04):
tell you why this is so crucialand how we can start to
cultivate this community, thissupport in our life right now.
So first of all, speaking tomyself and speaking to any
humans like me, no matter howstrong, independent, or
motivated you are, we are,however you wanna put that so

(43:26):
your brain can digest it, wecan't do this alone.
We're wired as humans forconnection, and having a strong
support system is like having asafety net that catches you when
life gets tough. And trust me, Ihave had moments in life where
it got tough, and I did not havea safety net. And boy, did that

(43:49):
hurt. You see, the people aroundyou, your family, your friends,
your colleagues, mentors, theylift you, but they keep you
grounded and push you forward aswell. They help you see blind
spots, celebrate wins, andnavigate the challenges of life.
It's funny because I alluded tothis earlier, Liz, when I said,

(44:10):
like, look. Many times, you'regonna have to ask the people
where you're at versus where youthink you're at. Like, if you
don't have the community, if youdon't have the support, if you
don't have people who arehelping you see the blind spot,
celebrate your wins, andnavigate the challenges, that
has to be a piece of your life.If you don't have that, by the

(44:31):
way, punchline, you're notliving a holistic life. There's
no way you could have a holisticmindset because you're missing
an an entire module that'ssupposed to be plugged into
this.
So this is what community does.It it reinforces your well-being
on all levels, mentally,emotionally, physically,
spiritually. I could keep goingdown the list. So the question

(44:53):
is, how do you cultivate thisessential support in your life?
And, again, I'll beg you to beintentional about building and
nurturing those relationshipswith purpose.
Relationships, intentionality,and purpose. I I feel like
somebody should be jotting thatdown as a note. I need to build

(45:14):
relationships.

You're just like, Liz, somebody should be jotting
this down as a note.

I'm literally talking to the listeners, but I
feel like there's somebody outthere that should be like, when
I'm building relationships, itneeds to be with intentionality
and purpose.

This is like the let go, let them conversation.
Alright. I've been really goodthis whole episode about staying
out of the hot seat. Yeah. I'vebeen kinda like, yeah.
That's right. You should focuson balance, George. It makes me
realize we need to come back andhave conversation about
relationships again because thisgets into something I have been

(45:49):
focusing on a lot recently. AndI alluded to this at the very
beginning, which is I've had toget really clear with myself on
where my energy is going. I'vealmost done, like, an energetic
road map.
Right? Like, I need a certainamount of energy in order to get
to where I want to go, to buildthe life that I want to live, to
achieve the things that I wantto achieve as an individual, the
things I want to achieve withyou as my partner. Like, there's

(46:10):
so many different things that Iwant to do, and I couldn't
escape this feeling that I feltreally tired. And I started
observing, well, how do I feelAnd I started observing, well,
how do I feel when I interactwith certain people or I'm in
certain places? And in somecases, it's like you feel great.
Like, sometimes, you know, like,not everything's perfect, like,
this is, you know but then Istarted noticing there were

(46:32):
areas and with people where Iwas consistently feeling it's
more f yeah. But the thing is isthat nobody was doing anything
Yeah. And that's when I startedrealizing I had ghosts. I didn't
have relationships withintention or purpose. I was
holding on to things that wereenergetically dead.

Yeah.

Like zombie experience. I'll be I'll be
honest. The past few weeks havebeen great and clarifying and
also not fun. I did it with 3different people who were very
important to me all at the sametime and said, what would happen
if I either let go, forcedimportant conversations, or

(47:13):
otherwise just let it be and seewhat happens. Yeah.
And I realized, like, so much ofthis holistic approach that
we're talking about requireskind of an energetic audit. You
have to be re you know, youcan't do anything with intention
or purpose, whether that'sprojects or people or anything

(47:34):
else professionally orpersonally. If you are not
honest with yourself about whatis lacking intention, what is
lacking purpose, or if the onlypurpose that exists is just
being able to continue to lie toyourself about saying
something's over.

Yeah. It's funny because my brain is going
to when we do that otherepisode, it should be something
around energy vampires andemotional zombies. Like, should
be probably, like, some phrasesthat we use. But but here's the
thing. I love that this isfeeding into where you're at,
where you're headed, because itis about intentionality.

(48:13):
It is about purpose. And I Ithink there's a couple things
that we can pay attention to aswe kinda journey down this road
of, like, okay. Well, I I wannamake this change. I wanna
cultivate these relationships.And and so the first thing that
and nothing new.
No news flashes here, by theway. But first thing on my brain
is be vulnerable and authentic.Right? So real connections, real

(48:36):
connections are built onauthenticity. You create a
foundation of trust with othersby sharing your true self, not
your mask, not the fake you, notthe Instagram you, by sharing
your true self, your struggles,your victories, and everything
in between your struggles andvictories.
This openness, this authenticityinvites deeper, more meaningful

(48:57):
relationships that support aholistic journey. So be
vulnerable, be authentic. Theother piece of this is surround
yourself with positiveinfluences. Liz, you were
literally just kind of talkingabout the opposite of that.
Like, the people you spend timewith directly impact your
energy, your mindset, and yourwell-being.
So make sure you surroundyourself with individuals who

(49:19):
uplift you, inspire growth inyou, and align with your core
values. Positive influences willhelp you stay motivated and
grounded. And so make surethat's who your circle is. The
5, the 10, however many peoplearound you. But then also, you
gotta make sure that you're notthat guy or gal.

(49:40):
So make sure you're engaging incommunity activities, like join
groups or per you know, like,participating in community
activities that resonate withyour interests. If you can
inject yourself into places ofinterest, it's a powerful way to
connect with like minded people.If they're if you're growth

(50:01):
focused and they're growthfocused, guess what? Like, these
shared experiences foster asense of belonging and provide
support as you pursue thisholistic life, this holistic
well-being. And here's the thingabout this, because and and by
the way, I have found times mywife is great at recentering me.

(50:22):
She'll say, well, when's thelast time you reached out to
them? Or something along thoselines. Like, you have to give as
much as you receive. Right? Sowhen you think about holistic
well-being and relationships andcommunity, it's a two way
street, ladies and gentlemen.
By offering your support toothers, whether through
listening, helping, or simplyjust sometimes being present,

(50:46):
you strengthen your connectionsand create a balanced, mutually
supportive community. Thisreciprocity enriches both your
life, because you were there,and the lives of those around
you. So, again, those kind offour actions, I feel are
foundational to building arobust supportive community that

(51:07):
uplifts you towards this idea ofliving a life of a holistic life
or holistic well-being. And soif you focus on these and your
relationships, they'll becomemore powerful. They'll become a
source of strength.
And most importantly, if we goback to our original word that I
kept saying balance, theserelationships become a source of

(51:29):
stability in your life.

I think that's what a lot of us are looking
for, you know, that idea ofstability. Because, you know, I
think what can happen you know?And and I think sometimes this
is what the trap that I fallinto. Sometimes I don't want to
embrace a holistic mindsetbecause it means I start looking
at everything. Right?
And it's a great real it's agreat way to feel unsteady. It's
a great way for it to feel likeyour life is kind of a bit like

(51:54):
a game of whack a mole. Whereaswhen you have tunnel vision and
your work focusing on one thingand you're focusing on doing it
really well, you could trickyourself for a moment into
thinking you've got it allfigured out. Right? It's like
how twice a year I will buy aprinted planner and I for that
for those 7 days, my life isbanging.
Right? Yeah. Because I have aplanner. It's just a it's just a

(52:17):
of course, the planner ends upfalling by the wayside. I
remember I like to do everythingdigitally, and everything I was
working on was fine the way itwas before if I would just
follow through with it.
But, you know, it's that funnything where, it's you know, we
think stability comes fromfocusing on as little as
possible. And to some degree,that is true. Right? There's a
reason why people saymultitasking doesn't work. You
know, monotasking is a much moreefficient and effective way to

(52:41):
professionally, or in any sortof work capacity get things
done.
Focus on one thing, move on.Sure. You might do a little bit
of multitasking here and there.But in our lives, we have to
realize that stability comesfrom acknowledging that, yeah,
it's oh, it it can feel a littlebit like whack a mole. Your
priorities are gonna shift hereand there.
You know, you're gonna have tomake changes. You're gonna have

(53:02):
to change your balance. But truestability is only achieved when
you're looking at yourself as awhole. Right? So in this
framework, I wanna end ourconversation here.
You compare holistic well-beingto firing on all

Yeah. Yeah.

Or just 1 or 2? What what does that look like?

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out if this
question is also tied to thefact that there was a bunch of
Corvettes, and you were saw,like, engines and stuff.

May

you know you know me, I love a great analogy.
So, Liz, I'm gonna try to keepit while, I answer your
question. I'm gonna see how wellI can do here. But if you feel
like you're only firing on a fewcylinders, the first thing I
feel like I need to unpack forthe listeners is you're not
alone. Like, we've all beenthere.

(53:57):
Life is gonna throw us offbalance. Sometimes it feels like
we're just not running at fullcapacity. But what I will say is
there's good news. You can getback on track, and you can start
firing on all 8 cylinders. I'llsay 8 because I mean, it could
be 12.
It could be 6, maybe 4. Dependswho you are. I'm gonna say 8

(54:18):
cylinders because I can't. Solet's go ahead and break this
down. And by the way, we'vetalked about some of these
things throughout the podcast.
But to answer your question,Liz, you need to start with a
tune up or what we calledearlier a self assessment.
Right? Think of yourself as ahigh performance engine. When
something's off, the first stepis to pop that hood and see

(54:41):
what's going on. So you have totake a step back and you have to
assess which areas of your lifeare running smoothly and which
need a little TLC.
Are you neglecting your mentalhealth or your humor? Is your
physical health or happinesslagging? Maybe it's your
emotional or spiritualwell-being that's taking a hit.
Like, pinpointing where you'restruggling so you know exactly

(55:05):
where to focus your efforts is agreat first step. Like, I think
about how you can go to, like,you know, Pep Boys or AutoZone,
and they can plug in that thingto your car, and all of a
sudden, they get a readout of,like, all the stuff that needs
to be what are you plugginginto, and what does your readout
say?
And how do you then move forwardfrom there? How do you move
forward from there is it'sprioritizing the misfiring

(55:30):
cylinders, if you will. Like,once you've identified the
cylinders that aren't firing,it's time to prioritize those.
It's time to maybe replace thosespark plugs if, if you will. As
we mentioned, don't try to fixeverything at once.
Like, if only one of the sparkplugs is burnout, you don't
necessarily need to replace allof them. Right? Maybe it's just

(55:50):
the one. Like, it doesn't haveto be everything at once. You're
gonna get overwhelmed, by theway, if that's the mindset that
you get stuck into.
Instead, what I want you to dois focus on 1 or 2 areas that
need the most attention. Itcould mean incorporating more
time into your humanity orhumility or dedicating time to
mental health practices likemindfulness or or even going to

(56:12):
therapy. Like, focusing on theareas that need the most work
will help you see improvementsacross the board or across I'm
trying to think of, like, anengine version of that. Anyway,
but but here's the thing. Thethe next thing is that you have
to fuel your engine withpositive influences.
Again, tying back to that pieceabout where we talked about the

(56:33):
community. Just like a car runsbetter on high quality fuel,
you'll perform better whensurrounded by positive
influences. The community thatwe chatted about earlier,
Connect with people who uplift,inspire, and support your
growth. Whether it's friends,family, mentors, or this is
where I'll say the Beyond YourDefault community. These
relationships will provide theencouragement and energy that

(56:56):
you need to keep going even whenthings get tough.
And here's one that I should bepreaching to myself, and I do
actually preach this to myself.I wish I could preach it to my
younger self. You have tocheck-in regularly. Ladies and
gentlemen, maintenance is key.Once you start firing on all
cylinders, keep that momentumgoing.

(57:17):
Like, keeping that momentumgoing is important while
regularly checking in withyourself to ensure you maintain
balance across all areas of yourlife. And I'll I'll pause for a
second for you. If you askedyourself that question right
now, am I giving myself room andspace for maintenance? Am I

(57:38):
checking in with myself to makesure that there is balance
across my life? Listen.
Just like a car needs regularmaintenance to keep running
smoothly, you need regular selfassessments and adjustments to
stay at your best. Overwhelm,overload, burnout, typically, is
because we don't pay attentionto this piece. You have to be

(58:01):
patient, but you have to bepersistent. There's a magical,
like, mix. You know how, like,some engines you gotta do, like,
this percent oil, this percentgas?
There's a magical mix of beingpatient and persistent. Like,
getting back to full capacitytakes time to happen. It takes

(58:21):
time, patience, and persistence.So the thing that I would beg
for myself, Liz, for you, forany of the listeners, is don't
get discouraged if progressfeels slow. Because every step
forward, no matter how small, 1%better each and every day, it's
a victory.
It's a freaking victory. Itdoesn't matter if it's small. So

(58:44):
keep at it. Over time, you'llfind yourself firing on all 8
cylinders. You'll find yourselffeeling more balanced, more
energized.
You'll find yourself ready totackle whatever happens next on
this fabulous journey to a lifebeyond your default.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Crime Junkie

Ridiculous History

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Do You Know What “Holistic” Really Means?

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Crime Junkie

Ridiculous History

All Episodes

Do You Know What “Holistic” Really Means?

On Purpose with Jay Shetty