In the summer of 2017 I was adjusting to the long hours of my first job out of college as a consultant. My active lifestyle was replaced by a series of compromises in service of my job and at the expense of my well being. I was out of shape for the first time in my life and ironically it wasn’t just my abs that suffered, my work did as well.
I signed up for a gym membership and tried to make exercise part of my routine. It did not go well. Each day after work I was too drained for the gym. I was determined to master the art of adult-ing so like any good consultant, I explored the root cause of my problem.
I analyzed the details of my day, working backwards from my too-tired-for-the-gym dilemma. If at 6pm I was tired and craving dinner, lunch must be my problem and the focaccia sandwich I typically devoured appeared the likely culprit. I tried eating a salad instead but after an hour I was starving again. I kept working my way backwards through the day eventually focusing on breakfast. If I could just eat a “real” breakfast, then I wouldn’t be starving by lunch and the salad would be enough fuel for the gym. But was I really supposed to get up earlier and burn time at the stove making eggs and bacon? That early wake up would have left me more compromised by 6pm than I already was. There had to be a better way.
I had heard of overnight oats - oats soaked overnight in almond milk or yogurt. This sounded promising because it would be ready when I woke up. I experimented with recipes, dialing in the nutrition and calories I needed. I souped-up the recipe, loading it with chia seeds, hemp hearts, steel cut oats, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and spices. The result was a “real” breakfast low in sugar and high in protein healthy fats, and fiber. It was ready when I woke up, I could easily bring it to work, and it was filling. With sustained energy throughout the day, not only did I work more effectively, I had enough left in the tank to start going to the gym. This breakfast changed my morning and then the rest of life.
My friends (now co-founders) and I share the practice of optimizing our mornings as a way of improving the rest of our lives. We created Brave so others could unlock their potential through better mornings. What will you accomplish with your Brave new morning?
-Josh
