In this Tough Things First podcasts, Ray Zinn discusses treating your own time, health, and focus as strategic assets rather than unlimited resources.
Rob Artigo: Today we’re talking about something many leaders treat as an afterthought, but is actually one of the most important disciplines they can ever do, personal energy management. Why should leaders treat their own health and focus as strategic assets rather than unlimited resources, Ray?
Ray Zinn: Well, my partner at Micrel, one that I founded the company with, Warren Muller, his car he treated as strictly something to get to and from work. And he never changed the oil, he never changed the tires, never changed his brakes. It was never maintained properly. And what I noticed about Warren is that was true of his own life. The way he lived his life was that, “Hey, my body’s here to let me get from point A to point B.” And he died young. Actually, he was just in his 60s.
Rob Artigo: Wow.
Ray Zinn: And he just didn’t take care of himself. He’s a brilliant guy, very smart and a good guy to work with. I really loved working with him. But I remember his car, my window faced the parking lot and I watched him one day as he pulled into the parking space that his car hopped up over the curb and onto the grass in front. And I thought that was strange. And when he got out, he was kind of smiling. When he walked into the office, called at him, he said, “Hey, Warren, what was happening there? I watched you pull in and you just hopped right over the bumper of the parking lot onto the grass.” He said, “I don’t have any brakes.”
Rob Artigo: Oh my goodness.
Ray Zinn: And so he had no brakes on his car and he was driving it around. I said, “That thing’s not going to last.” Well, he bought a car about every other year because the car just failed. The same thing with his physical health, the same way. Well, I mean, he smoked. He didn’t eat right. He didn’t sleep good. He didn’t take care of himself at all. Well, the fact he lasted into his 60s was still good, but he could have lived a lot longer if he’d have taken care of himself. So you can’t start after you found out you got a problem. You got to start before you have a problem.
It’s that servicing that vehicle. You got to change the oil. You got to monitor the brakes. You got to treat the car as though it’s going to last forever. And that’s the way you succeed in your life is treat your body as though you’re going to live past a hundred. And the only way to do that is you have to live right. You got to have an exercise program. You got to get good sleep. Sleep is so important. Thinking you can get by in four or five hours of sleep is just ridiculous.
Rob Artigo: Yeah. It’s like thinking you can get rich by working 80 hours a week.
Ray Zinn: Having a good lifestyle habit of eight hours of sleep, eating well three times a day, not eating too much so, but eating well, meaning eating correctly and not just relying on junk food or some other beverage to keep you alive is important to have sustainability. And so exercise is important. I know that we talk about getting up in the morning and walking to the bathroom is not exercise. I was talking to a friend of mine on Sunday and he was noting how firm my handshake was. And at my age, he says, “That’s unusual.” He actually is a doctor. And he says, “I tell my patients they got to move around. They can’t just walk to the bathroom and back. They got to get out and exercise that body.” And he says, “How do you do it?”
And I says, “I do it every day. I don’t just go to the bathroom. I get out, I exercise weights for 45 minutes to an hour. And then I’m on the…” Actually about a half hour, I should say. “And then I’m on the treadmill for another half hour, 45 minutes.” And I do that every day. And I’m doing well physically. And I get a good eight hours of sleep. I eat regularly three times a day. And I can still do one arm pushups and I just keep myself as physically strong as I can. I’m a little more wrinkled than I was when I was in my 30s. I still have some strength and some stamina left even in my advanced age, and it has really born me well. I’m not trying to die early. I’m just trying to die late.
Rob Artigo: Yeah. And die well.
Ray Zinn: And die well. Yeah.
Rob Artigo: If you die doing the… It’s like they say, dying with your boots on. You die well. And I can vouch for your stamina and health and it’s pretty remarkable. I mean, you ride horses, you do stuff on your ranch, you’re out and about, you fix things and you’re as mobile as just about anybody and at that age. And it’s remarkable. The thing is that you can’t… Your good friend at Micrel was an example of it, being shortsighted about your health, sometimes you do the damage early on and you change your life and you do better and you improve, but some of the damage lingers because you weren’t very wise early with what you did. And so I guess the operative word here is asset, strategic asset.
Your body and your mind operating at 100% or as close to it as you can get throughout your life is the… You got to do that. Start young. So lots of people listen to this because the ZinnStarter program, we have lots of listeners who are on college campuses and they’re all looking and they’re looking to be successful in business, in their own businesses, running their own businesses. But they got to remember that their first business, the first order of business should be a strength, a spiritual connection with a higher power, and then their physical health. Because those are the two things that are going to get them to the finish line well beyond their expiration dates.
Ray Zinn: Yeah. They wait until they’re unhealthy before they try to get healthy. They say, “Oh, I’m going to have to start exercising or I’ve got to start eating right or I got to get more sleep.” That’s too late. That’s got to be part of your culture before you get unhealthy. Once you’re unhealthy, you’re done.
Rob Artigo: What did your personal energy management look like for you on a daily and weekly basis at Micrel? So you did your exercise in the morning and you were also known for managing by walking around and talking to people. But how did this manifest itself because you prioritized sleep, exercise and downtime?
Ray Zinn: Well, because I’m healthy. I mean, I’d say early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. I went to bed early and I got up early and exercised and had a routine of eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then spending time with my family. And I had a routine that I just didn’t break. Again, I talk about discipline as doing what you don’t like doing and doing it well. And so loving the things you hate. And so I just learned to do all the tough things first.
Rob Artigo: You know this can have an effect on the team around you. I mean, if your culture in your core team, let’s say you’re a creative team within an organization, if your team’s culture, based on your example, is to live a life of debauchery, then your team is acting that way. And I’ve seen this organizational conventions or annual meetings or something, and you see people getting together and going to hospitality suites. And the next thing you know, the next day when you’re trying to be productive for the reason for going out and doing this seminars and hanging out and having discussion groups and that kind of thing, they’re not productive because they’re totally screwed up from the day before.
Ray Zinn: It didn’t begin in my later life to live healthy. I did that since I was a child. I’ve never drank. I’ve never smoked. I’ve always got a good night’s sleep. I never tried to extend myself beyond my physical limitations. And I just had a healthy life my whole life. And it’s paying off because-
Rob Artigo: Yeah. It is. And so the listeners tuned into the show, you’re not just blowing smoke out there. You’re a living example of what it means to get started early. And I would say also, Ray, obviously the advice to everybody is you could stop living an unhealthy life now and do better for yourself in the long run.
Ray Zinn: Sure.
Rob Artigo: But it’s preferred if you don’t ever get there because it’s really hard to reverse it.
Ray Zinn: Yeah. Don’t wait till you’re unhealthy to be healthy. Start early. It’s just like we talk about in running a company. Cash is king, your health is king. Okay?
Rob Artigo: Yeah.
Ray Zinn: If you lose your health, you’ve lost your cash as you would. So save that cash, save that health.
Rob Artigo: Well, to our listeners, your energy is a strategic asset. So this week, pick one non-negotiable habit, better sleep. That’s a good one. Daily exercise. Ray shows it every day. No meeting blocks or real downtime and protect it like you would any critical business resource. Remember, your productivity is built on a good foundation when you get all those things done. So I’m Rob Artigo and he’s Ray Zinn. Thanks again for joining us at the Tough Things First Podcast. Subscribe, share this episode with leaders who are running just too hard or bumping their cars into parking spaces too hard, not getting brake jobs and stuff like that. We’ll be back soon with another Tough Things First topic. Until next time, do the tough things first, right Ray?
Ray Zinn: Exactly. Live healthy, die healthy.
