Why Entrepreneurs Need a Holistic Approach - An Introduction

Nov 1, 2024 · 00:09:35

Welcome to The Total Entrepreneur Mind Body Spirit, where we translate the most relevant science and research into practical strategies for entrepreneurs like you. I'm your host, Dr. John Torrens, a practicing entrepreneur, multiple Inc. 5000 honoree, and professor of entrepreneurial practice at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management. My passion is helping founders, executives, and business leaders strengthen their mind, body, and spirit. and help them perform at their highest level. In each episode, we discuss relevant research in mental, physical, and spiritual health while speaking with leading subject matter experts. Together, we explore practical insights to improve mental health, boost physical vitality, and foster spiritual growth to help you thrive as a whole person and live the life of the total entrepreneur. Let's get started. Welcome to The Total Entrepreneur: Mind, Body, and Spirit. Spirit Podcast. I'm Dr. John Torrance, and since this is our first episode, I decided that I needed to introduce myself to you all. I have my producer here who is going to be interviewing me, and hopefully after listening to this, you all get a better understanding of who I am, what I do, why I'm passionate about this, and why you should listen to the show. So without further ado, let's get into today's conversation.

Hi, Dr. Torrance. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be embarking on this journey with you. So my first question is, what inspired you to launch the Total Entrepreneur Mind, Body, and Spirit podcast? And why do you believe it's important for entrepreneurs today?

Well, I think it's always been important, but today is really different in terms of the pace, stress, anxiety, privacy issues, expectations. And even like the social connection paradox that we're more socially connected than ever, but also more disconnected than ever. And entrepreneurship is just a complication that raises the temperature on all of that. So I think it's always been important, but even more so now.

Yeah. And how has your own journey as an entrepreneur influenced the creation of this podcast? And what do you hope listeners will take away from it?

Well, first, you know, I can relate to them, and I've shared many of their ups and downs. So I hope they find something interesting and applicable, like new information that they understand and can also imagine a way to put into action, you know, because entrepreneurship is all about action, right? So let's talk about what actions we can take that will give us the best outcomes from an entrepreneur's perspective. That's the goal. How did you first get into entrepreneurship, and what's one unexpected lesson you've learned Well, I think like a lot of people, I got into it as a kid just because I wanted some spending money, right? To go to the candy store or the arcade or something. So I've shoveled driveways, you know, got the snow out of the driveways for people, mowed lawns and things like that. But as an adult, I got into entrepreneurship mostly because I didn't really enjoy my very first job out of school. I didn't keep it for that long. So I figured I'd just venture off on my own as a speech-language pathologist, which is how I started my professional life. The one unexpected lesson I learned is that no matter how hard it gets, that's only temporary, right? Because you can always get bogged down with the feelings of woe and misery, but once you realize it's only temporary and it'll get better at some point, that was really a big turning point for me. That was kind of unexpected.

Yeah. And you emphasize the integration of the mind, the body, and the spirit for entrepreneurs. Can you explain why balancing these 3 areas is crucial for entrepreneurial success?

Yeah, well, mainly because they're humans first, right? And this is foundation to any success really. But in regards to entrepreneurship specifically, I think the added pressure of starting and growing a company raises the intensity level where it would be really nice to have that kind of focus on entrepreneurs and how they can take care of their mind, body, and spirit in order to perform better as entrepreneurs, in addition to performing better as spouses, siblings, cousins, that sort of thing. But beyond that, I guess the easiest way to say it is that it's a competitive advantage with a real ROI for your business. So if you are functioning at the highest possible level mentally, physically, and spiritually, that is going to translate into higher or better, more positive entrepreneurial outcomes.

And as an award-winning professor and entrepreneur, How do you plan to blend academic research with real-life actionable advice for entrepreneurs in each episode?

Yeah, this is really important to me and it's what I do most of my time. You know, I find that as I teach entrepreneurship, my entrepreneurial outcomes improve, which, you know, that then informs my teaching and it becomes this really cool cycle. And, you know, being in an academic institution, I'm surrounded by incredible high-quality research that really can help entrepreneurs if we can let them learn about it and apply it. So we will drill down into, you know, what does the evidence tell us in terms of how prioritizing our wellbeing leads to better entrepreneurial outcomes?

Amazing. And can you give us a preview of the kinds of guests and topics you'll be covering on the podcast?

Yeah, for sure. So think of them in 3 subject matter buckets, mental, physical, and spiritual, like the podcast title is. And then inside each of those 3 subject matter buckets, you have 3 more buckets, which are purely academic, purely practitioner, and a mix of both. So for example, we'll have a world-class researcher who will, in the academic bucket, a longevity doctor in the practitioner bucket, and someone like a published sleep scientist who also works for a growth company who's in the mix of both bucket. And those are the types of guests we'll have.

That's amazing. And you've achieved incredible success as a multiple Inc. 5000 honoree and professor. How has focusing on your wellbeing helped you in your professional life and how can others apply the same strategy?

Well, I think it's just about being a well-rounded, balanced person. And, you know, I think for me it's just been, learning as much as I can and finding something that works for me and then repeating that cycle, right? Find something that works, something that's interesting, trying it out, applying it, repeating it. And that's what I hope for our listeners. Hopefully they'll learn something new that's interesting from the academic literature that they hadn't been exposed to before. They'll think about a cool way they could apply that to their own lives and they'll implement it and they'll gain something from it.

How do you personally maintain balance in your life and what's a typical day in the life of a total entrepreneur like for you?

Yeah, balance is sometimes really elusive and especially when you have a lot of things going on, but I just try to set aside time in my day to do things that I know I need to do or that I want to do, right? So some sort of movement practice, whether it's taking a walk or two, I like to cycle. When I'm in Costa Rica, I like to surf, I like to swim. So trying to do something like that every day. I recently just started really getting good about a mindfulness practice. So I was intermittent meditator, not a very good one either, but I recently started working with the HeartMath Institute on heart coherence. And so that has been really helpful for me. I can meditate for 10 minutes now. I usually do it first thing in the morning so I can set an attention. And that's been amazing for me. I've actually seen my heart rate variability improve. I'm sleeping better. I don't know if it's a direct result of my better quality meditations, but there seems to be a little bit of correlation there anyway. And yeah, in a typical day, if there is such a thing, it's just trying to get those things in when I can, try to prioritize them. And I'm not sure that there is a typical day, right? Because I'm doing business things, I'm doing university things. And sometimes I'm doing something for both of them within the same hour. So I think a typical day is just hard to identify or hard to define.

What's one fun fact about you, Dr. Torrance?

One fun fact about me? Well, I don't know. It's been a while since I've done it, but I'm a fairly decent tap dancer, although it's been a while. Maybe that's fun. I don't know.

Yeah, that's really fun. I don't know any people that are tap dancers. Finally, for entrepreneurs listening to this first episode, why should they make the total to Entrepreneur a part of their regular routine and what can they expect to gain by tuning in?

Well, first, we've tried to keep the episodes short and to the point. So, you know, hopefully it's going to be efficient in terms of their use of time. But more importantly, we will blend science and practice in a way that makes entrepreneurs more informed of something so basic and critical, yet super easy to ignore, which is their mind, body, and spirit balance and how focusing on that translates into better entrepreneurial outcomes.

Amazing. Thank you, Dr. Torrance. Those are all the questions I have for you today, and I look forward to our future episodes. For our listeners, I hope you enjoyed this introduction, and I hope you are as excited for future episodes as we are.