Dan Hughes: The Breathing Technique That Stops Burnout Before It Wrecks Your Money Decisions

This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited for readability, it may contain errors.

[0:19] Dan: A lot of people are not realising the the damage that that not breathing properly can do. And they’re they’re setting themselves into that state of heightened alert, that heightened state, uh you know, before they’ve even started. Yeah. Um, and that’s just gonna cumulatively affect, um, you know, have a cumulative effect as their day progresses. Um, but your point about health and wealth that you said right at the start, really, you know, I really got some insight when I was not working, how important your health is. Because without your health, you can’t be a dad, you can’t be a husband, you can’t be a partner, you can’t be a mate, you know, you can’t be part of the social circle because you’re you know, you’re you’re not well. Because everything we strive for, everything falls apart. Yeah.

[1:09] Sammie: Yeah. And it’s like your entire life. And when those things happen to you, like I, you know, I uh really open, I could you know, it being a founder of a growing business takes its toll. And I was doing exactly that seven days a week, you know, 16-hour days, just going for it. Got out of shape, um, you know, relationships started to fall apart, didn’t see my family enough, didn’t see my friends, and all because I was like just drilled for so focused on this mission. And it was actually when I first met you that we f I first got introduced to the Wimmerhof methods. I saw a marked change in me in that day, but I went home, carried on, etc. etc. And it was only really in sort of January time that it sort of really started to manifest. Um and it really does make you think like, what are we actually doing all of this for? I think it stems over into your money conversation as well, because like, you know, what are you investing for? What are you actually working so hard? Like, do you want to be that CEO that you’re turning up to be every single day because that’s the pathway that you’re leading? Um and if you haven’t got the back end sorted out, all none of that matters really, because you and you’ll get a wake-up call at some point, and it’ll happen to you in your 20s or your 50s, yeah, or your 60s or whatever, that it’s gonna happen to you at some point. Um if you haven’t got that right.

[2:39] Dan: Yeah, I I totally agree. And I think also that if you are, you know, if you are working towards burnout, if you are stressed all the time, unable to sleep and not eating properly and working too hard, then you know, you’re not gonna be making the right decisions. And those include the decisions that that you talk about in terms of you know, wealth and investment and all that, all the financial decisions, as well as everything else. So you’re quite right. You you know, you almost need to rewind the clock right back and start, you know, start with the basics, get the basics right, and then everything else will will follow. I say in my workshops and courses all the time that the mind controls the body, but the breath controls the mind. So if you get control of your breath, you control your mind, everything else will flow.

[3:28] Sammie: Yeah, it is really, really powerful stuff. And yeah, we’re gonna do some today. Uh but I do want to just sort of hark back a touch because I think the context, like, what did you do?

[3:39] Dan: So, okay, that yeah, that’s a I’ve talked about this career, but but not talked about what it was I did. So I worked um initially for um an international marina company, so parking places for boats basically, but on a on an international basis. Um so we were uh we were operating facilities around the world that enable people to keep their keep their boats safe. Um Yachts and things. Yachts and things, yeah, yachts, power, power boat, super yachts. Uh and then we um we were getting because because the brand that I worked for was the best known brand in in the business, um, I um uh I was getting a lot of inquiries from people that wanted us to set up a marina facility for them, design it for them, and and so on. And we had no we had no ability to do that. So I created a consultancy business where we would take those projects, we would do the design, and then those projects were then fed into our operating business. So we would operate and brand the facility as well. And that was really successful. Lots of travel, um, you know, very different working environments in every different location, different culture, different business culture as well. Really interesting to learn, you know, how to do business in Italy versus how to do business in the Middle East versus how to do business in the Caribbean. Um, and that was that was absolutely fascinating. And I I really enjoyed that part of the role. Um and then I was uh I was headhunted and and I moved to uh the Goodwood estate down in in West Sussex, yeah, uh, where I ran the consultancy business for Goodwood. So everything that we did on the estate in Goodwood, I I would help deliver off the estate. And we did lots of really cool stuff. You know, we did some work with the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. We did work for um the Saudi government designing motorsport theme parks. We had projects all over the, you know, all over the world, all over the place.

[5:39] Sammie: So safe to say a pretty highly stressful, powerful role.

[5:44] Dan: Very much so, yeah. Very much so. With a with a really strong brand sat behind you as well. So you had to deliver to the standard of the brand all the time. And it had to be on top form.

[5:54] Sammie: And dealing internationally, you’re then dealing with time zones, you’re getting emails at 2 a.m. Yeah, often urgent.

[5:59] Dan: Yeah. My my my day would you know would would start um sort of 5 a.m. and probably not finish until 10 30, 11 o’clock because of the time zone situation. And the same in the in the marina business as well. I used to commute to London and I’d be on the phone to my colleagues uh, you know, in the in the uh in the sort of eastern time zone um, you know, first thing in the morning and then in the in the western time zone in the in the evening.

[6:25] Sammie: So knowing what you know now, was it worth it? All of that hard work and stress to get to your point that you are today?

[6:35] Dan: That’s a really difficult question to answer. Was it worth it? Um I don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed what I did. It was, you know, it was an interesting job, and it it was way, way more interesting than than I realise a lot of other people, you know, are are faced with when it when it comes to work. Um But I was working for shareholders, so you know, making potentially, you know, potentially wealthy people even more wealthy, whilst I slowly killed myself. So so that is probably not worth it, is it?

[7:08] Sammie: No. That’s what I was getting at, because like you’ve got to this point, you’ve had that aha moment happened to me. And I feel like unless you’re working for somewhere where the mission is like ingrained into your psyche and being, you know, 99% of the people in this country and all around the world, that isn’t the case. You’re just doing it because you’re there, it’s can eventually it will eventually will start to like take its toll in its health, but also in your mind as well. Yes. And I feel like that’s why I asked that question. Because everyone that I’ve met that’s gone, oh yeah, and then they move over and do the do the thing, have gone no, but yes. Because I think it it’s very important to like not completely discount all the work you’ve done up to this point, and because it’s made you the person that you are today.

[8:03] Dan: Yes. But it’s also all the lessons that I learned all the way through have set me well for creating a new business. So I’m very brand aware, I’m very structured in how I put things together, very professional in the way I deliver things. You know, I’ve stood in front of senior leaders of of you know of um of government presenting, you know, and pitching. So I know how to engage with an audience, at least I think I do. Um, and um, you know, all those lessons that I’ve learned going through my career of of you know start are starting to play out now. Um so yes, you know, that that experience is is sat there in the background.

[8:44] Sammie: Yeah, I think because when people have like initially come to look at say a business idea, they’re like, well, I don’t know how anything. I’m like, well, you you do. You actually know a lot more than you think you do. And I think people are so hard on themselves when they come to that situation. And it’s like, well, actually, if you’ve done a customer service role in call centres, well, great, you know how to talk to angry people. Big part of the thing is like being able to like stay calm in those situations. It’s a massive part in business, staying calm in stressful situations because it will happen. And there’s tons of things in there, you know, dealing with a team, being part of a team, teamwork, understanding management, if you’ve moved into management, like how do you deal with people? Um, and these are all things and skills which are going to be very powerful for you when you go and do your own thing, if you go and do your own thing.

[9:30] Dan: Totally agree, totally agree. And and you know, uh if if you’ve had the the opportunity, like I did, to create, you know, business plan after business plan for other people when it comes to doing your own, you you kind of know what what you’re looking for.

[9:44] Sammie: Yeah, totally. So if someone’s listening to this right now and they’re thinking, yeah, you know, uh they’ve got that kind of gut feeling that they’re kind of meant to do something else, and they didn’t ever set out to work in account management or, you know, hospitality or whatever that might well be, like what’s some core things that they can start to look at to really start to change the way that they think about this.

[10:07] Dan: Your reference to gut instinct is really interesting. There’s a recent study um done. I can’t remember the the uh the precise details of who did the study, but they suggest that your subconscious brain can deal with 300 million thoughts a second. 300 million? 300 million your your conscious mind can only cope with about 2,000, which is still quite a lot every second. So those people that have that feel that they’ve got an idea but they’re not sure what that idea is, they know they want to do something, then ask your subconscious to help you. And you can use a breathing exercise that helps your s helps your creativity.

[10:51] Sammie: Okay.

[10:52] Dan: And we’ll we’ll go through that breathing exercise shortly. But the idea is that you plant the seed in your subconscious, you allow that seed to cultivate, and it will bring you the answer. It will bring you it works, it works, it is remarkable. Okay. And and many of us have have had that situation where we’ve been out, you know, maybe gone for a run or gone for a walk or sat on the beach, not really thinking about anything, and all of a sudden the answer will come. So something you didn’t think you knew, you know, you didn’t think you were thinking about.

[11:23] Sammie: That’s what I say the best idea is in the shower, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[11:26] Dan: So that is your that’s your gut instinct, your subconscious working on your behalf. So for those people listening that perhaps know that they need to do something, they want to get get out of the, you know, the the circle that they’re in, just plant the seed in your subconscious and see what happens. And it’s very easy because all you need to do is is sit yourself down in a nice quiet room, just close your eyes and really focus on your breath. Don’t change anything, but just notice your breath. And do that for a few minutes and then when you think you’ve had enough, do it for a few minutes more, and then ask your subconscious to help you. Say, you know, say in the words, I would like some help with my idea. And leave it at that. Then just just bring your consciousness back to the you know, back to the forefront of your mind, and and the answer will usually come. Might take a couple of days, might take a couple of weeks, but the answer will usually come.

[12:26] Sammie: So can we do this? What what do we do?

[12:27] Dan: So we just it’s not going to make very good podcast material because it’s very quiet breathing. Okay, all you literally do is just sit quietly in a room, yeah, close your eyes, and literally just focus on your breath um just for a few minutes, and then then when you think you’ve you know had enough, you just reset and and do do it for a few minutes more, and then ask your subconscious the question. And for you what’s a good breath. So a good breath is always in through the nose. And a nice long exhale. So we’ll do we’ll do some more, you know, some more sort of structured breath exercises for everybody to practice as as we go through um the this chat. But the the the key to dialing down or switching on, if you like, your parasympathetic nervous system, your rest and digest nervous system, which is the one you want to be in most of the time, is to extend your exhale. So if you breathe in through your nose and then either extend your exhale out through your nose or through your mouth, per slips, that is immediately going to switch on your um parasympathetic nervous system. Yeah. Um, and that all those guys that I was witnessing on the train today, they’re all breathing through their mouth, very high, you know, up in the chest, very shallow, very fast breathing. Um now, you know, a good breath rate when you’re at rest is about six breaths a minute. So if you if you think about it, five seconds of inhale, five seconds of exhale is ten seconds times six, six times, six times a minute. That’s that’s a really good breath. When you are breathing at that rate, your body systems are all in harmony with each other. Your heart rate is in harmony with your respiratory rate, and all your body systems are working, you know, as they should do. They’re all getting the right amount of oxygen and what have you.

[14:19] Sammie: Yeah, like harping back to before like we came, I came to see you in January was like that I was like mouth breathing throughout the day. And uh, you know, this is useful for anyone that’s sort of working, was that you would get I’d get that like brain fog. Is that that typical after lunch would have to have a coffee or tea to get me through that period? And even in that period, I would never book calls, I would never like do any deep work just because I physically wasn’t like actually mentally able to. Yes. And that got worse and worse and worse and was growing and growing and growing until it was like six hours of the day, which was massively impacting like how you live. And so I think it’s like massively beneficial for founders, but anyone and any sort of work, like calming yourself down, will make you focus better, make you sleep better. There’s so many benefits.

[15:12] Dan: Absolutely. Focus, concentration, sleep, energy. Um, you know, there are so many benefits.

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