Episode #39: Goals, Transformation and Modeling Success with Brett Hughes

Show Notes:

Speaker 1: (00:00)
Hey everybody, what's going on? Dr. Chad Woolner here. I'm Dr. Buddy Allen and this is episode 39 of the health fundamentals podcast. And on today's episode, we have our good friend and special guest, Brett Hughes with us. He's going to be talking with us about goals, transformation and modeling success. So let's get started.

Speaker 2: (00:16)
You're listening to the health fundamentals podcast. I'm Dr. Chad Woolner and I'm Dr. Buddy Allen. And this show is about giving you the simple but powerful and cutting edge tools you need to change your health and your life. So sit back and enjoy the show as we show you the path to your best life down to a science.

Speaker 1: (00:35)
All right, everybody. So we're super excited about today's episode. Um, we're not actually talking about modeling in terms of Brett as a model, although I'm sure you could be. No. Um, we're actually going to be talking with Brett here, uh, about a recent experience that he had, uh, with, uh, a really a significant transformation. But, uh, we wanted to kind of extrapolate that a little bit bigger in terms of, uh, not just physical health, but other areas of health as well and other areas of life. Um, because we were talking about this, uh, Brett, Brett and I actually go way, way back. We've known each other for golly, over a decade, haven't we? Yeah, it's been awhile. I think we met at Russell's. We did. We did like 10 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. Well this was back in the day. Uh, so, so, so Brett is, we were saying just before the interview, Brett is an actual serial entrepreneur.

Speaker 1: (01:25)
Um, sometimes people like to use that term serial entrepreneur when they're just people that like to start things and not finish things. But bread actually starts things and finishes things. In fact, he's had a handful of extremely successful businesses right now. Uh, one of your businesses is Boise premiere real estate. Um, people who live here in the treasure Valley. You'd be blind not to know or hear about, uh, Boise premiere. You guys are one of the fastest growing brokerage firms, is that correct? Yeah, that's right. You might notice the lion signs. Yes. That's kind of like the distinguishing factor. Yeah, I know it's a great logo. So, uh, I guess to get started with, uh, maybe just give those who are listening or watching a little bit of a background, who you are, kind of what your story is. So, Oh man, it's one of those things like you, you don't know where it started, right? Like even when I was a little kid, I would wake up early and rake leaves if it was fall or I would, you know, deal with shovel walks or whatever if it was winter. So I was always just like an opportunistic kid. Sure. And I'd try to drag my friends or my brother who typically didn't want to be a part of it, right. Because even we were little kids, I would make him be the secretary.

Speaker 1: (02:30)
But that was the kind of the idea is like, I've just always been like financially motivated. And so I think even when I was attending Boise state, I started flipping some houses and I really liked real estate and I was cognizant that so many people had made so much money in real estate. So I really want to be a part of it. What'd you go to school for in Boise state business management. Okay. Okay. I started out in accounting because I was like, it's the ultimate language of business. I'm like, I've got to do it. But really quickly, I remember teachers like, Hey, Brett, stay after class today. I'm like, all right, cool. She's like, you're not an accountant. I'm like, all right, I appreciate that. Thank you. She's like, that was the intervention you needed. It really was asking some question like why would we keep track of this? And she's like, see me after class.

Speaker 1: (03:14)
You're not cut out for this. No. And I knew it wasn't. I just wanted to learn. Sure. No, no, no. That's good. Um, so fast forward now, uh, you had a really successful carpet cleaning business. That's kind of when we met. Right? Um, is that still an existence? He had told us still in existence. I sold it to my brother and he just, he runs that. But real estate has always been my thing. I actually went to that course cause I had to think of like one business in particular, which was challenging. And so I chose carpet cleaning, but it's never been my focus development, real estate brokerage and, and even like new construction has always been my big focus. And so in terms of, uh, w we'll just use this as a, a feather in your cap bragging moment. That's okay. We can kind of give you the [inaudible].

Speaker 1: (03:55)
What are some cool things, accomplishments and or accolades, things that Boise premier has done. It's one of the fastest growing, isn't it? Not. Yeah. Well, okay. So in real estate it's really challenging to start your own independent brokerage. But I was so dumb or naive that I didn't realize that would be such a challenge. So even in my business, sometimes ignorance can be a good thing in that regard. Right. You know, you don't have your own limiting beliefs getting in the way. 100 per seriously. Yeah. So I worked for a small brokerage downtown, an amazing broker, but it was one of those places where you just show up, you call her when you need a question and that's it. And so I thought brokerage looks like that, right? Cause that's, she had a bunch of agents all very similar to me. So when I started my own, I'm like, Whoa, these guys are needy.

Speaker 1: (04:36)
They need a lot of stuff. But, um, but I loved it and I really liked the, um, I love the agents. I love their entrepreneurial mindset. And so, you know, my first goal was 50 agents and then a certain number of transactions, and then it turned to a hundred and then it was 150 and now it's 200 and we're right at two a hundred right now. Wow. So, yeah, it's like, let's see, 10 years then it's like 10 years. But it was like, it's a lot like this transformation. It was the physical transformation. It was fun and it wasn't like dreadful in the, in the moment. But we're looking back on it. It would, I wouldn't want to do it again. Right. That's, that's how I look at Moe school. That's how I look at starting the practice. That's how I look at a lot of things.

Speaker 1: (05:14)
That's so true. So, so tell us kind of a little bit about your experience recently. You had a really cool experience with, uh, you know, uh, physical transfer, bicycle transportation, health, transportation, w tell us about kind of what sparked that in the first place and kind of the journey and the story. Okay. So my wife has done a couple of these. Okay. And she is extremely driven. Like when she sets out to do something, she does it. Okay. And so I was like watching what she was eating and her and her, um, exercise. And I was like, wow, this looks really hard. I wonder if I'm paused, if, if, if I could do it. So I just kind of put that in the back of my mind. And then we're in Hawaii. We go there each winter at a certain time. Like in January. Don't blame you.

Speaker 1: (05:52)
Yeah. Boise's cold. Yeah. Kind of January. And I remember we were at this beautiful waterfall. Okay. And there's this rope swing and I was doing these backflips and so I wanted to see the picture and the video. Okay. So the very first video I look at, I'm like, huh, that's a bad angle. I look kind of chubby and then I looked at this camera's doing weird things. Yeah. Is doing weird things. Cause as guys, we look in the mirror straight on, we don't look at the sides. Right? Right. And so I look at another picture and I'm like, wait a second. And then I asked my wife, I'm like, do I look like this? And she's like, yeah, why? And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm chubby. I didn't even know this. And I remember distinctly thinking like I'm a Boise state football fan, right?

Speaker 1: (06:30)
Yeah. I'm like, I'm six two, 205 pounds. That's like that's what an athlete it looks like. No, not exactly. My formation was much different than a rock solid, you know? And so it kind of like that was a spur where I'm like, okay, like you're getting older, this stuff, age is not going to like, you know, it takes everybody so you have to do something, otherwise you're going to be that guy. Right. And so that was kind of the catalyst for you? That was like the defining moment that, yes. And so what did you do at that point then? What did you decide? What did you, so I do the same thing every time. I'm trying to figure anything out, right? I want to find out who's done it successfully, who has been the smartest at it and who can actually help me. Okay. So for this one it was easy because I saw the transformation my wife made.

Speaker 1: (07:15)
Now she's always been in good shape, but she went to exceptional shape and so on. And I remember thinking like Eric at Mecca, he had a really good approach to it. So you could, you would track your macros, which is proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. And you wasn't like you to have the same thing every single day. You had some flexibility. Right. And Megan was drinking water the whole time. Like it wasn't like she was dehydrated or like unhealthy in any way. And then even after the competition he brought her back out slowly, like you reverse diet back out. And I thought it was like a really careful, thoughtful, um, approach. So I started working with him and when I first went there I was just kind of working out and getting stronger and getting better and then find that decided let's just do it. Let's just turn up the heat and see if we can, you know, if I can actually do one of these competitions.

Speaker 1: (07:59)
Right. So couple of things cause I want to talk about that competition. Um, you said something at the beginning of there that I think we need to kind of back up just a little bit so people can kind of pull some, some value out of this. Not just in terms of the physical value or physical transformation, but the, your first inclination was to find someone who already had a proven track record or a proven method. And that's what we mean by modeling. We were joking at the beginning about modeling, you know, yeah. As he let her style. Um, but, but, but this idea of modeling is a common denominator that you will find amongst the most successful people in just about any endeavor, whether it be physical health transformation, whether it be a mental or emotional health transformation, whether that be, uh, you know, improvements that they want to make in business or any other goals that people want to set and achieve.

Speaker 1: (08:54)
Um, you've got basically in general two choices. You can either forge that path and be a pioneer, good luck to you and more power to you. That's, that's amazing. Or the other approach that you took, which I think most people would find a wiser approach and a better expenditure and use of energy would be to find a proven method and just model that and do things more over. Um, when you really look at this, so many people actually look at themselves or think of themselves as I, you know, like I fit outside of this box of, um, it worked for him, but it probably won't work for me. Right. So I'm an exception. Yes. I'm the exception, not the rule when, what your saying is, it's absolutely the rule. Every time you've ever been successful, it's been, when you've found someone to model that was already successful, you do what they do and you get similar results.

Speaker 1: (09:46)
And just thinking about like how many years they've put in to their craft, there's no way I can catch up, right? Nope. So why don't I just pay them and get the result? Like it just seems so much easier. You know what's funny about that is, is that's my secret to success with fishing. Is that, uh, Albertson's, no, no, no. That's a really cut in the middle man. Now I'm not that bad up Noah. I've got a good buddy of mine out in Washington that, that buddy and I go, Dr. Allen and I go fishing with every year and he is a pro. I mean he is just, he is a seasoned pro. He's been doing it for, uh, two decades plus and you name it. He's, he knows how to catch it. And so we just go with him. And every time we go, we, we catch fish.

Speaker 1: (10:32)
It accelerates the learning process and makes it really easy for us. Instead. It's a lot more fun. So yeah. And it's a lot more fun. Instead of spending your time not catching anything, you actually go and catch stuff. So, uh, you know, at the end of the day, I think we're, we're, again, we're talking about this idea of, you know, how do you want to expend that energy and you could expend that energy in learning process and there's no Downing that for people if that's what they're want to do. You know, they want to really devote themselves to that process and uh, and, and do that, that there's, there's no shame in that or no problem in that. But for people who want to accelerate that, uh, whatever transformation you're looking for, um, a far more efficient, that's the word I would use as efficient approach is exactly what you did in what are the chances that you're going to be equally motivated as that guy to get the learning.

Speaker 1: (11:20)
Right. And I remember when I started wasting premiere, we, my business partner at the time, we basically split up five or six people that we would call and we would talk to them about their model and we made sure they're outside of our state so they didn't have any, they didn't care if we succeeded or failed. Right. And then we took the top two and visit him. So we actually went to Denver and Utah and we visited them and we looked at their location, what their office staff looked like, how they did it. And it was like, okay, just do what they did. Right. And so far so good. Yeah. I mean and making minor changes, but for the most part you're not reinventing the wheel. Right, right. That's huge. So tell us a little bit about the actual contest that you entered, kind of that experience.

Speaker 1: (11:57)
What was that like? What did you do to prepare for it? A little bit more detail there. Yeah, so it was interesting, like the actual working out is not that much different on a daily basis of what I did before. Okay. So it might be like 45 minutes to an hour or something like that. So not crazy. The diet was a little bit more challenging because I had a couple of really bad habits. One, I didn't have enough protein in my diet. So before I actually was cognizant of this has probably happened like 60 70 grams of protein a day. And for like, uh, you know, a male, you've got to have like at least our body weight and when you're trying to do something like this or trying to keep around 200 grams of protein. So that was a quick adjustment to, I love dr pepper.

Speaker 1: (12:35)
Well, one of those little cans is 42 carbs. Okay. So if you're only getting 150 carbs a day, what are the chances of you drink one by the way? Right? Pretty low. So you're wasting your energy and your, your carbs on these drinks. So it was kind of nice because something I didn't think I'd ever be able to kick the habit of. And I actually listened to one of your guys's podcasts on the addiction one and I was like thinking about some of the, just the things you do daily, daily, you know, so those were two big pieces. But the nice thing about the workouts is that they were programmed and so they're on like eight week or 16 week blocks. And so you don't think about that either. Like I don't know if it's going to be like three sets of two today or if it's going to be five sets of 50.

Speaker 1: (13:16)
I mean not that you would do that, but do you know what I mean? Like a program for you? Right. So that took some of the mental energy away from the whole process. You didn't have to expend that. You know, when, when I did CrossFit, that was one of the nice things that I liked about CrossFit was I would joke with people and say, I liked doing CrossFit cause I'm lazy. And that sounds paradoxical, but the thing that's nice about it is when you have somebody do the programming for you, um, that's just one. And, and, and you wouldn't think that that portion of, of the process is, is a big deal, but mental energy is a huge part of it. And you actually hit a really solid point is I think more people are way more capable of achieving these types of goals. But the problem is because they don't have a plan that's already laid out.

Speaker 1: (14:01)
Yes. What happens is, uh, they, they're great all day long. All right? They make good choices in the morning, all day long during work. And then by the time that the end of the day comes, they're beat down, they're tired, then maybe they're a little stressed. And at that point that there's actually a physical thing called decision fatigue where you start making poor decisions because you're just tired. And so if the decisions already made, if the plan is already there, it makes it infinitely more likely that you're going to achieve that goal because you don't even have to think about it. It's already there. It's kind of like a presetting up, the bumpers in bowling, you know, before you start bowling, you know you don't have the gutter that you're going to go into. It's just kinda like, yeah, you've got that, you know, plan in place to kind of keep you in that lane in that path.

Speaker 1: (14:48)
And it's fascinating too, cause you, you seeing food in a different way. It's more of like a fuel. You can still have fun with it and it's still good and everything. But I realized at night I would grab like a bowl of ice cream. Okay. Right. So, and it wasn't terrible. Ice cream wasn't like high fat. It was like actually like three and a half grams of fat. Not bad, but it's 30 cars. Right. We'll even a bowl of cereal. One cup of, of cereal is like 35 carbs. So if you're done for the day, like if you've had your 200 grams of protein, you've had your 150 carbs and you're at 60 grams of fat, well you can't have 30 more. Right. And you've logged it all in your phone, you know, you like, there's a bunch of like free apps for that. And it was just, it just took the decision making away, which was nice.

Speaker 1: (15:30)
Yeah, it was just one last thing you had to expend energy on and thinking about. Right. So what was the name of the competition that you enrolled in it? Was it a, was it a, it wasn't a bodybuilding competition was, what was it? So there is bodybuilding there. So it's like, it's called, those is called the Idaho cap. Okay. And so there's like serious bodybuilders and then there's like classic bodybuilders and then there's men's physique. So this is men's physique. So it's like, you know, it's like the lowest of that group, but you're going for a different look. Right. It's more of like the athletic lean look as opposed to like a big and writing. Yeah. You're not trying to put on a massive amount of size. Yeah. So, um, what are some other lessons that you learned from this whole experience and so many lessons for one.

Speaker 1: (16:13)
I know that's kind of an open ended broad question. I guess the biggest one, like specifically to this. Okay. Two things. One, it's another, um, it's another good experience of like success leading to more success. Right? So you've done something, you followed it, you could do it, right. Yeah. So that was nice. It's just, you're just compounding it now it's like, okay, what else could I do? Right. Which is great also for this particular piece as far as the physical, your relationship with food is very fascinating. Yeah, no doubt. Eat out of boredom. You eat out of debt. It's their stress stress in the way that the modern house is set up. The kitchen is usually a center point of any house, right? I mean, great rooms in particular. And so like you're like walking by the pantry and you're just like, Oh, what's in there.

Speaker 1: (17:01)
So it's just fascinating. Like even like our modern lifestyle. Yeah. You said something there that I want to touch on that I thought was really important. I'm a good friend of mine. Uh, he has a saying and I've loved, this is like stuck with me ever since I heard it. I just heard it. On a month ago. Um, he said, how you do one thing is how you do everything. And I think that's such an important point that you touched on there, that you know that again, you're using this as [inaudible]. And the term that I use a lot of times is personal legitimacy. You know, I'd say for a lot of us, that's something I think most people can relate to and struggle with is that our work, it's far easier to, for most people, to break their word to themselves than it is to another person.

Speaker 1: (17:40)
If I promised you something, it's gonna happen, you know, because that's my integrity that's on the line. That's my word on the line that, you know, but I can promise things to myself and no one's gonna know, you know, I can, I can, I can break those promises all day long. And so the, the point that you talk about, they're, they, how you do one thing is how you do everything. Meaning, you know, that you, you, you're going to use that success in other domains of your life as well as, uh, as fuel, as a catalyst, as evidence, uh, to really strengthen what we, what I call personal legitimacy, that, that when you say you're going to do something, it means something. There's, there's, there's teeth to that, you know, and this seriousness level stepped up once you signed up. Right, right. So it was like three months before and the three months is the hardest part because you're starting to like now you're lowering your carbs and it starting to become more challenging and, but there was like this not, it wasn't a carrot, it was like embarrassment.

Speaker 1: (18:35)
Right, right. And it's like, Oh I do not want to show up and be that guy. You know what I mean? So like the embarrassment level popped in cause you, you made a commitment and I made a, Kim came into my, to my friend who challenged me to do it, but then at the same time it was like, okay, now it's real. Right, right. Making things real. That's a huge part of it too. You know, cause I think for a lot of people to uh, you know, the, the saying easy come easy go, comes to mind, you know, that if you don't put some skin in the game, it's a lot easier to kind of back out of it, you know? Whereas when you, like you said it got real when you signed up, you know, so I know that it's been your, your experience with running Roby.

Speaker 1: (19:12)
Right. I despise running and I've always known I've tried it and I've done it lots of times and everyone always would say, Oh, once you do it enough, you're going to love it. I never ever found that love. Okay. That point. But I knew I needed to get better lungs and better kind of like you said, I'm getting older, I want to be able to keep up with my kids. And uh, it was one day I was like, I heard an advertisement or saw an advertisement. It's like Roby Creek signup is today. And I'm like, and it was like 10 minutes away. I'm like, Oh, well if I'm going to get better at running, I better sign up. I mean I need some, I need some motivation. And what's funny about that is you didn't have any clue at that time how difficult it is to actually get into it.

Speaker 1: (19:49)
And you're like, I've never, never run a race in my life. Anytime sells out in like seven minutes. And part of me saying I'm going to sign up for it. I was thinking, I'm not going to get in. Cause everyone said it was so hard and when I hit enter and it says, Oh, congratulations. I'm like, Oh crap. What? Like a real, real quick. Yeah, no, no, no. So yeah, I could feel your pain there. Yeah. So, um, you know, I know you're a busy guy, Brett, and so we appreciate you being here with us today. Uh, I think you've shared, you know, it's, it's, it's interesting when we first invited you on the podcast, you know, this is this being the health fundamentals podcast. I think for people, if they knew who you were, they'd be like, well yeah, he's a real estate broker.

Speaker 1: (20:28)
What does that have to do with health? You know? But I think there's a lot that we can draw from, not just this experience, but other business experiences that you've had in terms of, uh, some powerful life lessons that I think people can take and utilize. And so I'm hoping that for those either watching or listening, they gleaned some nuggets that I think are here for them to take. You know, you shared some really profound wisdom, uh, that I think could really change a lot of people's lives. And so we hope that that's, you know, for those listening, for that one person, that, that hears just that one thing that they need just to make that, that little shift or big shift in their life, whatever it is, um, for a dramatic difference for them. I think you've, you've, you've shared a lot of great stuff.

Speaker 1: (21:06)
Um, any closing thoughts, Dr. Allen bread? Anything you want to include? Any, any favorite sayings for life? Any words of wisdom and partying? Tom, man, I should've thought about this. I love reading. I mean, I really liked the compound effect. Oh man. The whole idea of like, I mean, there's so many good books. I can think of, but as far as a parting gift is just like when I think of the compound effect, it's like remember the spot where they have the three people? Yes. The one who makes the slight improvement, the one who does nothing. And the one who makes a negative improvement, right? Or negative, whatever you said, some sort of negative thing. And it's like you can't tell anything after a year. You can barely tell anything after two years, but it was three years where they all separate. Right. And I just think about that.

Speaker 1: (21:45)
Like that's, that's the whole fundamental, but I'm trying to do, like, I'm not going to beat anyone being the fastest or strongest whatever, but I've been really consistent throughout the years and that's where I can win, you know? And I think that's where anyone can win is just by being consistent. You know, it's, it's, it's powerful that you end on that because our mantra, uh, on the health fundamentals podcast, this whole podcast is based around what we call five fundamentals of health. The first being that health comes from the inside. The second being what you just said there, that we're going to be, we're going to be most likely to achieve whatever it is we want with our health. When our approach is one of simplicity and consistency, it's huge. You know, and then it goes on from there. But that, but that's really it. You know, what you're talking about here is so in harmony and we and you didn't even know that. So that was like perfect. So, um, anyways, uh, hope this has been valuable for you guys and if you know other people that could benefit from this or other episodes, obviously subscribe to the podcast, share it with them and we look forward to sharing with you more. Great information moving forward on the next episode and even more to come. So thanks again, uh, to Brett here for being with us. We'll talk to you guys later.

Speaker 2: (22:49)
Thanks for listening to the health fundamentals podcast. Be sure to subscribe so that you stay in the loop. And in the note with all of the cutting edge health information that we share, if you know other people that could benefit from this information, please share it with them as well. Also, be sure to give us a review. These really help us to ultimately help more people. Last but not least, if you have questions that you want answered live on the show, or if you have ideas for topics that you would like us to cover, please shoot us an email and let us know at [email protected].