In this episode of The Thermo Diet Podcast Jayton sits down with Shane Banks one fo the ambassadors for UMZU. Shane is an athlete, father, and high performing business man among other things. They talk about how to map out your path, how to stay on your path, and so much more. Check it out and let us know what you think!
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Full Transcript
Jayton Miller:
Welcome back to the Thermo Diet Podcast. I'm your host, Jayton Miller and today I have one of the UMZU ambassadors on Mr. Shane Banks, so let's get into this one. How's it going today, Shane?
Shane Banks:
It's going well, Jayton, thanks for having me on man. Appreciate it.
Jayton Miller:
Heck yeah. So could you just give us a brief overview of what you'd like to talk about? Because I know you're a man that just does extreme physical activity and you're extremely driven. So can you give us a brief overview of what you'd like to bring to us?
Shane Banks:
Sure. I think the biggest thing is it's like staying on the path, how to find your path and then you mark it out and then how to stay on it. And the biggest thing is I've found and the most excitement that I get is folks who want to get started. That's the most exciting part of the process it's also the biggest part of the process. It's also the scariest part of the process. And so really to sum it up is the old saying of the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. So just some things that I've done throughout, not all of my life but since I was about 30 is when I saw where I was and where I wasn't happy. And then how I've just progressively and each and every day work to stay and work towards that goal of I wouldn't say happiness, but that fulfillment there.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. So what are some of the tools that you diagnose that position where you're at, and then how do you direct yourself to where you want to go?
Shane Banks:
Yeah, that's a great question. So the first thing for me was is I understood that one of the most... The biggest thing that we can do as a human being is to use our body. And the biggest thing we can do to change literally our state of being is to use our body. And it doesn't matter to me what age a person is or where they're at in their life, but to use what you got because we were built to move. And we were built to maximize all these physical attributes that we've got here. So the first is is that, is that exercise is critical and it doesn't have be some of the stuff like you jump on social media, or you jump on and you see some of the extreme stuff it's very intimidating.
Shane Banks:
It can be as simple as beneficial basically as walking and then from there you can build up on it. So that's the first thing is to make the commitment to use your body, and understand that that physical movement will change your physiology. It will change your mental state and the other thing is that it happens over a period of time. But as you do it, you'll find that it can happen faster. You can actually induce some changes. One of the things if I'm just not feeling good, if I'm feeling a little bit of gloom and doom or say some stinking thinking. Because there's a lot of things that happen in life or happens to family or friends that it all weighs in is just go for a brisk walk. Go for a one mile run.
Shane Banks:
And that sometimes can just help clear the head and release some endorphin, get blood moving, so that's the first thing. Then the second thing really is that I didn't do this for a long time, but actually I found out I was doing it, but I didn't realize it was doing it. So you hear folks will talk about write your goals down and it's so important. People if you have a drive to be somewhere and that can be just the littlest things, it's important to write those goals down. And it's not like, "I want to drive a Ferrari." That could be something that you want to attain, but in order to do that there's a goal, there's things that happen that ha have to happen in between there. To be drive that Ferrari it might be my goal is to I want to, "I want to find what my passion is, if I have my passion then I can," I'm simplifying this, "earn the income to be able to attain something like that."
Shane Banks:
So I've used the method of a vision board the very beginning when I was 30, I was overweight. I was probably about... Well, I lost a total of 60 pounds all the way through that process, but I had on my vision board where I wanted to be, some of the activities I wanted to do, and that was like kayaking. It wasn't bodybuilding any of those things, and I would just go through magazines and just put stuff up there. Things I would see every day that would keep me focused on where I want it to be. Today, every year I write out a list of goals, things I want to achieve. I have it laminated in multiple places in my home, the bathroom, which I look at it in the bathroom. I have it in my car. I have it in my office. I'll look at those goals before I go into a meeting that helps me focus on who I want to be and what I'm looking to deliver into a meeting. I would say that those two things broken down into small bits really starts to carve the path.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. So whenever you're writing out those goals, do you have a specific number of goals that you tend to stick to, that you find that's most effective?
Shane Banks:
So what I did is I broke it basically out into three categories. I broke it out to we'll say the physical category. And for me, it's like right now it's... At the age of 44, it's painful say, by the age of 44 I'd like to have a 225 pound clean. So I have that on there. I have purple belt. I know that I want to achieve that in this next year, but that's in jujitsu I have that on there. I have that as a CrossFit coach, what I want to be able to offer to the athletes as far as contributing to their wellness, their fitness there. And then recovery, recovery is a big thing. So I have recovery written down every day I try to spend 15 to 20 minutes in the morning or at night doing something to recover from the day's activities there.
Shane Banks:
And then I have my family, I have three kids been married for almost 20 years. And I have basically how I want to be patient, and be kind, and practice gratitude with them and with my wife. And to be a leader of the family, and so I have that section of my goals. And then I have, of course, my business financial goals, what kind of earner I want to be, who I want to be in business. And some of it is an affirmation that I go through there, so that's how I've done it, those three mains. And then inside that I have maybe I would say four to five that are there and some grab more attention than others and then it switches. But it's always something that I'm looking at, and it's always something around me.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. Now whenever you're writing out those goals, is there like a specific time that you usually find that's most effective to write those out?
Shane Banks:
I'm just going to say... And then people will talk about this, the New Year's resolution or that. I don't do any of that per se. Because it's, what is it? It's August. So if today's the day, then today's the day. So I would encourage folks to... Once you've said to yourself, "This is what I want to do. I really need to do this, but I'm going to wait." That's the time. Or, "I'm going to keep doing this until January 1st." The first thing is stop that. You've put the idea out there now you need to make the decision to commit to action. That needs to happen. Now for me it just so happens that in January is when I redo my goals. That just ties into one of my accountability methods that I developed, simple accountability method I developed it back in 2000, really 2006, '07.
Shane Banks:
So every year I print a calendar, a 12 month calendar, small eight and half by 12 calendar. It's got all the months and the days on there. And it ties back to when people start training like, "I'm going to go into the gym every single day." And it's, again, it's biting off it. It's taking just giant bites of the elephant. It may not be successful. How do I work out? Do I work out two days a week, two on one off, two on one off, two on one off. And it can be overwhelming because you can go out there and you can just boil your mind up with all these different ways of training, separate topic there. But all I did was look at... If I looked at a month, it's got 31 days on it. And every day I train, I do something. Whether that's in that time period I did a lot of road biking, just gym workouts, did some swimming, trying a whole bunch of stuff.
Shane Banks:
I put a dot on the day. So all I want in a month is more dots than days. And so that just tied into, "Okay, well, December 31st, that's the end of that calendar. Let's reset this thing and go." So my goals are rewritten in January. I look at them I would say daily, and there's been some times that I've been like, "This isn't just working for me. I'm distracted from this. It's not really fitting into what I'm really seeing for myself. And so it's actually in some sense this school's been counterproductive at this point in my life." And so then I'll rewrite it at any point to get it back into focus to where I'm not necessarily seeing the results right away, but I'm enjoying being on the quest for the path.
Shane Banks:
And that was one of the things is Tony Robbins I think is a great person. And it's one of things he points out, it's not so much how many times does somebody have you.... How many times you accomplished the goal and then you feel really good. And then it's like, "Oh man." So what was the biggest reward? And really the biggest reward was everything it took to get to that moment. So that's why the goals are always changing or being adjusted and where you can find that, where you can be proud of yourself as you take the steps.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. Yeah. I find that personally, one of the most effective times for me to write down my goals is on my birthday. That allows me to reflect on the year that I've just had and then look forward to the year to come. So I find that that's usually an effective time for me to rally my thoughts and see where I want to go in a lot of cases.
Shane Banks:
I would agree with that. I would agree that a 100%, I think the moment in a sense has to have significance to use an individual and you have to be tied to it or commit it into there. So that may be why the New Year's resolution or whatever kind of gains and has that sticking thing to it. But I would agree with you, a birthday would be... Or an excellent way because it's a personal thing that's you and your year. That you can literally say you can measure yourself by that, that personal year that you had. Maybe for some folks it might be a significant moment in their life, an anniversary of something or even just that you just think, "You know what? I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. Today's the day I'm going to go out and I'm going to start."
Shane Banks:
But I would really recommend in that is, is that and I tell a lot of my folks that come into the gym for their first couple of workouts is do yourself a favor, go home and print. You've got this goal, go home and print this calendar and stick it on your refrigerator and just make dots. And if you end up in a month that you had 15, you got in here 15 times, that's 15 more times than you did the previous month. And so then it's really easy to go, "Okay, well, I'm going to get 16 this month and then I'm going to get 17." And if you go backwards one month you go, "All right, well, let's just redo this." And that right there over... That's the other thing is growth, is the best part of growth is over... And as we let ourselves know this is that it's small decisions, small good decisions made over time. That's what adds up to a really good life. That's what adds up.
Shane Banks:
And I think that if people do some reflection and look at like, "That really went well for me. Oh, well, how did I get there?" You just didn't wake up and roll out of bed that day and be like, "Oh man, I got that job promotion." Over time. And I think that on the physical side in number one, in improving your health, increasing your fitness, it's one small decision. And a lot of those made up over time. And then before it you're like, "I got 30 days, man. I was in the gym 27 times, a couple of days of rest. And on those rest days, I didn't really sit on the couch. I went and did a run or I did a swim or I went power boarding." Another person that I listen a lot to Jocko is like, "I use my time, my relaxation time, not doing stupid things but doing good things." Like that so.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah, one of the things that I think about is even if you just make half a percent better every single day, that's still roughly 180% better that you're getting in in a year. And if you bump that up to 1% a day, that's 365% that you're going to get every single year. So you can make these micro adjustments that have a massive impact after the time it's compounded.
Shane Banks:
Yes. I'm not a great reader. I really read zero books through most of my adult life. And then it was probably four years ago I was listening to a podcast or a video or something. And this guy Dan Harris wrote a book called 10% happier it's to your point, and it put me on the meditation and mindfulness. Because again, it's one of those things like, "Oh, I can't... How do you do that? Oh, forget it. That's not for me." Or, "I'm interested in that, but I don't..." Really phrased it beautifully. What if you could do something and you just felt 10% better. Not 100, not 50, just 10. And that's to your point and I think that's, again, another thing to the folks that are out there, they can feel that itch. They know, they just know there's that thing that's looming out there.
Shane Banks:
I want to make this decision. I want to make this change in my life. But I see all the things that are in front of me to do it. And then you just lose that focus. And I wouldn't call it motivation because motivation it comes and it goes. I think the better you get at... I don't want to say get at life, but get at being you experience things while you're on your path, you can motivate yourself when you know you're coming off. But it's more the inspiration. So how do I inspire myself? And that's to the point is that inspire yourself by saying, "If I'm 1% better than I was yesterday, or if I'm doing something that makes me 10% happier or better overall in the year, that over time is huge." Another way to look at it is if you start lifting weights, you look at these huge powerlifters.
Shane Banks:
You have a guy or gal that's lifting an astronomical amount of weight off the ground. Let's just say 800 pounds just to be obnoxiously heavy and outlandish. So basically that powerlifter then all of a sudden gets to where they're lifting 805 pounds. Or 810 pounds, that amount of weight doesn't seem like it's that much. But from the amount of weight that's there to that that's a significant improvement in that. And so those percentages as little as they are, they count. A big lesson that I learned too in this is to give yourself forgiveness. And you and I talked about this before, when we first met was Jordan Peterson's 12 rules to Life. And the two rules that really stick with me are rules two and four. The second rule is basically treat yourself like you're somebody that you care about.
Shane Banks:
And then the fourth rule is what we're talking about here is to measure yourself based on... Or to be better than you were yesterday. And don't measure yourself on who somebody else is today. And those are two powerful things, especially in the getting started phasing and even well into it. But be kind to yourself, love yourself where you are and then set your goal to do today. And then every day you can look back and go, "You know what? I did this yesterday, I'm better today. I'm going to just keep doing that. I'm just going to keep doing it." And focus not on what you see out there but what you see right there. And those things they do matter. They will matter.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. I also think one of the other things that a lot of people tend to look over is their level of analysis. They only have control over so much and you have to take control of the environment that you have control over, and then you can actually reach. And then through that process, your environment will slowly expand, and then your impact becomes greater over time. Instead of trying to start at a societal level or with your entire group of peers, maybe instead of trying to make all them change, just change your own environment. And then after that point your environment will begin to expand and you can make a greater impact.
Shane Banks:
Yeah. Be your own influence, influence yourself and what you do will... And just your actions and just how you do things. And you might find that when you make these decisions... So I'll just walk through this. I made the decision when I was 30 because where my weight was at, and the things that I had been just doing that I needed to change that. And I did that and in the course of doing that, it was slow but it also had impacts in some of the group of friends that I was running around. Some I didn't run around as much others decided that they were going to make some different choices, and these aren't radical choices but these are just choices of like, "You know what, instead of going and doing this on Friday and Saturday nights..." One of my very good friends picked up fishing.
Shane Banks:
And I'm talking fishing, I guess he'd be called an angler. And so the choices that he would make, say, example on a Friday night he necessarily wouldn't make those because Saturday morning up and at them and going. I'm not saying I was the catalyst for it, but I was saying that what I started to do in my life just filtered out there. It is the changes that you want... And if there is something that's out in your environment and in your social network, you might have to slowly pull back from some of those people or influences that are around you, but it doesn't have to happen right away. Or you might find that based on the choices that you decide to make the better decisions, or the new decisions that someone's making that they'll just drift away. And that relationship changes the only constant and you might find that that's okay.
Shane Banks:
Kind of on that topic a lot of it's perception too. I've got a couple of favorite authors that I like to read. Sometimes I have to read the book twice. And sometimes on some of these books they're pretty complex. I'll buy the book and they'd be like, "Oh man, I'm just not very proficient at reading this." And I'll download the audio book and read the book while they read to me. And it does help for a lot of times for the retention, but Eckhart Tolle has in one of his books and this is a concept I constantly visit with my wife is that... I believe it to be a truth. It's a truth for me is that the world is inside you. And what it really means is that everything that you perceive that I perceive is inside of me, and the person over here and this is like people's differences.
Shane Banks:
We could be looking at the same piece of art and based on we are inside, we're going to maybe see it a little bit different. And that's a lot of the beauty of human beings, but it also gives you great power because if the world's inside me and my perception of what's out in the external world, it means that at some levels I can change some of that. I can change it's hard and it's painful at times. But if I looked through my perception, if I look to see that I have control there to my decisions, then that does influence that external world. And it will influence micro level and even on bigger levels that's... Like the book that I'm currently reading now, which I would encourage everybody to read is Nelson Mandela's biography. Because that man, that human being, what he did for humanity is just really remarkable. And he did it just by following what he knew to be right.
Shane Banks:
In a lot of sense during that time it made up the path and it was not an easy path, it's still not an easy path. And that's powerful, it's hugely powerful to go, "Well, I can..." The largest way for a lot of humans to help themselves is to do what is to do what? Is to contribute or help other people. And then the other thing that you always hear is, "Well, you can't help anybody unless you help yourself." So if we tie it all back around I made the decision that I'm not feeling well about whether it be my weight or whether it be my mental. I'm not just feeling good, but I know that and then maybe the decisions that I've been making, okay, so I recognize that because your gut will tell you, your second brain will tell you, "That's great. You got there." And then with that it's like other people in the family might be having some... In the immediate family who you have immediate influence over might be having some trouble.
Shane Banks:
So what's the smallest bite we can take we acknowledge it, and then today right now we pull out a piece of paper and we just write down the goals. They don't have to perfect, just write them down and that's the start. And then just start looking at those every day, making decisions based on that every day. A lot of times, if you listen to enough influential people... As a side note we live in like one of the greatest times in society, the fact that we can go onto YouTube, we have podcasters. The breadth of knowledge that's available is phenomenal. Sometimes it's overwhelming it's like, "Well, where do you stop?" And people you'll find where your lane is on that, but is to go into that and so those resources are available just to help. But you'll hear a lot of it is to carry your goals around. You know that's why I have them in different spots so that I just can constantly see that. That's the largest thing is make the decision to commit to action, and then it's just that one step at a time.
Jayton Miller:
Yeah. That's awesome. Well, is there anything else that you'd like to let the listeners know?
Shane Banks:
Just really that there really isn't a secret sauce. I think that what I would encourage anyone to do is to explore, work on a framework. And what I just talked about is the things that have worked for me, but I'm going on 14 years of a very long path that I'm happy to be on. And so I'm far from anywhere from perfect I'm far from any of those things. So that's like when we first talked is if there's average, I strive to be just above average and then build on that every year and every day. Don't be afraid to get started. Don't be afraid to fail because people fail their way to success. But hold yourself accountable. The easiest thing, I think the best thing to do is to print that calendar, put it somewhere that you can see it. I think the fridge and just look to have more dots than empty days. And then you know you're making progress.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. I think one of the greatest sayings that I've heard in regards to that is, the most successful people in the world have failed more times than you've ever tried. And that's something that we just need to fail forward, fail fast and learn fast so we can succeed as much as we can.
Shane Banks:
Yeah. Yeah. Anybody can do can improve their situation. And you can do it and it's hard work. And then somebody asks the thing is like, "Well, sometimes what's the point of life." And maybe the point of life sometimes is just to see how well you can live it. And don't punish yourself on the person that you were in your past. That's another big thing that I have learned is that, and this is going to sound really philosophical in some senses. But my 20 year old self is really only alive in my memory. Physically my bones have shed themselves and regrown themselves. Everything has regrown itself and regenerated itself. So that person that made some of those poor choices and did those things, they're not really here.
Shane Banks:
And so I can say, "Okay, well 20 year old Shane, or 25 year old Shane or whatever, Shane, you know what I forgive you on that I'm better today." Forgiving yourself and letting things kind of go back and let them be where they're at is also another very liberating thing. And you might find that in just giving yourself back that that helps just push you and give you that inspiration to yourself. That you're a good person and you're taking the right steps now and that's really what counts.
Jayton Miller:
Definitely. Well, I really appreciate you hopping on here. I love having these conversations with you. You're really an interesting guy, and I look forward to having you on again sometime.
Shane Banks:
All right. Thanks Jayton. Oh, and one last thing take your UMZU supplements.
Jayton Miller:
Oh yeah, definitely. What's your favorite one over there?
Shane Banks:
Oh, man I think it's everybody's favorite one, Redwood. I think everything over there has its benefit, but Redwood I would say it's the calender staple. From Redwood, you can build on and pick your path on the rest of the product line, but it's what brought me into the family. And I tell everybody that I trained with about it because it's a quality of life difference maker as well I'll put it like that.
Jayton Miller:
Heck. Yeah. Well, again, I appreciate you and we'll talk soon.
Shane Banks:
All right, brother, take care.
Jayton Miller:
You too. Thanks again for listening to the Thermo Diet Podcast. Make sure if you haven't already to hit the like button subscribe and leave us a review, it helps us out a ton.
