In April we sat down for an interview with Luis Toache, owner of the Tough Boot & Co. located in Atlanta, Ga. The interview was great and we walked away with more notes and gems than we could fit on the pages of the Scotch Porter Manual. You can read the full interview here.
As we approach the end of summer and transition into fall, a lot of us will be shifting gears, refocusing on priorities and preparing for the holiday season. Whenever a shift is underway, it’s beneficial to have a few pointers and reminders on how to get and stay grounded.
During our interview with Luis, we learned a lot about how he stays grounded and focused. Whether new tips or reminders, here are a few things from our interview we thought might be useful as we roll through the second half of 2017.
When asked about his daily routine, the Scotch Porter man shared that he doesn’t watch television. As eager as I was to give him the fifth degree on this, time was of the essence. But we didn’t transition in our conversation without him dropping some knowledge. Luis shared that on average, people watch 2 to 3 hours of television each day after work. When you do the math, that’s roughly 700 hours per year. This takes a large chunk of time away from the minimum of 1,000 hours that it’s said to take to hone your craft.
Lesson: You do have time to build that business, train for a marathon, and probably anything else that’s been sitting on the back burner while you Netflix and chill. Turn off the television and invest those hours in something that will have a greater return.
During our talk, Luis mentioned that he was currently reading The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. The idea of reading isn’t new, but a good rule of thumb, it’s always a plus to take good-read advice from friends on the up and up. After the interview, of course I ran to check it out, you should too, especially if you intend on leaving an impact on the world. In this book Gladwell discusses the critical moment at which something (an idea, behavior, trend, etc) begins to spread at an exponential rate.
Lesson: Read more. Read more of what you need to propel you to the next level. Ask people who inspire you, what they’re reading; you’ll get some great recommendations.
This next one, it’s pretty much a two for one. Like most interviews, we found ourselves on the topic of, “what’s your secret,” wanting to know how the interviewee stays in shape, stays focused and continues to kill it.
Aside from his daily 4-mile morning run, I was surprised when he said his real secret was, listening to his body. Extremely simple right? Sometimes we drive ourselves insane, trying to find the right cleanse, going to the gym 3 to 4 times per week because the trainer said so, or cutting out meat because a new documentary said so; when all we really need to do is chill out, and listen to what our bodies are saying. And to follow up with yet another extremely obvious tip, Luis shared that he watches what he eats. He explained that anything he puts in his body shows eventually (in weight, energy, mood, skin, hair, the list goes on).
Lesson: Get in tune with and listen to your body. Understand what your body needs. Remember body karma exists, what you put in your body will come full circle, so treat it well.
Conversations with the right friend can always leave someone feeling inspired and uplifted. It’s so important to surround yourself with people who motivate and inspire you.
