Whole Foods’ 46-year-old CEO works out twice a day and ‘fully uses up’ his PTO. His key to work-life balance
Whole Foods’ 46-year-old CEO doesn’t believe in skimping on PTO. Instead, Jason Buechel emphasizes taking time off, and even changed the PTO policy to ensure staff are taking vacations away from work.
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00:00I'm probably very abnormal here.
00:01I pretty much am in the grocery store at least twice a day,
00:05every single day.
00:05So it's about 14 times a week, I guess,
00:08which is probably atypical.
00:09And in some weeks, it might even be a bit more.
00:12Hi, I'm Jason Buechel, CEO of Whole Foods Market.
00:15I'm 46 years old, and this is my daily routine.
00:18For me, when I wake up ultimately depends
00:21where I'm waking up.
00:22I travel a lot.
00:23So I am typically up no later than six o'clock central time.
00:27If I'm traveling and on the West Coast,
00:29sometimes I'm waking up a little bit earlier.
00:31The first thing I do is I do look at my phone,
00:33ultimately checking to see what emails might have come in,
00:37sort of any key updates that might be taking place.
00:40I like to run in the morning.
00:41So I also like to run when there's
00:43at least a little bit of light.
00:44I try to run somewhere between five and six days a week.
00:48It sort of depends upon my schedule,
00:50how my body's feeling.
00:52And I typically like to do it in the morning.
00:54However, sometimes during the summer months in Austin,
00:57it's so humid in the morning.
00:59So I'll do my run much later at night.
01:02I run anywhere between four and 10 miles during the week.
01:06I usually do one long run,
01:08which somewhere would be 10, 11, 12 miles.
01:11I have a great protocol hack
01:14that I started doing several years ago.
01:17It involves doing 30 minutes of infrared sauna
01:20and doing hot and cold plunges in sort of contrast basis.
01:24And so I start with the 30 minutes of infrared sauna,
01:27go to the hot and cold tubs.
01:29I do three minutes in cold, three minutes in hot,
01:32three minutes in cold, three minutes in hot,
01:34and finish with three minutes in cold.
01:36And while the cold is definitely painful
01:38while you're doing it,
01:39your body feels amazing afterwards.
01:41And I have some of the best nights of sleep
01:43after finishing this.
01:44And it feels great for my body,
01:46especially after doing some of my long runs during the week.
01:49I've done six marathons so far,
01:51but haven't done one in a long time.
01:53May decide to pick it up again,
01:54but right now it's not where I've prioritized my time.
01:57So what I eat in the morning
01:58and even sometimes how often I eat in the morning
02:01depends upon what my workout routine is.
02:03If I'm throwing in a longer run on a particular day,
02:06I might have something to eat just before the run,
02:09and then I'll have something to eat afterwards.
02:11Before going on a run,
02:12sometimes it's as quick as having some peanut butter.
02:15It could be some oatmeal.
02:17It could even be a smoothie.
02:18I usually love to finish my workout though
02:20with having a smoothie after I get back.
02:22Lately, I've been really loving
02:25blending together some mushroom, vegan,
02:28vanilla protein mix with oatmeal,
02:32with bananas and peanut butter,
02:34and then some chia seeds.
02:36It is absolutely delicious.
02:38Most of my meetings will typically start
02:40between eight and 8.30 every morning.
02:43On a typical day where I'm not traveling
02:45and visiting stores,
02:46I probably have about 10 meetings.
02:49So anytime I'm in Austin,
02:50I'm always in our office.
02:52I happen to be in Austin all five days of the week,
02:55which is really rare.
02:56I come into the office every single day,
02:59but I do a lot of travel.
03:00For me, it's making sure I can get out
03:02and visit our stores, our suppliers,
03:05many of our different partners.
03:06Wherever I'm at,
03:07I'm typically trying to figure out
03:09how I still juggle the day-to-day meetings
03:11and the business rhythm that we have.
03:14Depending upon where I'm at
03:15and what the schedule looks like,
03:17I could be taking meetings from the hotel
03:20or from a store or even on the go.
03:23One of the things I love to do
03:24is actually pick out my own lunch,
03:26and I happen to work above
03:28one of the best places to eat in Austin,
03:30which is our flagship store on Lamar.
03:32And so I love to go down myself
03:34to be able to go pick out whatever I'm eating.
03:36I typically am having our salad bar
03:38as one of the things I have
03:40just about every single day for lunch.
03:42So I typically eat vegan for breakfast and lunch.
03:47At night is typically when I'll add in
03:48more animal proteins.
03:49I lean heavily towards fish.
03:51Sushi is one of my favorite foods.
03:53And so I'm overall, I'd say,
03:55a very healthy eater.
03:57I really care about what I'm putting in my body.
03:59And I ultimately see the impacts of,
04:02you know, how it impacts my performance,
04:03my happiness, my well-being,
04:05and even my sleep.
04:06You know, I'd say most of the time,
04:09my schedule for meetings usually wraps up
04:11around 6 p.m. or by 6 p.m.
04:13Again, sometimes based upon the time zone
04:15of where I'm at.
04:16But I would say I'm usually done by 6.
04:18I like to sort of unwind after work,
04:20and it could be a walk.
04:21It's one of the times where I actually
04:23work out at the gym.
04:24So I'm more of a runner in the morning.
04:26So if I'm gonna go to the gym
04:27and get some weights in
04:28or do something else,
04:29I usually love to do something active.
04:31If I'm traveling,
04:32it's typically just walking around my hotel
04:35or wherever I'm staying,
04:37just to stay active.
04:38And it's a great way to actually see
04:40some of the cities that I'm visiting.
04:41I'm sort of someone who's a little bit
04:43of a night owl,
04:43but I've really come to appreciate
04:46making sure that I'm well rested
04:49every single day.
04:50So I'm sort of working backwards
04:52from when I wake up.
04:53If I can get a solid six hours of sleep,
04:56I'm really replenished
04:57and ready to take on the next day.
04:58I think when I'm doing
05:01more strenuous activities
05:03and maybe a long run,
05:05that's where I'm looking for
05:06a few extra hours of sleep.
05:07I do think I have a great work-life balance.
05:09I look at it as having an enriched life.
05:12And for me, it's making sure
05:13I've always have time to unplug
05:16and make sure that I'm taking care of myself.
05:18And especially when I'm traveling a lot,
05:20making sure I'm taking vacations,
05:22time off,
05:23giving my body an opportunity,
05:25you know,
05:25after long weeks of travel
05:27and things like that
05:28to get the right rest in place.
05:30One of the things I was mentioning earlier
05:32is during the week,
05:33getting six hours of sleep.
05:34I typically get a little bit longer
05:36on the weekends,
05:37which is great for helping
05:38catch up and supporting my body.