Whole Foods’ 46-year-old CEO works out twice a day and ‘fully uses up’ his PTO. His key to work-life balance

Fortune

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.

Transcript

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.

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