Outlive to Outperform

From Founder & CEO Brent Beshore’s 2023 Annual Letter

This year was the first year in my life that I took my health seriously. The hardest part of compounding is to be around for it. And even if you survive, it doesn’t matter much if you can’t enjoy it. The key is both lifespan and healthspan. As I turned 40, contemplated continuing to raise 30-year funds, and figured out the implications of a new baby on the way, it became obvious what I needed to do. Took me long enough!

The stories we tell ourselves shape our lives. I grew up overweight. I remember at ten years old the first time someone called me a “fat kid.” That phrase stuck with me, and is an identity I’ve lived with ever since. That identity shaped my behavior, excused my behavior, and limited my possibilities. I told myself, often subconsciously, that fat kids eat a certain way, look a certain way, and can only do certain things. I vividly remember a few years ago when I joked about being a fat kid to my friend Patrick. With a stern voice he said, “You gotta knock that off. That’s not you. Quit saying it.” Good friends encourage. Great friends tell the truth.

When I started the business I was already overweight and I went through a long season where I was primarily focused on Permanent Equity to the detriment of everything else – my health, my marriage, my friendships. Something I’m working on is being kinder with myself, so I’ll withhold judgment and merely say that there’s a real cost to success in business. 

The last five years, and especially the last three years, have been a hard look at who I am, what I prioritize, and why. 

I started the year weighing about 235 lbs, which was down from my peak of around 252 lbs. Body fat was around 35%. ApoB and triglycerides were elevated. Blood glucose and A1c was decent, but could use improvement. Thankfully, I wasn’t nearly in as bad of shape as I expected. 

Through the years I tried to diet and “get in shape.” It never worked. I’d go hard for between two-to-six weeks, see little progress, get distracted, and go back to my previous weight or even higher. Something deeper was broken and willpower wasn’t going to get me there. If I was going to get a different result this time, I knew I needed to do something different. I prayed for God to show me a better way and about that time, two things unlocked progress. I’ve found that help from God often looks a lot like friendship.

First, on the recommendation of a great friend, I had started working with an incredible counselor, and food was one of the many things that we tackled. I’ve struggled with over-eating my whole life. I want to eat when I’m stressed and when I’m relaxed. I ate to give comfort and to be hospitable. My default state was to eat, and eat a lot. When I explored the why underneath the eating, I started to feel a new freedom with food. I no longer needed to stuff myself, and I started to view food with gratitude and not with danger.

The second unlock happened unexpectedly during a podcast with my friend Shane Parrish. It was early January and I was complaining about trying to work out, but not feeling motivated most days. Shane then made the comment, “Oh, I just work out everyday. It’s part of who I am. If I had to decide if I was going to work out, I wouldn’t most days either.”* I remember thinking to myself, “Huh. That makes complete sense. I should do that.” 

And, I did. I don’t know what else to say other than it really was that easy. I went from trying to work out a couple days a week and grinding through it, to just doing something active every single day with no exceptions. The choice now is what to do, not whether to do.

What started small, with a 20-30 minute walk, a short Peloton class, or some bodyweight exercises, evolved into five mile runs, long walks, high-intensity interval training, 50 mile bike rides, and three days a week of strength training. The emphasis here is on the slow evolution. 

As I did more exercise, I ate healthier, lost fat, and built muscle. Losing weight, exercising, and eating healthier made me feel better and increased my stamina. I even began to enjoy the workouts and look forward to them. Even saying that now shocks me. 

Being that I have a full time job that I love, I started thinking about how I could combine work and working out. Often I’ll talk with someone during low-and-slow rides or walks, or try to be considering something work-related during the more intense workouts. Think of it like a scheduled internal debate, with weight. I’ve found some of my best thinking is done when my body is moving.

After building momentum on the exercise front, I focused on the intake side. I prioritized unprocessed food and protein and tried to pay attention to being properly fueled versus stuffed. At the encouragement of a few friends, experiments in fasting reset what I considered to be satisfied. Turns out I didn’t realize I was stuffing myself nearly every day, as that’s what I considered normal. And when I slipped up, I gave myself grace and got back after it the next day. 

I wanted to try to get off all substances and see how I felt. I had already been off caffeine. Dropped alcohol beyond celebrations. No allergy meds. Not even an Advil when I was sore.

The results have been slow, but encouraging. 

I’ve lost about 30 lbs of fat, gained muscle, and my bio markers have all moved sharply in the right direction. Body fat percentage is now in the low 20s. A1c dropped to 5.0. Triglycerides dropped from 171 to 70. VO2 max has gone from high-30s to low-50s. Run times and power output on the bike all have consistently improved, and I’m playing the best tennis of my life. 

One medical group told me that my biological age was around 32 years old and I was aging slower than most, so as Bill Murray so aptly put it in Caddyshack, “I got that going for me, which is nice.” Best of all, I have far more energy for my family, friends, and colleagues.

If you’re where I was for most of my adult life, I get how hard this all seems. I’ve realized health is like wealth. Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” Get rich quick and get healthy fast schemes don’t work. They never have and never will. What works is making good choices daily and watching compounding slowly take hold. And if you don’t believe me, that’s ok. It took me 40 years to believe it myself.

*Note: There’s a new book out called Outlive by Peter Attia, which I highly recommend. I first came across Peter about 12 years ago and we became friends. Having followed his work closely for longer than most, I can confidently say that he’s the gold standard for health information, and I’m so glad more of the world is realizing it.

*Note: Shane talks about this concept in his excellent new book called Clear Thinking. You should buy it, read it, and re-read it.