How Michelle Griffin cares for her health so she can be present and happy, and continue to do the work she loves

Leading Well: An interview with Michelle Griffin, founder and branding/marketing/PR strategist at BRANDthority

Welcome to Leading Well: An interview series of leaders embodying healthy living to the benefit of all aspects of their lives. By sharing their experiences here, the hope is that maybe one story helps you in some small way, in turn so you can lead well.

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Michelle Griffin is a brand expert who I found on LinkedIn. Her straight-forward and actionable advice always resonated with me. Between her business, podcast, and content strategy on social media, she also runs an amazing community challenge on LinkedIn.

She seems to be doing it all, but behind the hard work there is dedication to her health and well-being. And ultimately, this is how we can work better without burning ourselves out.

Here’s her story…

Enjoy.

How does taking care of your health and fitness impact your life as a whole? 

Yes, health is wealth. It might be a cliché, but I value being healthy and happy before my business goals. If you don’t have the time or stamina to exercise or eat right or enjoy life in general, what’s the point?

I find the more I’m fit and stay consistent in my fitness goals and healthy eating, it spills over into focus, action and transformative results for my business.

Why is self-care so important to you?

I’m celiac and hypoglycemic, and two of my three kids are type 1, insulin-dependent diabetics. So healthy eating and being fit are a priority in our family.

What are 3 health habits that you focus on the most?

1. I eat mostly plant-based and high-protein as a gluten and dairy-free pescatarian.

2. Daily challenges and streaks for baseline exercise so on my busiest days I walk and have a set 10 minute routine of strength, flexibility and stamina.

3. Try to be outside everyday. I can’t stand being trapped indoors.

Who supports you on your health and fitness journey, and in what ways do they help you? 

My husband loves to cook and is very good it, so I’m grateful he’s always looking out for me as a celiac. He’s always buying me gluten free foods to try and buys and grills seafood weekly for me.

What advice would you have for busy leaders, professionals, parents, or anyone looking to take control of their health and fitness habits for good? 

Eat more plants and plant-based proteins as much as possible. Be in nature more. Go for walks. Those two are my baseline for healthy living. 

What’s something that you tried in the past that didn’t work for you, and what did you learn from the experience of trying it? 

Cutting carbs is not for me, tried it for two weeks and I was miserable. 

I also tried intermittent fasting last year. I got obsessed with it so had to back off.

Also, group fitness classes don’t work. I like the focus and fast pace of working out alone, and on my own time.

What’s your guilty pleasure food?

Pizza, even gluten and dairy free is good (to me)

Gluten free bread of any kind.

Favourite type of exercise and why?

I get bored easily so what’s kept me going is HIIT, strength training, lifting weights, and walking. I like the fast paced and count downs for both.

Favourite meal of the day and why?

High protein breakfast. I can’t start my day without breakfast and my high caffeine tea.

An activity you’ve never tried before but really want to do?

Meditation is on my list. I need a good mentor to teach me. I’ve tried apps and they don’t work for me.

A famous person you’d want to workout with and why?

Ernestine Shepherd, she’s the world’s oldest bodybuilder and was my inspiration for starting to lift weights. Look her up, she’s now 85 and you won’t believe it. She’s an inspiration for “it’s never too late to start or keep at it.” She’s inspiring and defies aging for sure.

If you could go back in time, what’s one thing you’d like to tell your past self in regards to taking care of your health?

Eat more plant based food. 

Don’t count calories (I had a bad stint in high school where I was obsessed)

What to do next

Here are my key takeaways from my interview with Michelle.

1. Set daily minimums of movement. I loved this recommendation. In my own coaching programs I actually call these “bare ass minimums” or BAMs for short. Sitting actions that you can do on even your most chaotic day will go a long ways to keeping you on the right track. It also helps move you away from all-or-nothing thinking. Instead, you can view your actions on a dial, and you can turn that dial in some small way today. Maybe you can’t do your regular one hour walk today, but what about ten minutes?

2. Add more plants. Getting more plants in our diet is absolutely crucial for our health. The added vitamins, minerals, fibre, and phytonutrients all help to build our immune system, fight chronic inflammation, and so much more.

3. Find a plan you can stick to. For Michelle, she found that cutting carbs, intermittent fasting, and counting calories all didn’t support her long-term goals. It’s important to find what works for you. One of the most important variables in any program is how consistent we are. Find what you can stay consistent with!

About Michelle Griffin

Michelle Griffin is a personal brand and marketing/PR strategist who’s devoted her career to connecting people and building brands.

After trading in her marketing career for entrepreneurship, Michelle founded the personal branding consultancy, BRANDthority and created the Visible Brand Authority Blueprint which equips professionals and entrepreneurs with the training and resources they need to grow their visibility, authority, and make a bigger impact and profit from their expertise.

She is an international coach, speaker and host of professional personal branding podcast, The Business of You, with clients and listeners worldwide. Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn, join her free LinkedIn #365challenge community and learn more at BRANDthority.com