May 22, 2020 3 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Shane Heath was working as a designer in Silicon Valley and drinking up to four cups of coffee a day and started suffering from anxiety and sleep deprivation. “I just sort of came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to be reliant on hundreds of milligrams of caffeine to wake up — the same way that I didn’t want to be reliant on a sleeping pill to fall asleep. I loved having that morning ritual, so I went off to create something better,” he told Jessica Abo.

Heath lived in India for six months, and while he was there, he discovered chai. When he came home, he was using chai, which had one-seventh of the caffeine he once used in coffee, and started mixing different ingredients with his drink. “I added turmeric for anti-inflammation, added cinnamon to help with intermittent fasting. I added cordyceps for physical performance benefits, lion’s mane for focus, chaga and reishi for immune response benefits and cacao to sort of round out the flavor profile.” 

He launched MUD\WTR in his house in May of 2018 and did more than one million dollars in revenue that year. Heath says if you want to have a healthy mindset to set yourself up for success, do these four things.

To start? “Turn off your phone. I think diving into your phone the first thing you do when you wake up is an all-time bad idea. Starting a business, you’re constantly taking on new information, you’re dealing with challenging problems and your mind only has so much capacity to take on all these things.” 

Number two, he says, is to meditate. “I typically sit up in my bed or walk out to the beach and try to tap into who I am, tap into my body, tap into the present moment and then just try to think about the things I want to accomplish that day. I think taking that time in the morning before you dive into the workplace is really important. It gives you perspective on the challenges, the stresses in your life, and I think it preps your mind to approach challenges in a more mindful way.” 

Heath says it’s also important to move. “After my morning meditation, I always try to exercise. When we wake up our cortisol levels are at their highest. Exercise has proven to decrease cortisol levels and increase endorphins, which helps with mood and gives me energy and confidence to tackle challenges that might arise.” Heath says he likes to run, climb or do hot yoga. 

The last tip he shared was to journal. “I try to track how well I’m sleeping, how my body’s feeling, how my mind is feeling, and then I dive into what I’m grateful for. After that, I try to plan out the most important things I’m trying to tackle that day. Because there’s tons of things you can be doing, but it’s important to set your mind right on what is most important and what’s gonna move the needle the most.”