Former NFL powerhouse turned entrepreneur, Chase Winovich, is taking centre stage with host Jason Raznick for a conversation that's set to motivate and inspire you.

We dive deep into the secrets of personal discipline, unravelling the practices that mould not just our bodies but our minds too.

In this episode, we're not just talking; we're uncovering the epic saga of Chase's transformation from football legend to a wildly successful entrepreneur. What was his turning point? You're about to find out! Consider this your golden ticket to the inner sanctum of personal discipline.

Ever wondered how the pros shape a mindset of steel? Chase spills the deets on his morning routine of meditation, cold exposure, and the importance of physical exercise and movement. It's all about maximising energy and thriving in a peak state of living!

 

Host:

Benzinga CEO Jason Raznick

 

Transcript:

Chase Winovich [00:00:00]:

I could do anything I put my mind to ever since I was a little kid. It was always, you know, drilled into me that there's nothing you can't do. If you want something bad enough, you'll figure out a way to get it.

 

Jason Raznick [00:00:11]:

I'm your host, Jason Raznik, founder of Benzinga, a leading platform in the financial world with the mission to level the playing field for individual investors. And this is the Raz Report podcast, where we share inspiring stories, expert advice, and exclusive perspectives to keep you ahead of the ever changing world of investments and entrepreneurship. Let's dive into the show. All right. I'm excited for this week's edition of the Raz report. This is one guest I wanted to have on for a while. Saw him at the Michigan national championship, picked up my son. It was very cute.

 

Jason Raznick [00:00:46]:

Chase Winovich, the man, the myth, the legend. He went to U of M, kicked ass. Came back for the senior year, I believe, right? Did you come back your senior year?

 

Chase Winovich [00:00:57]:

Came back my fifth year.

 

Jason Raznick [00:01:00]:

Fifth year. And just came back. And he was just dominated, dominated, dominated, dominated. Had that long blonde hair. Now it's short. So he likes it because he can sneak in places people don't know it's him. And then went to the NFL, played in the NFL, Patriots, Dolphins and all the works and has more stories than we'll be able to fit in 30 minutes of this discussion. She didn't give me my timer.

 

Jason Raznick [00:01:27]:

Of course not. They don't want to give me the timer. But anyway, yeah, Chase, thanks for coming on. What's up, man?

 

Chase Winovich [00:01:36]:

Not too much, just grinding away, trying to get my life in a great position here with routines and transitioning away from the NFL onto my next mission.

 

Jason Raznick [00:01:45]:

We're going to go to routines in a minute, but Chase is. You see someone play in the NFL, NFL is great, but I wish they gave more behind the scenes stories. Chase, you are idea guy and execution guy. In the last couple of years, I believe you went to New Hampshire, started a agency, like a podcasting agency, at one point doing marketing for other companies. You have this startup that does digital signatures because sending these docusigns and written things wasn't working. So you're like coming out with QR codes before you go into either of these things. Was that how you always were? Like, trying to find problems and then create ideas to solve the problems?

 

Chase Winovich [00:02:29]:

I'd say really? For me, it was always, I could do anything I put my mind to. Ever since I was a little kid. It was always drilled into me that there's nothing you can't do. If you want something bad enough, you'll figure out a way to get it. And for me, it was always football, football, football, football. And when it came to college, it was, hey, what do you want to major in? Well, I said, listen, I really just want to play football. But I found an interest in evolutionary anthropology. And I got to the NFL and I found that a lot of my know, time off the field and time off the field and time on the field was being used to destroy other things, other people, myself.

 

Chase Winovich [00:03:13]:

And it's hard to love yourself in that state.

 

Jason Raznick [00:03:16]:

What do you mean it was being used to destroy other things? I don't know. What do you mean?

 

Chase Winovich [00:03:20]:

Like my pinky, for example.

 

Jason Raznick [00:03:22]:

F you. Sorry, dude, stop. Whoa. That was a crazy one. Okay, go ahead.

 

Chase Winovich [00:03:32]:

Yes, I found that a lot of my energy. Think about it. You're in the weight room. You're sharpening your body, sharpening your mind, learning the playbook to go out there and essentially smash them, try to destroy them. Take out the quarterback, take out whoever is the ball carrier. And I had a play early on in my career after a couple of years in, and it was in practice, and it was a live tackling drill with Bill Belichick. And most teams, they don't have that sort of thing, but Bill beats to his own drum just like I do. So I respect that.

 

Chase Winovich [00:04:05]:

And it was against this shorter running, know, he's probably five six. And he speared me on the side of the head and I made the tackle. But I tell you what, my whole body went numb. And the feeling of not having any feeling has a feeling in itself. And when I got out from that, it was like just thinking about it. I went up to the NFL PA director. I asked him, I said, if I got hit by a bus, how long would it take to replace me? Two minutes. And he laughed and he said, probably less.

 

Chase Winovich [00:04:37]:

So from that point on, it was kind of like, listen, at the end of the day, I'm using my body to destroy things, number one. And number two, I feel that I could use my mind, which is much more limitless than our physical bodies, to create something that my likeness and my performance on the field enhances and helps to promote. And that's what I did.

 

Jason Raznick [00:05:00]:

Yeah. And when you say using your body to destroy things, it was destroying other things and your own internal body. Right? You were talking about getting hit. Concussions. And I've seen you talk about that. I'm a flag football coach. I can say that because we travel around to national championships and I never thought of getting the flag. I learned it like, seven years ago, and I'm obsessed with it.

 

Jason Raznick [00:05:24]:

Do you think NFL is too dangerous at this point?

 

Chase Winovich [00:05:28]:

See, I think that the danger of the NFL is what makes it so exciting. And my position is that there is definitely an inherent violence to the game. And I don't think that there's any rules that you could really implement, as far as I could see right now, that would really change that. But when it comes to youth football, I think that's a separate conversation. I think that there's a strong case to be made that little kids that really are just like, have bobbleheads or their necks aren't strong enough to support them probably shouldn't be playing. And then you look at middle school kids where you have a difference in terms of development, where you have some kids that have hit puberty that look like they drove the bus to the game, are out there whacking on kids. To me, that doesn't really make much sense considering what we know about CTE and the downriver risks that are imposed with playing football.

 

Jason Raznick [00:06:25]:

Now, this makes sense. So my son, that you placed quarterback for, like, you played quarterback for the flag team last year, played tackle, and they had him be receiver. They had him be punt returner, kick return. He was just one of these small kid, but super fast and like deeks, like no other. Malia, show a broll when we play this. Okay? That'll be the first time he appears in our podcast. Anyway, he didn't want to play tackle again because on those punt returns, kickoff returns, it's eight guys, eleven guys running at him, and there's no blocking. So he didn't want to play again, which I can't blame him.

 

Jason Raznick [00:07:01]:

And giving to your point, because a lot of guys this age so much bigger than him, he was getting cremated, right?

 

Chase Winovich [00:07:09]:

And I'm kind of a sicko in the sense that I love that sort of challenge.

 

Jason Raznick [00:07:15]:

But you're huge.

 

Chase Winovich [00:07:17]:

Well, I'm huge, relatively, to maybe other kids in high school, to when I was in middle school, I was that guy that was like. They were like, holy heck, this guy is a monster. But when you get to the NFL, I was still a monster. But in comparison to everybody else that I was going against, such as offensive linemen, I don't know what the average offensive tackle height is, but it's got to be around 6566, 330 pounds plus. And you figure that just on paper, right? They're putting the biggest, strongest, fastest humans they can in a position to try to smash me and destroy me. And my job as a defender was to do the opposite to them. So when you have this arms race, essentially of these huge humans that are super powerful and strong just being pitted against each other, I loved it personally. It was a great experience.

 

Chase Winovich [00:08:08]:

It's just a matter of. It's just a change in philosophy, I'd say just in terms of what is ultimately important in the long. It's, it's great.

 

Jason Raznick [00:08:19]:

I get it. When you left the NFL, are you saying that you didn't want to be in the anymore? Like, or would you have wanted to switch another team or do something when to get to your mind and these businesses that you're know, I want to get to that. But when you were done playing, was it like you were done chase, you didn't want to go try out for more teams, go work out and do whatever? Or how do you figure the end of your career playing in the NFL?

 

Chase Winovich [00:08:48]:

Honestly, whenever I came into the NFL, I found myself in this position where no matter how much money I made, no matter how much external validation, know, love that I received, I found that it was really just trying to fill a void within my own heart, that no matter how many dump trucks I backed into it and just tried to fill it up with, that there was no way that it was ever going to be filled. And that hole definitely motivated me to achieve greatness on the field. But at the same time, I realized that when it comes to using my body for that means it logically didn't make much sense. And so I asked myself one day, I just said, looked myself in the mirror, I said, do I love myself? And the answer was hard for me to admit, but it was no. And I think that treating myself as disposable, which was for me a prerequisite to do what I needed to do on the field, which was be free and fast and fearless, ultimately, once again, didn't really align with me loving myself. And I don't really care what anybody says. I think that all humans on earth should find that within themselves. And for me, they were kind of at odds.

 

Chase Winovich [00:10:07]:

And so for a long time, I'd say it was a seed that was planted. And just the amount of injuries that I've had really since that point, hamstrings, hernia, repairs, hand my hands like my knee, and then concussions on top of that, it was really the universe in my mind, making it abundantly clear that, hey, listen, man, maybe you should consider something else. And I think from the outside world, when you compare it to the money, the glitz, and the glamour that the NFL brings to a lot of players. It feels like the outside world looks at it as like a demotion, moving from one world to another. But for me, I am a spiritual person, and I really felt that it was a promotion, not a demotion.

 

Jason Raznick [00:10:57]:

I love that. So then the question I have then, do you love yourself now? I do, because that do I love myself? I just wrote it down here. That's why I was taking all these notes, because that to me says so much. I would argue right now, I don't love myself. Now. I did start working out two months ago, but then I'd break it. Yesterday was my first good food day where I didn't eat in the middle of the night. Because why am I doing that to myself? To make me feel more depressed and I'm heavy.

 

Jason Raznick [00:11:25]:

Like I should be 50 pounds lighter, 40 pounds lighter. And to me, that defines the question, do I love myself? One of the questions you asked yourself, do you love yourself? You being in the NFL, nothing wrong with the NFL, but you had a lot of injuries and you had different things going on, and you have your brain that is limitless and your ideas are limitless. Why limit yourself and just say, hey, this is the only thing I'm going to be doing, you know what I mean? When you could do so much more and that's do I love myself? Is a really interesting question. I don't think we ask that question. I'm like putting on my mirror, do I love myself? Because that means at 02:00 a.m. When I wake up and say, I need to have peanut butter to go back to sleep, do I love myself? You know what I mean?

 

Chase Winovich [00:12:07]:

Right. And sometimes you got to give yourself a break. Sometimes there's something to be said for the world can be really hard on us. We can go through a lot. But if you push a little kid, there's a quote. It's like, you push a little kid, the kid can get up and push you back. But if you beat up on yourself, you push on yourself. There's no limit to how mean and cruel we could be to ourselves.

 

Chase Winovich [00:12:31]:

And for me, it was about transcending that. And once again, it was hard to do with football in the picture. But now I'm in a great position and loving myself the way I'm supposed to, and I'm having a great time.

 

Jason Raznick [00:12:46]:

Love it. So I'm going to go back to a little bit younger years. I mean, you went to Thomas Jefferson High School, right? Were you really playing quarterback.

 

Chase Winovich [00:12:54]:

Back then, I was playing quarterback. Yeah. So I like to hype up my abilities as a quarterback, but at heart, my name is Chase. It's not throw, it's not catch. My name is Chase. I was, I think, put on this earth in part to chase things down and.

 

Jason Raznick [00:13:14]:

Yeah, yeah. And then you had offers from Arizona, Arkansas, Florida state, Michigan state, Missouri, northwestern, Ohio state, Pitt, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. And the story goes that you ended up at Michigan because of relation with a coach.

 

Chase Winovich [00:13:33]:

Yeah. So I actually had an offer from Ohio State first, and then Michigan called.

 

Jason Raznick [00:13:39]:

Me the Ohio state. You grew up as a fan of Ohio state, right?

 

Chase Winovich [00:13:43]:

I grew up a fan of Ohio state, yes. So I was an Ohio state fan. They offered me. And at the time, even now, it's a pretty big deal. You get an offer from a school like Ohio state or Michigan or the. A bunch of other schools are like, okay, maybe we should be looking at this guy and go ahead and throw him an offer. And as I said, the next day, michigan calls me up. And at the time, I was kind of like, day too late, dollar too short.

 

Chase Winovich [00:14:09]:

And my brother in law actually was like, hey, Chase, hold up a second. Before you count them out, you got to at least take a visit and see what these guys are about, see what the school's about. And so I did three visits. Ohio state, pitt, who was the first school to offer me, I'm from Pittsburgh and Michigan and going to Ohio State. I was sitting in Urb Meyer's office, and I was definitely know, pretty heavy on Ohio State, planning on going there. Urb Meyer pulls out his briefcase out of the closet, and this is like the silver briefcase. And I'm like, okay, this is the point. Finally, they're going to pay me, slip me some money, and he opens it up, and it's their uniform.

 

Chase Winovich [00:14:50]:

So that was the first kind of disappointment, their uniforms versus Michigan that year.

 

Jason Raznick [00:14:57]:

Did you really think there'd be money in there or no?

 

Chase Winovich [00:14:59]:

I mean, I wasn't like, he's like, hold up a second, Chase. He's like, looking around, making sure no one's in office.

 

Jason Raznick [00:15:06]:

I wonder why they do that, the uniform in a briefcase, and make it look like money. If I bring a briefcase and I open it up, I think I'm going to be showing $100 stacks.

 

Chase Winovich [00:15:15]:

Exactly. That's what I was. Maybe a couple of Rolex stacks on stacks.

 

Jason Raznick [00:15:20]:

You come here, even if he's not giving it to you, you come here. When you're done with this school, you're going to have many of these briefcases, like, show it as. Yes, that would be a blue ball, maybe whenever. A tease. But you know what mean, like, there you go. Okay, so that was your first.

 

Chase Winovich [00:15:36]:

Exactly. And I took a visit up to Michigan, and my experience there was totally different. And this is me anticipating not really liking it or just kind of being like, we'll see. Kind of giving it a chance. And like I said, for me, it was like the complete opposite experience. It was so real, so wholesome, like the vision, the Michigan lore. I really fell in love with it ever since then. And to this day, I'm go blue guy all the way and best decision I ever made.

 

Jason Raznick [00:16:09]:

Did you end up going to the interview at Pittsburgh?

 

Chase Winovich [00:16:12]:

I went to Pittsburgh as. Yeah, yeah, I remember Paul Christ was sitting. You know, he offered me a scholarship even before that, but I'll never forget, he's just a very stoic guy. He talks like this. Said, chase, we'd love to have you as part of this program. We think you're one heck of a know. We'd like to offer you a, uh. It just wasn't for me.

 

Jason Raznick [00:16:37]:

Okay. And was it Brady Hoke that recruited you to Michigan?

 

Chase Winovich [00:16:40]:

It was, yes.

 

Jason Raznick [00:16:41]:

So how was he in his interview with you?

 

Chase Winovich [00:16:43]:

It was great. He was full of energy, just like, was a real guy, even to this know. I still have so much love and respect for. It was like I said, best decision I ever made. All works out. Harbaugh came in.

 

Jason Raznick [00:16:59]:

Were you there when Harbaugh was in it all?

 

Chase Winovich [00:17:02]:

Yes. No, Harbaugh. So Hoke was my first season, if you will. So I came in in 2014. Then Hoke got fired after the Ohio State game, and that month was like anarchy on campus. I didn't partake in these sort of festivities, if you will, but it was just like nobody was going to class. It was like the anarchy. Well, it's just because it was such a point of transition from going from Hoke, and then when you lose your coach, and now all of a sudden, who's actually enforcing people, coming to class.

 

Jason Raznick [00:17:37]:

Right?

 

Chase Winovich [00:17:38]:

Like I said, it was like the Wild West.

 

Jason Raznick [00:17:40]:

I get it. And then Harbaugh came, and then you guys did great. And then I saw you at the national championship game. That was fun. Although I didn't see you on the field after the. I missed you there. I thought we'd be up there taking photos of the trophy, but hopefully they'll get there again next year and we'll go on the field together. I mean, there's so much great alumni from Michigan who played football.

 

Jason Raznick [00:18:07]:

I feel like all the alumni that played football at Michigan. You win an Ash championship, you should be on the field. You should be on the field. I don't care. I'm saying not even Michigan, any college football team, your team wins an ash championship, but you're at the game. It should be a standard policy in college football that everyone who played on the team is on the field after the game. Okay, I don't know who's going to listen to this, but that should be a just. I don't know.

 

Jason Raznick [00:18:30]:

That's my two cent.

 

Chase Winovich [00:18:32]:

I totally agree. I mean, not to air out my grievances. Like I said, michigan's been great to me in many, many ways. I'd say that my grievance was the fact that you had basketball players on the field, and their policy was that no NFL guys or former players were to be on the field. They weren't to get any passes. And to me, I feel like their priorities, and just like, that doesn't make much sense, just call a spade a spade. But like I said, they've been great to me. And it is what it is.

 

Jason Raznick [00:19:05]:

I get it. Chase. If you didn't do what you did while you were at Michigan, the revenge tour, if you didn't do what you did and come back and have such ammunition for, such ammunition to kill these other teams, I bet what you did that year, coming back, recruited some of the best players they ever got after you. You know what I mean? You represented the Michigan brand as good, as big, as mean in the Hutchinson type size. You know what that's like? That's what you. It. I remember you were like. I mean, but you didn't treat your life like that.

 

Jason Raznick [00:19:41]:

You treated like the line you used earlier. Destroy. You treat it like I'm going to destroy whoever comes in our way. That's what you're going to do. And that was awesome.

 

Chase Winovich [00:19:49]:

Exactly. You know what my only regret is, Jason?

 

Jason Raznick [00:19:52]:

No.

 

Chase Winovich [00:19:53]:

That I only have but one life to give from my college. Wish I could have done it.

 

Jason Raznick [00:20:00]:

Best with. Those are the best years.

 

Chase Winovich [00:20:03]:

I think the best years are ahead of me.

 

Jason Raznick [00:20:05]:

I know, I know. But were those amazing years?

 

Chase Winovich [00:20:07]:

Yeah, they were amazing years. Personally, I'm not one to say, oh, those were the days, this or that. Live in some sense of nostalgia, that the past is way better than the future. I think that sometimes it's easy to look back on our past in such a certain lens. Like good, bad, ugly, indifferent. We could be very selective with our memory.

 

Jason Raznick [00:20:30]:

Hey, I had a textbook site in 98 to 2000. When I was in Ann Arbor that I started, could have sold the borders for like, five mil. When I had nothing and started with nothing, I didn't do it. I'm like, I'm going to build the next Amazon. And I didn't get any money for that. So I look back on that, I'm like, I don't know if I would have had that money. I don't know, maybe I would have spent it crazy and been like, maybe there's a blessing disguise I did. But I look back on that like, what an idiot I was.

 

Jason Raznick [00:20:56]:

I was young, dumb, and, like someone was going to give me, I don't know what the end result deal, and I just. Too stupid. But, okay, that's the. You're a startup guy. You started a podcast, an agency in New Hampshire. Are you still doing that? What's going on with that?

 

Chase Winovich [00:21:13]:

Yeah, so I started a production company. It's called House 17. It's still in operation. We do Julian Edelman's podcast, amongst others.

 

Jason Raznick [00:21:21]:

Wow.

 

Chase Winovich [00:21:22]:

And, yeah, the company is doing well. Named it a lot of the founding tenants. And just, like, business philosophy for me, I think that everything has its place right, timing wise. And, like you were saying how. Okay, well, if I did this, it would have worked out like that. And the framing is one of almost regret. And looking back, I'm sure there's things that, hey, maybe if I did this, it would have resulted in that which to me now might have been more favorable, but at the same time, everything happens for a reason. And there's a book called the alchemist which helps shape my philosophy.

 

Chase Winovich [00:21:59]:

Just looking at the world that had I not had certain experiences, for better or worse, then I wouldn't be where I am today, and it wouldn't set me up for where I'm going. That's really it.

 

Jason Raznick [00:22:16]:

So the alchemist, the takeaway is. What's the takeaway on that?

 

Chase Winovich [00:22:20]:

The takeaway is that during the story of the alchemist, basically, I don't want to ruin the whole book, but the takeaway is that things happen, and it's easy to sign a value to that thing as good or bad or ugly, indifferent. But in the whole of it, when you look at. At the end of the day, for you, for example, it's like, had you sold, then you might have not done stuff that sets you up with Benzinga and the media company. And so had you not done that, then you wouldn't have sold for an even bigger payday, because the experiences and the lessons and the position that you were in, having to ascend were all part of the process.

 

Jason Raznick [00:23:00]:

Got it.

 

Chase Winovich [00:23:01]:

And that's kind of where I'm at.

 

Jason Raznick [00:23:02]:

Too, part of the process. But the one thing that some people say, okay, what's meant to be is meant to be. But there's a thing where, okay, I can just lay in bed every day and do nothing. You know what I mean? And is that meant to be?

 

Chase Winovich [00:23:17]:

There's a difference, though.

 

Jason Raznick [00:23:18]:

Yeah.

 

Chase Winovich [00:23:20]:

I don't want to interrupt you, but. No, I'd say the difference is that I'm not saying whatever's meant to be is meant to be. I'm saying that sometimes in struggle, that our relationship with the things that we care about teaches us certain lessons about ourselves and about gives us tools to approach problems differently. And sometimes, if you're given a billion dollars, you might not be as motivated to go out and do certain things and conquer certain problems, which ultimately will be a net good for society, but more importantly, for yourself and your own internal validation and satisfaction.

 

Jason Raznick [00:23:57]:

No, everything you said is so true there, because that experience back then taught me about, it's following through, not starting things, and it changed my perspective on so much stuff. And I did it again where I started something and then didn't follow through, and then. So now I don't care what I start. I only care what I follow through with. It's just, like, a thing. I just don't care what I start. It's what I follow through with. And then you got into something, I think, way more technology sophisticated and legal.

 

Jason Raznick [00:24:26]:

Talk about your company for contracts and signing documents. What's the name of it, and what is that?

 

Chase Winovich [00:24:34]:

It's called signet, like the ring. And the premise is, when I was a player on the Patriots, I had a teammate at the time, somebody took a picture of him sleeping. So he didn't do anything wrong. He was just passed out. Put it online, went viral. Still online till this day. Till the AI overlords take us out. And I'm joking.

 

Jason Raznick [00:24:53]:

What do you mean, sleeping? Like, at his house, sleeping at a bar?

 

Chase Winovich [00:24:56]:

He was sleeping. I think it was either at his house or at a hotel.

 

Jason Raznick [00:24:59]:

Okay.

 

Chase Winovich [00:24:59]:

And it was right after he had won the Super bowl. And this young lady put it online. For me, the principle was, why should somebody be able to come into your life or ex player's life, share their story without any repercussions? There should be some kind of deterrent built in. So I talked to my lawyer about it. He said, well, you can have people sign an NDA. And so the problem was that it cost me over a had to go get a printer paper. I had a pens, and then I had to get people to sign it, which it via paper. It's like you got to carry it with you everywhere you go.

 

Chase Winovich [00:25:28]:

Or the alternative is like you upload it to something like docusign, which still you need the document, number one. And then two, it's awkward, especially as a young football player like myself or any other athlete, artist, content creator, if you will, somebody with celebrity type figure in society having to get people to sign this process. We're the only company with an in Person electronic solution. So if I was to pull up my phone, which is on the other side of the room, I basically pull it out, I open up my wallet. There's a QR code there. You could scan it or tap your phone, pops up on your phone, you read through the document, and you hit sign. And so the premise is, once again, is that it's a deterrent. So it's like if that person was to either sell that information or go to sell it or want to post it, they think twice, they're like, well, there's going to be repercussions if I do this.

 

Chase Winovich [00:26:18]:

And to save players across the board on all this money, number one, and to be able to allow them the convenience to be able to sign in person, rapidly remove that friction is where we're at.

 

Jason Raznick [00:26:31]:

Yeah. It's also like with hooking up. People go home and then they go up, and the next day the person can say, I was raped or whatever. And having a consent thing is almost like the uber app in some respect, because anyone can accuse anyone for anything. And what's sad is you don't know what's true and what's not. These days, you just don't 1000%.

 

Chase Winovich [00:26:57]:

And at the end of the day, Jason, this is how I look at it. It's like if somebody does do a criminal act, doesn't protect them from criminal procedures, but it does protect them from them. Just going out there and just sharing it with the world and the court of public opinion, as we all well know, works in a different mechanism. And if you did something wrong, it doesn't protect you from that. We're talking legally from that sort of prosecution. There's a process in place to be able to deal with that situation. However, it does protect you from the court of public opinion. That doesn't just say, hey, hold up a second.

 

Chase Winovich [00:27:33]:

Maybe it didn't actually do that. What they're being accused of. It's like, okay, let's jump on them. Let's banish them to the shadow realm. And it's just really unfortunate. And there's other use cases. Well, that just happens to be one.

 

Jason Raznick [00:27:46]:

Okay, got it. Now, I got to ask this question. Routines. You said you're in this life where you're setting up routines. What do you mean by the routines?

 

Chase Winovich [00:27:58]:

Having anchor whenever I go to bed and whenever I wake up in the morning and just really diving into my own internal processes, they say, what moves within cannot stand still without. And for me right now, it looks like waking up in the morning in a fasted state, obviously, because I was sleeping, but continuing that fast.

 

Jason Raznick [00:28:18]:

And continuing that fast till when?

 

Chase Winovich [00:28:21]:

Fast till about noon. Yeah. So I'm still going on a fast today.

 

Jason Raznick [00:28:26]:

So, Mike.

 

Chase Winovich [00:28:28]:

Yeah. I haven't eaten yet. As soon as I'm done with this, though, I'm definitely going to munch on some food for sure. But for me, it's waking up and just sitting in front of the fireplace and just meditating. So it's before the sun rises, and sitting down there, just meditating 15 minutes, just sitting there and just trying to focus on it sounds silly, but like a consistent wavelength for my brain, it seems like, historically, for myself and a lot of society, they check their phone. When they wake up, they're listening to music, they're doing a bunch of things. And so their brain is all in this sort of scattered state where for me, it's like I want to not check my phone. I want to just have no outside interruptions, distractions, to mess with that, meditate, get myself in that wavelength, drink some water, hydrate up, and then go out for a run, and then stretch, work out, do some calisthenics or whatever the workout may be for that day, come back, do a little bit more meditating, hop in a cold shower, and then just jump into the work lock in and get after it.

 

Jason Raznick [00:29:31]:

By the way, you don't do that? You don't hop into a cold shower every day? No, you don't.

 

Chase Winovich [00:29:37]:

I do.

 

Jason Raznick [00:29:38]:

You're telling me. Hold on.

 

Chase Winovich [00:29:40]:

Every day? Come on. Come on through.

 

Jason Raznick [00:29:41]:

I'm about to come watch you. Seriously? Because here's what I do. I read something. So the last 10 seconds, I want to say 30 seconds, but it's ten to 15 seconds. I turn it to not the coldest, but pretty cold. So I get the cold for the last 15 seconds. I can't imagine if I would walk into the cold shower. You're telling me you actually go into a cold shower?

 

Chase Winovich [00:30:03]:

I don't walk into a cold shower. Every single day. But I always end on cold. And sometimes when I'm feeling extra ambitious, I walk into a cold shower.

 

Jason Raznick [00:30:13]:

So you're saying you would do cold shower for a minute or whatever? No problem.

 

Chase Winovich [00:30:17]:

Yeah, I enjoy it. Honestly, I love it. Been going on since, for the last year or so at least. Doing cold showers fucking every day.

 

Jason Raznick [00:30:26]:

Badass.

 

Chase Winovich [00:30:27]:

No, I cold shower every single day. It's like a rite of passage for my day. And it's one of those things that I feel like society kind of views it as a punishment. I view it as like a reward. If I'm feeling my energy is dwining or it's a little off, I hop in a cold shower and it's so free and it's so available and I know how I'm going to feel afterwards. I'm alive, my thoughts are clear. And it's something that is, like I said, so free and so available to everybody. If anybody's listening to this, that doesn't currently just end on cold.

 

Chase Winovich [00:30:59]:

And some people, they dip their toe in the water. It's not cold all the way. Just go all the way and know that you're not going to die. You're going to be all right. And if you can have it, go over your whole head and it may feel like your head's freezing and it may feel like death, but it's not. It's just a temporary feeling. And once you get.

 

Jason Raznick [00:31:17]:

What I say to myself is, I'm not a wussy. I'm not this, and then I do it. But your point is it's a rite of passage. It's like you should be super happy that you could actually do that and you know you're going to feel good after. It's kind of your point.

 

Chase Winovich [00:31:29]:

Exactly.

 

Jason Raznick [00:31:30]:

Almost. You said routines and you said when you go to bed, you're focused on having an anchor. I don't know what that meant. Like an anchor.

 

Chase Winovich [00:31:37]:

Like to think about, like anchor in terms of timing. So I'm not going to bed at 01:00 a.m. Not going to bed at 730. I'm going to bed around 10:00 930 every single night. So it's like my body can get acclimated to this process, into this rhythm.

 

Jason Raznick [00:31:52]:

Hold on. Every weekday you're going to bed by 930. Ten. 3011.

 

Chase Winovich [00:31:57]:

No, 930 or ten.

 

Jason Raznick [00:31:59]:

So you're not ever looking at reading articles or surfing the Internet to 01:00.

 

Chase Winovich [00:32:05]:

A.M.. Yeah, no, I'm not looking to do that. Like I said earlier about your wavelength, if you're like, you excite your brain, and you're on Twitter, and you're doing all these things. I just find, personally, for me, it gets me all in a rowed up state, which is the exact opposite of what sleep is for me and how I'm looking at it nowadays. And it's a time for your body to decrease its metabolic state. To get into this zen, to really relax and to rejuvenate. I'm constantly refining, just, like, pushing the envelope, like liver king, for example, sleeps on a wooden box, doesn't have no cell phone policy in the bedroom, and there's always more you could do to increase it. And that's where I'm at.

 

Chase Winovich [00:32:49]:

I'm going to see how far I can really get all these things dialed in.

 

Jason Raznick [00:32:52]:

I have a sleep apnea machine right now because they said I have a little bit of sleep apnea. Maybe it's because the weight I gained, and I've done it for, like, three or 4 hours a night, not the full night. It's supposed to get you into Rem mode quicker. I think I just have to do it consistently. I was like, it's a thing that goes in your mouth. I was making fun of using this machine, but the guy who trains me, he uses a sleep apnea machine. I'm like, all right, if he can use it. This guy is built like no other.

 

Jason Raznick [00:33:17]:

Okay, so that's what your anchor is. I thought what you meant by anchor was something to think about as you go to bed, like, dream about your day the next day. That's what I was thinking it meant.

 

Chase Winovich [00:33:28]:

Yeah. I did some research on this, just reading online and to see, like, okay. I asked myself, who are the people that are sleeping the best, the recovering the best, who actually studied this? And I mentioned liver King because I think he does a great job. But buddhist monks, for there, their whole thing is relaxation. And just like, the study of these sort of mechanics that humans have. And one of the points they had was you sleep in a sea of merit. And I think just not saving that for a place to unpack and digest everything. And so you're going to bed in this sort of, like, you're falling asleep, but you're dragging yourself there, but just being so relaxed and grateful for yourself, I find to be really helpful, just not only for me to fall asleep quicker, but in terms of waking up, I find myself.

 

Chase Winovich [00:34:19]:

Recently, I reach the point of where my alarm is. I'm sleeping less and I'm sleeping better, and then, so I wake up more refreshed. Ready to go. And so just keep pushing it, see where I can go with it.

 

Jason Raznick [00:34:32]:

So funny. I woke up this morning to a dream that my wife was saying, Jason, get up, get up. And she wasn't even there. I literally woke up. And I'm like, stacy, it's 550. And then she was like there at seven. And I'm like, why'd you. She was.

 

Jason Raznick [00:34:46]:

I was like in my head, her ready to yell to me to get me out of bed because I need to do better getting out of bed. I get up and then I sit in bed for too long looking at the phone.

 

Chase Winovich [00:34:58]:

That's the problem. Think about your. It sounds, whatever. Your brain is a frequency, right? And so it's like you want to keep it nice and calm and steady. And it's like as soon as you check your phone, you're responding to messages. You're thinking about all this. You're on Twitter, whatever kids are on these days, it's like your brain is in this crazy frequency going up and down. And if you could just hold off on that until you accomplish your morning routine, then whenever you come to your morning routine and your work, you're able to be consistent with that frequency versus going into work and expecting yourself to be able to just drop into this steady frequency, which is not going to happen.

 

Chase Winovich [00:35:43]:

You want to go run and then not warm up or stretch or play basketball, right. It's the same thing for our minds.

 

Jason Raznick [00:35:49]:

Yeah, you have to be right. I mean, I was going to the gym this morning and I was doing it consistently, but today I didn't because I opened the phone, I got on Instagram, I did some other shit, and then I ended up, it was 45 minutes later. I missed the gym class. It's an f 45 at 610. I missed it or 615. And I missed it and started my day. And to be honest, I've been at the office, but I felt shitty all day. My eyes are tired.

 

Jason Raznick [00:36:15]:

I'm just like, I'm going through the motions. But it wasn't one of these days where if I had to put in feedback, at the end of the day, one to ten, it's a seven, because do I love myself? That was your question earlier. The answer would be today. I did not.

 

Chase Winovich [00:36:32]:

And a lot of times the problem with these processes I found is there's a book, it's called the War of Art, and it's the opposite of the art of War. And it's about the internal processes and the resistance we have to reaching doing creative endeavors, but really about personal development. Anything. You wake up every day, Jason, you're the same. You know, it's like you're like they're going to call you that. And so those mechanics, subconsciously, that keep you and define who you are when you go to ascend, that, when you go to break out of those boundaries, our bodies have all sorts of mechanisms and tricks that we play on ourselves, the things we tell ourselves. And if you don't love yourself and you don't recognize that these things even exist, it's really hard to not succumb to them. Because the amount of ways that our bodies can trick us into thinking that this is what I need to do, throw us all these impulses, these cravings for food late at night, and it's up to us to recognize that they exist and then smash the barriers.

 

Chase Winovich [00:37:34]:

And that's what I'm trying to do, just smash the barriers.

 

Jason Raznick [00:37:36]:

Your point is, like, when I have the food cravings late at night, I could succumb to it and say, yeah, I'll just go eat peanut butter. Who gives a shit? Your point is, understand that the tendencies are there and just say, fuck it. Like, smash it. Say, you're not going to beat me. You're not going to be on that frequency. Versus my phone's next to my bed. I don't know where your phone is.

 

Chase Winovich [00:37:57]:

That's a terrible idea. That's like, rule number one is don't have your phone next to your bed, because if it's not there, you can't look at it.

 

Jason Raznick [00:38:07]:

Okay.

 

Chase Winovich [00:38:09]:

It's a lot easier to control environment versus willpower. Imagine you had a bunch of cookies on a table. You might be able to walk by once. Say, no, not for me. The second time you walk by, you're like, these are fresh cookies. Chocolate chip, your favorite kind. Say, no, I'm okay. But the 10th time, you're getting a glass of whole milk out the fridge and you're dunking on those cookies.

 

Jason Raznick [00:38:30]:

That's happened last week? Yeah. All right, last questions. How many unread text messages do you have?

 

Chase Winovich [00:38:37]:

I don't think I have any. So I try to make it a point every day to set aside a certain time and get this.

 

Jason Raznick [00:38:42]:

What do you do when you feel stressed or discouraged?

 

Chase Winovich [00:38:48]:

There's a quote. It's like, motivation is something that expires. That's why I recommend it. Like showering. Take it daily. I think that's a mental frame. I hate to be dismissive and say that doesn't exist.

 

Jason Raznick [00:39:02]:

I love that.

 

Chase Winovich [00:39:04]:

I'm a pretty inspired person.

 

Jason Raznick [00:39:06]:

I love it. So you don't feel stressed or discouraged ever?

 

Chase Winovich [00:39:09]:

Yeah, I definitely feel stressed from time to time. But I just would say that if I'm really overwhelmed or I'm stressed, then there's always the committee of sleep and just putting yourself and say, hey, listen, these are problems that I can't solve today, I'm going to deal with tomorrow. But really it's the framing of it for me and knowing that whatever I go through, just allowing that situation to transform me. There's been some stuff in business that has really tested my patience, but I've done a great job and my girlfriend's helped me with this. Just stepping back away from the situation and looking at it and reminding ourselves that, hey, listen, it might be with so and so now, but moving forward, eventually, if I'm going to be in business, I'm going to have to learn how to interact with people, to inspire people, to allow them to express whatever's on their mind and concerning them. And from that situation, it's like I've learned the lesson that the universe has presented to me, rather than allowing myself to feel like a victim for having this situation, which if I want to do something, and it's grandiose enough, there's going to be challenges and difficulties along the way.

 

Jason Raznick [00:40:14]:

Yeah, I thought that was my last question. But you said something about motivation is what?

 

Chase Winovich [00:40:20]:

Motivation. There's a quote and you could look it up. Exactly. Motivation is like.

 

Jason Raznick [00:40:26]:

It was amazing what you said.

 

Chase Winovich [00:40:27]:

Please say motivation is like showering. And that's why I recommend it daily. It's like every day. There are certain things that can inspire you that may not inspire other people. For example, when I have a conversation with somebody that's on my team and he's really fired up and he's enthused, that energy feeds me, whereas some other people might hear somebody and, like, that's not really how I operate. I don't know for am I am actively seeking out those energizing moments.

 

Jason Raznick [00:41:04]:

Chase, your vibe is unreal. If the person who's sitting right over there to my left right now, after I got things, if he came with, like, Jason, that interview was amazing. We should do this. We should do that. You talked to him about sleep and life patterns. Why don't you just do a series on life patterns and be all excited about that? That would motivate the shit out of me. I was very interested. I'm loving this interview.

 

Jason Raznick [00:41:24]:

We didn't talk maybe enough about your startups or football, but it was great the last 15 minutes. Amalia is like giving me the count on the five minutes and I can't because these are things that I'm trying to be better at. Because your question in the beginning, do you love yourself? Do I love myself? And the way I sleep and have a phone next to me is the stupidest thing ever. That's why I feel like shit with my eyes and stuff like that.

 

Chase Winovich [00:41:49]:

It's resistance. It doesn't want you to feel your best self. Jason, once again, if you recognize it for what it is as not even a moral issue, because when you see a sign, oh, this is bad, it makes you feel shame. Shame is a whole separate room almost. It's like what it is is this, at the end of the day, a smart decision for me to have my phone next to me, knowing that when I wake up, it's going to get my mental frequency, my focus all out of whack. It's going to spike my cortisol and do all these things versus just taking a different approach and just saying, listen, I'm just going to put my phone alarm or whatever it is outside the room. It's going to wake me up. I got the wifey to wake me up, too.

 

Chase Winovich [00:42:30]:

And once again, just going smashing through these resistance and these barriers.

 

Jason Raznick [00:42:34]:

Chase, we should just do a podcast interviewing these guys who we've seen do it and hear the stories. Because in two months, and I think you need accountability, too. I think it helps. So in two months, if we talk or you see me, I should be 25 pounds skinnier. I should be. There's no reason because that means I don't love myself. Like to go do at two in the morning and to go eat chicken and a biscuit, because fruit roll ups, it's just stupid. And it's just like, what am I doing that for? Why do my car, okay, I have an electric car, but actually I do have a gas car, too.

 

Jason Raznick [00:43:09]:

If it says I need premium gas, I put premium gas in, right? And I don't put the regular. So why do I put in this processed food of chicken and the biscuit, which tastes amazing on my tongue, like, it's fucking amazing. Okay? I love it. Maybe I don't know why I let myself put premium gas in a car, but I put chicken in the biscuit. It's a cracker into my mouth. Just that part mystifies me how I allow I. It's not like I'm saying to you, Chase, right now that I'm going to stop putting chicken and biscuit in my mouth, but that is thing that I don't know how I have to combat.

 

Chase Winovich [00:43:44]:

I think number one, is controlling the environment. It's a lot easier to control your environment than it is to count on your willpower, because if you get hungry enough, Jason, you're going to munch down those cookies, you're going to eat the chicken and biscuit, et cetera. The second thing is just doing a little bit of premeditation in terms of mapping out kind of roughly what you're going to eat. Meal prepping, et cetera, allows you not to have to rely on how you're feeling to decide what you're going to eat. There's a quote. It's like you don't go to a grocery store hungry, right. But it's like if you live your life in that sort of state where it's like, okay, how do I feel? Well, I don't really love myself, and I'm absolutely starving. Obviously, going to chickfila is going to be the obvious solution.

 

Jason Raznick [00:44:29]:

Yeah.

 

Chase Winovich [00:44:32]:

And then rinse and repeat. Then you feel bad about yourself. Then it's like those thoughts come in like you're a fat ass, this or that. And it's just that the process becomes cyclical, and then you become familiarized with that sort of process. Then it becomes who you are, and that's reflected in the body fat that some people carry. And to break out of that, once again, you kind of have to outsmart that defense mechanism to keep us where we're at. And that low sort of depressed victimhood state. I personally am not claiming that energy.

 

Chase Winovich [00:45:06]:

I see myself as something. I hold myself to a higher standard, and I'm not perfect. Nobody is. But you got to try something.

 

Jason Raznick [00:45:12]:

Yeah, I guess the thing is, you could be a victim of it all or not. And I guess I was going to make one more point on that. The body fat is like, say you do everything right. The thing that gets frustrating is that you don't really get instant gratification. You don't lose 15 pounds in a week. That's the thing I would love. But you don't.

 

Chase Winovich [00:45:37]:

Well, people don't get fat overnight. Right? It takes a while to do that. And people don't get skinny overnight either. That's why diet is. There's a difference, right? They say diet is for fat kids, nutrition plan is for fit kids. And it's a slight reframing, but it's more so about a lifestyle transition. And we operate on multiple planes. You got our body, you got our mind, you got our soul.

 

Chase Winovich [00:46:03]:

But at the end of the day. Jason. It's like this body that we have, this sacred body. It's our soul that's encapsulated inside of it. And so it's like a vessel that harbors this. And to treat it as something that is to be honored and worshipped is an honor. And feeding it exactly what it needs and not necessarily relying on the whims of what our emotions and feelings tell us, because those things are going to tell us to eat those cookies, to get chickfila. Because in its mind, it's separated from the downwind.

 

Chase Winovich [00:46:37]:

Sort of projection of how you see yourself. I see myself as being fit. I see myself as being 20 pounds lighter, 2% body fat lower. It doesn't rationalize things in that way. It just rationalizes things and says, hey, listen, I'm hungry. Feed me.

 

Jason Raznick [00:46:52]:

Yeah. So that's what you have to say. It's a vessel that you have to think of in a different way and not use what the mind is telling you at that moment, because it's not thinking of taking care of that vessel. That's a great way to put it.

 

Chase Winovich [00:47:02]:

Okay, exactly. And where you want to go with that vessel and what your fitness goals are.

 

Jason Raznick [00:47:09]:

Yep, I'm here to.

 

Chase Winovich [00:47:10]:

We're going to check back in, in a couple of months. Okay.

 

Jason Raznick [00:47:13]:

When are you writing a book, and when are we doing more of these mental health podcasts? This is fucking phenomenal, Malia. This could be two separate podcasts. I don't know. But anyways, the clips are what gets spread. So, Chase, I appreciate you coming on. I'm grateful. We'll talk about the draft stuff later. Let us know if there's anything you want us to write about or promote.

 

Jason Raznick [00:47:31]:

When you're ready to launch, market. The signature product, Benzinga is there for you. We appreciate you coming on the Raz report the last 25 minutes. Hopefully. I know it'll change my life, because there's things that I wrote down that I'm literally going to put on my mirror in my bathroom. Do I love myself? Literally? That's going on. And I hope one listener, 210, take some of this stuff, learn from it, and utilize it. And if you do, shoot me a message on Twitter or Benzinga, whatever, Jason Rasnick.

 

Jason Raznick [00:47:58]:

Or find Chase Winovich. You can find him. Great guy, great human. So glad we met. And, yeah, we didn't talk about your Chad tuft stuff, but it's very involved with Chad Tuft, an amazing foundation and charity, and that's how we originally met, actually. So thank you, Chase, thank you so.

 

Chase Winovich [00:48:13]:

Much for having me on, Jason. Good luck, everyone, with their own journeys. And God bless.

 

Jason Raznick [00:48:17]:

Okay, thank you.