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40-year-old Ben Goodwin is the cofounder and CEO of prebiotic soda brand Olipop.
A typical day for Goodwin involves a packed lineup of meetings and testing flavors at the lab.
Goodwin balances work with time cold-plunging and sauna-ing. He DJs on the weekends.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ben Goodwin, the 40-year-old cofounder and CEO of prebiotic soda Olipop based in Washington. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
A lot of CEOs try to be these relentless Terminators, which, to a certain extent, I am.
But I also like to go to the farmers market on the weekend. Like anybody else, I play Mario Kart, and I DJ when I can.
I’m really disciplined and I work really hard, but I also make sure that whenever I can, I insert some time for relaxing or being creative in a way that I find fulfilling.
I try to set my schedule up for balance. Here’s what a day in my life looks like.
BI’s Power Hours series gives readers an inside look at how powerful leaders in business structure their workday. See more stories from the series here, or reach out to editor Lauryn Haas to share your daily routine.
I wake up at 7 a.m., take supplements, drink cold brew in a wine glass, and take a hot-cold shower
Goodwin’s supplement cabinet.
Ben Goodwin
The first thing I do when I wake up is shove caffeine in my face and take a couple of key supplements, like creatine and a couple of things for my hormones.
A hot-cold shower is exactly what it sounds like. I switch off between hot water and the coldest setting. In the morning, I try to experience some discomfort to get ready for the day. Usually, as soon as it gets too cold, I switch it back.
I prioritize getting nutrition in the morning
For breakfast, I try to make something that has as much protein as I can cram in, and hopefully some fiber. Sometimes, if I’m under fire, I’ll just have a healthy bar.
I’ve experimented with a billion different diets. I did intermittent fasting for a long time. I did keto for a while. Now, I try to be mindful of when in the day I eat more carb-rich meals. So during my morning, there’s basically low to no carbs.
I start work at 8 a.m.
Goodwin at his home office.
Ben Goodwin
Usually, I’m in meetings until around 5 p.m., but sometimes until 7 p.m. I really try to stay away from calls and Zooms in the evening.
I try to work out before noon, but otherwise do it in the evening
Goodwin at Olipop’s San Francisco lab.
Ben Goodwin
There are definitely times when the last thing I want to do is work out. But I also know that if I don’t exercise, that’s going to create real problems for me. So, unless I’m genuinely too sore, I make sure to get regular exercise.
I’ll do some real cardio that doesn’t overtax me, like a fast uphill walk. Then I’ll do some barbell stuff, lots of squats and deadlifts, standing rows, curls, overheads.
I go to the lab to try flavors
If I have no calls, I try to get to the flavor lab around 3 p.m. The amount of time I spend at the lab depends on whether Olipop is actively working on a new flavor.
In recent years, Olipop has debuted three to four flavors a year.
I go into the flavor lab with my yellow notepad and make different iterations of my best guess of what will make the right formula. I try them all. I pick the best one and iterate until I find a spot that I’m really happy with. Then I send it to our lab in the Bay Area, and I’ll have them do the finishing touches as we get ready to commercialize.
I like to have a lighter lunch. I hate being full when working.
Goodwin said he likes to feel lighter when he’s working.
Ben Goodwin
I usually don’t know exactly when my lunch break will fall, how long it will be, or what I will have around, so lunch can be a little more variable.
It could be a smoothie, remnants of breakfast, or a snack. I tend to eat a lighter lunch, and one of the drivers of that is that I hate being full.
If I’m hitting that mid-day slump and I feel full on top of that, I am not going to be where I need to be. I like to feel lighter while I’m working so my brain has plenty of clarity.
On my rest days, I do thermal cycling
Goodwin at an offsite meet-up at Olipop’s San Francisco lab.
Ben Goodwin
I’ve been sauna and cold-plunging, which I call thermal cycling, for probably 15 to 20 years.
I can easily sit in a sauna for 45 minutes, and I’ll stretch while I’m in there. Then, I’ll typically use the cold plunge, which is set at about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and I’ll sit in that for five or more minutes.
I’ll do a couple of rounds of that. It knocks out any colds that are trying to take root, and I also find it really good for resetting my nervous system.
Work is very taxing on the nervous system. I run a little more anxious, so it helps ground me. It’s definitely uncomfortable, but I’m acclimated to it, and it’s super valuable.
Dinner is usually 7 to 8 p.m.
As the day goes on, I might try to have a more carb-rich meal at night because that’s going to soothe my nervous system a little more, especially if I worked out. I’ve got to put carbohydrates back in the muscles so I have more energy the next day.
I go to bed at 11 or 11:30 p.m.
On a weekday, I try to be asleep by midnight.
It is inevitable that I’m going to think about the business, but in my ideal world, when I’m done with my battery of calls, I’m just focused on winding down for the evening.
I DJ on the weekends
It’s important to spend time doing something you find really fulfilling and not thinking about work.
I DJ whenever I can, but it’s usually a weekend activity.
I’m into electronic music, like house or techno. I started DJing right after high school, so it’s been a really long-standing passion of mine. I went in the business direction because I thought I was more guaranteed to make a positive impact — but there could be a world post-Olipop where I’m really focused on music.
I don’t want to be 80 and looking back and thinking, “Oh, I didn’t do as much as I wanted to with one of my biggest passions.”
