141: You Are the Advantage: How to Become the Edge in a Competitive World

What if your greatest competitive advantage isn't the latest technology or business strategy, but something far more fundamental – your own biology? 

Drawing from the world of motorsports, where identical vehicles leave the driver as the ultimate differentiator, Jeffrey Mort reveals how this same principle applies to entrepreneurship. When everyone has access to the same tools and AI capabilities, your biological optimization becomes the true competitive edge.

This game-changing perspective dismantles the myth of the level playing field in business. The high performers aren't just working harder – they're operating with precision-tuned biology. Through accessible neuroscience, Mort breaks down how neuroplasticity, heart rate variability, mitochondrial density, and prefrontal cortex activation create an unfair advantage that's entirely within your control to develop.

The episode delivers a comprehensive three-step protocol for biological optimization: owning your morning window with strategic hydration and light exposure; training recovery as a skill through techniques like contrast therapy and HRV-focused breathing; and fueling for cognitive performance with neurosupportive nutrition. Each step is grounded in practical science yet explained in accessible terms anyone can implement.

Are you operating at 60% of your potential when you could be at 100%? This question frames the challenge Mort leaves listeners with – to select one domain to master and begin tracking a single variable this week. The path to becoming unstoppable isn't found in working harder or acquiring more resources, but in recognizing that in a world of parity, you are the advantage. Ready to build that edge together?

Chapters

• 0:00 The Motorsport Mindset
• 2:46 Busting the Level Playing Field Myth
• 3:51 The Neurobiology of Advantage
• 5:17 Step 1: Own Your Morning Window
• 7:10 Step 2: Train Recovery Like a Skill
• 10:37 Step 3: Fuel for Focus
• 14:38 Your Action Step This Week

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Anyone who knows me personally knows how much I love auto racing In motorsports. When every team has access to the same equipment the same engine specs, the same tire compounds, the same telemetry the only variable left is the driver. In business, when every company has the same tools, marketing platforms and artificial intelligence, you are the only true differentiator. In a world of parity, you become the advantage. Today, you're about to discover how to make that advantage unfair with biology, neuroscience and high performance health. Let's shift into high gear.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Hello, I'm Jeffrey Mort. If you're like most entrepreneurs, you're busy taking care of business, yet who's taking care of you? If you're ready to take your energy and performance to the next level in your life and your business, then this podcast is for you, because today you're going to start breaking boundaries of your mind, body and business with integrative health, and when you do that, your possibilities are limitless. I'm grateful you're here, yes, always grateful for you joining me here on a Breaking Boundaries podcast. And I often think while watching a race where every car was spec'd identically no difference in weight, no difference in horsepower or aerodynamics and yet one driver pulled away from the rest, not because of the car well, of course, unless they were cheating, but because of how he or she saw the track unlike anyone else, how his or her brain processed pressure, how the body recovered from fatigue. In half the time, that moment rewired how I looked at competition, not just on the track, but in life and in business. The same goes in entrepreneurship. I've coached incredible professionals in tech, in real estate, martial arts and health and many had access to the same strategies, the same platforms and the same data. But the ones who consistently win. They treat their biology like a weapon system their sleep, their recovery, their cognitive sharpness, their emotional regulation it's all dialed in. They are the advantage. Let's bust the myth of the level playing field. We're told that competition is fair. Everyone's got the same 24 hours, same opportunities, same access to knowledge. But what they don't tell you the people at the top are playing a different game internally. They're not just optimizing external systems, they're optimizing themselves.

Speaker 1: 3:08

High performance isn't just about hustle, it's about precision, biology and neurology. They know how to recover faster, they know how to process stress more efficiently, they know how to sustain mental focus and they know how to eliminate emotional volatility and make sharp decisions under fatigue In regulated environments. You become the unfair advantage when your nervous system, your hormones, your mitochondria are all firing at full throttle. Welcome to the neurobiology of advantage. Let's break it down with science, without all the jargon Neuroplasticity what is that?

Speaker 1: 3:57

That is the brain's ability to rewire new neural networks under stress, and what you want to do is you want to train it daily and you don't react. You respond calmly, decisively and eventually automatically. Heart rate variability your hrv this is your body's stress buffer higher. Higher HRV equals faster adaptation and better recovery. Mitochondrial density more mitochondria equal more energy and better endurance, and that means higher performance. You outlast your competitors, even if they are better on paper. In the prefrontal cortex activation, this is your CEO brain. When dialed in, you access clarity, empathy and high-level decision-making, even when under pressure or exhausted. These are not gifts, my friends. These are systems that you train, are systems that you train Now. If you're the kind of person who's ready to take action, then keep listening, because you're about to discover the advantage protocol Three steps to level up your biology and brain.

Speaker 1: 5:17

Step number one you want to own your morning window. The first 90 minutes really set the neurological tone of the day. This means hydration plus minerals, and this means before coffee. You really shouldn't be having caffeinated beverages on an empty stomach. You should certainly have those after or with a meal. But hydration with minerals. You want quality water. I've talked about that before, I'm not going to dive too deep into that. But you want water that doesn't not have any environmental toxins in it, any heavy metals. You want to be able to filter all that out and then add in the minerals that you need specifically in the morning.

Speaker 1: 5:56

We're talking about two very specific electrolytes. We're talking about sodium and potassium. How do you get that? Well, you can get the potassium from a fresh squeezed organic lemon and you can get the sodium from something like redmond real salt or himalayan sea salt, something that's pure and tested for uh impurities. That's a great way. You just need a pinch of that salt, just enough, so you can taste it. That sodium and potassium and clean water is really going to set the tone for the day.

Speaker 1: 6:27

And then sunlight exposure. You've heard me talk about sunlight as a nutrient. This activates cortisol rhythm. And then silent planning, workouts or movement. So this could be meditation, this could be guided hypnosis, this could be any type of mobility, such as walking or tai chi or qigong or yoga. Absolutely amazing for those first 90 minutes to set that neurological tone for the day and why it matters. You prime your cortisol, your dopamine, your acetylcholine. These are the neurotransmitters of drive and performance.

Speaker 1: 7:05

Next step, number two train recovery like it's a skill. Most people train hard but they recover poorly and that is backwards. That is backwards approach to success. So what can we do to train recovery like it's a skill? We can do cold exposure. Now, not everybody is ready for cold exposure. We need to make sure the central nervous system is ready for something like that. But once it's ready, we can do cold exposure two to three times a week.

Speaker 1: 7:36

You'd wanna do that post-workout or first thing in the morning, the way I suggest starting, you know, not necessarily with a full-on cold immersion, but you can simply do a cold shower. Or, if you want to ease into it, you could do contrast therapy. So in that shower, first you go hot, then you go cold, then you go hot, then you go cold. That is contrast therapy before you go, making that investment for a full cold immersion system. Sauna is also great when you want to get into that full regimen of contrast therapy. It would be a few minutes maybe, not even. Maybe you start off with 20 seconds in cold immersion, then you go right into the sauna to bring that core temperature back up. Cold immersion then you go right into the sauna to bring that core temperature back up. I recommend uh the therif therasage 360 infrared sauna with red light therapy. You can find that on our resource page, jeffreymortcom. Forward slash uh resource and you'll see the sauna that I personally use and recommend over there. You click on that link. You can also find the cold immersion system, the TheraFrost cold immersion system that I recommend.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Next, as part of our training, recovery, like it's a skill here, hrv training you can do breath work or wearables like a whoop strap, an Oral Ring, garmin watch, apple watch. We want to look at that HRV, that heart rate variability, and we want to look at that hrv, that heart rate variability, and we want to uh leverage that through something like breath work. So your 7-11 breathing as long as your exhale is longer than the inhale. So 7 seconds and 11 seconds, 7 in, 11 out, uh, that's going to set the tone for well, actually, it's literally setting vagal nerve tone which is going to help with heart rate variability and the higher the number, the better heart rate variability.

Speaker 1: 9:27

You never want to compare, uh, the number of the hrv milliseconds from one technical device to another. So don't compare your whoop strap to your aura ring, to your garment, to your apple watch, because it's uh, you know, apples to oranges when you're doing that. And then do not compare yours to somebody else's. It's very bio-individual, your hrv number um. So what you're shooting for is elevating your hrv number um on average from day to day, because it's going to vary, uh, different times of the day. It's going to vary different times of the day. It's going to vary depending on the stressors of the day. So you want to look at that on an average.

Speaker 1: 10:06

And then, deep sleep optimization, dark room magnesium before bed, no screens before bed, stop eating before three hours before bed. This is all going to make a huge difference and why it matters. Recovery is when performance gains happen, it's when muscle rebuilds, it's when memories consolidate and it's when stress resets. Very, very important. And step number three fuel for focus, not just for function or for fun. You want to ditch the inflammatory foods, get rid of those processed oils, get rid of those sugars and by all means, get rid of the alcohol. This is going to make a huge, huge difference in recovery and fueling for focus. Then you want to add neurofuel foods that are high in omega-3s. You want to add things like wild-caught salmonines, mackerel. If you don't love fish, then take the next step. Maybe go for some walnuts or take a high quality omega-3.

Speaker 1: 11:09

I can't link up any nutritional supplements on the show here, but you can go over to jeffreymortcom slash shop and you can find the omega-3 that we recommend over there. In our practice we use that about two to three grams per day and, of course, not giving any medical advice or nutrition plans here. Lion's mane is another great neuro food. What is lion's mane? That is a medicinal, medicinal mushroom. You can get that in supplementation form we have a great one over at our shop page or you can simply get uh, actual lion's mane mushrooms in the supermarket and add those into your diet. I do that, uh, every couple of weeks. I will buy some lion's mane. It's really good. Uh, great for the brain.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Also, medium chain triglycerides what do those look like? Well, um, coconut oil is one of the best ones, so that's one of the highest quality MCTs that you can get. A medium chain triglyceride Absolutely great there, trying to think of my favorite brand, and I can't think of it right now. Onnit is one of them. But you can find a great MCT oil Just make sure that it's organic, third-party tested, good manufacturing processes.

Speaker 1: 12:24

And another neurofuel that I use on a daily basis a high-quality matcha green tea powder instead of coffee. You know I have a great coffee that we recommend, but I typically go with the decaffeinated version, just because you know I don't respond well to caffeine anymore. Now that I've got my central nervous system dialed in like really dialed in I notice what throws that off and what brings it around, and you know, I know that's one of the issues I had years ago with my central nervous system being so dysregulated. So a high quality matcha green tea ceremonial grade, organic as often as possible, instead of that coffee.

Speaker 1: 13:04

And then, to round out the fuel for focus here, cycle carbs around training and sleep. You want to fuel the brain and support serotonin. And when I say carbs, I'm talking about complex carbohydrates. I'm not talking about simple carbohydrates, I'm talking about complex carbohydrates like leafy green vegetables and organic fruit, brightly colored fruits and vegetables. These are the good carbohydrates, you know. Starchy carbs like sweet potato or Japanese purple potato these are great as well. And you want to balance this with lean protein, like the wild caught salmon that I mentioned earlier, or a pasture raised chicken, so the chicken breast is actually leaner than, say, thighs or drumsticks, so you want to go with that. Thighs are drumsticks, so you want to go with that. And it's important to balance that out not just with the lean protein, also with healthy fats like olive oil, avocado and fiber. These are all key as well to balancing out your diet and why this matters. Brain fog and blood sugar swings kill decision making and confidence, so precision nutrition creates mental clarity and we can help you with that as well.

Speaker 1: 14:22

Now your action step this week. Choose one domain to master this week. Choose either morning rhythm, your recovery or your brain fuel, and then track one variable heart rate variability, resting heart rate, sleep score or energy level at 3 pm and ask yourself how sharp am I really compared to who I could be? You are the advantage my friend, you always have been, and the question is are you running at 60% of your potential or 100%? In sports, business and in life, the unfair advantage is not the tools or the tech. It's in the human who uses them, and when you master your biology and your brain, you become unstoppable. In a world of parity, the only edge left is the human one, using high-performance health. Let's build that edge together. Share this episode with somebody that you train or work with or compete with, and let them know as well that this is how champions are built. Until next time, keep breaking those boundaries and I will see you in the next episode. Bye-bye.