Yellow Shelf Podcast

For the Long Run #author Jessica Spendlove

β€’ Johanna Fink, Host of Yellow Shelf

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 8:24

 For the Long Run: Build Your Daily Operating System for Energy, Recovery and Wellbeing

More energy today. 
Better health for life.

For the Long Run gives you a personalised system for protecting your energy, resilience and recovery, one habit at a time. The goal? Closing the gap between what you know you should do to feel your best ― and the key actions that are actually practical and sustainable for the long term.

Jessica Spendlove has spent 15 years inside elite sport, military and corporate environments. That experience has shaped the framework she now teaches to leaders, founders and teams to boost their wellbeing and performance. For the Long Run is built around five daily rhythms (nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep and connection) and the practical question of how they operate under real-life pressure.

It's time to stop feeling exhausted, to stop cycling through burnout and reset, and instead design an operating system that actually works for you. For the Long Run is your guide to sustainable high performance ― for today, tomorrow and decades to come.

To connect with Jessica ....
https://jessicaspendlove.com/book/
https://jessicaspendlove.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jess_spendlove_dietitian/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaspendlove

GIVEAWAY - 3 NIGHTS EDEN RETREAT
Checkout - 
www.instagram.com/p/DbmA2JEE9_w/?img_index=1 

SPEAKER_01

Good afternoon, Jessica Spendlove. Welcome to Yellow Shelf. Thank you for having me, Joe. Oh, my pleasure. Congratulations, author of For the Long Run. Jessica, tell us all about your book.

SPEAKER_00

So for the long run is all about feeling good today in a way that works for you, but being able to sustain for today, tomorrow, and for decades to come. So I guess that's the big idea of the title. And it really comes down to how do you have more energy today? How do you recover effectively and properly for your life? And what does that even mean? Because I think a lot of people don't actually in the corporate world, what is recovery? You know, so that's a big piece. And this is all about well-being the foundation of sustainable performance and not burning yourself out. And Jessica, for me, your book was about living.

SPEAKER_01

Do you know, living the energy?

SPEAKER_00

It's important, you know, it's not about suffering or making it hard. I feel like that's the message. Health has to be hard, health has to be difficult. Here's a 10-step 5 a.m. routine, which you're gonna hate but force it into your life. No, you know, we need to say that's not working for so many people that hasn't worked, and it's left people feeling like they're doing everything but feeling worse than ever. And so this is really about seeing, you know, I've spent a career and a lifetime in, you know, high-performing, well-being environment. So I've seen on a principle level what works. And so there's a bit of like taking that and translating that, but it's also my own lived experience of getting it wrong and and the the tension of going, even though I know the things and I help people to do the things, I've gotten in my own way at times. And so it's really this lived experience. And yeah, helping people live their life, their actual life that they live today, not the the the version they think they need to live and making it work.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and or or thinking I I'm gonna get to that version I want to get to, or it's like you you just need you need to live it. You need to live the energy and live the you know, the effort.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And also not benchmarking against a past version of ourselves, you know, not going, I'm 45 or I'm 55 or 35 or whatever it is, and thinking, well, I want to exercise five days a week like I did when I was 25. I don't know. That's just an example, you know. We tend to think of the best ever version of ourselves, and I'm sure we felt great at that time point, and that's what we might want to aim for, but are we in a different life stage, a different career stage? Like you putting your best ever as your baseline minimum is setting you up for failure. And I'm like, let's flip that, let's set you up for success. What's going to work for you right now? Have the stretch goal. I'm all good with that. But what can you actually do on a day-to-day basis? Yeah, to live and feel better and have capacity and build momentum and enjoy yourself.

SPEAKER_01

And Jessica, why why write the book? Like I know you do so much work in the corporate space, you're a podcast host. I mean, you live as a job and a career, but why write the book? I I'm wondering if you could share, you know, a bit about the writing journey and why now?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. There was a few, you know, if I look back, I like Matthew McConaughey's concept of green lights. And if I like to look back at some green lights that maybe happened, you know, maybe four or five years ago, I would have said, I'll never be an author. Um, and I just probably never had the belief that I could be an author. And then I had a publisher at Murdoch reach out, and we've, you know, got a really good relationship. And she was the initial catalyst for making me think maybe I've got something to contribute. And it wasn't the right time then for a few different reasons. I got really unwell, combination of burnout and COVID, and wasn't the right time. And then I ended up having a baby two days before Christmas in 2024. And I don't know, it's a big life transition. It gets you thinking about where you're at, you know, personally and professionally. And I sat with that over the next kind of six months. And for someone who's very science trained, this might sound a bit woo-woo, but I just had a lot of book energy, book messages from the universe. Um, a few things happened. I got connected to the publisher at Wiley. And even though, you know, thinking about my message for say four or five years, putting 15, 16 years of a career, but even personal experiences from, you know, back when I was in primary and high school, like there's been a long history of going into this. It moved very fast. It was about a 12-week process of talking about it, signing the contract to delivering the final draft. Yeah. Um, and within that, it was a two-week holiday to Thailand and half the time actually mapping out the architecture of the book. So, you know, why now? It felt like the right time. I felt like I could add more value to people's lives in this phase of life, having had more experience. But it's also about me, you know, moving into the corporate arena, doing more speaking, and just having this as a tool to support that, but also reach more people, you know, in a really systematic way. I have the podcast, but depending on when you tune in, I'm talking about whatever I'm talking about that week, where this book is a really the architecture and it's a very strategic design and kind of layering in the information to build, um, because that's what I'm all about, like path of least resistance. So there's a few reasons as to why now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Oh, thank you for sharing that. And Jessica, tell us uh, I'm connected to you on Instagram and LinkedIn, where if we're curious about you, your work, the book, and even your podcast, I'm gonna put some links in the show notes. Um, do you want to tell us where we go to find out more? Find out more about the book.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, look, I'm very active on uh LinkedIn and Instagram. So depending on what you what you prefer, the content's similar but slightly different. And then my website kind of houses everything. So where you can find the podcast, get to the social accounts, information about the book. You know, really grateful. Look, it's kind of everywhere online, stores and all of that. So depending on where you like to buy and consume from, um, you can find it pretty easily. And plus, my name is also quite unique, so pretty easy to find in in that regard as well.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Well, look what I'll do, I'll put some links in the show notes. I mean, enjoy the journey. It's such an accomplishment. You get your work out there, you get the message, and you get to share it with others. I'm sure you'd love some feedback when people read the book, they can reach out to you. Um, yeah, and just let let you know. And the book's available now, August is a great time to get a copy of the book.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it is. So um, to celebrate, you know, the the release of the book, I am actually giving away a three-night stay at Eden Retreat. So if you are in Australia or you're happy to travel to Australia, it's a a health retreat, a luxury health retreat in Australia. So I've partnered with them to give a three-night stay. It's valued at over $3,000. So if you do buy the book in any form, um, all you need to do is follow me on Instagram, follow Eden, and send me proof of purchase. And every book is an entry. So one lucky person on that stay. And the reason I've partnered with them is because sustainable high performance is not just about the output, it's about the rest and recovery. And, you know, I've stayed there twice before. I actually just stayed there a few weeks ago. Coming into the book launch phase, you know, a lot of people take rest once they're exhausted and burnt out. Whereas I'm trying to get people to rest before doing that. You know, great food, movement, nature, very aligned on philosophy. So hopefully it's a win-win. One lucky person will get go and experience it. Uh yeah, so up until the end of August. Okay, well, I'm gonna pick it up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, links in the show notes to make it easy for anyone to get curious and to connect. Jessica, enjoy this interesting time for you. Well done. Uh, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me on, Joe. Cheers.