Beyond Baseline: Stop Starting Your Day on Autopilot

Welcome to the Beyond Baseline Newsletter

Your weekly dose of high-performance insights, powerful mindset shifts, and real-world strategies to optimise your health, leadership, and resilience. This week, we’re focusing on one of the simplest ways to shift your energy, focus, and momentum: breakfast.

Try the experiment. Notice any changes in energy, clarity, or choices later in the day. Then tell us: what shifted for you? Your experience fuels this community, and your small wins might just spark someone else’s.

We're investing significant time and effort into this newsletter as a community piece designed to elevate lives.

Let’s dive in.

FLOURISH & FUNDAMENTALS

HEALTH HACKS FOR BUSY PROFESSIONALS

People often ask,

"Ross, what's the best piece of nutritional advice you'd give?"

It’s a tough one. But after years of reflection, here’s the answer I always circle back to:

Change your breakfast.

Why?

Most of us eat three meals a day. That’s 21 meals per week. Optimise just one of those consistently, and you’ve already improved a third of your nutritional decisions. You’re 33.3% ahead.

It doesn't have to be complicated.

We are all a bank of habits: some empowering, some not. Progress comes from consistently replacing disempowering ones with simple, effective behaviours that serve who you want to become.

Here’s a 60-second breakfast challenge:

• Banana

• Berries

• Milk (any kind - almond, oat, coconut, etc.)

• Half an avocado

• A scoop of protein or collagen peptides

Throw it all in a blender. Done. You've just made a high-quality breakfast in under a minute.

Don’t like smoothies? No problem. Try this instead:

• Scrambled eggs

• Half an avocado

• A handful of berries

• Your morning coffee or tea

Simple. Effective.

The real win here isn’t just what’s on your plate. It’s what this act represents:

• Momentum

• Clarity

• Ownership over your day

When it comes to building better habits, we often overcomplicate. Instead, set embarrassingly small goals and stick to them for 21 days. Master the habit.

Then layer on the next. This is what a mature, informed habit stacker looks like.

THIS WEEK'S EXPERIMENT

Focus on optimising your breakfast for the next 7–14 days.

Track the ripple effect by journaling answers to:

• How are your energy levels in the morning?

• Do you notice any difference in concentration or focus?

• Are your lunch and dinner choices different?

• What’s your overall sense of well-being like?

Resist the urge to change everything. Focus. Master. Stack. That’s how real transformation happens.

RESEARCH CORNER 🧠

THE COMPOUNDING EFFECT OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE ON NUTRITION

Building on our “Law of 33%” and previous research shares, here’s a compelling insight:

A New England Journal of Medicine study found that eating habits are one of the most contagious behaviours in social networks.

• When one person improves their nutrition, close contacts are 27% more likely to follow suit within six months.

• The effect is even stronger for people who regularly eat together.

This is the power of social influence, and it reinforces our central Beyond Baseline principle:

Optimise yourself, uplift others.

Your healthy breakfast might just kickstart someone else’s shift too.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT ✨

DR. BECKY HOWIE: BRINGING DEPTH BACK TO HEALTHCARE

I recently reconnected with Dr. Becky Howie, who used to be my daughter’s GP. We went on a long walk together, catching up on life, business, and what’s next - and I’m genuinely excited about future collaborations through Beyond Baseline.

Dr. Becky left the NHS after becoming increasingly frustrated with its limitations, especially the inability to spend meaningful time with patients. In her words, “real medical insight comes not just from textbooks, but from deep, repeated human interaction: looking into someone’s eyes, noticing changes in their skin tone, listening closely to their story.”

That kind of pattern recognition, which drives early intervention and holistic healing, is nearly impossible to achieve in a 10-15 minute appointment (if you can even get one).

Now, she’s expanded her work into keynote speaking, workshops, and writing, bringing depth, compassion, and nuance back into health education. Her core focus areas include:

• Midlife health and menopause

• Libido and sexual wellbeing

• Nutrition and metabolic optimisation

• Movement and physical vitality

• Emotional health and relationships

• Lifestyle tools for longevity

• Managing risky substances with clarity and care

Dr. Becky’s perspective will especially resonate with our female readers, and I’m conscious I’ve neglected you a little.

She shares our belief that health isn’t just about fixing problems, it’s about unlocking potential.

Stay tuned for more updates, insights, and ways to push beyond your baseline every week.

Until next time,
Ross Anderson
Beyond Baseline Founder

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Reach out via email: [email protected] or connect via LinkedIn.

Beyond Baseline: Helping ambitious professionals achieve their goals without sacrificing well-being.