David Rosser Begins Every Day With A Big Win

David Rosser begins his day at 4:30 a.m. Some mornings he runs—about five miles—but most of his early hours are spent doing a bootcamp-style workout with a men’s group called F3, which Rosser describes as a leadership group with an exercise problem. “By the time I start work at 6:30 or 7:00 a.m., I've already had interactions, I've already exercised, and my brain is ready to go,” says the 35-year-old Rosser, who lives outside Seattle and is president of Leafguard. “When you start your day with something hard, by the time you get into work you've already accomplished something. You're starting your day with a big win, which is really important.” 

He's aware of how this can sound to some people. “I know it seems extreme, but getting up early and starting my day with a routine and prioritizing health and diet is something that has really changed the way I operated as a business leader,” he says. 

His Journey

“I was an athlete growing up and being in shape was a part of my DNA, but I’m embarrassed to say I probably went 10 years without a regular fitness routine,” says Rosser.

At work, he says he got into a rhythm of performing his tasks and then going home and getting up the next morning and doing it all over again. “I started to feel crummy,” Rosser says. He went to his doctor and was prescribed anti-anxiety medication. He didn’t think that was the right diagnosis, and while his stress levels and anxiety were elevated, he realized it was because he wasn’t prioritizing his health.

“I started to run a little and that started to improve my mental health and the physical came along with it,” he says. And he adjusted his diet, eliminating sugar, dairy, and alcohol.

“So many people talk about ‘brain fog.’ Exercising and diet eliminated that fog, that lack of focus and lack of motivation,” he says. 

As his performance improves, he aims to get even better. “I’ve begun a journey where I’m working toward reaching the highest level possible,” he says. And he means both in life and at work.

His Process

“Leadership in the home services space is very much along the lines of ‘find a way to get it done,’ heavy on discipline and not allowing external issues or excuses to get in the way of company performance,” Rosser says. “You set your KPI and you take the necessary steps to achieve it.” And once you do, you set another one.

That process correlates to his wellness objectives. The key, of course, is being realistic and setting achievable goals.  

“Going at your own speed is paramount,” he says. As is being flexible and knowing that goals and priorities probably will require adjustments along the way. “It’s part of the journey. Just like when a lead source goes away or something causes your plan to shift, it doesn't mean you stop. It mean you find other ways to do it and you don’t accept defeat.” 

One area in which he’s set firm goals: Spending time every day with his wife and two children, ages two and four. “This is more important than anything else in my routine,” he says. 

His Advice  

By talking about his experience, Rosser wants others to know how good they can both feel and perform when they make wellness a priority. “Oftentimes it takes a catalyst. It takes somebody who’s going through a similar journey or has gone through it for them to see it's possible,” Rosser says. “I think people get trapped into believing that it's too late. It’s never too late,” he says. “It didn’t take me long to adopt this disciple and adapt to this mentality, and it didn’t take that long to see a change.”