How Full Court Press owner Jeff Bruning starts his day

Driving the news: As the co-owner of Full Court Press, Bruning has overseen a slew of restaurants and bars in Des Moines like Lucky Horse, Fong's and El Bait Shop.

• When he first opened The Royal Mile 20+ years ago, he would work until 3am several days a week, listening to NPR and BBC in the early morning hours.

Yes, but: When the pandemic came in 2020, it was a pivotal moment that forced Bruning to "right-size" his mindset and consider what was important to him. And that led him to decide he needed to work less.

• "I spent 20+ years putting my mind and body and my family through hell," Bruning says. "At one point, we were at like 21 businesses."

State of play: Since then, he lost 130 pounds, biked 5000 miles in 2022 and found that he's "added by subtraction," in his life.

Here's how Bruning starts his day:

⏰ Wake up: 7am.

🍳 Breakfast: "An insane amount of eggs."

📚 What he's reading: Axios, the Guardian, the New York Times and the Associated Press.

• For the last 850+ days, he's also played brain-exercise games on MindPal.
• He also listens to two to three books a week on 2.3x speed.

💡 How Bruning runs his businesses: He "subscribes" to the Richard Branson and Yvon Chouinard models that focus on paying and treating employees well and trusting them to do their own thing.