Jing Gao

Jing is the Founder & CEO of Fly By Jing, a modern food brand on mission to bring uncensored Chinese flavors to the table. Jing’s work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, CNN, Fast Company, and Fortune.

On the first hour of her day.

I’m usually up around 5 AM every morning. 

I’ll knock out a quick breathing exercise and meditation, and then prep some coffee with collagen, MCT oil, and a range of different mushroom powders. 

I’m definitely most in flow in the early morning.

As a result, I’ll typically sit down and grind through work for a few hours until 9 AM, then shift gears into meets and calls for the rest of the day.

On diving into breathwork.

I’m still trying to find a consistent routine for my morning breathing. 

It takes me a lot of upfront energy and discipline to finish breathing exercises, so when I’m feeling tired or exhausted, I tend to skip them for the day.

The process itself involves deep, intentional breathing to kickstart oxygen flowing to the brain. Given everything going on in the world, we never know when anxiety will hit us. I’ve definitely felt like I’ve been holding my breath for months.

You just need to breathe sometimes.

Anytime I get tense about something, I do my best to stop what I’m doing and get in a few rounds of deep breathing to my psyche. That usually does the trick.

On her solo journey.

This year has been a challenge for me as traditional social interaction just isn’t available. As a result, I’ve found myself in a pretty solitary frame of mind for almost a year now.

At Fly By Jing, I added 3 full-time team members in August. Prior to that, I was the only one working full time. This has been a solo journey for quite a while now. 

I was lucky that I knew the new hires for a while.

It feels like a family with a palpable positive vibe. Spending deeper time with folks on team retreats really solidified that energy.

In early 2020, things were pretty rough and I was truly on my own.

I’m naturally introverted by nature, so when the going gets tough, I try to just push through on my own. Now, with my team, I have a really solid support system and adopted family.

On winding down at night.

After an 8 or 9-hour work sprint, my brain wants to slow down.

Unfortunately, that’s just been something I’ve had to come to terms with! If that didn’t happen, I’d just keep working through the day and well into the evening.

From a mental efficiency lens, whenever I can feel that I’m not at my peak, I force myself to just slow down and shift modes. 

This could involve cooking, having a meal with a friend, or just watching TV or reading a book. As I’ve started waking up earlier, I begin winding down around 8 PM. I’ll take a magnesium salt bath with some TCM herbs that help me relax.

I’m lights out between 9.30 and 10.