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Garten, which takes its name from the German word for garden, is a corporate wellness company that focuses on teaching employees healthy habits so that they live longer, better and, yes, more productively.

As evidence, Batara cites  published by ISS. “When people eat healthily, they also have other healthy habits, such as everything from meditation to being educated about food, lifestyle, getting better sleep [and] hydration. … [That leads to] a massive reduction in healthcare costs.”

Batara had found his niche. But he had lost his way.

“I found manipulative ways to move up the ladder and position myself to get more opportunities,” he says plainly. “I was ruthless.”

And not just professionally. He found himself chasing all the avenues of instant gratification, from working out to garner the admiration of younger women to routine happy hours that led to frequent drinking.

For a while, Batara felt like nothing could stop him. “Achieving that success was absolutely rock bottom,” he says. One day, he found himself driving on a bridge, going faster and faster, eventually reaching an obscene speed and wondering why nothing, not a cop, not so much as a bump in the road, was stopping him.

“I was like, ‘Why are all these really good things happening to me?’ … It was just a really weird amount of guilt.”

That’s when Batara got serious about the kind of self-discipline a monk might envy. He didn’t just want his degree. He wanted to be a better husband, a better father and a better employee as well.

“At that time, I started listening to a lot of self-development,” Batara says. “Everything affirmed my beliefs that in order for you to get to [that] point, you had to ‘break’ or get rid of the old self.”

Batara started rising at 3 a.m. every day, dedicating the hours between 3:30 and 7 a.m. to school and personal growth (reading, writing and exercising). From 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., he focused on career growth, and then he committed himself to family time between 5 and 8:30 p.m.

“Gary’s discipline and dedication to fit in school with his career, family and personal commitments didn’t really surprise me because, before school, he was already disciplined on going to the gym and working out regularly first thing in the morning,” Marilyn says. “Anyone who works out on a consistent basis knows it’s not about motivation. It’s about discipline and building strong habits.”

That discipline trickled into other parts of his life with positive results too. He recognized areas at home where he could help out not because it benefited him directly but because it was simply the right thing to do.

He reconnected with his siblings, making a point to name a day and time when they should get together rather than promising some vague date. And, when his Bachelor of Science in Management was completed in 2019, he paid his parents back for the tuition they provided for his degree. Yes, the money could’ve come in handy since Marilyn had decided to stop working outside the home to focus on raising their children, but Batara knew the sacrifice was the right one to make.

Then he signed up for the Master of Business Administration – Competency-Based������Dz�������.

Batara’s career, meanwhile, didn’t suffer for the added responsibilities at home and at school. In fact, quite the opposite.

“Ultimately, I started to do even better in my career, because I was less focused on myself,” Batara says, sounding a little stunned. “The trajectory of my career continues to go up, but it is a lot more meaningful, and there are people like my wife around me again encouraging me.”

For her part, Marilyn sees plenty to encourage. “Now, our family spends a lot more quality time with each other,” she says. “Gary has learned to take on more yet manage his time effectively and efficiently.”