New Year-Fresh Opportunity: How Your Current Habits Impact Aging

We have all seen the January pattern. 

We make New Year's resolutions, have great intentions of sticking to them and by February they fizzle.  Making a lofty goal is not hard, but sticking to the practices that get us there is.  We notice the results of the practices that lead to greatness, but do not witness the daily sweat behind the scenes.  Transformation does not happen overnight and certainly not just in the month of January.

These two women are both 80. 

Whether we are intentional or not, we transform.  Regardless of genetics, it is pretty clear they have quite different lifestyles.  Over time their daily habits determined their physical state after 80 years of living.  I am guessing that we have each seen more examples of the latter lifestyle among the elderly than the former.

Our bodies mirror our lifestyle habits.  Our minds do too, but the impact on our brain is not as visible. Excellent minds are crafted with habits that foster intellect and those neglected suffer consequences.  The symptoms are often veiled and do not appear until decades after Alzheimer’s and other diseases of dementia begin to rear their ugly heads.  

Cognitive health has a huge impact on our focus and productivity at work regardless of your age.  When we neglect our body and brain health, it has an instant negative impact that also increases our risk for dementia down the road.   

“ Of all the the challenges of brain aging, nothing compares to the unprecedented scale of Alzheimer’s disease…With rates increasing at their current clip, the disease (in the US alone) will almost triple by 2050…equal to the populations of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles combined.:.”

Lisa Mosconi, PhD, director of the Women’s Brain Initiative, Weil Cornell Medical College, New York

Improvements in medicine are allowing us to live longer lives but far too often our brains are not healthy enough to benefit.  Longer lives dramatically increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and other cognitive impairments.  

How do we keep on the path to a transformation we desire?  

How do we mitigate the aging of the body and brain?

Decide.

Do you want to be the person who has the ability to lift kettlebells OR struggle to walk with a cane? Do you want to lead the next great innovation for your company, shatter your income ceiling OR stay stagnant and simply maintain your status quo?

The result of the easy path is rarely one we desire, and the number of destinations to chart a course are numerous.  Getting clear on where we want to be by the age of 80 is a compilation of over 29,000 days of choices and habits. 

Leaders are agile, not fragile.

You have dozens of choices today that will transform you.  

I encourage you to choose agility for your body and your mind.

It begins with how we identify ourselves and the steps we take to be that person on a consistent basis. New year's resolutions rarely stick more than a month, but adopting an identity is far more effective.  Who are you and what does that kind of person do?  What habits do they have?

Having a mindset of being fit, being a leader, being sharp, being a record breaker carries with it a clear sequence of choices of not only who that type of person is, but how they behave.

Those who thrive defy gravity.  They live in ways that prevent cognitive decline. They are curious, ever-evolving, and adaptable to life’s challenges.  They are agile not fragile.

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a practice. - Will Durant

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