This site is the website of motivational speaker Craig Harper. A constantly updated, one-stop information, inspiration, education and motivation station. Unlike many similar sites, it is a totally free resource for anyone who is serious about moving from mediocre to amazing in any area of their personal or professional life. With hundreds of articles covering a wide range of subject matter, great interviews with cool people and inspirational video posts, there's more than enough brain-food to keep you busy for hours. Okay, days!! Enjoy.
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Craig Harper is Australia's leading
motivational speaker
and educator (according to Google Australia). He is a highly
sought-after corporate coach and is considered to be
a leader and pioneer in the areas of personal and
professional development.
Working with hundreds of
teams, companies and a wide variety of organisations
on numerous continents over the last twenty years
has given Craig a unique insight into, and
understanding of, human performance and all its
variables. Craig has an ability to educate, inspire,
challenge and make people laugh all at the same
time!
Get Comfortable Hi Team, hope you enjoyed your weekend. Okay, this article is long - even for me. It's like I slipped into some kind of writing time-warp and woke up to discover that I had produced a three thousand word epic. You may wanna get yourself a coffee and foot stool. It's possible that I got a little carried away 'cause it's a very relevant and interesting topic for all of us. Except me of course because I'm incredibly young. But the rest of you fossils may find it interesting. Helpful even. What's Meant to Happen
We all understand what happens to our body and our mind as we age. Or at least, what's meant to happen. We see the evidence of ageing around us every day. We have the younger adults group, the middle-aged group and of course, the older group. And true to our "label", the vast majority of us tend to act our age. The youngies do "age-appropriate" young people things, the middle-aged group hang out with their middle-aged friends with their sore backs and do middle-age-type stuff, while the oldies bowl and bake.
Or so it might seem to an alien researcher from the planet Nebulon 9. Age-Appropriate Behaviour
But what if this kind of thinking, labelling, role-playing and "age-appropriate" behaviour is the very thing that leads so many of us to premature sickness, ageing, dysfunction, depression and even death? What if it makes us old before our time? Guess what? It does! In fact, it plays a much bigger role in the physical, mental and emotional decline that we typically associate with normal ageing, than most people would ever imagine.
"Sadly, many of us will think, choose and behave ourselves into premature old age"
Unnecessary Ageing
What would you say if I told you that much of the physical and psychological deterioration we see in the majority of our population is totally unnecessary? Avoidable? In fact, I'm here to tell you that a great deal of the ageing you and I see around us every day, has little to do with genetics or years on the big blue ball and a lot to do with exercise, diet, lifestyle, choices, behaviours, habits, beliefs and mindset. In other words, what we do with what we've got. Some intelligent people maximise their time, genetics and potential, while others throw it all down the crapper and then hope that the doctor will "fix them" as they age.
Old Before Our Time
That's not to say that we can totally avoid the realities of ageing (of course), but it is to say that there is no "need" for us (1) to age at the rate that most of us allow ourselves to and (2) to conform to the mass stupidity that seems to control the behaviours, choices and lifestyles of far too many people over the age of forty. Of course I am not referring to chronological ageing here - which is nothing more than an arbitrary figure that only has the meaning we give it - but rather, physical and psychological ageing. It is my experience and observation that far too many people do in fact get old before their time. Their behaviours, thinking, choices, lifestyle and habits "make them old". We all know people who have been destroying their health, their quality of life and shortening their life expectancy for years.
Physical Deterioration
Without some kind of intervention (an exercise or activity program) we know that our muscles will waste, our lung capacity will decrease, our heart will get weaker, our bones will become more brittle, our flexibility and mobility will decrease, our reaction time will slow, our posture will suffer, we will move slower and we will become more susceptible to illness, injury and disease. Unless of course we happen to live a naturally active lifestyle; one where we regularly expend lots of energy, move, lift, stress our body and consistently do physical stuff. We know that with the (unnecessary) physical deterioration (that comes via inactivity) we will also see a significant (and unnecessary) level of psychological and emotional deterioration.
What a waste.
Of course our physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual health are all intertwined and inseparable, so when we allow ourselves to become physically unwell, we can also expect that our health will be negatively impacted on all levels.
"Youth is as much about thoughts, feelings, choices and behaviours, as it is about muscle mass, lung capacity and appearance - which is why we see young seventy year-olds and old forty year-olds".
Biological Age
I have spoken to most of you before about a concept called biologicalage (also known as physiological age) and we have established that by manipulating certain variables (diet, lifestyle, exercise, stress levels, social behaviours) we can absolutely turn back our body clock. Even though we may be fifty (chronologically) we can 'build' ourselves the body equivalent to that of a typical thirty year-old - in terms of cardio-vascular function, strength, bone density, blood pressure, flexibility and even appearance. If you've punished your body for fifty years it may be more of a challenge of course, but at the very least, you can see significant positive change and a notable improvement in your overall health, physical function, fitness and emotional state.
Living in a Full-Body Cast
What typically happens with a large percentage of the population is that we get to a point in time when, for a range of reasons, we simply stop "doing stuff"; we use our brain and body less and the deterioration begins almost immediately. Have you ever seen what happens to the muscles on a broken leg after it's been in a cast for six weeks? Because they are not being used, the muscles will almost disappear. Well, in a similar way, some people get to a point where it's like they put their body and their brain in a cast. Forever. The net result is rapid deterioration - on all levels. Retirement
Sometimes this behavioral change correlates with retirement but not always. We simply stop doing what we've done for years - lifting, walking, hammering, climbing, carrying, cleaning, working, stretching; physical stuff. And as soon as this happens our body begins to age at a faster rate and we begin to see numerous undesirable biological changes; increased fat and decreased muscle mass being two of them. It's hard to quantify (the rate of ageing) as it varies from person to person, but let's just go with... a much greater rate (than our counterparts who remain more active).
Some people get "old" rapidly, not because they have reached a certain number of years on the big blue ball but simply because they reach a point on their journey where (for whatever reason) they have gone from being very active (mentally and physically) to very inactive in a short space of time; the net result being oldage. We've all seen people age ten years in the space of twelve months.
Retiring From Health?
Now, I'm not suggesting that Mr Bricklayer (for example) should keep laying bricks until he's a hundred years old, but what I am suggesting is that if he goes from laying bricks all day - in other words moving, walking, carrying, lifting, expending energy, maintaining fitness, strength and function - to sitting on his retired arse and watching Oprah while consuming the same amount of calories as he did when he was working physically hard (which many people will do), then he's gonna be a big fat, unhealthy and miserable retired bricklayer quicker than you can say heart disease, diabetes and back pain. Retiring from work shouldn't mean retiring from activity or health. Or life. He needs to find a way to maintain (or even improve) his physical, emotional and psychological "fitness" - without the bricks!
For many people, retirement should be renamed the-beginning-of-the-end because they stop doing pretty much everything that kept them in shape (I'm talking about from a health and function perspective here... not from a lookingincredible perspective). Of course I'm not suggesting that we all work until we're ninety five but for some people, the day they retire is the day they stop using their mind and their body. It's also the day they begin to deteriorate. Ironic, when you consider how excited most people are about their retirement.
And while it's common and 'normal' for some of us to train our body in an effort to stay young physically, surprisingly, the majority of us don't consciously take a similar approach when it comes to keeping our mind in shape - that is, consciously 'exercising' our mind like we do our body.
Interesting when we consider these two facts:
1. People typically slow down mentally as they age. Short-term memory suffers (where are my keys?), we process information slower, find it harder to concentrate and focus, are more easily confused, are more easily distracted and agitated, become vague and tend to be less creative and adventurous and more fearful.
2. They don't have to (slow down). Countless research studies (and simple observation) tell us that our mind, like any other muscle (okay, it's not a muscle but you get my point), needs to be trained to stay in shape. Excluding those with specific medical conditions, we find that people who have remained mentally active as they have aged typically see little (or no) deterioration in their level of brain function. Some of the greatest academics, teachers, inventors, leaders and pioneers did their greatest work in the last quadrant of their life.
Better With Age
While I don't consider myself to be in the last quadrant of my life (I hope), I do know that at forty five years young I'm mentally sharper, my memory is better, I'm more creative, I'm producing better results, I'm writing better, thinking clearer and know that I'm improving (not maintaining) each year because I'm maximising what I've been given and I'm consciously and consistently training both my mind and my body. I also have an absolute belief and expectation that I will get better as I age - not because I'm more gifted than the next person (which I'm not) but because I will continue to find a way, rather than find an excuse; an option available to all of us.
An over-used but accurate saying is "the moment we stop using it, we start losing it" - and while it sounds extremely cliche - it's actually scientifically sound. The good news is that our brain (like our body) is an amazing organ that can adapt (grow 'muscle') at any age.
It's great to be in shape physically - and clearly that's a big part of the staying young formula - but what's the point of having four percent body-fat, Herculean biceps and a killer six-pack, if you have a mind like a Dalmatian? So after two hundred years (or so) of helping people get in shape physically, here are my tips to help you develop and maintain your high-performance mind and to stay young.
1. Set goals.The moment we stop setting goals is the moment we start going backwards. Without goals we tend not to think, plan, rationalise, problem solve or create as much; that is, use our brain.
2. Laugh. Laughing is incredibly therapeutic and healing. It's not illegal to laugh, be silly or have fun as you age. Although some grumpy old farts seem determined to prove me wrong.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."
3. Play.Two of my favourite people in the world are a seventy years-young couple who ski, ride mountain bikes, run up and down sand dunes, hike, lift weights, travel, help others, play practical jokes and hang out with 'silly' young people. They both have a biological age of less than forty.
4. Study. You don't have to go back to college and get your PhD. (although you might) but perhaps explore short courses, workshops; anything to blow out those cerebral cob webs and get those rusty cogs turning once again. Many people seem to stop learning when they finish with school. Pity. One of my business partners (Rona) is fifty four. She will graduate with her bachelors degree (in Exercise Science) in a few months and has already informed me that she wants to continue studying once she completes her current course. The other day she told me "it's the best thing I've ever done in my life" - condolences to her husband.
5. Learn a new language. Research tells us that people who speak two languages (regularly) age (mentally) at a slower rate than their uni-lingual (I made that word up) buddies. They stay in shape (mentally) for longer. Being bi-lingual even delays the onset and progression of Alzheimer's. Now, if only you spoke three languages...
6. Express yourself creatively. Write something - a book, some poetry, a business plan, start your own blog. Paint, draw, sculpt - my father began to paint at sixty five and now is an awesome professional artist. Invent something - a lot of the best inventors are crusty old guys. C'mon on you crusty old guys, invent something!
7. Read. And not only romantic novels, read stuff that makes you use your brain and challenges you a little; stuff that makes you think, reason, remember and exercise your brain.
8. Consciously try to remember stuff. It's all in there, you just need to dust it off! Find your old school photos and name all your class mates. Try to remember (and replay in your mind) moments in time. Your first boyfriend's, next door neighbour's, brother's... name (the one you kissed).
9. Learn to manage stress. Not coping with ongoing stress will make you old almost quicker than anything. Stress can make you strong or it can make you sick. Avoid it when you can, deal with it when you have to. Learn to be the calm in the chaos and remember that things only have the meaning you give them. Stress is a personal response, so learn to react differently. A good or bad outcome is rarely about the situation - and nearly always about how you deal with it.
10. Do some mental workouts. Crosswords - fun and great for your brain. Puzzles, problem solving stuff, force yourself to think, reason, calculate. When you have time on your hands is the best time to brain-train. In the car, on the train, bus, waiting rooms - do maths problems, spell words, try to recall specific information. Hmm, exactly what does DNA stand for again? What is the capital of Poland?
11. Have a project. Something to keep you thinking, communicating, planning, solving problems, remembering, developing your potential; in general - bench pressing for your brain. Might be landscaping your property, starting a not-for-profit organisation, building a small business, rebuilding your '56 Buick, climbing Everest; whatever it is that keeps you stimulated, learning, adapting, growing and mentally in shape.
Enjoy your youth.
You're welcome.
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