You become your conversations. If you hang with people who always complain, “I’m in my middle-age, put me out to the pasture,” or “I guess I shouldn’t be exercising anymore” or even “I used to have a fire in my belly to do great work when I was younger but now I’m going coast.”
You’ll want to avoid those conversations, because your social orbit affects your mindset and consequently your mindset affects your behavior. Ultimately our daily behavior is a reflection of our deepest beliefs. If you believe you’re old because of some label on your driver’s license, then your behavior will be that of an old person. I’m encouraging you to hang around with young people. If you are at the top of your game, let’s say you’re the craft person of your field, and you’ve been at it for many years, I encourage you to find conferences every quarter where everyone in the room is 20 years old and has the got the fire in their belly, they’re innovating
and they’re optimizing and breaking rules. Hang out with people who are doing things differently, do things in different ways. Really check in with your social orbit and make sure that’s fuelling your longevity.
