Road to 100 — Starting Late
How To Succeed Even When You Start Later in Life
For someone to appear in three Super Bowl games, win two of them and be the most valuable player (MVP) in one of them would be a stellar performance for any football player. For someone to do all this after the age of 40 is amazing. Yet that’s exactly what Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (or as the world knows him, Tom Brady) has accomplished. He won the 2021 Super Bowl, with a brand-new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with no preseason, at the age of 43. No other player has ever come close to these milestones, let alone his overall 10 Super Bowl appearances, 7 wins, and 5 MVP’s during his 20-year career.
Brady, for 20 years, has been subjected to punishing tackles, the Deflate-gate scandal, injuries, and a rotating door of teammates. Yet, he continues to win. Yes, he is an anomaly, but there are reasons why he is the Greatest of All Time (GOAT). And he wants to continue playing and winning more championships. There’s no sign of him retiring anytime soon.
Brady plays smart. He prepares more than any other player, and is a leader that teammates follow. Tom puts the team before himself, including from a salary perspective. Still, he could not be the player he is on the field without his fitness regime. He calls it the ‘TB12’ method, an approach to fitness that focuses on “pliability,” or the human body’s ability to be flexible, agile, and be able to take hits and bounce back quickly.
My Late Start
The “Road to 100” series suggests how we can live a long and healthy lifespan to 100 and beyond. This journey can start much earlier in one’s life, yet it is never too late to start! When I turned 53, I was on a downward health spiral, a story I share in my book “Deep Health: Using Artificial Intelligence to Live longer & Healthier.” Despite the belief, I had achieved my lifelong goal of becoming an executive in a large bank; I soon realized that was the goal others assumed I’d reach and not the one I wanted. With extensive travel, work stress, and doing the same thing over and over again every day, I started wasting away mentally and physically.
So, it started making me think about the road I truly desired. On that score, my mind was a desert — I had no idea where that road started, let alone led. I searched for answers and found only the things I didn’t want to pursue. At least, I figured, that discovery was a start. The exercise resulted in a small number of exciting options, which I narrowed down to three. I loved writing, and I had forgotten that fact from when I was a child. I loved helping people think about business strategy — starting as Manager of the Small Business Consulting Service at Queen’s University. I had forgotten about that too. Finally, I held an insatiable curiosity about where technology was going. So, I started asking myself how could I bring these three passions together?
Since turning 54, I have written four books (number five is due for publication in May 2021), over 50 articles on AI and quantum computing, started a new consulting and publishing business, become a university instructor and Regional Innovation Center AI Advisor. My second life began at 54. I’m more inspired, challenged, and mentally and physically active than at any time in my life.
Prominent Late Starters
People who start new careers at a later stage can be successful, and it can sustain them both mentally and physically. Anna Mary Robertson Moses (better known as Grandma Moses) started painting at age 78 and lived to 101. Harland David Sanders (better known as Colonel Sanders) started the Kentucky Fried Chicken empire at age 62, living to age 90. Morgan Freeman, the Hollywood acting mainstay, rose to fame only in his 40’s and continues to be one of the most popular actors globally at age 83 today. The average age of founders of high-growth start-ups is 45.
Kevin Evers wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review in 2019 titled “The Art of Blooming Late” where he talked about creating an inspirational goal specific only to you. If you’re starting out later in life, maybe looking to start down a whole new path, what would be your inspirational goal? Mine. “Quantum strategy thought leader.” When I started out four years ago, it sounded too big, but at the same time, so exciting. My own inspirational goal. Could I reach such a lofty goal? While I’m not there yet, for me, the only meaningful definition of success is my own.
Pursuing my success required one key ingredient. Resilience. Being ghosted (“the act of being ignored by someone or many”) became an everyday event as I started up my business. People who started conversations drifted away. People you asked for help never responded. Every time I needed to get back up, dust my pride off, and look for another way to get to my destination. It took resilience. According to PwC’s head of executive leadership coaching program, Jesse Sostrin, “Resilience is a personal act of defiance…that affects everything,” including emotional, mental, and physical well-being, along with their problem-solving skills and innovation. Being resilient and staying active kept me moving forward and gave me hope on the road to 100.
Conclusion
When one considers the impact of keeping active both mentally and physically (refer to an earlier article in this series about the 99-year old who visits the gym every day), your brain and body need exercise to thrive. We believe in the power of staying active, being resilient, good nutrition, hydrating regularly, keeping track of our progress using wearable technology and AI, and finding daily mental challenges to keep your brain energized on the road to 100.
#digitalhealth #ai #artificialintelligence #healthcare #healthtechnology #fitnesstechnology
Copyright 2021, 2020 Aquitaine Innovation Advisors.com
Brian Lenahan is the author of four Amazon-published books on artificial intelligence, including the Bestseller “Artificial Intelligence: Foundations for Business Leaders and Consultants”. He is a former executive in a Top 10 North American bank, a University Instructor, and mentors innovative companies in the Halton and Hamilton areas. Brian’s training in AI comes from MIT, and he writes extensively on artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Email: ceo@aquitaineinnovationadvisors.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-lenahan-innovation/
Aquitaine Innovation Advisors: www.aquitaineinnovationadvisors.com
