aging

My wife’s grandfather, Bascom, lived what many would call a very simple life, deep in East Texas years ago. By all accounts he was a humble, hardworking farmer, managing an assortment of livestock on his land as well, living on the outskirts (if you could call it that) of a tiny country burg called Chester.

By today’s standards, he wasn’t what most would call an educated man (as I write this I’m traveling down in Austin, and can’t reach my wife this morning to confirm that he even finished high school). He was well-known among his family however as being profoundly intellectually curious, reading voraciously, and staying up to date with advances of the day (he was fascinated by the space program for instance).

He suffered a massive stroke in his late 80’s, an event severe enough that for many it would have started the cascade of inevitable decline and death, though he returned home, quite active, and live to the ripe old age of 104, quite sharp up until the very end.

The Power of ABL: Always Be Learning

Bascom embodied a trait that many healthy and successful people around the world, and throughout the ages, have realized – the drive to always be learning, exploring, and fully engaged with the world around us has the potential to keep us energized, growing intellectually, and adapting to changes evolving at what seems like an ever increasing pace.

Granted, there’s a tremendous amount of noise out there today, and it takes some genuine effort to separate the very best information from the rest. But just as physical conditioning leads to better functional performance, the more you use those mental muscles, the better you get at honing in on the information that fits your specific needs.

The oft quoted phrase “Knowledge is Power”, is attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, though it’s been used often by intellectually gifted, and intellectually curious, men and women through history (I’ve recently read a biography of Thomas Jefferson, and he used the quote frequently in his own writings). They were right.

Craft Your ‘Always Be Learning’ Plan Today

During my first couple of years of medical school, back in the day when the course loads were something in the range of 24-30 hours per semester, many of my classmates were simply overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information. It seemed like we were either in class, in lab, or studying damned near around the clock.

I’ll never forget the advice an extended family member gave me back then, he was a very busy interventional radiologist in the area. He said that despite the crush of class loads at the time, in his view, med school was simply a process to lay a foundation of information and skills, upon which we’d all be learning more and more as we progressed throughout our careers, and new technologies and treatments developed along the way. He even went on to suggest, much to my chagrin at the time, that life was to get much busier after finishing school.

He was right. And in fact, in my own experience, the most critical learning and training I’ve ever done has happened long after those past days in the classroom.

Crafting a personal learning plan doesn’t have to be hard, or expensive, or overly complex.

I encourage everyone I coach and counsel to read extensively; there’s an avalanche of information available online (caveat emptor), and a host of great books written by giants in the health and wellness worlds today.

There are great meetings out there to attend as well. I’m in Austin this week to attend a Primal Health Coach Masterclass program with Mark Sisson and Christine Hassler, and then will attend PaleoFx here over the weekend. Do you absolutely have to spend the time, effort, and cash to take in meetings like this to revitalize your health, get fit, and be well? Hell no, but sometimes it’s just fun and inspiring to rub shoulders with other like minded folks. Next year, save up, bring the family, and invest in one of these gatherings yourself.

By the way, that’s where the coffee shop comes in to play here – Mozart’s Coffee Roasters have an amazing location overlooking the Lake here in town, and it was a natural stop after an early morning walk along the water this morning. Coffee, at least in my world, makes learning a little easier.

Always be learning.