The Importance of Embracing Aging and Living a Vibrant, Active Life with CEO and Founder of Age Of Majority, Jeff Weiss

Jeff Weiss, founder and CEO of Age of Majority, discusses the power of active agers in his TEDx talk.

He emphasizes the importance of embracing aging and living a vibrant, active life.

Jeff dispels misconceptions in marketing campaigns targeted at older adults and highlights the value they bring to various sectors, such as the workforce and community service.

He also emphasizes the significance of focusing on physical and mental health for overall well-being. Jeff encourages individuals, including the younger generation, to prepare for aging and remove the fear of getting older.

Takeaways

Embrace aging and live a vibrant, active life.
Challenge misconceptions in marketing campaigns targeted at older adults.
Focus on physical and mental health for overall well-being.
Prepare for aging and remove the fear of getting older.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
00:29 About Age of Majority
01:21 Inspiration for the TEDx Talk
04:30 The U-Curve of Happiness
08:35 Learning New Things and Acquiring Experiences
15:39 Misconceptions in Marketing
21:38 Importance of Physical and Mental Health
25:31 Productivity of Active Agers
29:29 Preparing for Aging
35:37 Embracing Aging
41:17 Future Talks

Ted X Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P07DPDptUvQ

Transcript

Janet (00:01.526)
Hello everyone and thank you for being with me today. My guest is Jeff Weiss. He is the founder of Age of Majority. He is also the CEO and I invited him here today because he was recently on a TEDx talk in Hilton Head, North Carolina. Jeff, thank you for being with us today.

Jeff Weiss (00:26.387)
Jan, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me on your podcast.

Janet (00:29.682)
Yes, Jeff, tell us a little bit about age of majority.

Jeff Weiss (00:34.847)
Sure, I founded this over six years ago and at a high level, we help companies, organizations uncover unmet needs so they can make their products or services more usable, desirable and marketable to older active adults.

Janet (00:51.582)
Okay, great. And your TEDx talk was on the power of active agers. I listened to it a few days ago, and I thought it was so engaging. And it was also really funny. So I suggest everyone that is listening to this podcast, watch it, I will place the link in the show notes. But Jeff, tell us a little bit about what was your inspiration?

for creating this topic around activagers.

Jeff Weiss (01:26.879)
It's a great question. So I spend most of my time in business helping companies. So I do keynote presentations and it's all about, I'll talk about a bunch of it today, but how do they kind of better reach and engage older adults? But it's from a business point of view. So the TEDx talk wasn't supposed to be business oriented, it was supposed to be more personal. So I really had to reframe my thinking and think about what was that key message that I wanted to kind of, you know.

tell people a lot and a lot of folks in the in the in the audience were older and active in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. So I have to really reframe my focus. So, you know, I started thinking about that. And then I know you can't believe it's Janet, but I'm going to turn 60 in a few months. So, you know, it's there's a lot of internal reflection going on. And I see it, you know, I hang out with people of all ages, and I've got a lot of friends kind of in their 80s or 90s. And I really see a big difference between

friends, you know, kind of ones who are older than me. And there's some that are very vibrant, whether they're in their eighties or nineties, and some that are less so. And, you know, I start to talk to them and I hear their stories. And the ones that are still very vibrant and active, like they are proactively, you know, kind of facing head on the challenges that come along with getting older.

And when I look at the ones who aren't doing so great, they've got physical challenges, a lot of mobility issues, sometimes there's mental things that kick in. It's, I look back at their lives and very different than our lives today and kind of younger generations who are much more active. We understand the importance of physical activity and mental cognitive health, things like that. But if those people weren't active when they're younger and they didn't start getting active, they were older, they're just not nearly as vibrant and as mobile and active. So...

it got me thinking about things and, you know, talking to people, it's like, well, why am I gonna bother? Because at some point, you know, I'm gonna get cancer, I'll have a heart attack, I'll get dementia, Alzheimer's, whatever. And it's like, whoa, you might be predisposed to getting something like that. And, you know, it's the luck of the draw, there's genetics involved in that, but there are a lot of things that you can control, that you just need to take action, decide what those things are. And a lot of those things too can also help.

Jeff Weiss (03:45.403)
and whether it's slowing down or decreasing the risk of getting cancer or of getting dementia. So, it got me really thinking about myself and then how did that, what are the messages I wanna communicate to older people like.

Janet (04:01.274)
Okay, I agree with you because working as an occupational therapist, I learned early in my career that the biggest difference between people who were living with quality of life in their later years versus the ones who weren't were people who had maintained a healthy weight most of their life and also exercised. And those were the two biggest factors.

that determined the quality of life that people had in their later years. Now in your talk, you talk about the U-curve of happiness. Can you explain the concept of the U-curve and how it relates to the experiences of active

Jeff Weiss (04:53.791)
Yeah, that's a great question. And this is research that I haven't done, but it's been done globally by others, and it's been done several times. And they measure kind of happiness at different ages of people's lives. And it's a U curve because, the highest points on the curve are when you're really young and as you get older. So when you think about it, when you're young before you're 15, 20 years old,

Janet (05:21.742)
you

Jeff Weiss (05:21.999)
you don't have a lot to worry about other than, you know, who am I gonna hang out with at school? What am I having for lunch? What am I having for dinner? You know, things like that. So you're pretty happy. You're kind of naive and you're happy. So it's no wonder that your happiness is higher when you're younger. And then as you get older, that happiness starts to dip. So think about it, as you get into your 20s and into your 30s, you know, you start having relationships, you know, better chance you're getting married, you have kids, you've got, you know, works, you start getting stresses from work.

Janet (05:45.983)
you

Jeff Weiss (05:51.459)
So, you know, your happiness level starts to decrease because you've just got more demands. And then actually the lowest point of the happiness curve, and I'm sorry for anyone listening to this who's under 50, but the lowest point in the curve, and these are global studies, generally are people when they're 48 or 49 years old, right? Because there's a bunch of things going on in your life, right? There's demands, you often have a job, so there's demands associated with work, all the deadlines, the things you have to get done.

there's caregiver stresses. A lot of times, you know, you've got a family, one, two more kids. So you've got to kind of deal with them. They're in high school, they're going into university or college in many cases. There's a lot of stress there. And you're also dealing, excuse me, a lot of times with whether it's parents or in-laws, older adults who need care. So there's a lot of stress from there. And then there's just comparisons that happen whether you like it or not of you, how are you doing versus your friends versus other things in society? Well, you see so.

The lowest point of that curve is kind of when you're at your midlife in your late forties, but then something kind of magical happens as you kind of get over that. And the stresses start to decrease. You know, you move away from kind of social, um, uh, social, um, uh, competition, you know, who do you hang out and all that to more about social connections, right? It's more about kind of the depth of friendships that you have and socialization you have.

much more about living in the moment. You care less about what people think than you used to. And you know, you generally, you don't wanna hang out with people that bring you down. So you don't have to anymore. You only wanna be with people who inspire you and you know, kind of stimulate things like that. And then again, living in the moment, there's more freedom to kind of say yes to things you wanna do and to say no to things you don't wanna do. So, you know, as you kind of get older,

All these things happen along with your life experiences, changes to your body, things like that. And just you just generally people are generally happiest after they get, you know, after they're like 65 years of years of age. But it's so that's kind of what the numbers show. But it's tough to see that the society kind of paints such a bleak picture of how depressing it is to get older.

Janet (08:07.522)
That's very interesting that you mention that, but I can totally see how having fewer responsibilities will increase your happiness and then also not caring so much about what people think about you or what you're doing is certainly going to make you feel more free. Now you also...

have mentioned how older adults, because they have more time, you know, thus having fewer responsibilities, they have more time to learn new, to learn new things and acquire new experiences. Tell me some of those examples and how this pursuit enhances their quality of life.

Jeff Weiss (09:00.071)
Mm-hmm, yeah, and there's a belief we've got these dirty dozen myths of aging as we call it. There's one That we refer to as you can't teach an old dog new tricks So it's this belief that as you get old you're kind of stuck in your ways, right? And you know, you don't want to try new products or experiences, you know You want to keep doing what you're doing and it's just you know Kind of life goes on and you're not gonna try new things and yeah, that's true for some people's true for some people of all Ages, but we know that over half of active agers

want to try new things, there are opportunity experiences. So again, it's good for both your body and your mind. It's about being positive and kind of we'll talk a bit more about mental health coming up, but being positive emotionally, mentally is so important in terms of leading a vibrant, active life. And it's also about kind of making the most of each day and living in the present. So being able to try new things without being afraid to be judged or to fail.

Right? So again, it's like, you know, it's a tough thing, but you've just got to try new things and, and saying, yes, even though things might not go as well as you plan, um, you have to be able to try new things. And, you know, a couple examples, um, that I talk about in my TEDx talk, um, firstly, um, is skydiving and skydiving is something that I've always wanted to do. And, you know, when I was really young, I was afraid, I was just afraid to do it. Cause what if I, you know, fall and break my neck and my back or something like that?

And then, you know, got married and I had a son. And it's like, oh no, something happens to Jeff. You know, it's like, it's gonna be my wife and my son alone without me. And it's like, ah. And then when I turned 55, I'm not sure what happened to my wife and son. I said, oh, we can manage without you. At least that was their thought. They got me a, you know, a skydiving experience that I did, you know, my 55th year. And my son, oh, I...

Janet (10:42.144)
Hahaha!

Jeff Weiss (10:55.163)
So thank, like I've always wanted to do, my son though said, I'll do it with you. And he was like 20, 24 or something at the time. And we went up 10,000 feet on the coast of Maine and we jumped and it was the biggest rush and thrill of my life. And again, it's something that I wouldn't have done when I was younger, but now I had this freedom to do it. It's something, and it was incredible. And I'd love to do it again. And I talked about this woman, Dorothy Hoffner, who a few months ago recently jumped. She was 104 years old.

right, and kind of set the world record. Unfortunately, she died like two or three weeks later, but she died peacefully in her sleep, which was like, if I'm gonna go, if I could kind of go skydiving, I have an incredible experience, and then, you know, right after that, kind of dies peacefully in my sleep, like that would be kind of, you know, perfect. The other thing is pickleball. I don't know if you play pickleball, Janet, but.

Janet (11:45.926)
I don't, but my daughter and her boyfriend do, and they are 23 years old, and they love it. And a bunch of their friends also play Pickleball.

Jeff Weiss (11:56.539)
Yeah, so pickleball started out as this kind of, you know, activity for old people, you know, and, and so, you know, it's grown, you know, it was, it was, you know, a couple million, then 4 million, 10 million, you know, the numbers I've seen over 30 million, about 35 million people play it now. And it's no wonder it's still being driven by older adults. Um, when I was in Hilton had, you know, I, my wife and I played, and, you know, went to one of the resorts and they had 24 courts, they were almost a hundred, 96 people playing.

and you had to sign up well in advance because it was so popular. But it's not surprising because it is so inclusive whether you're 85, 90 years old or whether you're 10 years old, you can play. For a lot of people, they've never had a racket in their hands in their lives, but it's easy to play, easy to pick up, it's cheap to play. You can mark out a court, relatively you can play almost anywhere. And it's very social as well. And you don't have to be a great athlete at all to do it.

Um, it's just, it's, it's an example of one of those things. And it's like, yeah, I see people doing it, look like they're having fun. I'm going to try it. And now you've got this whole, whole group, millions of people, uh, younger adults, like, you know, you're talking about, but older adults who just, you know, they, they're playing almost on a daily basis. Now, one of the things that's happening now, interesting and laugh. And it's, it's like the day when rollerblading was big. I never got into it, but you know, rollerblading was big. And, and if you remember, um,

Janet (13:18.858)
Yes, I remember that.

Jeff Weiss (13:23.227)
the number of people going into the hospital for broken, for broken wrists, because they'd fall, you know, and they'd break their fall and they'd break their wrists. So, you know, I've talked to doctors and like the number of people now who are having, you know, issues, you know, whether it be knees, joints, hips, whatever, because they're playing pickleball, as skyrocketed. So it's like, you know, damned if you do, do damned if you don't, but it's an example of just trying something new, that, you know,

that people make them feel good actively, physically and mentally, a great example of just how it can improve people's quality of life.

Janet (13:59.042)
Yes, and I'm going to argue that even though they may be going in to the hospital more for knee and joint replacements, you know, because now they're more active, but exercise also reduces your risk for falls. So they're stronger and they're less likely to fall. And if they do start falling, it's a better chance that they will be able to recover from their fall.

Jeff Weiss (14:15.291)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Jeff Weiss (14:27.227)
Absolutely. And yeah, absolutely. I just think though, it's, you know, I spoke at a conference in Utah in the summer and it was, it was the Federation of Active Aging. And it's, they, they train and they certify trainers who train older adults. And I said, if it was me doing this, I would set up kind of training that is really more specific to pickleball and then work with someone who teaches and coaches pickleball and do a joint thing because

Janet (14:27.39)
So I still think people should be playing pickleball.

Jeff Weiss (14:56.891)
you know, oh, physical activity is amazing. So, but try to reduce your, the risk of kind of having injuries by doing the right warmup and stretching and exercises so that you can, you know, do it more injured versus kind of just going in cold and playing that's where you're, you know, can really get some.

Janet (15:12.342)
Right, well, but yeah, that's great advice. Now let's talk a little bit about misconceptions in marketing. What are some common mistakes and misconceptions you have observed in marketing campaigns targeted at older adults? And how can these be rectified to be more accurately a reflection of their capabilities and interests?

Jeff Weiss (15:39.047)
Hmm, another good question. I mentioned before, we've got these dirty dozen myths of aging, so I'm not gonna go through all 12, but I'll hide a few things that we see. And we'll start with language. You know, we've got, if you think about, you know, just ageism in total, it's the most, you know, allowed prejudice out there, right? So, you know, and you've got these people, particularly, you know, marketers, people in business who...

don't know what they don't know. So they have these stereotypes and it's like, you know what, people are older, so they've got all these needs, they've got all these issues. So language is the first thing that I see that often can really be as bad and can be improved on. So it's not inspiring. Just because you're older doesn't mean you don't have hopes and dreams like anyone else. So a lot of times I'll see language that's, you know, all this negative stuff about falling and I can't get up and all that. So for me, the first thing is kind of make your language more inspiring.

So that it appeals to people so that's the first thing secondly imagery there is this is a pet peeve of mine The imagery out there when it comes to showing older adults kind of being active and using products and is brutal It's where there's so much photography out there So if you see a good photo, you'll see it all over the place and there's one guy it's my one of my it's my mission to kind of actually meet this guy and it's on Shutterstock I think and you would recognize him because

He's an older guy, he's probably 70-ish, I don't know exactly, he's got gray hair and a beard. Very good looking guy. I'm not gonna say for his age, because that's not appropriate, but a good looking guy. I mean, he's in good shape and I see him everywhere. And I saw him last week on an ad for caregivers. I saw him, I was watching a show, I can't remember what it was, and it was on a book about older dating and he was on the cover of it. So he is everywhere, but it's just, you know.

the imagery is so bad. So I think we're finally starting to see companies kind of taking their own photography of more authentic, real people. Because a lot of times, and I look at financial services, insurance and things like that, they show ads and it's like this couple walking, they're either walking on the beach or in the forest or on a boat. They've got their golden retriever with them. The sun's going up, the sun's going down. And it's like...

Jeff Weiss (17:59.111)
That's great, but that isn't really representative of a lot of older adults, right? When they're kind of retiring, looking for that. So there's some great examples now where it's just more authentic and realistic. The third thing is about kind of positioning products and you'll totally understand this because as soon as you say, this product is for you because you're old, that's the kiss of death, right?

Janet (18:24.191)
Yeah.

Jeff Weiss (18:24.399)
it's marketing 101, you should always be marketing your products or services based on the needs of people versus their age, right? It goes for younger generations as well. So for example, you know, if you've got some products that, um, you know, make your house easier and more age accessible, then, you know, don't say you need this, this bar or whatever in your bathtub because you're old. It's like, Hey, you know, if you have issues getting in and out of the bathtub, then you want something safer. This is it.

That happens to appeal more to people who are older, but you're marketing it without saying that. And my mother who's 93 now, a few years ago she fell, she was able to get up, but she did some damage to her back and I wanted her to wear one of those life alerts, the personal emergency response systems. And she shut me down, I think she was 89. She goes, nope, I'm not wearing that no matter what you tell me. And it was like, because for her, the next stage was death and she didn't wanna think about that, right? So.

Um, you know, we had a conversation and I, you know, came to a deal with her, whatever, and now she's in like a retirement center and it's like, oh yeah, everyone wears these, right? So it's, you know, marketing is thing. And the other thing I'll just talk about is kind of, you know, the use of technology and how to reach people. And this belief that older adults are not using technology is just crazy. You know, you've got, you've got well over 90% of older adults have.

Janet (19:39.913)
Yes.

Jeff Weiss (19:44.135)
have mobile phones, right? And all you have to do is go out and you see everyone on your phone, you go to your restaurants, it's not just young people who are texting and looking on Instagram, everyone's doing it, right? And they are searching products online, they're buying products online. We just did a survey yesterday with our community and, you know, about would you be, would you have your, would you purchase an automobile, a car online and almost 10% have already done so. And you've got almost another 40%.

who said, yeah, I'd be willing to consider that. So I don't think that auto manufacturers think that way. They just think, oh yeah, someone's gonna, an old person's gonna go into the dealer and buy a car, but there's a lot of things out there, technology, wearables, things like that. And so this belief that older adults aren't using technology is just crazy.

Janet (20:29.45)
Yes, and going back to imagery, I have learned to use AI to create my own images for my blog posts and for social media because I was having such a hard time finding adequate pictures of older people on websites like Pexels and Unsplash where you can either purchase or download.

stock images for free because there were so few that was to begin with and then even fewer of them when they did exist were positive and so I learned how to use an AI program where I can write prompts and create my own unique images. Yeah. So tell me, let's talk about health.

Jeff Weiss (21:17.471)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Janet (21:25.602)
How important is it for active agers to take time to focus on their physical and their mental health? And what impact does this have on their overall wellbeing?

Jeff Weiss (21:38.707)
That's a huge question, such an important question. And in my TEDx talk, I talk about one of the great things about getting older, I've got four different pillars. And one of them is you have the time and ability to focus on your health and wellness, both your physical and your mental. And without that, quality of life just decreases, right? And the goal for everyone should be to have a longer life.

but not a life where your health is decreasing and your quality of life is going down. It's something called the morbidity curve. And what you wanna do is flatten that out as much as possible so you're living a longer, healthier life. And then towards the end of life, there's a sharp drop off and you die. Kind of like Dorothy Hoffman, what I was talking about. So health and wellness is so important because if you don't have that, you can't do anything on the, you know.

I'm not an expert in the area, but I've talked to a lot of people who talk to their doctors, professionals who say the best thing you can do for your mental health is do physical health, right? So physical health is so important. And I've always thought and talked about, and I've seen some research on this. The most important thing, we know this is important for older adults based on the research we've done is sleep. If you do not get a good sleep, then things start to fall apart there from your mental abilities, your physical abilities.

what you eat, your nutrition and all that. So sleep is so important. A lot of people struggle with sleep, but fortunately now there's a lot of great things out there that can help people sleep. But in terms of physical activity, or your physical health, physical exercise, we know that over 80% of older adults are intentionally being active on a daily basis. They're more active. Older adults are generally more active.

and younger adults when it comes to physical activity because they have the time and they know how important it is. Nutrition, talked about before, you know, I love to eat, I love food, but you know, being aware of nutrition, being aware of your weight as well is so important. So yeah, it doesn't mean, you know, I can eat ribs and wings, yeah, but I can't be eating that stuff every day. So you have to make conscious decisions and now there's great options for food that's not only healthy and good for you, but it's also delicious, right?

Jeff Weiss (23:52.943)
And then, you know, watching alcohol intake, cannabis is an interesting one. And I think there's a lot of positives, but there are people that don't. So it's just understanding kind of works for you and what you're comfortable with in terms of physical activity. And in terms of mental health, you know, there's the cognitive piece. So that's about staying sharp. And, you know, it's everything from, you know, doing crosswords, Sudukos, things like that. But a lot of times, excuse me, and I think we'll talk about this.

is just learning new skills, right? And being engaged in society, being curious, being social, being interested and interesting, right? That's so important to your cognitive health. And then there's the emotional behavioral, which is really like staying positive, right? And a lot of people that they don't already should really have like, I'll call it a relaxation practice, whether that's kind of, you know, there's so many breathing methods, there's yoga, there's things like that.

everyone's got their own thing they can do, but you need that time to really slow things down and put things in perspective. And, you know, all this stuff, there's so many things you can do proactively that can help your, your health and wellness, your health and wellbeing. Um, and it's just that, that's, that is so important as you get older, cause if you're not doing that stuff, then chances are that, you know, you're not going to be able to flatten that morbidity curve.

Janet (25:13.947)
Now, in your TEDx talk, you also mentioned that active agers are more productive. Can you elaborate on how they contribute to various sectors, such as the workforce or community service, and the value they bring?

Jeff Weiss (25:21.833)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Weiss (25:31.355)
Yeah, yeah. And again, there's this belief that people are less productive as they get older and I've never seen research that kind of shows that. So if we talk about the workforce, there's still a lot of people who are working and this kind of trend towards early retirement is actually reversing. And I think the number is by the year 2030, 150 million jobs globally will shift to people 55 and older. Right, so there's this desire to work. Sometimes it's for money, people need the money, but a lot of times it's about just

being able to do things that you're good at or trying new things. So from a workforce perspective, a lot of companies you see ages and you see it most in technology and in marketing, right? When you're over 40, let alone over 50, you're a dinosaur. But you think about the different skills and abilities that older adults can bring to the workforce, the creativity, just because you're older doesn't mean you're creative. That's crazy, right? The wisdom, the experience that you can bring.

can just make organizations, you know, we talk about inclusivity, you know, diversity, equity and inclusion. You rarely hear them talk about age, but that's so important. You're running a business to have different, you know, people of different ages, races, ethnicities, right? Otherwise, how are you gonna market accordingly to the world? And then entrepreneurs, you know, it's been a lot of research done. The most successful entrepreneurs tend to be older entrepreneurs, right? My son is 27, he's got his own startup and he's, you know, doing an amazing job.

but sometimes I'll have to have a chat with them based on kind of what I know, what I've learned in my almost 40 years of working that can apply to him. Next area is volunteering or a broader is giving back to the community, right? And a lot of people, as they get older, it's like they're grateful for what they have and who they are, and now they wanna give back to the society or the community. So again, there's this opportunity, there's so many different ways to do that, everything from donating, if you have the money, donating dollars.

to getting involved in helping out. We have something in my little village here in Massachusetts it's called Good Neighbours. And we've got our whole village where if someone needs help then someone is there to help them, whether it's making dinners or driving them someplace. And as you get older, it's like that stuff becomes really, really important. That's so important to society. And then the last area is around caregiving. And there's about 50 million caregivers in the US and Canada. And these are caregivers for older adults. And again, they tend to be more...

Jeff Weiss (27:49.767)
mothers and fathers, mother-in-law, father-in-law, or they could be spouses or partners. And so, you know, that is so important when you think about, you know, how you can contribute and being productive. And on average, you know, an average caregiver spends over 25 hours a week in caregiving duties, and it's very, very stressful. At the same time though, being able to kind of help, help people, whether it's, you know, older adults, whether it's younger adults as well, the sandwich generation.

that is so important to our society and the value that they bring because the system, our system isn't built. We can't afford enough to help with caregiving. So it comes to individuals to do that.

Janet (28:30.742)
Yes, I once heard the Dalai Lama say in an interview that the best thing you can do for yourself is to help someone else. That by helping someone else, caring for someone else, that is a self, it's a positive selfish way of doing something good for yourself. Because it's there's research to prove that our physical health actually improves.

Jeff Weiss (28:52.999)
Yeah.

Janet (29:00.438)
when we are doing for others. Yeah. Jeff, what is your take on helping other people like myself, a younger generation, I belong to the Generation X, we are the next group that is aging, right? How can we prepare for

Jeff Weiss (29:02.683)
Absolutely, absolutely.

Janet (29:29.75)
aging in a better way.

Jeff Weiss (29:31.955)
Hmm. Well, it's interesting. I'm the youngest of the boomers. So I'm 59. So, you know, the youngest of the boomers will turn 60 next year in 2024. So the, you know, Gen X that you're part of, you know, people are, are 59. So it's like, you know, I'm not, I'm not a believer at all in kind of marketing to, or, or recognizing people based on generations because I said, Gen X is kind of moving up clearly. Um, but there's all this focus now on Gen Z, which, which I don't understand because.

It's basically people 25, 26 and under. And the business world, there's this love affair for the youth and all those folks on Gen Z, but Gen Z has no money. Anyway, back to your question. The earlier that you kind of start looking at your future, the better. And again, we've done research with this where I'll give you an example, is with a new nutritional drink that helps people. There's something happens as you basically turn 40,

Janet (30:10.808)
Hehehe

Jeff Weiss (30:28.247)
called sarcopenia. I don't know if you've heard that or not, but basically you start to lose muscle mass as soon as you turn 40. So, you know, it's this new, um, you know, beverage out there to help with muscle mass and things like that. And we did research with people 40 and older and there was definitely appeal and interest of people in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. But the highest level of appeal were women in their mid 40s because, um, women in their mid 40s or younger people are kind of looking at their future now. And

Janet (30:32.492)
Yes.

Jeff Weiss (30:56.211)
They're looking at, they see some people who aren't doing so great as they get older, and then they see these people who are incredible, you know, having vibrant, active lives in their 70s, 80s, and sometimes 90s. So they're making conscious decisions now to do the right things for their body, their mind, their lives, so they can kind of live a happier, healthier, longer life. So, you know, I was thinking about some of the, you know, things, habits, for example, that people can do.

One of them is kind of having partners and things like whether it be physical activity or losing weight. I've wanted to lose 10 to 12 pounds for a long time and my wife wants to lose weight. So starting kind of beginning of January, we're going to be each other's partners in helping hold us accountable to kind of eating the right things. We're doing like a bone broth diet. And then...

You know, there's things like, um, I was walking with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago and he's part of a men's walking club now, right? So, which is interesting because I often see women walking, you know, alone or with their dogs in groups and it's great, right? They're just, it's a social activity, but also very physical activity. And this is for men and there's like 35 of them, kind of in our local area that meet a couple of times a week and they're walking. So by having a partner, partners to help you kind of hold you so that you're, you're kind of doing the right things. I think it's important.

Having daily routines is really critical. And I know we've done a lot of interviews with people and a lot of them have these daily routines, right? And it's like, you know, you get up at X-time, have my coffee, read the news, and I'm out doing exercise, I'm out doing errands, things like that. You know, they're involved with the community, with their church, whatever. Having daily routines that kind of help to stick to you, that you stick to those things that you wanna do helps. Tracking your progress is really important and kind of rewarding yourself.

for completing tasks and hitting milestones. It's a bit like gamification, right? And now the great thing is there's tech out there to help you do all of this stuff, to track things, right? To hit milestones. And along with that is really setting expectations so that you're not disappointed. And I'll quickly talk about something that's called the gap. This is something I came up with. And it's basically how you look at something. So when I look at my wife and I, let's say we each have a goal of losing 10 pounds, you know.

Jeff Weiss (33:15.431)
We'll get on the scale and then, you know, let's say two, three weeks later, I get on the scale and I've lost five pounds. It's like, yeah, I've lost five pounds. Isn't that amazing? I've only got another five to go. Right. Let's keep going. Right. If you're really good about it, my wife, um, you know, tends to look at it differently and she gets on that scale and she says, Oh, I've only lost five pounds, right? Her goals, our goal is 10, but she looked, I've done all this work and I've only lost five pounds.

at five pounds and it's demotivating, right? So kind of setting expectations, rewarding yourself versus feeling bad about it, you know, is really important because things just don't happen overnight. And if you've got expectations, I'm gonna start to work out and I'm gonna feel better in a week, yeah, it's not gonna happen. So kind of, you know, do things and set expectations and targets. And then really, really what's important is remind yourself why you're doing it. And there's some great ads out there now, particularly the holidays, some come out of Europe.

Particularly this older gentleman and I gotta believe he's in his 80s and he lives alone and it's Christmas time and He's gonna be spending Christmas with his family and he hasn't worked out he's not in good shape at all and You know he looks at a picture of his granddaughter and it's like hmm and he goes into his shed and he's got like a kettlebell and He starts doing and he can't even let you can maybe lift one to start with right and he kind of doing and he Finally gives up and then it kind of he sees, you know someone getting a Christmas tree and it hits them

And all of a sudden he kind of sets himself. He's got his daily routines and he's doing that, the kettlebells and he's out running and walking and stuff like that. And the reason he does it is the payoff is because that Christmas day, he drives to his daughter's place and he's looking great. And he's got a gift for his granddaughter. And the gift is a star to go on top of the Christmas tree. And the granddaughter, and he actually, because he's been doing all this activity with the kettleballs, he's able to lift her up.

so she can put the star on the top of the tree. So that was the reason why. So, always think about why you're doing it. People aren't losing, some people are losing weight just because, you know, from a health perspective, but a lot of people are losing weight just so they can spend more time with their grandkids, so they can travel more, you can do things that you wanna do, skydiving or whatever. Just always keep in mind kinda why you're doing something.

Janet (35:12.031)
That's beautiful.

Janet (35:29.95)
The purpose behind it. Now, my last question is about embracing aging. Your talk touches on the idea of stopping the battle against aging and instead embracing it. Can you discuss how this perspective shift can positively impact both individuals and society?

Jeff Weiss (35:31.646)
Yes.

Jeff Weiss (35:37.477)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Weiss (35:45.961)
Yes.

Jeff Weiss (35:55.507)
Hmm, good question. From a societal point of view, you know, if you believe what you read in the media, it's like I mentioned before, it's like there's nothing good that happens from an aging society, but the reality is we're getting older, right? By the year 2142% of all the population is gonna be 55 and older. Like there's no stopping it. Right now we're about 30%, right? So it's like, oh my God, as people get older, how are we gonna pay for all the healthcare costs, right?

Who's gonna take care of these people? The dependencies about it. And it's just, it's not good, right? And a lot of that is just based on either myths, but also this inertia. So society needs to understand that if we can get older adults to a place where people are healthier, first and foremost, and happier, all these things go away and the reverse starts to happen. So, you know.

Just because people are older doesn't mean that health costs have to increase. But personally, I think too much effort's being placed on people once they, once they're declining versus helping people get to a better place so that there's less decline. Right? So that's a whole, that's a whole societal thing. Exactly. Versus kind of embracing. And it's like, yeah, life doesn't have to be depressing and bad as you get older. Life can be pretty great, but you have to do this. And so I think society really needs to embrace that. So that,

Janet (37:05.454)
just avoiding the decline.

Jeff Weiss (37:19.727)
Yeah, healthcare costs are lower that, you know, you get multi general, multi generational learning, right? There's mentorship, things like that. There's, you know, in terms of, you know, a crisis for a lot of people, you know, older people, younger people, where am I going to live? I can't afford it. There's also a crisis in colleges and universities, because they're, you know, you've got this, this gap coming where enrollments going to decrease, but you've got, you've got these great facilities. So why not open these up as one example, for multi generational living where

People younger and older can live together, learn from each other, be social and all that. That's just one example. So I think society, if we keep battling it, it's like a downward spiral, which isn't good. Individually, and I mentioned this in my talk, and I hear this all the time, there's a lot of self-denial going on. It's like, no, I'm gonna be fine. I'm just as fit as I was when I was 20 or 30. And the reality is things are gonna happen to us as we get older, whether we like it or not.

So it's just, you know, forget denying that. So be prepared for that. Right. And so there's a lot of self denial going on. There's also a lot of, I'll call it self-deprecation going on. It's like, you know, I forgot something. So automatically it's a senior moment. You know, if that's the case, I've had senior moments my whole life. So again, there's all this language and we kind of, we process this internally and it's, you know, we just are living the stereotypes and that can really, really bring you down. Um,

Janet (38:32.878)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Weiss (38:46.083)
And so the thing that I think is most important, and I talk about this, we've done research, is something I call getting over your FOGO. And FOGO is fear of getting older, right? And there's a fear of dying, yes, but a lot of people are afraid of getting older because they're looking at these stereotypes, hearing stories all the time, oh, this person has cancer, has died, this person has dementia, you hear that all the time, right? But it's still a small portion of the population. So you have to get over this fear

that can really paralyze you and can lead to inactivity. So as soon as you get over this fear of getting older, it's like, you know what? Yeah, I'm getting older. Everyone's getting older. At some point I'm gonna die. But does that mean that I can't live this incredible, happy, healthy life? Absolutely not. So for me, the number one thing is getting over your FOGO.

Janet (39:34.158)
I think that's great advice. And like you said, the most important thing is just stop denying that we're all getting older and then also plan for it so that we can remove these hazards that will actually decrease our quality of life. Falls being the number one thing that affects older adults. So yes.

Jeff Weiss (40:01.383)
Yeah.

Janet (40:03.63)
I think that's great advice. Jeff, this was so much fun. I loved watching your TEDx talk. I loved talking to you today. And I hope that you'll do another one. Do you plan to do more of these talks in different settings?

Jeff Weiss (40:23.811)
Yes, definitely. I don't know so much TEDx talks, but my goal moving forward is to kind of do more talks to individuals, whether they're in kind of community centers or in senior living communities, places like that, because my goal and kind of my purpose is to kind of being engaging so that I can inspire people to kind of live these active lifestyles. And doing the TEDx talk was kind of very

You know, it was kind of validating for me that I see a lot of people who it's like, you know, older and active and they just, you know, all this negative stuff that they see and it's like, you're right. You know what? Getting older doesn't have to be a bad thing. We are living our best lives right now and there's no reason why we can't kind of continue to do that and be happier and healthier for a longer period of time. So I'm hoping to do a lot more of them.

Janet (41:17.486)
Okay, well thank you, Jeff. And I will have all of Jeff's information in the show notes along with a link to his TEDx talk.

Jeff Weiss (41:27.763)
Thanks, Janet. Really appreciate it.

Janet (41:29.806)
Thank you.