Understanding Living Longer

Category Archives: Maintaining Relationships

Make it a good one…

I’ve been watching Dan Buettner’s series on how to live to 100 (the secrets of the Blue Zone). He focus is on the importance of creating the right environment and he shows how originally this happened by chance, but through careful nurturing similar results can be achieved anywhere. He also shows how easy it to […]

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The final ‘downsize’

A life skill for many people over 50 is being able, both physically and emotionally, to contain their ‘stuff’. Wartime austerity nurtured a caution against parting with anything ‘just in case’ which then extended into and beyond the ‘throwaway’ society of the 60s and 70s. Is there anyone over 70 who doesn’t have at least […]

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Founding a ‘dynasty’

A recent article in the financial press highlighted the perils of ‘gifts with reservations’ citing the Inland Revenue guidance on what constitutes a reservation. The rule that made me smile was borrowing more than three books a month from a ‘gifted personal library’- I remember driving around every charity shop in the county trying g […]

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The lesson learnt by billionaires…

My first coaching client took a little time get the EML ‘message’, but, since then it is incorporated in everything he does. He sees the time between now and the moment he is ‘no longer around’ as a countdown clock and looks carefully at everything he is does and how he is spending his money. […]

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Focus and drive.

During our coaching programme I will ask the client what they want from various aspects of life. Many find the exercise challenging, not because they don’t know, but because their list is too long – it is an impossible ‘wish-list’. Capturing their thoughts without interrupting the ‘flow’ has made me a fast scribbler! I ask […]

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A suitable incentive….

Not everyone referred to EML is ready to face the reality of their changing prospects for later life. While fees are sometimes cited as being the issue, they are nothing more than a convenient excuse along with, ‘I’m too young’, ‘I’m too busy’ etc etc. The real message is ‘I don’t want to acknowledge my […]

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Maintaining relationships

One simple tool for maintaining relationships is your address book. In addition to contact information I try to include a birthday (if known) or better a date of birth (the latter containing a year – useful for those special birthdays). Birthdays show in my calendar and, for a few quid annually, I subscribe to an […]

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Early warning systems

In researching the impact of global longevity EML identified six key areas of life that together, differentiated those who were successful in negotiating later life from those who were less so. There was no silver bullet, no ‘one thing’ that will make all the difference, instead those who were seen by their peers as ‘doing […]

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Changing behaviour – Piggybacking

At any age changing your behaviour can be a challenge. We become accustom to comfortable routines which perpetuate long past their intended purpose. Sometimes its what you do and sometimes its what you don’t. Talk to many octogenarians about taking a taxi and they look at you as if you are mad. One was seriously […]

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