Ageless Advice on Making the Rest of Your Life
the Best of Your Life
The last time I went up a flights of stairs, I was absolutely exhausted! So how will you do running up 35 flights of stairs when you are 70, 80, or even 90?
The 94-year-old I talked to today says it's a ‘cakewalk.' If, you read the new book he, Art Linkletter, has coauthored! This book is important for everyone it raises some important issues about aging. If you think you're entitled to Social Security when you get old just because you've been paying in all these years, forget it. Social Security's future is insecure, to say the least. If Mark Victor Hansen and Art Linkletter have it their way, you'll trade in Social Security for Self Security by the time you get to page 10. By page 22 you'll give up that whole concept of entitlement for a more productive tool called empowerment .
Linkletter and Hansen have merged into one planetary force just in time to save the Baby Boomers from making the golden years the molding years . By the time you finish reading this article maybe you'll see why retirement must become refirement . Maybe you'll see why climbing mountains, starting a business, downhill skiing, and having great sex is no longer exclusively for the young. That's because Chicken-Soup for-the-Soul -mega-marketer Mark Victor Hansen and Kids-Say-the-Darndest-Things -television-icon Art Linkletter have re-written the unwritten retirement rules. This provocative, informative, self-helping, laugh-book is about to retire your ideas of retirement. These two energetic and worldly wise media masters have written a powerful “How to” book for growing old. Notice that I didn't say, getting old, I said growing old! You'll quickly understand the difference when you read “How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life.”
They celebrated Art's 94 th birthday by beginning their 50-city book-promotion media tour. I was the first of a dozen-some media interviews they had planned for this muggy100-degree day. Art had just walked up 35 flights of stairs and he was in his usual humorous form. The synergy between these two dynamic coauthors creates an absolutely contagious and ageless energy that will make you look forward to your senior years. Whether you're 24, 44, or 94, the myths you've been holding onto about growing old have gotten old. I loved the book myself and I'm sure you'll want a copy for yourself and any senior in your life. Here's what the coauthors had to say!
Dahl : You've sold millions of books, you've made millions of bucks, why another book?
Hansen: Well first of all, I'm motivated. You're either motivated or unmotivated! And if you're unmotivated, you're just not doing something you're passionate and on purpose about! Art and I are trying to remotivate people! We're saying, ‘Hey look, let's retire the concept which de-motivates, called retirement. Let's retire retirement and get into our new word refirement! Let's quit aging and let's start sageing. Let's understand that genes are 30% and lifestyle is 70%.'
Part of the lifestyle is that you‘ve got to keep contributing. We cannot afford to have a 100 million of us retire from something to nothing. I'm 58, Art's 94 and we're saying you've got to keep contributing. Contribute to yourself by either working at what you were doing as if you really loved it or create a new occupation. We call that seniorpreneurship, like entrepreneurship . An entrepreneur is someone who takes something from low value and makes it high value. Art is the ultimate of high value people. At 94, he has 20,000-some employees, owns Solargenix, the world's biggest solar energy company. He still talks 70 times a year and now we're on a 50-city book tour on top of that. During these next three days we're in New York and Chicago, we're doing 70 media hits. No one's done that much! I didn't do that much when I sold a 130 million Chicken Soup for the Souls! And Art's just got incredible energy and stamina!
You talk about the three different categories of ages in your book. There's the chronological, which measures how old you are by the calendar, there's the biological which measures how old your body is according the cellular damage, toxins, and wear and tear. And then there's the newest one that you two developed.
Everyone knows chronology! We're saying chronology is irrelevant. Art is physically 94 but he feels 40! I am physically 58 but feel 28! I'm climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa in two weeks and I climbed Mt. Whitney last year. I'm in really terrific shape and up until last year, Art skied until his wife sold his skis! Up until the age of 93 he was skiing six weeks of winter and still surfing six weeks of summer! The new age category that we've created is the experiential age . Based on experience, Art thinks he's 358-years-old and I think I'm about 198-years-old. We've packed a lot in!
Why this book and why now?
Well it has to be now because nobody else is talking about it! You've got the President of the United States saying Social Security is going to fail and you've got 90% of Americans at 55 and 65 or at 72, ready to retire, but they don't have any money to retire to and we're saying, hey wait a second! I've written a bunch of money books like One Minute Millionaire and Cracking the Millionaire Code , so I teach wealth. Art has practiced wealth his whole life! He was orphaned and lived as a preacher's kid and had to make money selling lemons when he was six years old. I've worked since I was nine-years-old because my parents didn't have much money. I came out of relative poverty and Art came out of total poverty and we had to make it on our own and we said wait a sec! It feels good to work. It feels good to contribute. It feels good to serve. Some 97% of people at that age still need to work, but if not let's do some philanthropy! Art is heading up Alzheimer's research in America because Nancy Regan came to him and said, “Hey, look your best friend, Ronny, is dying. Would you help out?” So he did a public service announcement and raised over a $100 million dollars!
There are so many issues facing America right now. Diabetes is on the rise, childhood obesity is out of control, people are still smoking. Where do we begin?
Well, 70% of the problem is lifestyle. We've got to get rid of smoking. The number one cure for diabetes is to cut your sugar intake and up your exercise. Art and I are on a 50-city tour. When people hear us talk about exercise, nutrition, and life, we think this book will make a consciousness shift for people who have lost their purpose! When you're on purpose, you take care of yourself. You have more self-confidence, more self-esteem. You don't let yourself get obese. You don't let yourself forget to exercise. You decide to be more disciplined.
You were a little kid when Art Linkletter was just reaching his television prime!
I watched Art! Art was my mother's favorite! She loved him! Art was on three TV shows every day! That will never happen again! He walked from ABC to NBC to CBS—Kids Say the Darndest Things, People are Funny, and House Party—for 29 years! He is a human treasure! He's fought the war on drugs because his daughter took a dive out of a 22-story building while on LSD at age 20. Since then, Art has been crusading against drugs—over 30 years.
A tragedy like that reminds me of one of the things many people mentioned in the research you did for your book. One of the greatest fears for many seniors is not growing old, but watching friends die.
That's why we say, you've got to keep making new friends! You've got to keep your network growing and in business I say that your net-worth comes out of your net-work! And if you've got enough friends, they're going to keep you involved. In a few days we're taking a ton of people to Kenya, I think 158 or so. We're working with Feed the Children because with every one of my Chicken books we tithe. Art is also such a great giver and that's why we get along so well. Life isn't about receiving. The point is, how do we get people to smile? How do we get them to be happy or to contribute? How do we get them to know that you've got to give blood if you want blood to be there when you need it?
Tell me about the chapter titled, “Body, Never Let Anyone Help You get out of a Chair!”
What happened is that Art is in love with a woman by the name of Sophia Loren. She's one of the things I've tried to get him for his 94 th birthday. Here's a guy who has everything he needs, but this was Art's dream date. His wife said, “Yeah Art, you can take her out to dinner. It's okay with me!” I mean, they've been happily married for 70 plus years! Sophia Loren had a feature article in a magazine that I recently read. She's 70 now, and she said, “I never let anyone help me get out of a chair because if you ever admit to getting old, your subconscious goes “Oops, Sophia Loren's getting old!” Art won't let anyone hold his arm at 94 or even help him get an elevator. He's totally self-sufficient and he says, “Look! If you program your mind to be self-sufficient, then you don't get old!”
You wrote a chapter called, “Work and Money-the Only Thing You Should Retire is Your car!” We have this goal in America that says if we get to retirement everything will be fine.
When FDR set up this retirement concept, everyone was dead at 47! Listen, I teach goal setting and I know that when you set a goal you get a goal! Back then everybody thought, “I'll show them I'll live past 65!” When Social Security was set up there was one person on Social Security and 17 working. Today we're just about to flip it to two people on Social Security and one working. It's a system that's dysfunctional. Art is out there saying don't retire on yourself, don't retire on life, don't retire on your friends, don't retire on contributions! Because contribution is a reason you wake up! Spiritually, the servant amongst you is greatest of all!
Okay, Mark. We know you're anti-entitlement because you've got a list of the Ten Empowerments that everyone should follow if they want to grow old, but not get old! Empowerment number five says, “You can be more fit than you were at 30!” That sounds great, but can it be true?
We interviewed 38 superstars, Art's age contemporaries. There's a little guy that you and I grew up with by the name of Jack LaLanne. Last year he sold 150 million juicers at age 92 on TV! Jack said that he gets up every morning at 5 am, gets out of a hot bed with a hot woman and goes to a hot gym for two hours! He says if you start exercising, half a push-up one day, one push-up the next, it doesn't matter where you start, you can work up. We want you to have what Art calls ‘Successful Aging.' I call it ‘Happy Longevity,' which is quantity of life. Art's dedicated to living 110 years and I'm dedicated to living 127 years, because I'm younger and have done some stuff that he couldn't have done.
One incredible thing about this book is that you even published jokes all the way through this thing!
Well both Art and I have a great sense of humor. I remember Art's “Kids Say the Darndest Things” TV show and he asked one of the kids what his mother told them not to say and the kid said, “Where ever it itches, don't scratch!” And Art was friends with Bob Hope, Walt Disney, George Burns, and Bill Cosby. He's genuinely funny and he hangs with people that are funny.
You also addressed the four different types of exercise that we all need to be able to grow older while staying active. Now I have to admit I never paid that much attention to the fourth exercise you identified called balance!
If you fall in the shower, like Art's best friend, George Burns did, you could break a hip. If you break a hip you're going to get pneumonia and you're dead in two weeks because when you can't move you can't get well. Your lymphatic system needs pulsating movement like Jack LaLanne's little rebounder to bounce up and down on 400 times a day. Your lymphatic system is the sewer system of the body. All the lymphoma is happening because people are too sedentary! You've got to keep moving more or you've got to get a massage once a week! And we don't want anyone to have weak legs! I mean Art did the stairs in this hotel, 35 flights! I can do it because I'm a mountain climber, but honest to God, I don't know anyone else at 94 who can do 35 flights of stairs! But I know a lot of 80-year-olds who can't even get their butts out of a chair!
And I know some 50-year-olds who are in the same boat. But that's why people need to read this book!
All we're saying is start small. Do some squats at your chair. But keep your legs strong! Like right now, I'm standing on one leg. Balance is one of the things you've got to work on! The whole principle of this book is if you don't use it, you lose it!
As we talk about growing older what advice do you have for someone who turns on the six o'clock news and sees the chaos taking place in the Middle East or the terrorism around the world?
“Art and I say that either war is obsolete or man is!”
What I talk about is human possibility , being a possible human , making a difference, creating a contribution and having the courage to do stuff. Art and I are saying, you've got to be involved in a lot of projects because we've got to get rid of war by having peace and peace comes from the top down, inside out, by people deciding to be peaceful and by telling politicians we're not going to have silly wars and we're certainly not going to have religious wars! It's just crazy to have jihad. We've come way too far for that. Art and I say that either war is obsolete or man is!
It's clear that How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life is all about growing and learning, at any age.
We believe you've got to have a multiplicity of roles. I teach in our seminars that you've got to learn one new skill every month! If you can't swim, learn to swim! Art learned how to ski at 50! I learned how to ski at 44! Art's learning a skill from me right now called marketing books. He created hoola hoops for God's sakes and has created gazillions of dollars! But Art's not done! I mean this guy is 94 and he's having me teach him how to market!
He's certainly not sitting in the rocking chair.
No! “Retirement is like putting people in prison” is what Art and I think! Hey look, it's 30% genes and 70% lifestyle. After you're seven years old your genes don't change you much! I think there are 2,812 different ideas in our book! We have packed so much into it because we believe your soul is here to laugh, have joy, and have good clean fun! And we say you ought to have a good sex life on top of that!
I'll second that! Mark, what's one thing people don't know, but would find very surprising about you?
I'm actually an introvert. People see me bouncing around, shaking hands, and talking a lot, but I'm very happy being alone too! But I never feel lonely because I've got so much going on in my mind!
Well is Art in your room now? Can I wish him a happy birthday?
Hansen: He's right next door, let me get him!
Art Linkletter: Hi Steve! I was just on the phone with my wife. She called to wish me a happy birthday.
Well that's why I called, to say happy birthday too!
Linkletter: We've been married, you know, 70 years and have 16 great grandchildren! And so I've lived a very full and interesting life and now I'm happy to be partnering with Mark and sharing all this with your readers!
What made you want to do this book?
This comes from a desire to help others and to have a meaningful life. I've made enough money in show business so that just entertaining is not enough anymore. So I visit nursing homes, hospitals, doctors, and I speak at universities. Because I've learned so much about the business of living, giving back is very important to me. In fact it's the most important part of my life right now in spite of all the other successes I've had. There's a great need for it because there's so many things happening to people as they get older, they don't realize that prevention is very important and we're giving them the tools to do that in our book.
So how would you summarize the main points you want make with this book?
I want people to feel that the most important thing is the choice of what they're going to do in their life. Because the choices you make are more important than doctors, medicine, genes, and everything else. In other words, live a moderate life, don't get fat, have a meaningful life, have things to do, be with people you like to be with. Really, life is a lot more than money and fame and power; it's feeling good about yourself and things you do. And we tell people to always make themselves happier than they ordinarily might be if they didn't think about it!
Are you on a speaking tour right now?
Yes, Mark and I are going all over the country! I do this all the time anyway and now I'm talking about the book. But I ordinarily talk about the things that I have in the book. So I'm right in the midst of the most important part of my life. I won the humanitarian award from the President last year for the work I've been doing volunteering all over the country. Volunteering is a wonderful American expression of helping others. When you're older, that's one thing you can do.
You just continue to make a difference in the world.
And the rewards for me traveling is really so wonderful. People come up and hug me and kiss my hand like I was the Pope and the tell me how I've influenced their life in ways that I didn't even know about. In other words I've lived a kind of exemplary life and a lot of this is due to the wife who just called me.
Who should read this book?
I think anybody over 45. I think the 25 or 30 year old, you're going to say, oh shit, but when you're nine or ten or 15 you think ‘nothing bad can ever happen to me.' But when you're 45 or 50 and you read the papers and see what's going on, you'll know that the so-called entitlement that you've been paying for all your life, probably won't be there.
Social security is just not going to save us is it?
They never knew that people were going to live that long or that Congress was going to spend all that money that came in as revenue!
I have a feeling all of those jokes in the book came from the mind of Art Linkletter!
They did! They did!
Let's end with one your prayers. It pokes a little fun at growing old. It's from page 212 of How to Make the Rest of Your Life Be the Best of Your Life.
The Senility Prayer
God, grant me the Senility
To forget the people
I never liked anyway,
The good fortune
To run into the ones I do,
And the eyesight to tell the difference!
Linkletter: I put that all in one sentence in my lectures. I say, “Stay away from catastrophisers!” Those people who want to give you all the bad news in the world and all the gossip about your neighbors. For God's sake stay away from them, especially relatives!
Mark Victor Hansen and Art Linkletter's new book, How to Make the Rest of Your Life be the Best of Your Life is available in bookstores. Steve Dahl is a writer and a marketing consulting living in Carlsbad. He may be reached at Steve@wisdomcircles.com or through his website www.wisdomcircles.com.
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