Live Younger Longer

Small changes, big results
In my own life and in working with my patients, I’ve found that the fastest
way to create a lasting habit is to go slow. How can going slow be fast?
Think of the moral from that old fable about the tortoise and the hare: Slow
and steady wins the race. We’re more likely to succeed when we make
small changes over a long period of time.

---

Successful businesspeople intuitively understand this. They know you can’t
build a business in one day. Maybe you set up shop in your basement,
chipping away at your goal day after day and month after month. You learn
as you go, celebrate each small success and build on those successes little
by little. Your transition from basement office to office building doesn’t
happen in one leap but with many baby steps.
Parents get it too. They know a child can’t be taught everything in a day,
week or year. It takes many years — and many small moments of struggle,
patience and triumph — to successfully raise a child.
Successful athletes are no different. Think of a professional football team
that wins the Super Bowl. If you could ask the players how long it took to
prepare for that single hour of playtime, they’d tell you it took thousands of
hours. Thousands of countless incremental changes to their technique,
behavior and bodies added up to that big victory.
You can do this
When I give my patients recommendations to improve their health and
longevity, it’s generally nothing they haven’t heard before: Eat healthy
foods, exercise, don’t smoke, get enough sleep. Unfortunately, these
statements have been repeated so often that they’ve become impossible
cliches. It seems terribly daunting to get in shape or lose weight or get a
handle on smoking or stress.
Chances are, you’re a lot like the people who walk through my door. You
know that eating a nutritious diet and getting enough exercise are important
for your health. You may know you need more sleep and less stress in your
life. Perhaps you want to stop smoking and drink less alcohol too. The

---

problem is, you don’t know how to get from point A to point B. And in this,
you’re not alone.
Let me ask you what I ask many of my patients: What have you
accomplished in your life that you’re proud of? Maybe you’ve raised a
couple of great kids or built a successful career. Maybe you’ve experienced
success in sports or turned a hobby into a business. Maybe your big
accomplishment is just surviving. No matter how you answer the question,
I’m betting that you reached your goal by taking one tiny step after another
over a long stretch of time. And if you’ve done that before, you can do it
again.

---

The habenula is a tiny organ located deep in the brain, near
the pineal gland and the thalamus. It plays a role in guiding
behavioral choices based on past experiences. Responses to
unanticipated failure or lack of expected success are
processed through the habenula, such that memories of a
disappointing outcome trigger the impulse to adjust or avoid
the behavior that led to that outcome.