In this episode of Next Act Ninjas with Dr. Rachael Van Pelt, discover how limiting beliefs about aging can profoundly shape your health, wealth, and overall lifestyle longevity. From exploring confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance to understanding the influence of family and generational beliefs, Rachael dives into the psychology behind why we often age how we expect. Learn how to replace self-imposed limitations with a longevity mindset that fosters healthy aging and opens the door to new possibilities—whether it’s staying active, starting a business, or reinventing your social circle in your 50s, 60s, or beyond. Packed with real-life success stories and practical tips, this episode challenges you to question old narratives and adopt empowering beliefs that transform both your healthspan and wealthspan. Tune in now to embrace an ageless future and step confidently into your Next Act!
In this episode of Next Act Ninjas with Dr. Rachael Van Pelt, discover how limiting beliefs about aging can profoundly shape your health, wealth, and overall lifestyle longevity. From exploring confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance to understanding the influence of family and generational beliefs, Rachael dives into the psychology behind why we often age how we expect. Learn how to replace self-imposed limitations with a longevity mindset that fosters healthy aging and opens the door to new possibilities—whether it’s staying active, starting a business, or reinventing your social circle in your 50s, 60s, or beyond. Packed with real-life success stories and practical tips, this episode challenges you to question old narratives and adopt empowering beliefs that transform both your healthspan and wealthspan. Tune in now to embrace an ageless future and step confidently into your Next Act!
Chapters
00:00 How Beliefs About Aging Shape Your Future
01:38 How Confirmation Bias Impacts Aging
03:42 Generational Beliefs and Family Influence: Escaping the “Old Age” Script
05:59 Creating a New Narrative: Strategies to Reinforce Empowering Beliefs
08:13 Navigating Cognitive Dissonance: Embracing Discomfort for Growth
10:11 Finding Role Models: Real-Life Examples of Successful Aging
11:01 Beliefs About Aging Impact Your Wealthspan
12:47 Create an Environment That Supports A Positive Aging Mindset
14:16 Building a Future Beyond Age-Related Limits
Hey, hey, welcome back to Next Act Ninjas, the go-to podcast for mastering your health and wealth longevity. I'm your host, Rachael Van Pelt, and I am excited to have a conversation today about how our beliefs, specifically the ones tied to aging, can dramatically shape our future. Whether you're 55, 65, or 75, I want to invite you to step back and ask yourself, "Are my beliefs about aging and what's possible for me over the next 10 to 20 years actually holding me back"? I think you might be surprised at the answer.
As a healthspan scientist, I've spent most of my career studying how to extend not just the quantity of our years, but the quality. And I worked with many adults who carry around disempowering beliefs. Beliefs about what it means to be quote unquote "old". You've undoubtedly heard many of these disempowering beliefs or stories. Maybe you even said them to yourself. They sound something like, "My memory's slipping because, well, I'm not getting any younger", or "I can't take up that hobby because you can't teach an old dog new tricks", or "I'm not going to bother with that new technology. That's for the next gen. I'm going to stick to what I know." If you ever caught yourself thinking along those lines, then today's episode is going to be perfect for you. We're going to examine how these self-limiting beliefs come about, and more importantly, how you can replace them with more empowering beliefs.
One of the most dominant psychological phenomena that we experience every day is called confirmation bias. It's a mental shortcut that our brain uses regularly. Once we believe something to be true, we unconsciously look for evidence to support that belief and we ignore any evidence that might contradict it. In other words, if you strongly believe "I'm too old for that, I'm slowing down, it's hard to learn new things", then your brain is going to latch onto every little moment that you feel tired or forget a word or struggle with technology. You're going to file those moments away under "evidence that I'm old". Meanwhile, those moments where you do feel energetic, where you master a new skill, where you surprise yourself with curiosity, those moments slip by unnoticed because they don't fit your internal story. Our minds have a huge blind spot for any data that doesn't fit our view of the world.
This is why it can be so disconcerting when we are confronted with evidence that flies in the face of our narrative. When you see someone the same age as you who is thriving in ways you didn't think were possible, it contradicts your story. So for example, maybe you see a 70-year-old running their first marathon or an 80-year-old learning to play the violin. If there's a part of you that believes at 65 your best days are behind you, then those kinds of observations are going to feel jarring, aren't they? Instead of inspiring you, they're going to spark discomfort or even disbelief and you're going to subconsciously think, "wow, they must have good genes" or "they're just an outlier". You're not going to consider the possibility that, "I could do something like that too if I wanted". It's not something you even do consciously, it's unconscious. You're not even aware you're doing it. Confirmation bias operates quietly in the background, it's subconscious. That's why it's so influential and pervasive.
Our families reinforce these beliefs as well. Many of us grew up watching our parents or grandparents age in a certain way. They just slowed down. They lived with their chronic aches and pains. Maybe they gave up their favorite activities. So we internalize the notion that this pattern is inevitable. We either consciously or unconsciously think to ourselves, "Well, my mother had back issues, so I probably will too", or "All the men in our family had heart disease at 65, so I'd better prepare".
Now, genetics can indeed predispose you to certain conditions, but your environment, your habits, your mindset, they actually play a much bigger role. In fact, for most age-related chronic diseases, genetics only explains about 20% of your risk of disease. The other 80% is determined by your lifestyle and environment. And yet, because the people closest to us modeled a certain version of aging, it can be tough to imagine anything different for ourselves. This is especially true if we never see close-up examples of individuals who, through their lifestyle or mindset changes, have bucked the trend.
In fact, generational beliefs about aging are a lot like living in what I call a metaphorical "slum", where everyone in your environment shares the same limited perspective. You know, if you grew up in a tough neighborhood where most people never went to college or pursued certain careers, your horizon would have been shaped by that reality. You literally couldn't see beyond it because no one else around you was doing any differently. Likewise, if your parents, your aunts and uncles and your grandparents aged poorly, that's all you witnessed. So it becomes your default. You just believe that's the way aging works. You "know" it to be true because that's what was modeled for you year after year. But here's the thing, stepping out of that environment, even metaphorically, can radically expand your sense of what's possible. Just like someone can leave a neighborhood and discover new opportunities, we can seek out new models of aging that change our entire outlook. So how do we do this?
How do we shift our identity so we stop confirming the narrative that "I'm old and that's just how it is?" And we instead adopt what I like to call a "Longevity Mindset." Well, the first step is awareness. Awareness that you might be clinging to a certain story without even realizing it. If a part of you has been repeating, can't teach an old dog new tricks" or "I'm too old for that", I want you to ask yourself, is that absolutely true? Or is it just something I've picked up along the way from my family, social circles, or culture? Sometimes just shining a light on that assumption is enough to weaken its hold. The next step is to actively look for evidence that contradicts your old narrative.
Confirmation bias, goes both ways. If you decide you want to cultivate a new story, such as "I'm healthy, active, capable of growth at any age", then your mind is going to naturally start searching for data to support that narrative. You're more likely to read about people in their 70s who take up running or playing an instrument for the first time. You're more likely to join a local group where older adults learn Tai Chi or painting or whatever. One of the most crucial aspects of this transformation is to look beyond your immediate social circle, especially if that circle is stuck in what I call the "old age narrative". I know that might sound harsh, but it's true. If your group of friends insists on talking about nothing but their aches and pains and how we're not young anymore, it's going to be very difficult for you to shift your beliefs.
I'm not saying you have to abandon your lifelong buddies, but maybe add some new voices in the mix. Voices that focus on possibility rather than limitation. When you diversify your inner circle, you give yourself a much better chance of seeing new ways to approach aging.
But let's go back to that discomfort I talked about. The discomfort that inevitably comes up when our beliefs are challenged. It can feel almost threatening when we encounter someone our own age doing something we think is beyond us, because it forces us to grapple with the question, "If they can do it, why haven't I tried"? And that can stir up feelings of regret or fear of failure. In psychology, we call this phenomenon 'cognitive dissonance', which just means we become mentally uncomfortable. And our natural response to this discomfort is to reject the challenging evidence rather than do the hard work of examining our assumptions and maybe making changes. And all that does is reinforce our bias, doesn't it?
But here's the good news. Once you understand that this is simply part of the human experience, you can navigate it much more calmly. To do that, simply observe and get curious. You might think to yourself, "Wow, I notice I am feeling defensive or uncomfortable seeing that 70-year-old bodybuilder at the gym. Why is that? What can I learn from that? Maybe it's challenges my notion of what's possible for me. What if I explored that possibility?" When you consciously acknowledge your discomfort, you give yourself the power to decide whether to use it as an excuse to reinforce an old identity or as an invitation to form a new one. Takes practice though, doesn't it? But regardless, it's a key piece of building empowering beliefs.
Does it mean you have to run out and become a bodybuilder at 70? Of course not. But what if just acknowledging that it's not out of the realm of possibility opens up new doors for you? What if it simply reminds you that 70-something today is very different than it was for your parents? What if it inspires you to take that art class you always wanted to try? The point is, don't turn a blind eye to the successful agers who are all around you.
In fact, if you want to fuel more empowering beliefs about aging, I suggest you gather stories about real life role-models. Think of it like building a successful aging highlight reel. If you can't find any in your immediate circle, look to documentaries or books or even local success stories about older adults who are crushing it later in life. I'm talking about that 65-year-old who started a small business because she finally had the time to pursue her passion or the 72-year-old who decided he wanted to get fit and went from being completely sedentary to hiking the Grand Canyon. Every time you come across one of these stories, file it away in your mind as a counterpoint to your "I'm getting old" narrative.
And keep in mind, your beliefs about aging, they don't just impact your healthspan, they impact your wealthspan too. How many times have you heard someone say, "I'm too old to invest in real estate" or "It's too late for me to catch up on retirement savings"? The same cognitive biases come into play, don't they? If we see ourselves as "past our prime", then we're less likely to update our skill set or take risks that could improve our financial wellbeing. But what if instead we said, "I have lots of opportunities. I still have decades ahead of me to make new, smarter decisions. I could build a business, pivot my investments", whatever. Suddenly, the horizon looks more open, doesn't it? We start to realize that our concept of "too old" is just a matter of perspective rather than a hard limit. So we keep going in ways we might not have otherwise.
Family and friends, they're going to look at you like you've gone off the rails for even considering starting a new business or a new workout routine or a new social circle. But remember, their reactions are just a reflection of their own cognitive biases. It's easier for them to maintain their identity if you also stay in the same lane. When you break the pattern, it's going to force them to question their own assumptions. They're going to feel that cognitive dissonance, and it's going to spark a bit of panic and resentment. That's okay. Just focus on your own path and acknowledge that their resistance is about them, it's not about you. Keep seeking out allies who are excited about possibility and change, because those are the voices that will sustain you through the inevitable challenges of reinventing yourself.
And let's not forget the impact of your environment. If everything and everyone around you is constantly reinforcing a negative view of aging, it's going to be an uphill battle. So think about how you can expose yourself to new stimuli. It might be as simple as following a social media account of inspirational older adults who are living life vibrantly. It might be finding an in-person group or a club or a class.
Whatever it is, choose an environment that reflects the energy and attitude that you aspire to. If you want to believe in the possibility of healthy, active aging, you need to surround yourself with people and activities that are in alignment with that vision.
If you're listening to this podcast and thinking, "Rachael, I've spent decades believing I'm old, is it really possible to change my mindset this late in life?" I'm going to point out that that thought in and of itself is your aging cognitive bias talking. I could give you all the evidence in the world and you wouldn't believe it. I could show you all of the success stories from my former clients, but you wouldn't accept them unless you were willing to experience the cognitive dissonance and entertain the idea of new possibilities. It's a bit of a paradox, isn't it? If you believe you're too old, then you're too old, and change isn't possible. If you believe you're never too old, then you aren't too old, and change is possible. Bottom line, how you experience aging is in large part a product of your mindset.
You can be 50 and feel decades older if you're constantly reinforcing the idea that your best days are behind you. Conversely, you can be 80 and feel spry and hopeful and eager to embrace what's next if you cultivate a narrative of growth and possibility. The choice is yours. And the shift starts with seeking out and truly acknowledging evidence that defies your old story.
So I challenge you to question any narrative that tells you you're too old. Consciously look for people in their 70s, 80s, and beyond who are living lives full of vitality and curiosity. Take note of how their choices differ from those who gave into the idea that advanced age equals decline. Notice how these role models challenge your assumptions and let that spur you to try something new. It doesn't have to be running marathons or climbing mountains. It can be as simple as, trying a new healthy recipe or a small piece of technology that previously intimidated you. Whatever it is, have fun with it.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of Next Act Ninjas. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with a friend or family member who might need a little boost of inspiration around their own aging journey. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any of our great episodes. Until next time, live well, love more, age less, my friends.