INTRODUCTION

Lesley Logan
Oh, I’m grinning ear to ear. First of all, when we recorded this podcast, our guest was having his actual birthday. So how cool is it that we have a podcast where someone wants to spend their birthday with us. And also, I love this person’s story so much. So we have Joe Casciani here. He is the host of the podcast, Living to 100 Club. I was actually on that podcast and I really love this question so much and I loved what he’s all about. I got to research him a bit more. And I was like, “We have to have him on.” And then I don’t know, I’m gonna have to have him back. Because to be completely honest, we only had been like the surface of like, how it is that we can actually be it till we see it. And so he is someone who works with seniors people. Some people call activators. He didn’t he call them some the older population. And he’s that’s what his career has been about. And so I got to ask him like things that, you know, he’s learned from that, and how we can learn from that. And you know, what it doesn’t, we got into, like, what is your age and doesn’t matter? And I really hope you listen to this, because I know it’s so easy, we’re always all getting older, like the calendar keeps going, the sun keeps going around the Earth, right, or the Earth goes around the sun. Anyways, I definitely skip that part of science class. So what we, what we need to really understand is that being it till you see it is not just actions we take and perfectionist opportunity and like being perfect. It is these little tiny steps. And he’s gonna dive into that for you. And also, I really love the reminder at the end and his BE IT action item. And so I hope you can use this. I definitely, I reference a really old episode with Amy Ledin in this podcast. And so what I love for you to do if you have time, listen this one, and then go listen to Amy’s because I think you’re gonna be able to see how you can take one of his great suggestions and implement into your life. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us. We so love you. And please share the show with a friend however you like to share it of course, like putting on socials amazing, tagging to @be_it_pod because it lets me know what you loved about the show. But it’s not about me, it’s about you. So if you want to text it, email it, screenshot it, grab someone’s phone, and like literally download it for them show where their podcast app is all those things are wonderful. It’s what helps us get more and more guests and help you be it till you see it. So here’s Joe Casciani.

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Lesley Logan
Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I’m Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I’ve trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it’s the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring Bold, Executable, Intrinsic and Targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It’s a practice, not a perfect. Let’s get started.

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EPISODE

Lesley Logan
All right, Be It babes. Guess what? I am really excited for this conversation. I’ve been really excited to have it. Actually, since I met this guy. He is his own podcast hosts of Living to 100. And his name is Joe Casciani. And I just really love what he is doing putting out in this world. And I couldn’t help but think like, most of what he does, and most of his expertise can help us, be it till you see it. Because as adults, there’s things that get in our way. And we often are the ones that are doing that. So, Joe, welcome to the Be It pod. Can you tell everyone who you are and what you’re up to these days?

Joe Casciani
Sure can, Lesley, thanks so much for this invite. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here and talk with your audience. Yes, I’m a psychologist. I’ve worked with seniors my whole career. Currently, I host Living to 100 Club, which is all about educating and inspiring people about aging, staying positive, no matter what gets in the way and looking for resources to help us make better decisions and living longer. Getting over those hurdles. So that’s what my current professional career is focusing on. Yeah.

Lesley Logan
I think that’s amazing. Because I think so many people, I don’t know, I always grew up with a lot of seniors in my life and like people just forget about us, like once you hit a certain age, like you’re over the hill, and no one’s making clothes for you. No one’s making content for you. How did you find yourself working with this group? And are there things that you see that we all kind of still are we do whether we’re young or senior?

Joe Casciani
Yeah, you know, Lesley, I started working with seniors right out of the gate. Soon as I got licensed, I took a position on an inpatient shero psychiatric unit, which is psychiatric unit for seniors. And I was there a few years. And I learned right away that you can’t tell very much by looking at someone who might be sitting in a wheelchair and looks like they’re slumped over and completely out of it. But once you scratch below the surface, there’s still yeah, anyway, you can’t tell by appearances, so. And I also learned that you cannot estimate what a person’s potential is just by talking with them. Because sometimes, for whatever reason, you know, they don’t, they don’t kind of reveal how well how high functioning they are. Anyway, I learned a lot. And then we started a group practice. And I was with this group practice for about 15 years. And when we contracted with nursing homes, we hired psychologists to work with patients who were referred to us. So that’s what I, what I refer to as my practice management days, I was helping psychologists, learn the population, and how to work with depressed patients, behavior problems, dementia, how to educate staff. And again, there’s, there’s so many things about aging. And of course, the nursing home population is only, like 5% of the total of (Lesley: Yeah) that age group. So the other 95%, living independently, more or less, sometimes they’re in assisted living. But I, I, when I left the nursing home world, I wanted to continue to reach older adults, but this time, it’s more of the consumer, people that are still living at home and giving resources. So I think there’s a lot of a lot of things that we you know, we still kind of look at many people, look at aging as a time for decline and slowing down and becoming dependent eventually and helpless. And not just me, but there are many people now that are looking at aging from a totally different perspective. It’s a time of opportunity, time of opening new doors, sometimes, yeah, we do have a setback, maybe a loss, divorce, confined to a wheelchair, whatever is going on, but looking at new opportunities and stepping out of our comfort zone, and really seeing the potential for exciting opportunity. So again, it’s for for any age, we look at seniors, I like to refer to 55 plus, 65 plus as the older adult population. And let’s look at these years as from an upside perspective, you know, (Lesley: Yeah) feeling refreshed about aging. Yeah.

Lesley Logan
Yeah. I mean, I definitely love that, that that’s the approach. (Joe: Yeah) Because, as I as I’m interviewing you, I’m like, just about six weeks from 40. Which when you say 55, I’m like that is I’m closer to 55 but I wasn’t. (Joe: Yeah) I’m like I don’t think that that’s old, or aging or anything like that. But I understand that that’s where where we were society is like that’s the older adult, that’s a senior. But I want to go back there’s a few things you touched on that I think we all could kind of get to, and one that is like, you can’t you can’t judge someone by their appearances and what their what’s going on with them. And we can’t, we often underestimate people’s potential, you can’t judge them as potential just by that moment with them. And I think it’s, I think we all do it to ourselves. When we’re younger, I think not only do is it easy for us to look at someone today and whatever age you are, and go, “Oh, they can’t do that, or that’s not gonna happen for them.” But I think sometimes we even do it ourselves. We, we think, “Oh, I’m, I, it’s too late for me. It’s too late for me to learn that. It’s too late for me to do this.” Where does that? Like how have you seen that, have you seen somebody be able to change that mindset around that? Or have you been able to see, like somebody at the age of 80 is learning how to swim? Like, what what have you seen in your in your practice?

Joe Casciani
Yeah, good question. And Lesley, it’s, to me, it’s all about resilience, and perseverance and tenacity. And certainly with the population I’ve seen, it’s very easy to feel discouraged. You know, maybe one medical problem after another. And I saw that so many times some have a fall, or seem to, you know, have to go to rehab, physical therapy, and they throw their hands up and say, “I can’t handle this anymore.” So, to my mind, it’s like, how do we get over that event? How do we interpret that event, that is something that’s challenging us, we got to dig deep. And I think this can happen with any age group, somebody that, you know, faces rejection, or continued failure is so easy to say, “I’m done with this. I’ve tried and tried.” Yeah, at some point, we have to re examine and reevaluate. But a lot of times, it is a matter of kind of digging deep, and finding that internal flame or fire, you know, people call it grit or resilience. And I like to say, when I speak with older adults, I said, look, you know, might feel like you’re out of this, you don’t have any fire left, but I disagree. As long as we’re taking a breath. As long as we’re still alive, we still have that, that fire inside of us. And we can tap into that, that resilience, and it’s unlimited. It’s an unlimited reserve. That’s the beauty of this, it never goes away. We can, we can say it’s gone, it’s blocked, it’s covered up, but it never goes away. And we can get in touch with it at any time.

Lesley Logan
Okay, so I love this. Because I think resilience is like, the key to everything like I, I can, I can be trying to like be upset about something and trying to quit something and I can feel my resilience fighting back … (Joe: Yeah) and I’m like, I just want to sit in this moment and be upset right now. And you’re already ready to go. But (Joe: Yeah) um, can we teach resilience? I mean, obviously, it’s something we’re all born with. But is it something that are you taught? Like, are we, is that a habit that we pick up as we’re as we’re growing up to not be resilient? Or is that something we can teach people who are older? Can I learn more resilience?

Joe Casciani
You know, there are people who have more resilience than others. And, you know, the science has identified a lot of those characteristics of resilient people, you know, it’s that ability to get up off the mat after we’re knocked down. And, you know, not everybody has that. But I think it is teachable, I think it is something we can all acquire. And again, the resilient people, they’re better at decision making. They don’t let emotions take over. Now, emotions are to be respected, right? I’m not saying ignore emotions, we have to respect our emotions, maybe feeling a sense of loss, or that failure or grief, whatever, we have to experience that process. But then it’s time to move on. And the point is, respect the emotions, don’t let them control us. Sometimes we stay under control, and it gets heavy, we’re depressed, and the burden gets very heavy, and it’s hard to dig out of that. So we have to watch that, we have to watch sometimes that depression is very good at, you know, kind of pulling us into that dark hole. It’s like a vacuum that sucks us back, we have to watch that because it’s very hard to get out of it. So the point is, let’s respect the emotion, let’s acknowledge it, let’s recognize it. And then we can continue to to move forward. So, resilience is again it’s it’s that determination, and not not being so quick to say, I’m done. I can’t handle any more of this. But again, you know, (Lesley: Yeah) there are exceptions. Of course, I’m not saying you know, forever and ever, but let’s not be so quick to give it up. Yeah.

Yeah, I love hearing that. Because I think for those people listening who feel like they have friends who are more resilient, that we can make a little bit more sense, but also, that we have it in us and, and I think that there’s a difference between feeling your feelings and pushing through and the resilience doesn’t mean you’re just pushing, pushing, pushing just means like, you’re taking stock, you’re evaluating, and then you get to you get to get keep going. And I think that that is really helpful. It’s really nice. So I, I’m wondering, is there, are there things that we could be looking at? Because you I mean, you’ve been focusing your your career on helping people and also Living to 100 Club podcasts. Are there things that we should be considering now, when we are younger, before we hit that 55? Or even if we’re just above that, that we could be doing as a practice to assist us and having a more than even just resilient adult, older adult life, but just like, a better life? And in that way I do things I could be doing now?

Yeah, you know, I think when we talk about behavior change, that’s one of the most difficult things I’ve found in my career. It’s hard to change behavior. And it starts with tiny steps, small turtle steps, right. So let’s say we want to lose 10 pounds, we don’t set our goals, losing 10 pounds, we set our goal as I’m going to change what I eat tomorrow. And every time we take a small step, it gives us a little bit more motivation. But it also gives us confidence, that feeling of success. So the small steps are really important, let’s, we can have a big goal. But let’s not focus on the goal. Let’s focus on what I’m doing tomorrow. And a good way to do that, Lesley is to, you know, we talked about journaling, you know, kind of what our day is like, and I always talked about journaling as keeping track of what I did today that was better than yesterday, did I handle this situation better today than I used to? Did I do something different today? This is what I want to journal at night. Did I do something different today? Maybe I handled a conversation better than the way I used to. And that’s what we want to focus on change, the positive changes. We can spend time writing down our frustrations and disappointments. But I don’t think we’ve learned as much out of that, as we do on kind of highlight, putting the spotlight on what I did today, that was better than where I was last week or last year. And that’s why we’re always people get trapped by comparing themselves to others. So I see so and so’s making all this progress toward whatever. And I think that’s a trap because there are always going to be people who are doing better than us and people who are not doing as well as the better comparison is where I am today compared to where I was a month ago. That’s that’s how we change behavior. That’s how we kind of count ourselves on the back when we’re doing something better than we used to say, yeah, I’m doing a better job. And that builds that confidence. Like I said, it builds that self efficacy or more or more capable when we can recognize these positives because we can draw on the negatives and the disappointments forever but let’s focus on the positives and that’s what keeps us moving forward. So that’s what I would say, you know, in terms of kind of a daily practice let’s pay attention to that. The other the other thing we talked about you’ve heard of affirmations of course and affirmations are important. The affirmation is something that kind of describes where I want to be compared to where I am, like we say to ourselves, I can handle stressful events or I can remain calm in difficult situations. So that affirmation is the gap we’re trying to close the gap between where I am and where I want to be. So we continue to use these affirmations and that gradually shapes our behavior have any any level, toward any goal, toward any endeavor, congratulate shapes our behavior because it tells us here’s where I want to be. Here’s the here’s the gap I want to close. So journaling, affirmations, let me see.

Lesley Logan
I love these though because these are free, these are free things it’s not (Joe: Yeah) like I think I could have totally like felt like you could be like okay, here are the supplements you should be taking, here’s the trainers you should be hiring, here are these things and like all those things are great if they make you feel good and they make you and they’re helping you do more of what you love. But, but I you are, your way of journaling makes me think a lot about we had Amy Ledin on like episode three or five like way long ago and she has these DAC or Daily Agreement Cards, and they’re very specific and one is like behavior, one is like health, one is it’s like bang, they nutrition and one is I forget. But basically, it spells out B A G, B A N G, right? So she put them on there and you put your, and it’s not like, I’m going to walk 10 miles today, but it’s like one little change. And then you make them small enough that they’re achievable. And then if you do all four of them, and the day the card goes in the wind pile, and the and the thing that you put down is hopefully is like something just a little bit better than what you were doing yesterday. And that thing. (Joe: Yeah …) Yeah, yeah. So I …

Joe Casciani
… raising the bar just a little bit. Yeah.

Lesley Logan
So that we can actually achieve it. I think, you know, I think it’s so it’s you mentioned comparison. And I think that that is a horrible thing that we all do. And I’m sure I wonder if we ever aged out of that. I doubt that. I don’t think so. Because my father is he’s 70. He lives in an older above 55 community. And he definitely compares himself to other people. He’s like, “I’m one of the youngest people there. I’m one of the most active people there.”

Joe Casciani
Yeah. Don’t move to another another setting, because you might be older. (Lesley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.) Yeah, that works in that place for him. Sure.

Lesley Logan
It does. With, with the people that you you’re working with, what have you, what have you seen really helps us? Like, get out of that mindset that we are getting older, and we should just hang up our hat? Like, what’s the what’s the affirmation or mantra there? Because I feel like my grandfather, he would always just go I go, “How you doing, grandpa? He’s like, “Waiting to die.” And I’m like, “That is the worst thing.” Anyone say. Why are you saying that?

Joe Casciani
You know, just on a personal level. I’m the youngest of four kids, right. And my three siblings have all passed away. Right. So two of them at a very untimely age. And I was talking to a relative and niece of mine. And I reminded her, “You know, I’m the last of the four of us.” And she said, “You must feel terrible.” And I said, “No, no …” The only survivor I mean, I that’s independent of who I am and where I’m going. So I don’t let that influence. But my point is, we are getting older, right? Everybody is aging. There, we’re all going to face some level of physical decline, some of us will face some cognitive decline, you know, the arthritis, the wrinkles, the gray hair, some difficulty with vision, hearing, senses. But let’s not dwell on those negatives. Let’s look at the positives, because there are as many if not more positives, you know, as I talked about aging and I talk about celebrating our senior years. Let’s look at the upside. Let’s look at the potential. You know, I, I use this exercise. And when I talk with large groups, and I divide the room into right half and left half, and I say, “Alright, everybody on the right side, you’re the pessimist. Put your pessimist hat on and look around the room and find everything that’s wrong with him maybe scratches on the walls, stains on the carpet. Maybe the fixtures need fixing or whatever. And everybody on the other side, you’re the optimist. Put your optimist hat on. And I want you to look and find everything, maybe the sunlight, maybe the, you know, the furniture, maybe the colors of the walls, whatever.” And I bring them back and we get observations and I say, “Look, it’s the same room. What are you looking for? If you’re looking for what’s wrong, you’ll find it. If you’re looking for what’s right, you’ll find that too.” So that’s what I that’s, to me the perfect model for a positive outlook about aging. Yeah, there are there are some episodes, some decline, some losses. But let’s look at what’s good. Let’s see what’s good about the run. Let’s put that optimist hat on. And let’s see what’s still good enough for him. Because, you know, as long as I said, as long as we have that ability to be aware of what’s going on and make mental decisions. We can stay positive, you know, is the glass half full? Or is the glass half empty? And eight ounce glass with four ounces of water is half full and half empty. (Lesley: Yeah) You decide.

Lesley Logan
There is a book. (Joe: Yeah) I’m forgetting the name of it. But it was a very impactful book for me back in 2012. And, and she had said, it’s not about whether you see the glass half full or half, half empty. It’s whether you see something in the glass. (Joe: Yeah, yeah.) like it’s just like, do you see that there is something in this glass? That’s already we’re already doing (Joe: Yeah) a good job.

Joe Casciani
Yeah, yeah. Same idea. Sure.

Lesley Logan
That’s a really cool experiment. I think we all could do that in our life. Like you could be going through a really bad thing and you can actually start to find good things happening at the same time. We do this in our coaching group, we have a channel that says, “I need a moment.” And because, you know, like, it’s it’s a particular type of coaching program, we coach Pilates and fitness instructors and so you can complain to your family, but they’re not going to really understand why that’s so annoying that somebody keeps late canceling, even though you’re, they’re like, “You’re getting paid for the hour. It’s like, yeah, but could have been doing anything else.” You know, like they don’t get. So we have this channel, but the rule is, you have to go to the wins channel right afterwards, and you have to post something that’s going well, because it’s like negativity can breed negativity. And so we got to cancel that out with a win. And now some people just go directly to the wins, like I was gonna complain about this. But here’s what’s … and so I, I love doing that because it is it is so easy to be in a room and to see what’s wrong with it. But we can also see what’s right. And we can all be in the same room. What a cool, (Joe: Yeah, yeah.) what a cool challenge we have them do.

Joe Casciani
We’re gonna see whatever we’re looking for, right? But we think about, we bring them out, you know, we’re gonna see whatever we’re looking for. Yeah.

Lesley Logan
That is very, very true. We’ve had some neurologists on who’d said that your brain is predisposed to see 60, like 60%, at least negative thinking right to protect you. And most of our thoughts are the repetitive thoughts we’ve had before. And, you know, whatever that what is it that RA … (Joe: Reticular Activating) Yes, thank you that that’s the word, system like we, that’s what we’re supposed to do. That’s what our brain our brain is doing what it was designed to do. And so we have to really work hard to have it focus on what we want it to look for the good stuff we want to see in our day. And that can be that can be really trying. Do you, is that is that room thing that way you teach people how to do that? Or is or do you have other tools for helping people see, like see something good going on in their in their life, even if they’re things going wrong?

Joe Casciani
Well, you know, I, I like to use examples. I like to use stories. And one of the favorite stories is Steve Jobs. And we all know Steve Jobs founder of Apple, brilliant, genius engineer. While Steve Jobs was adopted, as an infant, a lot of people that I’ve read their bio about him by Walter Isaacson. Good story. So Steve Jobs found out he was adopted when he was about 10, or 11. And he was totally crushed. He said, “How could my own parents, my own biological mother, give me up? I must be totally worthless. I must have no value as a person.” So his adoptive parents found out about this thinking of Steve’s? And they said, “No, no, no, Steve, when you were in the hospital, we saw you as an infant. And to us, you are the most valuable person in the world. We couldn’t imagine living our lives without you.” So what happened? Did the adoptive parents give him any new skills or talents? No, they helped him throw that light switch from being the most worthless to now being the most valuable person flipping that switch. And that’s what we all can do. We can all have that same conversation with ourselves, I can go from, I flipped that switch. And I go from A to B and wow, it’s like a new world, it’s like a new world. And we can create a new, I call it redefining ourselves, we kind of reinvent ourselves. And that’s often I talk about starting new chapters. And yeah, maybe we lived 50 years. We mr, you know, husband, and now my wife has passed away. And okay, we deal with the grief. And we get through that eventually, hopefully. And now I have to start a new chapter. And now I’m a single person. So like flipping that switch. I mean, imagine if Steve Jobs never had that conversation with his adoptive parents. You know what, no Apple, no I, no iPhone, we’d all be using blackberries … and pilots. We had that same conversation with ourselves. And that’s how we, again, it’s that it’s that perception, how do we perceive events? How do we perceive, perceive ourselves? How do we define? How do we interpret? You know, I, somebody, you know, seven years old, trips are walking off the curb and sprains his ankle. Alright, how are you going to explain that event to yourself? How do you interpret that? Is that like, “Oh, no, I’m getting older. I’m not going to be able to function.” Or am I, you know, just someone who tripped. Right. I mean, again, it’s that that same explanation, how do we define it? And that’s going to color, how we cope with it? Right. That interpretation is going to color influence how well we cope with that event.

Lesley Logan
That is actually really an interesting thing. Like, am I just someone who trips? (Joe: Yeah) I, when I first started teaching Pilates, most of my clients were over 60 and so, and I was told, like, once people are over 55, they should not do too much flexion because they’re already rounding forward. And, and to a young person, I was like, okay, that makes sense. All my clients were over 70. But I was looking at how they were rounded. And I was like, well, this is not strong. And like they have to, and then I was looking at them, like, get out of their car, and I’m like, well, that’s flexion and sitting on the toilet. And I’m like, they’re doing flexion all the time, should I teach them some flexion. And so I started teaching them flexion and with more length and more strength. And it was so funny, because I started to see them with more possibilities. Because I, because I switched that, that light switch on on in my brain, and not that they’re doing some of the crazy flexion stuff that someone who’s younger is doing. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t do it at all. And, and I think it’s so easy for us to be told or to tell ourselves a story about oh, this age, I can’t do this anymore. And it was so funny, because I had a client who turned 55 while working with me. And I thought, so what? Because yesterday, she could do something, but today, she can’t like do. Like that doesn’t make any sense. Like that’s a nice bright line to think about as a teacher to have some contraindications, but also, like not let those things like, by what we live by yes, you’re 70 and yes, you fell. That doesn’t mean that you’re gotten you’ve gotten older and that’s why you trip.

Joe Casciani
Right. Right. Yeah. So we evaluate each person we cannot assume anything based on their age. And age is only a number. You know, that’s, that’s one of the underlying fundamentals here. Age is only number. Don’t, you know I don’t know how much time we have but can I tell them my story?

Lesley Logan
Oh keep going. Tell them your story. I love it.

Joe Casciani
Emile, Emile Ravelbond, he worked in television in Holland, right? He was 69 years old. He was unhappy being 69. So Emile would say, I can’t get dates online, people find out how old I am. And they don’t want to go out with me. I can’t drive a sports car. People think I’m too old. I can’t get a mortgage for a new house. I want to change my age. I want to be 49. He says if I’m 49 I can go online and get dates. I can drive whatever car I want. I can get a bank loan. He said people can change their name, they can even change their gender nowadays, I should be able to change my age. So he went to the Dutch courts. This is a true story. He went to the Dutch courts. And the Dutch courts said, “Sorry, Mr. Ravelbond. We cannot change your age. If we do that, it’s going to eliminate 20 years of your records in our system, and we can’t do it. However, you are free to feel 49. If you want, you can feel whatever age you want. But we can change your chronological age.” So to me, age is only a number and then, you know I had someone on my part … I talked about different ways to define our age. There’s functional age, there’s biological age biological age looks at how our body is aging, maybe in advance of our chronological age, or maybe healthier, and our psychological age or kind of health age. People who think they’re younger than their chronological age, actually have fewer chronic diseases. They take better care of themselves and more involved in preventive health care. They do better on tests of memory and cognitive function. So people who actually think they’re younger than their CA are actually doing better. So age, let’s let’s not get tripped up on …

Lesley Logan
Oh, I love this option so much.

Joe Casciani
Yeah. You know, another story is that, is woman called Edith Murway. I heard her story on NPR last year. She started weightlifting at age 91. Professional weightlifting at age 91. And seven years later, she set the Guinness world record for being the oldest competitive power lifter where she lifted 150 pounds at age 98. And, you know, people asked her what’s the best part about doing this? And she said, “You know, it’s the applause that I get from the audience.” Isn’t that great? (Lesley: That is …) I mean, there’s (Lesley: I love that.) so many exceptions. There’s so many exceptions to that norm of steady decline. Let’s you know, that’s why I talked about Living to 100. That’s that it’s a great goal. It’s more than a goal to me. It’s it’s our mindset, it’s our attitude. How do we want to look at getting older staying positive all the way?

Lesley Logan
Yeah, I I love that so much because most of my friends are much older than me a ton older but they all hit 40 before me and I watched them all stress about it, be depressed about, their hitting 40 like and I and then they hit 40 and then I find out like a year like it’s the best thing ever. It’s the best day it’s like about all this stuff. So anyways, my whole year of 39, I have been like celebrating that 40 is coming. And I’m like, “I don’t even feel 40.” I’m so excited to finally hit it because apparently everything is great afterwards. (Joe: wait till you hit 50, wait till you hit 50!) But I know, I know, I also heard Oprah’s lovin was loving 60. So I feel like all these things, but what I hear you saying, which I love so much is one, acting as if is always is a little bit better than, than just like waiting around and like letting it happen. And then something that you brought up, it’s not about like that we’re all going to like the goal of living to 100 is nice. I once heard someone say, just like hitting a goal is not always the option, like the only thing, right? Because when we have a goal in mind, and we make steps towards it, it changes how we act as a person. And that’s actually the win, right like that us making those changes. It’s not like if you if I hit 97, and I missed 100, it’s not like I didn’t hit my goal. like yes I didn’t get to 100. But I, I made myself a different person along the way. And isn’t that the whole reason for going after a goal.

Joe Casciani
Yeah. Beautiful. You know, psychologists call that process over content. It’s the process of doing something rather than just what the goal is. So it’s, it’s the attitude about living longer whether we do or not, it’s not in the cards for everybody. But it’s the mindset that I want to keep moving forward. I want to keep moving forward. Yeah.

Lesley Logan
Oh, this is so great. Joe, you’re such a wealth of knowledge. I love your story. We’re gonna have to have you back. I think for sure. We’re gonna take a brief pause. Find out how people can find you, hear more ways that they can live to 100.

Joe Casciani
Great. Okay.

Lesley Logan
All right, Joe, where do you hang out? Where do, where do people listen to your podcasts? How can they get more information?

Joe Casciani
Yeah, my website, livingto100.club, c l u b not .com or .org but .club. So my company is Living to 100 Club. I’m the podcast host. I do public speaking. I do monthly newsletters and a lot of information. I do some clinical consulting. And I also do one on one counseling, coaching with individuals who maybe have, you know, have some bumps, you know, on their journey and are looking for solutions. I love to do, I love to talk about successful agents. So that’s what this is all about. If people want to go to my podcast, you can subscribe now and be a subscriber. If you go to the make sure just a new link livingto100club.supercast s u p e r c a s t.com. So livingto100club.supercast.com. That’s to become a subscriber or a monthly fee or an annual fee, which will give … our podcasts every month. This week, I’ve got a an MD coming on. He’s talking about regenerative medicine, brilliant physician, but getting away from traditional medicine and looking at the new opportunities for Regenerative Medicine. Anyway, great content. And you know, I’d love to people can give me a call, my email address is jc@living100.club, jc@livingto100.club. Or you can give me a call and 858-272-3992. Take your calls, we can set up a Zoom meeting. I can, you know, see if there’s any way I can offer some assistance. So, yeah (Lesley: I love it.) happy to be available. Yeah.

Lesley Logan
You are, you’re amazing. And I hope people take advantage of learning from you. Before I let you go, (Joe: Yeah) you gave it, you’ve given us so many things but bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted steps people can do to be it till they see it. What do you have for us?

Joe Casciani
Yeah, you know, a lot … There’s a term called cognitive embodiment. We, we see ourselves as what we want to become. Right? We there’s someone who was on my program last year, he looked at weight loss as an expert in binge eating. And he said, “Think of yourself as a permanently thin person.” So when you define yourself as a permanently thin person that’s going to affect all of your decisions, all of your approaches to eating, and it’s gonna make you kind of enable you to make better choices. So what we think about, we bring about, we hold on to that new definition of ourselves and that’s, that’s going to influence how we go through the world. And, you know, I had someone on my it was a presentation I was giving him this older gentleman, you know he said, “I hear a lot about these golden years, golden years, everybody talks about golden years. And I haven’t seen a golden years, where are these golden years?” So I thought about it for a second. He was trying to hook me I think, he almost got. And I said, “Look, you, you have to become the golden years. You cannot wait till somebody knocks on your door and says, here I am. You have to embody whatever you think the golden years are. And you have to take that role on yourself. And that’s going to influence your your moving forward. And you create that mindset that I am in my golden years, and all of your decisions will follow from it.” So we can’t wait for people to knock on the doors. We have to take that initiative. And keep keep getting out there … You know, new outlooks. So that’s where I am. Yeah.

Lesley Logan
Oh, cognitive embodiment. I love this. I mean, (Joe: Yeah) of course, I’d love this, this would be it till you see it all the way. But I love when there’s science behind it (Joe: Yeah) but just a motto. Joe, thank you for that. I think we all can take a moment today. And like, think about who we want to be and start saying it. And it’s, it’s kind of like, if a company has values everyone, they put everything that they decide to do through those values. So (Joe: Yeah) it’s the same thing, whatever you’re saying, like, “I am this. I am this person. This is who I am.” Then the decisions you make will filter through that. Would that person do that? No. I mean, so it just makes it more easily accessible and tangible.

Joe Casciani
Yeah, it’s a mental construct, and we can reconstruct our image anytime. We redefine ourselves. We, yeah, we go from one place to another place and sometimes it’s a positive and sometimes it’s not. Over always … opportunities and new doors to open. Lesley, this has been great fun.

Lesley Logan
Joe, thank you so much for being here. Everyone, how are you going to use these tips in your life? Let us know. Make sure you tag the @be_it_pod. Email them to Joe at livingto100club. All those links are going to be below, so it’ll be really easy for you to click them, access them. And until next time, Be It Till You See It.

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Lesley Logan
That’s all I’ve got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate this show and leave a review. And, follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over on IG at the @be_it_pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us help others to BE IT TILL YOU SEE IT. Have an awesome day!

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Lesley Logan
Be It Till You See It is a production of Bloom Podcast Network.

Brad Crowell
It’s written, produced, filmed and recorded by your host Lesley Logan. And me Brad Crowell. Our associate producer is Amanda Frattarelli.

Lesley Logan
Kevin Perez at Disenyo handles all of our audio editing.

Brad Crowell
Our theme music is by Ali at APEX Production Music. And our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.

Lesley Logan
Special thanks to our designer Mesh Herico for creating all of our visuals, (which you can’t see because this is a podcast) and our digital producer, Jay Pedroso for editing all the video each week, so you can.

Brad Crowell
And to Angelina Herico for transcribing each episode, so you can find it on our website. And finally to Meridith Crowell for keeping us all on point and on time.