Turning A Midlife Crisis Into A Midlife Calling with Chip Conley

This episode is brought to you by BiOptimizers, Paleovalley, and Rupa Health. In general, people often underestimate the amount of life they have left ahead of them. This means they write off the ability to learn new things or make major changes mid-life, even when it comes to pursuing lifelong dreams and goals. The truth is, we can go through our remaining years feeling more fulfilled, happier, and healthier if we open ourselves up to all the possibilities that are waiting. Today on The Doctor’s Farmacy, I talk to Chip Conley. Chip Conley is a New York Times bestselling author and the hospitality maverick who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand. In Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder he shares his unexpected journey at midlife—from CEO to intern—learning about technology as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, while also mentoring CEO Brian Chesky. Chip is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy, where a new roadmap for midlife is offered at a beautiful oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico. He serves on the board of Encore.org and the advisory board for the Stanford Center for Longevity. This episode is brought to you by BiOptimizers, Paleovalley, and Rupa Health. For the entire month of November, BiOptimizers is offering up to 10% off every order and access to over $200 in free gifts including books and other great products with the code HYMAN10 at magbreakthrough.com/hyman. Paleovalley is offering 15% off your entire first order. Just go to paleovalley.com/hyman to check out all their clean Paleo products and take advantage of this deal. Rupa Health is a place for Functional Medicine practitioners to access more than 2,000 specialty lab tests from over 20 labs like DUTCH, Vibrant America, Genova, Great Plains, and more. You can check out a free live demo with a Q&A or create an account at RupaHealth.com. Here are more of the details from our interview (audio version / Apple Subscriber version): Chip’s near-death experience and how it changed his perspective on mid-life (6:11 / 3:00) Embracing a beginner’s mindset at middle age and beyond (9:58 / 5:17) The 3 key things we need after age 50 (12:53 / 9:36) The definition of a “modern elder” (16:35 / 13:35) Becoming useful vs. youthful (22:10 / 17:36) Unexpected pleasures of aging (23:57 / 19:00) The connection between life satisfaction and age (26:10 / 21:24) Key tenants of the Modern Elder Academy (33:49 / 29:06) Growing younger as you age (39:10 / 34:30) Disrupting the retirement and higher education structures for lifelong learning (43:33 / 38:50) Learn more about Chip here and his work with the Modern Elder Academy here.