Do you want to live to be 100 years?

For a while, that was my goal. To kind of max it out. It sounded good... Now I'm 79, but I prefer the format 7.9 ;-) My goal has now changed – it makes more sense, I think...

When I turned 70, I was careful about talking about my age. I thought there was a risk that some people would skip me, so I wouldn't be able to continue running my business... After a while, I thought that was cowardly, so I started saying 7-0. It sounds sharper. After a few weeks, a younger consultant colleague said: “Rolf, you're not 7-0. You're 7 point 0.” I thought that was much better, so I adopted it. Now I've developed it further... It now means that my two sincere sons decide annually whether I can upgrade...

Back to the changed goal. I must then focus on my health. I believe that good health is the most important value of all. If you have it, then you must take care of it. In this case, I have taken my own advice, as described in my book Let Your Personality Bloom. The core message of the book is to identify the strongest driving forces in your personality. Once you know that, it becomes easier to navigate your way to a good life. For example, it becomes easier to find a good match between your personality and your work. You then get a high PassionIndex. This is a term I have coined for educational purposes. It is based on a calculation of how well, for example, a personality matches one's job.

If I start from the core of my HumanGuide concept – the personality test – my strongest driving forces are Imagination, Structure, Quality, and Power. The test is based on a theory with eight dimensions. Descriptions of the eight driving forces can be found on this page.

With my personality, it suits me to be a concept developer, which I am;-) I have then a high PassionIndex;-) I have also chosen to be a passionaire instead of a traditional pensioner. I have seen that many who have chosen to be pensioners experience a decline in their health. Maybe not quickly, but it goes downhill. As they say about children. Everyone is born with roughly the same number of brain cells, but “use it or lose it”....

You should also have a high PassionIndex with your life partner. I have had a good life partner since 1994. In fact, she agreed to take the personality test a few weeks after we met. I wanted to see if the prognosis was good, i.e., that we had similar personalities. Both research and I have concluded that it is best, for example, then you do more similar things when you have time together. Why else be together...

The fact is that we have never had destructive conflicts. Of course, we have conflicts like everyone else, but we handle them constructively. The prognosis was correct! A bonus was that we were able to work together better because we understood our personalities better – our driving forces.

Ideally, you should also have a high PassionIndex with the culture where you are most... Sometimes someone may feel more comfortable in the culture of another country.

You can check your PassionIndex by taking the test and then using the associated web app your.humanguide.se. There, you can, for example, describe the personality requirements for a job and then check how it matches your own personality... When choosing between jobs, you can check which one gives you the highest PassionIndex. If you don't know exactly what personality is suitable for a job, you can ask someone who does to do their JobProfile.

When it comes to looking after your health, it can also be useful to take the test so that you can come up with a good training plan. My plan is to jog three times a week in the morning, i.e. before breakfast. Three times, then your brain understands that you do this regular and then the respond improves your health;-) The jogging track is right outside my door and is five km long. Five km is just long enough. I also know that after seven km, the risk of injury increases, according to research. For your information, when I started jogging, I couldn't do it continuously for even one km. However, I stuck to my plan and was able to increase the distance gradually. On the two “free” mornings of the week, I now follow a person's (Sofia's) exercise routine via a TV program. The sessions are 20 minutes long and very varied. They are also recorded. I don't really like this type of exercise, so I see it as “brushing my teeth.” And 20 minutes is bearable...

My plan is based on two strong motivators: Structure and Quality. I use Structure to plan my workouts for the week. Structure ensures that I have the necessary discipline. With Quality, I enjoy the experience of nature and also like to be good at what I do and take care of my health. I have no intention of participating in competitions, which others need in order to have a goal for their training. For those who have, for example, Contacts as a strong motivator, it may be smart to train with others. You can then see training as a way to meet your friends...

Health also improves by eating more vegetarian food. We now eat vegetarian food three times a week. We have largely replaced red meat with game, which is probably healthier.

Another thing has contributed to my health – especially taking care of it. That is, I have “collected” role models, i.e., older people who stay alert.

One example is when we were going on a tour of Cambodia and Burma. We found out that the main guide was 82 years old... He turned out to be a man who had been in the travel industry his whole life. He was very knowledgeable about both countries. He told us about their history and also about other trips he had led. He was outstanding! I encouraged him to write a book about his life, which was very fascinating. It became a book titled Around the World in 80 Years.

Another man is my psychology mentor, with whom I began working in 1975. He is now 90 and has been single for several years. He realizes that close relationships are important, so he nurtures them. He exercises regularly and has been using his walker for several years.

I have found out that business guru Peter Drucker lived to be 96. He did consult work until the very end.

One of my role models turned 100. I was at his birthday party;-) He was fairly alert, i.e., he needed to rest a little now and then. He was hardly ever sick. Very alert for many years. I also got him to write a book about his life. He had been adventurous even as a young man. He came from the Netherlands and managed, for example, to escape when the Gestapo took him in for questioning.

Role models inspire. They show that things you don't think are possible – are!

My mother lived to be 96 and my father only 67 (heart attack). My mother is a kind of comfort to me, because she lived to be 96 even though she didn't eat very healthily and didn't exercise. On the other hand, she was careful about the company she kept. She was a talented singer and loved to dance. She sang at my and my wife's wedding when she was 83.

For your information, you can read in my book about my life up until the year 2000. These are not memoirs. Instead, the purpose is to point out how personality influences us. In addition, it is very valuable to live in harmony with your personality.

So what is my goal now? Basically, to stay healthy as long as I can and have a good life.

With that goal in mind, it became a challenge – especially at the beginning of this year. I was sick and spent three weeks in the hospital. The reason was a serious problem with my colon. The background was that I had been treated with immunotherapy as a preventive measure because last year I had developed malignant melanoma in a birthmark on my back. It was discovered by my partner. According to the doctor, such cases are detected much earlier when you are in a relationship... The cancer cells were removed, but this is how you can be treated preventively. The specific treatment I received reduces the immune system, which led to side effects. My problem with the colon...

I had never spent three weeks in hospital before. It was an “unpleasant” but learning experience. Afterwards, it becomes easier to motivate yourself to take care of your health. When you are in hospital for so long, all your muscles atrophy. In other words, you have to start from scratch. To succeed, you have to be both motivated and disciplined if you want to regain your previous physical condition. It was a big challenge at first. For example, I could walk about 50 meters with a walker and then I had to rest. It was important to be disciplined and gradually increase the amount of exercise. By July, I had regained my previous level of health. My Apple Watch was very useful in measuring my progress. It provided motivation. Of course, my previous training also helped. Now I follow my routine as usual. And my watch gives me encouraging cheers ;-)

My rehabilitation shows that it is possible to make a comeback. Right?

What are your strongest motivators? Do you have a high PassionIndex? Do you have any role models in terms of age? How do you take care of your health?