Latest / The Power of Doing What Matters / Find Your Blind Spot: Scott Fulton on Doing What Matters
Transcript
- Scott Fulton: But I can tell people now is, number one is find your blind spot. That's your biggest opportunity because it's your biggest vulnerability, and a little bit of gain there is probably gonna have far more impact than, anything else you do. Scott Fulton: I'm, I'm always looking forward to our conversations, Dr. Skaggs. There's, there's something about your approach that is truly unique. and I remember when I picked up your book and I couldn't put it down, as I traveled through Italy, that, that self-awareness is, really, I think, a powerful piece for all the things that you talk about, the, the understanding of how is my body working with me and for me or against me. And there's just so much rich content in that area, apart from all the things that, clearly you help people do, functionally in their life. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Well, well, thank you, Scott, and, you know, as I've, thanked you before, thank you for reading the book. And I was thinking about, that. You know, I, didn't send that book to, many folks who I didn't know, like you. And I just happened to, you know, catch a few of your, social interactions, particularly on LinkedIn and it just connected with me and I said, "You know what? I'm gonna see if he wants to, check my book out." And, you graciously did, and, I think it, it did connect. And as I've learned more about what you do, I can, I can understand why. So, so again, thank you for, taking that step and, reading it. I know reading is, an important and valued time, time piece. Scott Fulton: Yeah, it, well, I guess on that one it was nice actually that I had no expectations. But I thought if you went to the trouble to send it to me, it was probably worth checking out, and it was a book I could travel with quite easily. So I thought, "There we go. On that trip I'll bring that along." yeah, no, it's a... And that, that quiet time of reading is inevitably invites self-reflection. So I think it all kind of all blends very nicely. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. Great. Well, let me, let our listeners know a little bit about you as we continue our conversation here. I think, it'll be, important they know, know what your, space is and, the things that, that you bring. So you're a, an international recognized redefiner in the positive aging space. I love, that language and I'm, sure you'll speak to that. a, a research engineer, author and adult educator, who teaches health span and aging at three prom- prominent universities. your Northwestern courses go out to over 70 college campuses across the US. You're author of WHEALTHSPAN, and your latest book FUNCTION, just really, got me excited and, we'll, talk more about that today. You, it added here you credit your Ironman Triathlon for turning an overweight midlife couch potato into a lover of life and multi-sport athlete, who has faced the struggles and shares some important life lessons, learned along the way. So I love that last piece in that, you, certainly live this, concept of, pursuing positive aging your- yourself. So you've done it. Scott Fulton: Right. It, you know, I think we all approach aging from our own unique perspective that's somewhat abstract, I guess. and I think I kind of fell into it somewhat. I'd been curious about aging really since my childhood, looking at, people who societally we'd say, or by the social determinants of health would be, you know, well-positioned, well off, but somehow their outcomes weren't as predictable as, as I would have thought. and it always kind of had this curious, thought going on that I was watching. But then when I got to do Ironman and, kinda I was told by, you know, many it's really the second half of the marathon is where life gets real, and as I describe, in reflection after, it's kind of, you know, the, the last quarter of your life perhaps packed into, you know, two or three hours, to give you a sense of what happens when the body starts to get seriously challenged and decision-making becomes challenged. And so there's much, to be learned, and I have found in that space, certainly in, in the endurance sport, world, a lot of people have that ability to look beyond what the average person does just because they're used to planning much longer and they realize the longer the event, the more things can go wrong. So it just has really helped me kind of give a different perspective perhaps than, than many would because they just haven't found themselves in that situation. So, yeah, it's, really interesting to, to go down that road. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: I really like that. Yeah, it, and, you know, it, the reason I think we, align, is we often use a lot of the same words and the, idea that there is this curious gap between what we know and what we do, and, so what you're speaking to there is regardless of our socioeconomic, you know, position or, ability, that we often don't do, right? We don't do what we, have the capabilities to do or have the time to do or, resources to do, even though we know that, this would be a good thing to do to, to take care of our body, to, put attention to, what we put in our body, how we, move, and things like that. Scott Fulton: Right. I think it's a both what we know but also the self-talk, right? Those two things. 'cause I think a lot of what I'm sure your work is, and certainly mine is, the psychological aspect of this is a, really important part. Like, we can talk about all the mechanical things, to do, but the psychological part of it is, to me, really interesting. You know, what we think we know, what we really know. And as an adult teacher, I deal with this all the time, right? Usually the first step in teaching adults is the unlearning phase. I have to get you uncomfortable around the, your beliefs, so that you'll consider stopping some of the things that you're doing for reasons that you may or may not, find acceptable. But, but yeah, it's, it's not easy, right? And it's-- and there's a time component to it, and how do you get the person in the right mindset so that today I'm willing to be open to look at myself a little bit differently? Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah, 100%. And, yes, that, that thinking part, that, that psychological part, our, our inner, conversations is a big, piece, I've found and our team has found, you know, more and more. I mean, when I first started my work, I thought my hands were everything. I thought, you know, the treatment side, the exercise was so important, and it is. It is, it is certainly a big value. But if we don't, get their mind moving forward and, aligned with, where they wanna go and where we think they, they should go, we're, gonna have slow, progress, slow change. So 100%. Scott Fulton: Yeah. Yeah. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: it's just, a growing, a growing understanding of how important it is. Scott Fulton: Yeah. And in, in your work, you know, for everybody in your field, right, one of the biggest challenges I think is that if, a client comes in and you have a good session with them, but if they don't do anything until they show up the next time, even though they know they should and they're told they should, it really slows, the progress, typically assuming there's things that they can and should be doing on their own time in between. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, talk a little bit about, you know, the, what you're currently doing in, terms of your teacher, maybe over, over the years, your approach to, teaching and educating about aging to that adult, population. Scott Fulton: Sure. It's a, it's a big suite of topics because the whole idea of aging, is multifaceted, obviously. I would say a, a significant portion is focused on really, sorting out what are the headlines versus what are the facts, right? Because for all sorts of reasons, people are fed information that, you know, are, is partly true, but, you know, it's a study or something that got some headlines, you know, but there are only 25 subjects in the trial. Yeah. Those sort of things, because the media is always looking for new content, and so all these little trials, for example, would be, you know, popular things to put out because you have to feed the system every day. And so, so what I find with anyone who's interested in, their health and aging is it's very easy to get overwhelmed, and so they just turn it off. They become immute, immune to all of the, the noise. And so what I've really had to focus on is how do you help people cut through the noise to look at what do we really know? And what we really know, generally, I would say, is, learned by looking at history, right? So if you look at events going on in our world today. You know, other than, having a smartphone and some things like that, from a behavioral standpoint, really everything's already happened many times. My, my oldest son is a history professor, and we get in some interesting conversations around, you know, going back over the thousands of years of essentially repeated human behavior. So, so that's part of it, is to, to how do we bring things into context? and then it's really to get focused on, you know, to steal from you the things that matter. Right? That, really will move the needle because there is so many things that we could do. I'll, call them the anti-aging biohacks. You know, I, The presentation I did the other day, you know, here- here's 100. You know, I could give you another 100 quite easily. You couldn't possibly do them all. It's just not possible. So how do you go about choosing which ones? And unfortunately, for all the 100 and the next 100 behind that, not one of them are at all predictive for outcomes. In terms of meaningful outcomes. Because you can change a biomarker and have some change in weeks or months, that doesn't mean anything in the long scale because the body is always trying to rebalance itself to what it thinks is balance, which may or may not be, kind of off of where it needs to be. And so it's, that's why I go back and I'm, I... My, my world is measurement. I came from measuring large systems, gathering lots and lots of data, and then trying to figure out what is the data telling us. And so versus a scientist, that's why I describe myself as a research engineer, right? I love the data and big data sets and try to understand what is that data set trying to tell us? What information is in there? And then and applying it in ways that we can use every day. Like in an engineering, it needs to have a purpose as opposed to just satisfy an academic curiosity. And so with that approach, it separates me from most people, I guess, out there. Yeah. 'cause I'm really only interested in really large datasets, longitudinal trials, where we know with higher certainty than really anything else that this is what we know works. There may be some of these things today that we'll find out in 10 or 20 years will have some substance to them. But there's still so many things that we know that people could do with certainty, of much better outcomes that are, hard to find amid all the noise that's coming at them. So that's really kind of when I talk about the, the way I approach it. And so if you can come with really, solid data that doesn't seem to have your personal bias, I say if you're curious, you're curious and you're always willing to, reconsider. And I've-- There's lots of things in data I look at and say, "Gee, I hope that's not true. I hope I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing," and I'm trying to prove myself wrong. And sometimes I can, but often I'm not, because that's just what the data is. And so it's, again, kind of goes back to if you're really interested in the data, it means you're objective. And I would say universally in the West, it's probably one of our biggest challenges, is we're comparing ourselves to the Joneses, and the Joneses aren't doing all that well, when we think about health and longevity from a US standpoint. So that's kind of generally my approach. And then, you know, within that, there's, kind of the overview of what is aging, how does... in terms of peop- in a way people can understand. And then it kind of found its way to the whole functional area somewhat by accident. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Well, I, love that and the title of your, recent book, certainly resonates with, me and, our work at the institute, in that, it was now almost 70 years ago, Karel Lewit was writing and teaching about, functional pathology, versus structural pathology. And, I think you're speaking very similarly that, that, that structure and, some of these pieces of information and data are relevant, but it's the functional, aspects, the meaningful aspects that are most relevant. And I, and I love your lead line. I think I wrote it somewhere, how much it knocked me over, the lead line in your new book. "We are drowning in hype and starving for truth." And, that's, just, spot on in, terms of what, what's happening today. You know, I think it's, positive that people are thinking maybe a little more and they're looking ahead about living longer and happier, but they're confused or they're misguided in that, that more is better. and, and you, certainly speak to that not being the case, with your work. Scott Fulton: Right. You know, one of the things that came out, and it was actually somebody asked me a question after the book came out, and I realized, "Boy, I should have looked into that." because when we think about function and we think about healthspan, really to me, I, now describe that as functional healthspan, which is really- for most adults, the ability to continue to do the things you want to do and the things you need to do, right? Because that ultimately will become more and more important. We've... it's just an inevitable part of aging as we see the years count by. And through that question, it caused me to go back and look and say, "Well, if we think about independence, right, the ability to do the things we want and need to do, what tends to dictate that?" And about twice as often as disease, it'll be function. But yet look at all the headlines and things, it's 99% of the information we get is centered around disease, right? Disease mitigation, disease avoidance, disease referral, disease, therapy. Meanwhile, who's addressing function? Which is that thing that we value most, right? In terms of humans or adults value functional ability or they value independence, more than disease because they know we can operate with, a comorbidity. But take away function and now suddenly life changes significantly or in ways that are really clear to us versus disease tend to be kind of things happening in the background that may or may not have outcomes that are, that matter and may, you know, be maybe on a short or long timeline. It's kind of hard to know. So yeah, everything around the functional, ability or functional capacity or what I talk about is functional reserve is just, you know, it's so aligned with the, I think the nature of the work that you do and, how you bring people to that point Dr. Clayton Skaggs: yeah, that, that's fantastic. And yeah, I, think what you're speaking to is, you know, that, the putting attention to the disease or the disease prevention, as a, as, as a focus, is not going to be as, as productive or successful as just putting attention to these functional capacities that, that, we know are of high value, and your research supports that they're of high value, like being able to walk at a certain pace or walk up the stairs at a certain pace, stand on one leg, grip, and, so forth. And, the other piece of that is if you keep putting attention to disease, which, you know, just recently it was the, pink, the breast cancer thing, and pink is, everywhere. And, that, you know, that's not to say that, that raising funds and for, these things is not of value and research for these things is not of value. But the, the attention is, all about the disease, and all this money towards the disease and no one's working on walking better or faster or eating, which, if, the attention was there, we'd probably have half of it, right? And, and, there's studies that support that. Scott Fulton: Right. yeah, absolutely 100% aligned with that. It's not to diminish, anything about disease. It's a you know, it's a terrible thing for people to go through, certainly some of them. But at the same time, you know, we devote so little effort to functional capacity. And I'll, give one example, kind of ties back to what I said earlier around the noise and confusion out there. So you mentioned walking speed, right? So if you talk to most people, what do they talk about? Steps. "I got my steps in today." And great. steps means, you know, the more steps you had, it means you were out of your chair, and it really doesn't tell us much more than that, right? And so we know that's a good thing, but it doesn't tell us were you out of your chair for, you know, one block a time? Were you out of your chair 50 times over the course of a day? But even that still doesn't tell us a whole lot because doesn't say how fast you moved, how hard you worked, versus something as simple as walking speed tells us far more about your structure, your functional ability, your cardiovascular base, your ability to, tolerate certain amounts of workload But most important is you can measure that or compare yourself against a, a known benchmark that has been tested literally on millions of people at this point to find out where you are. Steps is, has no, it, no basis like that to compare against because there's never really been studies done on it because why? Because it's too variable. Because we know that, you know, the quality of those steps is not the same from one to the next. But if you have a walking speed of, you know, what, one meter a second, we can-- we know what that means. If it's one and a half meters a second, we know what that means. And depending on what age and sex you are, we can say, "Here is where you are, and you're doing really well," or, you know, "We need to find a way to see if you can walk faster because you're gonna get some long-term benefit just by walking faster." Right? What does that cost you? Absolutely nothing. And, if you, know, like to walk a couple of miles, guess what? You're gonna get a couple of miles done faster, so we're actually gonna give you back some time once you know it matters, right? And I think that's what's... If we think about all of these things around function, no one's told us that really any of this matters. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yes. Scott Fulton: It really comes down to that simple message, and once people find out, it's usually pretty much self-corrective. They say, "Oh, didn't know that." Right? I, you or I didn't make this stuff up. This is all in the data. It just hasn't ever been brought to the mainstream because there's not much money in it, unfortunately, for people. Or companies, you know? Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah, and so, so what you're saying is, this, all this attention to 10,000 steps, it really isn't linked to a reliable benchmark, versus, your speed of walking is. And so again, we're putting attention to, the wrong thing. Scott Fulton: Exactly. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. and, and it's, fascinating how, these things catch, catch momentum, right? You know, 10,000 steps. That's... everybody's talking about that. You know, all of a sudden you see, people walking with these weighted vests. Wait a minute. Why, are you, know, why are you, know, why are you doing that? So, so yeah. It's, what, matters is, really the key. And that, as, as we've talked about quite a bit, that's where your circle, is really important. You know, your circle of advisors, the things you read, the things you do give attention to, are really, you know, difference makers. Scott Fulton: Yeah. If I'll just add two points to kinda maybe close that loop on walking so we don't leave people hanging. So you mentioned around wearing a vest, right? And counting steps. So what would be the alternative is simply clock your walking speed as a test, whether, you know, it's a mile test or 12-minute walk/run. There's many different walking or run tests you can do. And the other is just do some hills, right? The vest, you don't need a vest. You get more out of doing hills than you will wearing a vest. You might feel like you're doing something. If anything, it's interesting, somebody brought this up the other day, the vest is more likely to help you with balance work in terms of real return. If you wanna put a little bit, you know, a little bit more upper body weight on you, will probably tune your, your proprioceptive system and reaction a little bit better. But you... Yeah, a vest to go rucking, yeah, unless you're going up hills and s- you don't have a, you know, steep enough hills in your area, I guess that's maybe helpful. But, around much of the country, hills are not that hard to find so. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Oh, yes. Perfect. Yeah, and, again, we're, not saying that 10,000 steps or weighted, you know, weighted activity isn't, of value. But, first get these foundational functional, capacities in a good spot and, or, and know where you are. Scott Fulton: Exactly. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: You know? And so many clients that, that come our way are doing a lot. They're doing a lot of resistance training, various types of, trendy things, you know, whether it's, kettlebells or, the latest Pilates or latest yoga and, they can't stand on one leg or, they can't, support their trunk in a simple, developmental position on their back with their legs up. They, don't use their abdomen. And, so all those things can be good activities and exercise, but not if you can't, have proximal stability. So you're just bound to break, if you're doing those things first. Scott Fulton: Right. It's kinda like what I said around the, the 100 biomarkers. You know, you choose the ones that sound interesting, that you have some reason to have some belief in, but at the same time, those are not core to what you really need, and unless you have the foundation in place, none of the other stuff matters, and potentially it's hurting you, right? Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yes. Yes. Yeah. And that's usually why people are, you know, moving our way. Scott Fulton: Right. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Well, I have four or five other directions I could go off of that, but I'm going to pause and, get our reading in today. And, I'm even more excited about our live event coming up, now that we're having this conversation because I'm already seeing some really fun places we can go in the live event coming up in about a month at the institute. So, that's, I'll, I'll hold my, additional comments, for, for, later and, we'll certainly have some time after, my reading here. Scott Fulton: Great. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: All right. So I think this will link right into all our previous conversation well. Stop it. There's a classic comedy skit with Bob Newhart where he plays a psychiatrist. In the skit, a patient sits in the chair in front of Newhart's desk and describes how she has a fear of being buried alive in a box. After some additional discussion, Newhart says, "Okay, well, I think I've got what's going on. I'm gonna say two words to you and this will take care of your problem." The patient says, "Okay. Should I write this down?" Newhart says, "No, it's just two words, so it should be pretty easy." He then says, "Okay, are you ready?" She says, "Okay, yes." Newhart exclaims, "Stop it." The video is worth your two minutes. Newhart is fantastic. The video has likely maintained its popularity due to the perceived absurdity of the woman's fear matched with the perceived absurdity of the doctor's recommendation. The woman's fear is illogically complex. The doctor's recommendation is illogically simple. One of my first Major League Baseball players I worked with was an elite pitcher. When I first watched him pitch in a game, I noticed he extended, arched, and stretched his back before every pitch. He would deliberately, robotically bend backwards before he went into his windup. My view was that this was unwarranted and likely created stress in his back eighty to ninety times a game. When I asked him why he did this movement so ritualistically, he said that his back feels tight sometimes, and it feels good to do this. He said he had been doing it for years. He developed a habit to relieve tension in his back. In fact, he was keeping tension in his back. I told him to stop it. He never did it again. For an individual to stop a behavior that they have been doing for a long time is difficult. To stop a behavior related to pain or fear is complex and often one of the hardest things to do. Clinical studies suggest that once we have persistent pain for six to eight weeks or longer, that we will retain movement, fear, and behavior related to the pain for as long as 12 to 18 months after the pain is gone. This is suggesting that our body will maintain protective patterns, move as though we might still have pain again after the pain is gone. The longer we have pain and/or pain behavior, the longer we are likely to move poorly and the longer we will fear we will have pain again. Like the Newhart skit, we as humans lean towards and want simplicity. Stop it makes sense. However, simply stopping it is hard. It is hard because remaining fearful and operating in the mode we have been using is familiar. Fascinatingly, what we consciously do not want feels safe. Additionally, it is hard because our world often screams complexity. Surely more exercises, more technology, more medication, more surgery, more supplementation, more diagnosis, more information is required. Ironically, current cultural influences often suggest more complexity to resolve conditions with complexity. The power of doing what matters philosophy abhors hurry, worry, and complexity. It celebrates creating space, order, and simplicity. Stop those undesirable things to the best of your ability. Simultaneously, relentlessly do good, simple things that support the outcome you wish to improve. Steve Jobs said, "Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains." As you consistently and relentlessly pursue simplicity and do what matters for you, over time, you will likely discover, unknowingly, you have stopped it. Scott Fulton: I just think, I think that's just great. The, And that video is, so perfect, right? It, it really captures, I think, something we all can identify with. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. Is- isn't that a fun video? At, at, Scott Fulton: Yeah. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: It was, like, I don't know, 40, 30, 40 years old. and, he's just fantastic. and, yeah, it is, it just rings true, doesn't it? Scott Fulton: Well, in, in my world where I'm kind of focused on the aging aspect of it, it really resonates with something I just shared with, my class this week, and that fear of injury, right? what's the, the initial result which you talked about is decreased activity. And as soon as you decrease activity, you start experiencing muscle loss or atrophy, loss in flexibility, tends to tend to lose balance. And then kind of on the aging side of it, when that, demand goes down, essentially what happens within the body is our repair signals weaken, and when we do that, we're accelerating the aging process. And so it becomes a vicious circle because we're, as you mentioned, even once we're healed, we still have this residual fear of re-injury. And, and people certainly get lost, but those are those should be signals to say, "How do I get back?" It's one thing to want to get back, but I need to ask how to get back reliably and safely, and I think that's, in your world, you know, one of the real gifts that you can give people. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Thank you. Thank you, Scott. And, you know what? Where your work aligns so wonderfully with our message frequently is, we're, really trying to encourage individuals to just do these simple things. Do, do ... You know, just do some breathing practice. You know, do, you know, be sure and do some walking. Do some simple stabilization, efforts. And, then as I say in my book, and then, and often in our, recommendations, and nothing else. And, and, that's what's so hard though is getting them to believe that the simple approach, it could be enough. And in your work, you're, recommending, often the, same. Just do these simple things, right? Scott Fulton: Right. Yeah. Yeah, that same class I had them just do, I don't know, half a dozen or so very simple stretches just while they were sitting in their chairs. You know, simple things like, you know, reaching up to the sky with your hands, right? Which pulls and and realigns many things that we tend to get hunched over. And just after doing those very simple things and, like, you could just... I asked them, "How do you feel now?" But you could tell just by the smiles on their faces, right? It feels good. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Right. Scott Fulton: Yeah. But we just forget to do those things and, but we think, you know, "Well, I need to go get a drink," or, "I need to go get something to eat to feel good." There's things we can do that actually will feel better and will sustain us better that don't really have any negative consequences that are really simple. So yeah. We just, you know, we, need these constant reminders. You know, there's a, a quote that an NHL, Stanley Cup, coach had said, and he said he only became a good coach Once he realized that just because he told his professional players something a thousand times, he still had to tell them 1,001. And, as a coach, that really stayed with me, right? We wanna think we only need to be told once. Reality is we need to hear things at a regular pace until it becomes just part of a ritual. and we need to be okay to remind people in a constructive way that these simple things really matter, and I think that's what you and I both recognize is we're competing with all the noise. And so if we can help people recognize the noise from the truth, that we know, that's one of the best things that we can do for people. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Oh, yeah. That's, wonderful. Yeah, I speak to our team and, talk about, sometimes that our responsibility is, to, identify how we can help the individual hear, what, they need to hear. And so, you know, sometimes it's not telling them. It's how can I get them to experience or how can I get them to hear, where they need to go or see where they need to go, w- where within the space they're in? And that's, really the magic and, heart. I, you know, pinched corners and, did a lot of underlining in your book, "Function." and, yeah, I love this, comment you have: "Longevity favors people who are broadly capable, not narrowly maximized. It favors balance and integration, not dominance." I, just love that. I think it speaks to, the error that, folks make sometimes in terms of doing too much, doing things that are hard before they're ready to do things necessarily that are hard or, and even things like bench press and, you know, things that they're maybe good at, that they just keep doing. Scott Fulton: Right. Yeah. It's a, we're drawn to things that we like, and we tend to you know, feel that we're recognized as being, you know, above average competency. So we want to, from an identity standpoint, lots of drivers, for us to do that. I think strength is a great example, right? You certainly need adequate strength, but at some point it's going to become a barrier because the price to be paid is going to become mobility, flexibility, often balance. And so enough, but at, you know, too much. You know, people like to think in my world that, that more is better and it's gonna protect you relative to the areas you're not so strong in. And the reality is, no, that's not the way it work. It's the weak link or the, what I call the blind spot, is ultimately most likely going to dictate your outcome. And so while it's okay to do those things you enjoy and that you're good at, recognize there's a point at which those, can become problematic. And you're gonna get much more return out of looking for those, blind spots or your areas of, real opportunity Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Great. So, again, I, I've, got, a, a big list of the things that, that, I'm looking forward to having, more conversation with you, when we, do our live event in, in St. Louis in, in about a month. and, that we'll do live and then we'll, certainly make that available to listeners too But, we, I wanna keep this, this one short. So, maybe finish with if you, if you could tell a 60-year-old, client, the, like some things to, really put attention to, without knowing their situation, what, might those be? Scott Fulton: Well, we as professionals that are, you know, interested people in this area, we get asked the question, right, "Well, well, what's the one thing I should do?" And, I've always avoided it. Yep. because- Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah, Scott Fulton: there's no one, yeah ... there is no one thing because I can't possibly know enough about you to, to, to know what that is. And so from a, you know, from a, a personal standpoint, I guess, I try to help people understand there's the area of balance to understand where you are there because that's the one that you could be doing everything else really well. It has typically the most acute response associated with a loss of balance as we get a little bit older, and our bones aren't what they used to be. And so that can have the most acute reaction as opposed to most of them we talk about with aging tend to be more chronic conditions. And so we can manage those, but at the same time, they kind of build over time. So that would be the one area I would say check in on that and really test yourself. And when I say test yourself, there's a, you know, a single leg balance test that anyone can do on their own. That's not enough, but it's a start. It's a benchmark to know where we are. At least get that far along and then look at dynamic, applications. And then beyond that, it's really focused around are you feeding your body what it needs in terms of for your... I do a lot of work on brain function as well, and so what would be the elements of brain function and preserving cognition, and neuromotor strength for the years that you want ahead. So the, the... those would be the really the two areas I'd say if I had to choose, would be find your blind spot, look at balance, and I guess, and then look at nutrition. And nutrition, when we talk about that, I really simplify that for people too. It's really quality, variety, and make sure you have fiber. Put whatever label you- on that diet you want, but those would be the maybe the, the three areas I guess I would point to Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Wonderful. Yes, and I, you know, you know, speaking to the, blind spot, I think that y- and, and, maybe, when we chat again, you can talk about your definition of blind spot. You, certainly can, you know, read about it in his book, for the listeners out there, the book, Function. And I think that is one that, that sometimes will require your circle, right, to help you identify what is your most important weak link, related to where you're wanting to go or, just living longer and, healthier. And, then the piece that, that you mentioned at the start of self-awareness and, that, you, you, have to have, a keen sense or you have to improve your sense of where you are, to, know, how you're, doing, and that, like, that's everything from one leg stance to, you know, to, to some of the cognitive, performances. Scott Fulton: Right. Yeah. It's a, it's wonderful when you do, right? When you start to connect, I... It's, one of those where we see people transform, and suddenly it's like, "Oh, I get it," right? Because they're connected. It's a wonderful thing when you see it happen. you can't force it. It takes usually time. but it comes for people and it's really fun to be part of that and see when it, when it happens for them because it just, like, totally changes their approach, and suddenly everything lines up, right? And it all suddenly starts to make sense. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yes. that's, one of my favorite things. we talk about that phase transition that, that happens, yeah, when, people say, "Oh, I get it. I'm... I feel that connection. I, feel the connection in my foot. I, you know, I, can sense, those, those things differently now." And sometimes, yeah, it's, it's time. It's two years. Some- we had a case recently who's been with us, virtually and, periodically on site for, I think around five years, and he recently told one of our practitioners, "You know that, you know, that sensation in the, trunk with, the breathing? I... It... I... It just connected, recently, and, I, I get what you guys are saying." So then sometimes it takes a while for the nervous system, sometimes it takes a while for, for folks to get out of the way, and sometimes it's because of things we don't understand. Scott Fulton: Yeah. Yeah. It, it's, just, wonderful to see people get it, right? And it, yeah, the, the getting out of your way I think is a great way to, put it because as adults, we're all, you know, I assume anyone interested in their health comes to this with a, a, a above average level of intelligence and understanding. And what, I do, and probably part of certainly what you do, is really just help them connect some dots, push some of the noisy ones out of the way- and say, "These are the dots." And then suddenly it's like, "Okay, now I get the picture. I thought this one was over here. I just need to move it over here, and now suddenly it all makes sense to me." Right? 'Cause they, they know most of it already, if not all of it. They've just got the dots a little bit out of alignment, and all we do is kind of nudge this one a little to the left and that one a little to the right, and suddenly, "Oh, now I see the picture." I'm thinking of the, you know, those kids, the connect the dots to make a, a, some sort of picture, which is the reason I have that on my mind because it's essentially one of the tests that we do for cognitive test, which is trail making, which the, which I love to do with the, kids, my 50-year-old kids in class. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: I love your reference of, kids and, we certainly love childlike, childlike activities and, and pursuits. And, I, love that connecting the dots and, that, and that it's in there certainly resonates because, with most of us it is in there, and that's, the neural developmental, piece that, we often speak to. it's in there. We just have to reconnect it. Scott Fulton: Right. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Well, thank you, Scott. gosh, I, I, just get, get more churned up, every time we talk, and, looking forward to, more. And, again, appreciate your time and, and thank you. Scott Fulton: Clayton, always great to talk to you. Really looking forward to spending time with you in St. Louis in November, and, I'm sure it's gonna be a great event, and, let's continue on. Sarah: The Power of Doing What Matters podcast. Conversations, stories, and insights about health, performance, and the choices that help us move toward what matters most Imagine 100 million people focused on doing what matters Listen to the Power of Doing What Matters podcast on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube