A look at how the ways we’re living have changed in recent decades — and why it’s important to adapt and grow.
Innovation, adaptation, and experimentation — if you’ve been reading this column for a while, you know these are topics I’m deeply passionate about. I revisit them time and time again because I believe it’s through these practices that we grow and evolve. We learn what works and what doesn’t, and we find new solutions that improve our lives and move us forward.
In this era of unprecedented invention (and reinvention), cultivating an innovative and iterative mindset is no longer an option for most individuals and businesses. It’s a necessity if we want to stay at the top of our game.
Today’s pace of technological advancement is changing how we live our lives — how we work, play, socialize, exercise, and relax. In the span of a decade, we’ve gone from leading largely compartmentalized existences to blending aspects of our lives that were once distinct.
Think about the differences, for instance, between the average workday of 30 years ago and today. Back then, the day started with a beeping alarm clock, breakfast spent catching up on the latest headlines via an actual newspaper or a morning news show, and a distraction-free commute. Work began upon arrival at the office and ended when you left. Another distraction-free commute was perhaps followed by a workout, and then evenings at home devoted to personal interests and uninterrupted family time. Each part had a clear start and finish.
Today, work is no longer limited to the 9-to-5 window. Thanks to technology, it filters into nearly every other aspect of our lives. Many of us wake up to our smartphones and check email and news headlines even before getting out of bed. We conduct meetings and conference calls during our commutes and workouts; we telecommute — from home, a coffee shop, an airplane, the beach.
Our workdays are broken up by more social interactions, and we can finish our days by taking a call or completing a project after the kids are in bed. The lines between our professional and personal lives are blurred.
At the same time as technology is enabling us to stay connected from almost anywhere, more of us are realizing that living away from each other and all the amenities that support our lifestyles isn’t all that convenient. Many people are relocating to more centralized spaces where they can get to work, the gym, the grocery store, the doctor’s office, and the spa without having to get into a car.
I share all of this because it’s influencing how the team at Life Time is innovating and adapting our offerings to the evolving healthy-way-of-life needs of our members. We’re constantly thinking about how we can affect the health and well-being of people worldwide, and we’re experimenting with how we can promote healthy thinking, eating, socializing, working, and entertaining beyond the walls of our health clubs.
While fitness is a part of what Life Time offers, we realize that being healthy requires a balanced, integrated lifestyle. With that in mind, we’ve changed our name to Life Time —Healthy Way of Life to reflect our commitment to all your healthy-living endeavors.
In the last year, we’ve also launched new initiatives that bring together the rapid shifts we’re seeing in the culture at large: Life Time Living and Life Time Work. Life Time Living will include residential offerings integrated with our athletic resorts; Life Time Work is a shared workspace that allows individuals to meld their professional ambitions with their personal values and their health and wellness goals. Both are intended to meet people where they are in their active, fast-paced lifestyles.
Because as much as we might long for the simpler ways of the past, there’s no going back. We have to find ways of weaving these areas of our lives together. Done mindfully, it can offer its own rewards and fulfillment — in the forms of flexibility, improved productivity, and a greater sense of community, connection, and happiness.
This is the way of the future, and we’re committed to making it as healthy as possible.
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