Olympian turned motivational speaker Apolo Ohno has a message: Life is fleeting.
The highly decorated speed skater all but retired after the 2010 winter Olympics and found a new calling: to “reinvigorate, remind, and help guide” people to their inner potential, he told Fortune CEO Alan Murray on Tuesday at the Brainstorm Health conference in Marina del Rey, Calif.
“If you were 90 or 80 years old and could go back to your age today, what would you tell yourself or remind yourself about the remainder of those years you have?” he asked the audience.
“And how much of that stuff would you say, ‘Hey, remember all that small stuff you got mad about? Why don’t we just allow that stuff to not be involved with your day-to-day? It’s not an important aspect.’”
Ohno said he asks himself four questions to live a longer and healthier life.
- How am I sleeping?
- How am I moving?
- How am I eating?
- How am I thinking?
The questions are simple, easy to remember, and can be asked on a daily basis. Ohno said the simplicity of this practice makes it more sustainable.
“I’m not searching for perfection here—I just want to get a handle on those areas,” he said. “When I look in the mirror, am I okay with who I see? Am I accepting that person?”
For more life advice, read Ohno’s latest book, Hard Pivot: Embrace Change. Find Purpose. Show Up Fully.
