Ageless Grit 2024 -SP

Ageless Grit is a path to living a fully spirited life as you go for your aspirations, regardless of age.

Our mentor is Dr. Stephanie Burns, a specialist in human behavior, the brain, and adult learning.

In this Ageless Grit Series, she'll paint a compelling image of a vibrant future for all of us - with as much of a Full Tank (Mental and Physical) as we can maintain.

The aim is to go out with a well-preserved body and mind that continues to allow you to do what you want to do up until whatever your final chapter is.

Who is this series for?

1. Those in an age group whose lives are showing the impact of getting older based on the beliefs they've adopted from negative cultural messages. When they begin to feel aches and pains, they think they 'should,' so they don't do anything about it. At any age, the brain and body are adaptable to change and can be 'fixed up.'

2. People in their 60s, 70s, and 80s who are doing great and want to understand more and continue for themselves and as role models for those coming behind them.

3. People in their forties or early fifties who are not feeling the apparent effects of getting older but want to be primed and aware so that when they reach their 60s, 70s, and beyond, they don't have a felt sense of aging.

In this first session, we'll work on getting our minds, ideas, and beliefs on solid ground about what is and is not attributable to getting older.

Why? What you DO has much to do with how this critical feature of life shapes your mind.

On one far end of the continuum, people do nothing for their best benefit because their mind is made up that their experience of getting older is already written in the stars, and it won't be good.

Conversely, people are proactive in maintaining their mental and physical health. Perhaps not directly or even consciously thinking about it, they continue to engage in activities that support and even significantly improve their mental and physical functions into the future.

In this First Webinar, You Will:

Become aware of any ‘mindset’ roadblocks you might be carrying around with you: Too old, not enough time, not smart enough, too late, fear of this, or fear of that.
Laugh at how easily your mind can be influenced, both in positive and negative ways.
Understand that being older brings great advantages for continued learning, growth, and change.
Learn that your brain is YOUR brain.
Recognize that you are a grown-up. You choose what you come to believe is true or not true.
You can change your mind.
Start to plan: If you were convinced that anything is possible, what would you imagine your future self doing?

We stop jumping up and down, waving our arms when excited, sitting on the floor, twirling around, climbing anything worth climbing, skipping, hopping, or….

The result is some movements become challenging, NOT because we're older, but because we've not used them so long that our brain no longer knows how to organize the body for that movement.

Why would your brain keep those networks intact if you never require it to do something with them? It must be retrained to rebuild those memory networks for 'doing' things.

It is really easy to do. It just needs doing.

In this Second Webinar, You Will:

Understand that any goal will require you to be mentally and physically fit to start down that path.
Think about the physical and mental functions you need to maintain to do what you want to continue doing.
Learn that maintaining full function is actually easy, not much more energy than required to make your bed.
Doing the easy stuff as part of everyday life allows you to do the exciting things in life.
Assess where you are today.
Make a realistic plan to begin fixing some things up as you maintain and improve others.

Let's say our first two sessions made sense to you, and you're motivated to begin taking action in support of your future goals.

In this final session, we'll put the grist to the mill.

What will it take to experience your later years with full vigor, energy, and confidence to take on whatever you have in mind? AND… What do you do when the inevitable obstacles rear their head?

The paths to our goals never seem to follow a straight line. Along the way, we hit all manner of curly events.

When one comes our way, how do we maintain momentum or regain momentum later?

This is what we need to know and have in our back pocket to have true confidence!

In This Third Webinar, You Will:

Know the value of anticipating potential troubles should they come about.
Know how to read the early warning signs that a hurdle or detour is coming your way.
Know how to get started and maintain momentum.
Know how to restart after an interruption.
Recognize the dangers of comparing yourself to others.
Have the strategies you need as a ‘beginner’ to survive the early months and years.
How to comfortably adopt a ‘Go slow, to go fast’ mindset.
Learn the value of paying attention to small, measurable changes and improvements.

The MAKING MEMORIES Training

In this fourth additional webinar session, date to be announced, you will learn how to make 'something' a memory.

Memory is what you've got; memorizing is a skill you learn to do really cool stuff with your memory.

When you are done, you will be able to 'play with' specific strategies for your life… remembering your grocery list, learning new vocabulary, where you parked the car or with our horses, remembering cattle, or a complex pattern for a class.

Your brain needs to know that you want it to remember!
Creating a memory is not a passive activity. It's like doing what you did to learn stuff in school. You DID SOMETHING.
The 'something' you do has to make sense in how the brain creates memories.
The speed, ease, and efficiency of remembering something has only to do with how you do it.
How good or not good you are at making something memorable has NOTHING to do with age or intelligence.
If you had/have good strategies for memorizing stuff, you would memorize things more quickly. If you didn't/don't, you will memorize new information more slowly. FULL STOP. It is not magic.
Memorizing something takes a short amount of intense, concentrated time. That effort pays off for all future time when you can confidently access that information or skill. What's best about it is that it's a one-time effort; once it's done, it's done.
Nobody becomes a good memorizer without practice.
Having something deeply memorized eliminates fear and anxiety about forgetting during performances.

Thinking Differently About Getting Older
- Mini Podcasts with Downloads

We are now including the Mini Podcasts that were the introduction to this series for you to have at your fingertips. Each podcast is like a small gold nugget - only 8-15 minutes.

Mini-podcast #1 (15:15) - THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING OLDER AND LEARNING
Mini-podcast #2 (11:00) - THE MINIMAL EFFORT REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN FULL FUNCTION
Mini-podcast #3 (8:31) - HOW NOT TO FAIL WHEN YOU TRY NEW THINGS
Mini-podcast #4 (10:51) - HOW TO KEEP MOMENTUM GOING WHEN OBSTACLES STRIKE(BIG AND SMALL)

Our Circle of Trust Community

One of the most valuable and cherished experiences for those who take courses with me, is that – if they like – they can become a member of our circle of trust for a lifetime.

Membership in the Circle of Trust is all about community and having fun experiences together with other equine professionals in the horse world. We meet online approximately once a month with another pro who we trust, to share their perspective on connection, horse health, and a variety of other topics.

"I have known Stef Burns for more than thirty years. To put it mildly, Stef’s work is profound.

Her ideas and strategies build on each other and continue to grow over time, leading to life-long learning, regardless of what the personal stories might be.

She is always inspirational. This is because her work is based on professional research and is planned and executed with precision.

Everything she does is done with a clear purpose in mind - to support people to pull down the walls that impede their learning and being."

~ Mark J DeGaris BEd - Advanced Skills Teacher. 35 years experience in Education

Meet Dr. Stephanie Burns, Our Awesome Mentor

'Stef' specializes in human behavior and the development of the adult brain and body. She is known for working with adults who want to cultivate new skills and has focused on this topic for decades.

She is most passionate about the results people have when they understand and implement the knowledge and practical suggestions in these webinars.

She's worked internationally with various groups, including corporations, education departments, musicians, horsemen, and athletes. Her book Move Closer Stay Longer was written for horsemen and women who, at some point, encountered fear in their time with horses.

Barbra Schulte - Your Host

A singular desire drives Barbra - to help others grow their potential inside and outside of the arena.

She is a High-Performance Coach, cutting horse trainer, the author of six books, the publisher of video blogs and online programs, clinician, and speaker.

As a national cutting horse competitor, Barbra was the first woman to win two legs of cutting's triple crown. In 2000, she was awarded the National Female Equestrian of the Year Award by the AQHA and the Women's Sports Foundation.

In 2012, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. In 2020, she received the American Horse Publications Equine Industry Vision Award for her positive impact on the horse industry. In 2022, she received the Modine Smith Humanitarian Award from the National Cutting Horse Association.

Barb is the CEO of the Center for Equestrian Performance. She lives in Brenham, Texas, with her husband, Tom.

Discover a Path to Growing Older with Vibrancy, Energy, and Confidence

A Message from Dr. Stephanie Burns

Ageless Grit is a path to living a fully spirited life as you go for your aspirations, regardless of age.

Our mentor is Dr. Stephanie Burns, a specialist in human behavior, the brain, and adult learning.

In this Ageless Grit Series, she'll paint a compelling image of a vibrant future for all of us - with as much of a Full Tank (Mental and Physical) as we can maintain.

The aim is to go out with a well-preserved body and mind that continues to allow you to do what you want to do up until whatever your final chapter is.

AGELESS GRIT
is a 3-Part Webinar Series
with Extended Q&A Sessions

Recordings will be Available Indefinitely on a Dedicated Website if the Live Event Times Don't Work for You.

RIGHT THINKING ABOUT GETTING OLDER

TIME WILL PASS WHETHER YOU DO ANYTHING OR NOT

JUMPING HURDLES: BIG ONES AND SMALL ONES

Who is this series for?

WEBINAR ONE: NOW REPLAYING