Clark “The Spark” Anderson, an exercise physiologist and professional trainer, procrastinated for years before finally enrolling in college when he was 35.

I’m on the cusp of 46 years old, Clark is closing in on 52, yet we both feel phenomenal for our age.

“I believe the best years of my life are in front of me,” Clark says. “I don’t know how many years I have left but I’m gonna’ make the most of them.”

Check out our two-part video interview on YouTube, https://youtu.be/0k8HSswynVc

and: https://youtu.be/4CRRiasfsZM

Clark and I discuss a few keys to conquer self-sabotaging behaviors such as procrastination, play-it-safe comfort zones and the “I’m too old” mental shackles.

We cover a lot of ground, including:

• A powerful lesson I learned in a philosophy class during my University of Maryland days: The professor asked the class, “Show of hands, how many of you hope that the first 1/3 of your life are the best years of your life?” Then he asked, “How many hope the 2/3 are the best years of your life?” And finally — “How many of you hope the last third of your life are the best years?”

With the last question, nearly every hand in the class shot up. A reminder            that, particularly here in the U.S., all is well that ends well. We are very much a how-you-finish society.

• Building A Stronger Mindset: “What I’ve learned as a fitness professional for over 25 years,” Clark says, “is that people start making things harder in their head — and making things harder in our head makes things harder in reality.”
• Part of the reason he’s aged well “I have good genes, but I didn’t take my genes for granted,” Clark says.
• Clark: “I had people telling me when I was 35, ‘You’re too old. Why are you gonna go to college now? You don’t need that.’
• “When I was thinking about going to college I thought, “It’s gonna’ take too long, it’s gonna take away from this, it’s gonna’ take away from that … ‘ But after a few years of me talking about how I was gonna’ go to college (but didn’t) my girlfriend said, ‘Do you know you could have already earned a degree by now?” She was right; I made it harder in my head and so I made things harder in reality.”