by Dr. Craig Overmyer, Director of Coaching, Canterbury Group

The amazing thing about a tombstone is that dash - the dash between the birth date and the death date. To me, it represents longevity. Statistically, the rock and roll generation will most likely have a longer dash than their parents, but will they experience old age and retirement issues the same way as the previous generation? Probably not.

As a life vision coach, my job is to challenge people to not take that dash for granted - to realize how vitally important it is to maximize their investments by envisioning optimal health and wealth. Unfortunately, they may be so interested in accumulating money that they forget to invest in extending the dash and making those years productive and fulfilling.

The most serious limiting factor in healthy longevity is how people deal with stress. How much is mismanaged stress costing you? Will it shorten the dash? Consider the following facts:

• Stress is linked to 60-95% of all illness and disease. It affects the immune system, heart function, hormone levels, blood cholesterol, and blood pressure. Five minutes of heavy stress can impair the immune system for up to six hours.
• Stress costs American businesses an estimated $200 billion a year (more than the profits of all the Fortune 500 companies combined).
• Hidden stress has been implicated in "silent heart disease," where heart attack victims appeared to be physically fit and healthy and showed none of the usual cardiac danger symptoms (such as high blood pressure, obesity, or elevated blood cholesterol). Cardiologists now believe that hidden stress may be breaking down heart muscle and creating a high risk of heart attack.

The key to reducing stress is to recognize and release it when it occurs. We used to think that peak performance - a term borrowed from sports and athletics - was the only road to manage stress. A peak is not a resting place; it's a point at the top, an exception to the rule. It's not somewhere you stay for long, because once you arrive, there's only one place to go: down. We now know that optimal performance is a much better goal.

Optimal performance leads to balance, personal harmony, and productivity for performing at your personal best. These concepts respect the natural ebb and flow of your personal rhythm - a rhythm determined by you and you alone. When under pressure, optimal performers mobilize and respond in sync with their own current physical, emotional, and intellectual abilities - tapping into reserves of energy and intuitive power to meet challenges and demands for effective personal and professional management.

Invest now in a vision of optimal performance for both your money portfolio and your life energy portfolio, and your dash could get longer, with less dis-stress and greater fulfillment.

Craig recently joined Canterbury Group as our Director of Life Vision Coaching.