Perspective by Bahram Akradi

In recent years, there’s been a surge of popular interest in detoxification regimens – the kind that help flush food-borne and environmental toxins out of our systems.

Over the past year, many individuals and businesses have gotten more interested in “going green” – increasing their energy efficiency, reducing their chemical usage, shrinking their carbon footprints, and so on. And there are certainly plenty of good reasons for this.

When I heard we were focusing on life balance this month, I said: Great! I can talk about that for hours!

Inspiration sometimes comes at times and places we least expect. Last fall, for example, I found myself inspired while watching an NFL game.

Reflecting on the year past, looking at notable accomplishments and things to celebrate, I see a great many within the Life Time Fitness organization.

Nature is a brilliant designer. Look at a tree, a flower, a landscape, and you’ll generally see a well-centered composition. Even in the case of infinitely complex fractal constructions, there’s an organic symmetry, a progressive spreading from a center point (or many center points) that can be viewed at virtually any magnification and still appear balanced, right, whole.

Among the many industries due for an evolution, I’d say the fitness industry ranks high. It seems like so much of it has remained trapped in the ’80s – the hype, the noise, the focus on the surface of things.

Some of the most powerful messages we see and hear about fitness today (the ones that reach us through mass media) would seem to suggest that fitness is the domain of the young, the super-buff and, above all, the single.

The call to start working on my letter for this “Feel Great at Any Age” issue came at the perfect moment: It just happened to be my 45th birthday. Fact is, if you had asked me when I was 20 what 45 was going to look and feel like, I’m not sure I’d have been able to tell you.

Late spring is my favorite time of year. There’s something inspiring about seeing so many living things crank into the high gears of their growth cycles.

In business, there’s a concept known as the “Peter Principle” that describes how individuals within an organization tend to be promoted through the ranks until they rise to their level of incompetence.

We tend to think of cause and effect as a simple, two-part thing: A particular action results in a particular reaction, period. And perhaps in some controlled experiments, that’s true. But in life, most reactions are complex and cyclical chain reactions, because in life, most everything is connected.

Health is all the rage in business these days. Which is to say that many companies are actively promoting healthier employee lifestyles. Or at least they’re trying.

There’s a biology term – “circular mill” – that describes how a group of army ants, if separated from their colony, can wind up marching in an enormous circle, each ant perpetually following the ant in front of it.

Back when I was in college, my schoolwork came pretty easily to me, and like most young men, I thought I had life all figured out.

This fall, in the wake of what seemed like a relentless series of hurricanes and earthquakes, something hopeful rose out of all the chaos: our compassion – and with it, perhaps, a clarified sense of perspective.

That old saying knowledge is power has always rung true with me, particularly when it comes to matters of personal health.

Do as I say, not as I do. Anyone whose parents ever tried that line on them knows just how ineffective such directives are likely to be at inspiring good behavior. Kids learn best by example. And, in fact, so do must adults.

This issue’s Satisfaction theme immediately brought to mind my favorite film, Fiddler on the Roof .

When I was studying engineering in college, I learned that every material has a stress point.

Outside of establishing the vision for Life Time Fitness, and guiding the company toward it, one of the activities I enjoy most is being a pilot.