The Counterclockwise Effect

In 1979, eight men (in their 70s and 80s at that time) walked into a retreat that looked like 1959.  It was a research study done by Psychologist Ellen Langer called The Counterclockwise Study and it sent me straight down the rabbit hole after hearing about it this weekend. If you’ve ever wondered how much of ageing, confidence, and performance is biology versus belief, this story will mess with your assumptions in the best way. 

I unpack how the retreat was staged like a full time capsule, why the men were told to speak in present tense, and what changed when they fully “lived” as if it were decades earlier. Then I get real about the critiques: the sample size was small, reliability has been questioned, and it’s not a neat, perfect research package. Even with those limits, the idea lands hard because it matches what I’ve seen in my own life and with clients: your environment is always talking to you, and your self-talk and identity decide whether you move or stay stuck. 

From there, we turn the study into practical mindset coaching. We talk “be do have” and act-as-if without the fluff, why your pantry, media, and daily cues either reinforce your goal or sabotage it, and how aligning thoughts, actions, beliefs, and surroundings creates fast momentum. I also share a direct challenge: pick one daring, bold step and move now, today. 

If this sparked something in you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people find the show. What’s the first environmental cue you’re going to change this week?

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Transcript

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No Fluff Kickoff

SPEAKER_00 0:06

I'm so glad that you're here. You are listening to What the Fuck Did Show Just Did with your host me at the Facebook. I'm all about living our best life and finding our zone of brilliance and then removing the resistance so that we can go all in. I say random crazy, which is why I called this podcast the way that I did it. And I really hate long, drawn-out intros. So let's fucking go.

The Sweet Taste Of “I Told You So”

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Welcome back to the podcast. It's Monday again, so you get a new episode, and today's is going to be so friggin' good. I love a good I told you so moment. I mean, I love it so much, actually. I have a picture of a picture on my computer that has just a picture of my wrist with I told you so written on my wrist, like as if it's a really cheesy tattoo. I send it to my friend every time she finally does the thing that I told her to do and it works out. Then I can send it to her and go, I told you so, you know. Anyway, I have I love a good I told you so moment. Sometimes I sit there just like wanting to say it so badly, and I choose to be the bigger person and don't say it, but it's really hard for me not to. Anyway, this was one of the best I told you so moments. Oh, so good.

Discovering The Counterclockwise Study

SPEAKER_00 1:41

So let's go back. My husband and I were traveling to Edmonton and we were listening to Mayam Bialek's podcast. Now, Mayam Bialik, if you watch the Big Bang Theory, she plays Dr. Amy Farah Fowler. Maya Bialik actually has a PhD in neuroscience in real life. And she was interviewing Lisa Coudreau. During this podcast, Mayam actually spoke about this research study, psychological research study from 1979. It was so freaking good. My husband and I kept talking about it. I started researching a little bit more into it, like I wanted all of the details. It was called the Counterclockwise Study, led by a Harvard psychologist, Ellen Langer, back in 1979.

A Monastery Rebuilt As 1959

SPEAKER_00 2:31

She had taken a small group of eight men, placed in this week-long retreat in this converted monastery in New Hampshire. The monastery had been converted to look like they had time traveled back 20 years into the past. So almost like it was a set of 1959. Now, these eight men were in their 70s or 80s in 1979. When they walked into the door, there were newspapers from 1959, magazines 1959. There was, they they listened to 50s music on the radio. There were radio broadcasts of things that happened in 1959. On the they had a black and white television and they were watching old episodes of the Ed Sullivan show. I mean, everything, their entire environment was like they were in a 1959 movie set for seven days. Now, here's the interesting thing. Once they got there, they were instructed to live as if it were 1959. So they were to speak about the events, not as if they happened already, but as if they were in present tense, like what they were reading in the newspapers, the magazines, what they were watching on TV, as if it was happening in present day. What was also interesting is they were assumed to be of the same physicality as they were as a 50-year-old or 60-year-old man. So these 80-year-old dudes that are trying to lug in their luggage, they weren't given help. They weren't treated as though they were elderly and frail or fragile. They were expected to carry their luggage in like they would have when they were 50 or 60 years old. Now, the point of the study was to see how the mind affected the body when it came to aging. So what she wanted to do was take these old men, put their minds back in time, and see if there was an effect on the body. Now, I would say it's not just how they're thinking, how they're acting, but what messages their environment is giving them, right? That is not what Ellen was looking at. Ellen was just kind of looking at the environment, triggering their minds, putting their minds back in time. Here is what is friggin'

One Week That Changed Their Bodies

SPEAKER_00 4:59

fascinating. In one week, their vision improved, their hearing improved, their memory improved, their strength improved, and what is freakier, they looked younger just from being in that environment for seven days. Now, can you imagine at what point in time does your vision or your hearing get better in seven days? It's fascinating. How is that even possible? But it just goes to show you, P. S that Sandra told you so, but it just goes to show you you can change anything, even the impossible. It is as if by magic. Here's what's also interesting. After that one week was done, another group of older men stayed for a week in the same environment. But this time they didn't live as if it were 1959. This time they went back in the space. They saw all the same TV shows, the music, and the blah, blah, blah, blah. But they were able, they were told that they were going to live in this space, but they were going to reminisce about that time in of their life when they were in their 50s and 60s. So they used past tense language instead of present tense. That group also showed improvement in aging symptoms, but to a lesser degree. The ones that fully immersed themselves, the ones that completely started to like act like it was, they were back in 1959 as if they were playing a role in a movie. Those dudes, they had better improvement than the guys in the second group.

Research Critiques And Mindfulness Roots

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Now, I guess that Ellen Langer had continued to do research. And those research studies, you know, they had some issues. They had some issues on reliability. The number of men was fairly small. To my knowledge, it wasn't a peer-reviewed study, research study. So she took some flax throughout the years. But she became known to many as the mother of mindfulness, I just read, because of her ongoing work in the mind-body connection. I was very excited about the fact that I could probably write a post about this and grab my picture of my doctored up arm that says I told you so. Because I know that the way we speak to ourselves, the way we act, and the environment that is surrounding us is always speaking to us, right? And I fully know that we have such huge power. And I know that the things that we think and the things that we repeat create our reality. I would not have thought that we could physically improve our eyesight, improve our vision in seven days. They

Your Environment Shapes Your Results

SPEAKER_00 7:52

were younger in a week with nothing else changing. I mean, it's fascinating to me. But it also shows me how important it is that our environment is speaking to us all the time, right? And how important it is that we experience that be do have mentality, right? Like act as if mentality. That idea of speaking what we want into the world. If we want to lose weight, we need to stop shitting on ourselves, but we also need to stop filling our pantry full of chips a dip. Although chips and dip are delicious, but it's exactly the same as the study. Our environment is always speaking to us. And if we want to achieve any goal, we need to focus on not only what we think, what we say, how we act, but also the things in our environment that are triggering us to stay there. This is how we co-create with the universe. I mean, I even think back to that uh the movie The Secret, where there's one woman in there that she had breast, she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. And all she did, I think all day long, but all she did was any movie that she watched, she made sure it was a happy one, a comedy. She was constantly laughing, and she claims to have cured her cancer. But could you imagine if she sat around with pamphlets of caskets? I mean, what is that doing to your brain? What is that doing to your body? What is that signaling your brain to do? What is that signaling to the universe? This study was so, so interesting to me, but not shocking. Because I have literally seen it with myself, I've seen it with my clients, I've seen it online. I mean, I know your environment is speaking to you, you are speaking to you, your beliefs are creating your reality. So, right now, decide what it is that you want to achieve and align everything you've got towards that. Your thoughts, your actions, your belief, and your environment. Everything you've got needs to focus on what it is that you want to achieve. You will be shocked at how quickly everything can change. If men in their 70s and 80s can improve their vision, improve their hearing, and look younger in seven days, you can become a millionaire. All you need to do is get out of your own fucking way.

Take One Bold Step Now

SPEAKER_00 10:29

If you want help, I am always here. A zoom call away. As always, the link is in the show notes below. Have an amazing week. Use the rest of this Lionsgate portal to align with what it is that you want to create and go take at least one step towards the life that you want. One daring, bold step towards that goal that you haven't been able to achieve. Move now, today. See you in the next week. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you've had some laughs, maybe some ideas, and that you've been inspired to take some type of action toward the life you've always dreamed up. If you feel so called, I would love it if you would share with your best means. Leave a review down below. I look forward to bringing the moment, and I will see you in the next episode.