Harvard research finds US women and men who maintain healthy lifestyles live much longer than those who do not. Researchers estimate life expectancy at age 50 for women who do not adopt any low risk lifestyle factors is 29Ys, compared to 43.1Ys for those who adopt all five low risk factors (+18%). For men, the shift goes from 25.5Ys to 37.6Ys (+16%). So, if you want to live much longer, you might want to focus on: not smoking; low body mass index (18.5-24.9 kg/m2); at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day; moderate alcohol intake (up to about one glass of wine/day for women, or up to two glasses for men); and a healthy diet.
To keep your LinkedIn profile healthy, there are a number of things you can do too. For instance, if you have about 30 minutes, you can take action on LinkedIn to generate more leads, engage prospects, and strengthen your relationships with current clients.
If you are not registered on LinkedIn, that is the first thing to do. It is fairly straightforward and you can start building your profile over time, if you don't want to do it all at once. The minimum information needed for your account is your name, email and a password. A summary and picture are fairly standard too and can help your customers find you easier.
Once you have an account and have been connecting to others on LinkedIn for a while, you will want to look at your Social Selling Index. This free feature lets you see how well you accomplish LinkedIn's four markers of success: building a professional brand, finding the right people, engaging your audience, and building strong relationships. Each category has a maximum score of 25, for a total possible of 100. If you score lower than you'd like in one or more categories, then you'll know where to spend your effort.
Next, click on the "notifications" tab to find out if your first-level connections are changing jobs, enjoying promotions, or marking work anniversaries. You can "like" the milestone, offer congratulations, or type a personal message. This is a quick way to stay connected to many of your peers and customers.
Another thing to do is to find out who has recently viewed your profile. If there's mutual interest, you might check out the visitors' profiles or drop them a note. This can lead to new connections and more engaged relationships with existing ones.
View your invitations through the "my network" tab, where you can see your new invitations and any invitations you've sent that aren't yet accepted. It is especially effective to reach out to people you've seen recently. Remind those people of how you know each other, whether you met at a conference, have a mutual acquaintance, or went to school together.
As you build your network, spend a few minutes every morning looking for a few online articles that you think will interest your connections. Then share a post as often as you can on your LinkedIn home page. Write a short phrase to highlight the content and paste the link next to that phrase.
Because most bankers have busy days, it's easy to let a profile get out of date. Check to be sure you photo is relatively new, as you update your job responsibilities or skills. Make sure the people who visit your profile see an up-to-date version of your professional self, so you can more easily connect and stay "LinkedIn healthy".
