Getting the best out of midlife and beyond requires the right mindset. You have to leave behind old patterns, limited thinking, and conventional wisdom. Take on new attitudes and regular practices. Affirm that your best years are yet to come. My recent readings and conversations with different midlife experts, including Joe DiMaggio, Gail Cantor, Peter Senge, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, and Dr. John Ratey, have led me to five more power ideas for creating a new mindset for getting your life in high gear.

1.Shape the way life occurs to you

Joe DiMaggio, faculty member and executive with Landmark Education, has been working on a new approach to elevating performance. This approach allows people to improve their effectiveness and quality of life. He asserts that motivation, commitment or knowledge do not necessarily determine our actions or ways of being. Rather, the way life occurs to us directly correlates with our performance.

To illustrate this point DiMaggio uses the game of tennis. A tennis ball coming at you - if you're a weekend player - at a 100 miles an hour appears differently to you than it does to tennis pros, such as Andy Roddick or Rafael Nadal for example. According to DiMaggio, the "objective" ball would appear "unhittable" to you, whereas it would be eminently "hittable" for tennis pros.

DiMaggio asserts that "The way that ball is occurring for them gives rise to different actions. Being able to shape the way life (or any specific circumstance in life) occurs so that desirable and effective actions naturally arise (and undesirable and ineffective actions drop away), leaves one with his or her hands firmly on the levers and dials of performance and with an extraordinary competitive advantage in whatever 'games' of life you are playing."

2.Consider your midlife a work in progress

Gail Cantor, CEO and co-founder of Contegrity Program Designs,takes a developmental approach to midlife. Her approach sees different powers and freedoms coming into play as life develops. In their thirties, people are inventing themselves and discovering their values. When they reach their 40s and 50s, people are more inclined to be in alignment with what the spirit is calling.

"'Being in development' as a way of life is being awake to what is being called for next and lining up with accomplishments that fit that call. It has to do with discovering who we are as a way of connecting with ourselves, with others, and with life."

3.Develop personal mastery

Peter Senge, author ofThe Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, describes personal mastery as a discipline with two underlying movements. First, one has the ability to clarify what is important and second, one develops the habit of "continually learning to see current reality more clearly."

How do you know if you demonstrate personal mastery?

- You "have a special sense of purpose " that lies behind your visions and goals.

- You "see 'current reality' as an ally, not an enemy.

- You are "deeply inquisitive committed to continually seeing reality more and more accurately."

- You "feel connected to others and to life itself."

- You feel as if you "are part of a larger creative process, which you can influence but cannot unilaterally control."

4.Change the world and make it a better place

According to Susan Krauss Whitbourne, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author ofThe Search for Fulfillment,baby boomers are not whining, selfish narcissists. They care about changing the world and making it a better place. Here are three of her recommendations:

- Seek to make a difference in the lives of others. If you focus only on your self-fulfillment you will have missed the point. It is helping others that allows us to feel the most gratified.

- Remain open-minded. Even if you are not looking to change yourself or your situation, you can at least keep the idea of change in mind. If you do need to make changes at some point down the road it will be easier if you've given this some thought.

- Reach out and help the young. There is nothing like mentoring a younger colleague, relative, friend, or other individual in need of help to boost your own inner feelings of having made a difference in the world.

5.Exercise regularly and watch what you eat

To make all of the above possible, exercise regularly. According to research reported in a recent issue ofMen's Health, there is an overlooked benefit to exercise regularly. It may be your best medicine - for your brain, for your arteries, and for your muscles. TheArchives of Internal Medicinerecently reported that "physical activity may be the most effective prescription physicians can dispense for the purposes of promoting successful aging."

- Exercise supercharges your mental circuits to beat stress, sharpens your thinking, lifts your mood and boosts your memory. So claims John Ratey, M.D., author ofSpark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

- "Exercise boosts your heart rate, which increases blood flow," according to TheJournal of Applied Physiology.It goes on to say "a better bloodflow creates more friction on the blood vessels' inner lining . . . . The result: the delay and perhaps the reversing of aging in your arteries."

- Lift weights regularly. For those over 50, frequent weigh lifting fights the body's tendency to lose muscle mass - which may reach up to 10% every decade. A good strength program also fights osteoporosis.

- Eat smart. A good way to slow the cells' aging process is to eat foods high in omega-3 - mackerel and salmon are good choices - and to take a fish-oil supplement.