She also:
• Won a Nobel Prize at 77
• Became a senator at 92
• Stayed mentally sharp well past 100
Her secret? 5 powerful daily habits that kept her brain ageless 🧵
Rita Levi-Montalcini earned the Nobel Prize for discovering nerve growth factor (NGF) — a protein essential for the growth and survival of nerve cells.
Even at 100, she remained an active force in the scientific world.
Here’s how she kept her mind razor-sharp 👇
1. Early Morning Focus
Rita woke up at 5 AM every single day — not for yoga or meditation, but to do her most demanding scientific work.
She knew her brain was at peak power in the early morning hours, and she used that time for deep thinking.
Aristotle described first principles as “the first basis from which a thing is known.”
Instead of copying what others have done, strip
ideas down to their fundamentals and rebuild
from there.
Steps:
Question your assumptions
Break them down to core truths
Rebuild with fresh solutions
Most people rely on analogies and incremental improvements. With first-principles thinking, ask: If I had to design this from scratch, how would I do it?
2. Inversion
Think backwards. Instead of focusing only on success, consider failure.
Charlie Munger said: “Don’t focus on success, focus on avoiding mistakes.”
Ask: What would failure look like? What causes it? Then—don’t do those things.