AI DEPICTION: Her morning begins with breakfast before she reads the day’s editions of The New York Times and The Washington Post, works her way through The New Yorker, and completes the crosswordAt 101 and a half, Eileen Lavine is quick to admit that her longevity routine does not revolve around strenuous exercise, elaborate supplements, or an extreme diet. She uses a walker, does not swim, and only occasionally walks around the block, yet she still lives alone in her New York apartment, joins a weekly editorial meeting, and works as a journalist, a career that began when she was a teenager and has followed her through newspapers, public relations, radio scripts, and magazine editing. When asked what has kept her going, Lavine points first to the part of her body she exercises relentlessly: her mind.According to TODAY’s exact profile of Eileen Lavine, her morning begins with breakfast before she reads the day’s editions of The New York Times and The Washington Post, works her way through The New Yorker and completes the crossword. She then turns to Substack newsletters and journalism from ProPublica, Columbia Journalism Review, and The Hill, building hours of reading and information processing into an ordinary morning. Lavine summed up the distinction between her physical and mental routines simply: “I’m not an athlete. I’ve got it up here.”Eileen Lavine in a video shared by TODAY | instagram/@todayshowHabit one: She gives her mind work every morningLavine’s first habit is not a single puzzle or a prescribed brain-training programme. It is the volume and variety of information she continues to consume, from newspapers and magazines to newsletters, lectures, and television game shows. At night, she watches “25 Words or Less” and “Jeopardy!” while online lectures and her son’s cabaret performances also form part of the material she follows.That intellectual routine is closely connected to a journalism career that has lasted for decades. According to Moment Magazine’s exact profile of Lavine, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1945, where she became the first woman to serve a full term as editor of the student newspaper, the Daily Cardinal, before earning a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Moment’s profile also confirms that she became a senior editor at the magazine in 2008 and continued her career there. Even now, TODAY reports that Lavine joins Moment’s virtual meeting every Wednesday and copies original material for typos and errors. Her work requires the same attention to words and detail that shaped the earlier decades of her career, meaning mental engagement is not something she has reserved for occasional leisure activities.Habit two: She still believes she should contribute somethingLavine’s second principle comes from her mother, who encouraged her to remain optimistic and feel that she was making a contribution. She has carried that idea through much of her working life. According to TODAY, Lavine and seven others each contributed $50 in 1962 to establish a company called Information Services after she noticed friends repeatedly asking her to edit and proofread their work. The group provided writing, editing and programme-development services, particularly to nonprofit organisations that could not afford full-time editorial staff.Moment’s official staff page confirms that Lavine’s career included writing and editing work for the New Bedford Standard Times, The New York Times Youth Forums, UNESCO and the Marshall Plan Radio Unit, as well as serving as president of an editorial company in Bethesda. The publication still lists her as a senior editor. For Lavine, continuing to work at 101 appears to be less about maintaining a conventional career schedule than retaining a reason to apply the skills she has spent a lifetime developing.AI DEPICTION: Her morning begins with breakfast before she reads the day’s editions of The New York Times and The Washington Post, works her way through The New Yorker, and completes the crosswordHabit three: She keeps people in her lifeThe third habit is community. After her husband Richard died in 2014, Lavine continued traditions that had previously been part of their life together, including playing cards with friends. Her social circle has not narrowed entirely to people her own age either. According to the TODAY profile, Lavine plays poker on Thursday nights, receives regular visits from her children and keeps in contact by email with people who cannot visit her in person. Her daughter describes her friendships as multigenerational and believes regular contact with family also helps keep her mother mentally sharp.Lavine does not present her routine as a scientific formula for reaching 101. Her three habits are more ordinary than that: read constantly, continue doing work that feels useful and maintain relationships rather than withdrawing from them. At 101, she is still editing other people’s words, still following the news and still sitting down for poker. For Lavine, slowing down has apparently never meant switching off.