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I'm turning 46 this year, and if you're in your 40s, watch this. The older you get, the more alcohol affects you. There's zero amount of alcohol that's considered truly healthy. It's not even empty calories, it's negative calories. Your body prioritizes burning it off first before anything else, and it comes with an increased risk of several types of cancer when done chronically. Something I've learned is that every day you get drunk or buzzed, it takes about 3 to 4 days away from your full potential of energy and mood. Now, if you can't eliminate alcohol, make sure you severely limit it from your life.
Number two, this is your make or break year for health. Yes, you can change at any year, but it gets harder as each year passes. Something I noticed with a lot of older people is that they just get stuck in their ways. And to me, the habits that you start when you're 40, these are the ones that are going to stick with you for the rest of your life. So, if you want to transform your body and get in shape, you must do it now.
Number three, you have a thousand problems in life until you have a health problem. Then you only have one.
Number four, a luxury that no one realizes is a luxury is zero health problems and not having to take any medications.
Number five, your 40s are not your middle ages. The average life expectancy is 77 years old. So middle age is actually 38 and a half. If you want to extend your life past middle age, you have to start taking care of your body now. And also, we're living in this age of technology where if you keep yourself alive for the next 5 to 10 years, there is a good possibility that you can live past 100 or even 120. But it's not going to happen magically. You have to start the process now if you want to reap the rewards later.
Number six, getting your body in shape now is not necessarily about looking sexy or even showing off to other people. It's about reaching your full potential and not becoming a burden to your family later on. As I've gotten older, I've seen two buckets of people. The first bucket is a person who is 80 years old and they are dependent on their families to live life. Or if their families aren't there, they get sent to the nursing home. The second bucket is a person who's 80 years old and living independently. They're still driving, they're walking, they are living life on their terms. And I don't know about you, but I want to be in the second bucket, not the first one.
Number seven, you measure what you manage. So weigh yourself daily. Measure your waistline every single month. Get your blood work checked every six months. What you want to be checking for are things like complete blood count, lipid panels, blood sugar, your basic metabolic panels, thyroid function, nutrients like magnesium, vitamin D and B12, iron and feradin, apo B and ApoE. It's not enough to look healthy on the outside. You want to know what's happening underneath the hood 'cause that's going to be the truest representation of how healthy you are.
Number eight, it's possible to be 40 years old and to look and feel like you're in your 20s. And the first step to that is getting your body metabolically healthy. This means having a healthy body composition, having healthy levels of visceral fat, and making sure that your blood sugar, your blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides are all at optimal levels. Metabolic health is the knot that ties the bow together. When you are metabolically healthy, everything becomes easier.
Number nine, you don't stop lifting because you get old. You get old because you stop lifting. Lifting weights is a non-negotiable in your life. Like brushing your teeth. It maintains function, especially as you age. It keeps your muscle. It regulates your hormones. It makes you more insulin sensitive. And I would much rather be the oldest person in the weight room than the youngest person in the nursing home.
Number 10. Controlling the foods that go into your mouth is the first step of self-mastery. You want to create a lifestyle of eating three nutrient-dense meals a day, at a schedule that can help regulate your hunger and appetite.
Number 11, protein is the most important macronutrient for aging. You need at least 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound every single day, and you want to make this a lifestyle.
Number 12, you want to adopt a mindset of being a sleep athlete. This doesn't mean that you're going to be performing in the Olympics, but what it does mean is that you're going to be making sleep a priority, much like a high performer. This means getting at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night, getting a sleep tracker so you can measure quality of sleep, and understanding that sleep is the lead domino where high performance begins. It gets rid of waste in your brain. It improves your mood, your energy, it regulates your hormones. Getting a great night of sleep creates a virtuous cycle where the next day becomes much easier.
Number 13. Now, if you want to make great sleep automatic, you must go and create a sleep sanctuary. This means setting up your sleep environment. Things like getting blackout blinds, getting the right mattress, making sure that you have a sleep mask, making sure the temperature is right. You want to create an environment where when you put your head on a pillow, great sleep is already on automatic. Now, I created a free guide on the sleep protocol we use to help our clients 2x their sleep quality. You can check that out in the description below.
Number 14. Walking is the most underrated exercise on the planet. It decreases stress. It powers up your brain. It burns calories. And when you do this after eating a meal, it improves blood sugar and digestion.
Number 15, getting at least 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day is associated with 40 to 53% lower risk of all-cause mortality. And one of the biggest hacks that I found to getting more steps in my life is investing in an under the desk treadmill. Even when I was creating the notes for this video that you're watching right now, I was walking on my treadmill and speaking into my computer and doing work while I was getting steps in. Now, that's one way to get it. The best way is to go outside, leave your phone at home, and to get out in nature and just to get some steps in and walk. Whichever way you choose to walk, just make sure it is something you can do consistently.
Number 16, adopt some form of cardio that you actually enjoy doing. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be pickleball. It could be shooting hoops. In my case, I love to go surfing. One of the keys to optimizing your health is having some form of cardio that you're doing every single week. And the best type of cardio is the one you don't realize that you're doing.
Number 17, mobility is the secret to feeling amazing as you age. In the morning or before your workouts, you want to be doing dynamic stretches like the world's greatest stretch, the couch stretch, or even bar hangs. But mobility becomes more important as we age because this improves our capacity to move. And something that I've realized after 40 is that if I skip any of the mobility stretches that I do before a workout, it sets me up for injury later on. Mobility is a non-negotiable, especially as we get older.
Number 18. The only five supplements you actually need are vitamin D, omega-3s, magnesium glycinate, a multivitamin, and creatine. I'm not going to explain what or why you need these supplements because I talked about it in this video. You can check it out over here.
Number 19, understand sunk cost fallacy and apply it to your life like your life depended on it. Time is a non-renewable resource. And when you're climbing up the wrong ladder, it's the worst use of your time. And that's what sunk cost fallacy is. The higher up you go, the more that you invest in the wrong direction. This can be in the form of relationships, your career, or even the projects that you're working on. That's why you have to apply this mental model into your life because your life does depend on it.
Number 20. If you want a great and successful life, you must apply constraints to it. Something I do in my life is apply constraints to the things that I want to achieve. So, let's just say I want to get in shape. Can I get in shape while enjoying my favorite foods? It might be slower, but it will be more sustainable. Another example is, can I achieve a specific financial goal while being a great husband and making the requisite time for my children? And the answers to these are yes. When you apply the right constraints to your life, what you are doing is you're holding up the things that remain important to you while getting the things that you want. It just makes you think in a completely different way. Because the current sentiment among social media right now is to do everything possible to achieve your goals. And to me, that's a path to overindexing on one thing and letting go of things that actually matter to you. And this is why we add constraints. We want to keep the things that make life fulfilling while also achieving the things that we want.
Number 21. Whenever you're thinking of making a decision, you have to understand the second and third order consequences of that decision. Whenever you make a decision, it's not just one result that you're getting. There is a multitude of consequences to every single decision you make. When you ask yourself, okay, what is the consequence of me making this decision? What is the next consequence of me making this decision? What you're doing is you're creating a framework of making the right decisions that will fully support the life that you want to live. Now, the danger to this is overthinking. So there has to be a balance because every decision you make there's always going to be pros, there's always going to be cons. You always have to understand what are these consequences and then afterwards you have to have the bravery to make that decision based on what you know.
Number 22, you need to hang around people that are younger than you. As we get older, we have this egoic idea that we know everything. And this boxes us in into this fixed mindset. When you hang around younger people, they are more on the pulse of what is happening in the world. They will invite new ideas. They will also have so much motivation that they will light a fire under your ass. I personally love to hang around younger people. I also like to love hanging around people my age and I also like to love hanging around people who are way ahead of me. And I'm just going to be honest, like I wouldn't be on YouTube. I wouldn't be creating on social media and I wouldn't be doing any of this stuff if I wasn't getting these ideas from the younger generation. So drop the ego, hang around people that are younger than you. And you might be surprised at some of the ideas that come into your life as a result.
Number 23, avoid being the person who says, "Oh, wait till you get to my age." Or, "Oh, yeah, wait till you have kids." You want to be the person that laughs at people who say that. And the reason I say this is because our lives and our direction is based on our perception of the world and also of ourselves. So, if we think that life just gets horrible as we get older, well, guess what? Life is going to get horrible as we get older. If you think life goes to hell and we're supposed to get out of shape when we have kids, then guess what? Your life is going to go to hell and you're also going to get out of shape when you have kids. To me, when people say that it is just a reflection of their perception of how the world is around them. And if you want to change your world, change your perception.
Number 24. If you have young children, you must remind yourself that you will only experience them as children in the blink of an eye. The most time you'll spend with your children is when they are adults. Even when you're tired or when it seems like you would rather be doing anything else than pretending like you are a dog, which is something that my daughter regularly asks me to do, you want to comply and you want to spend as much time with them as possible, especially when they're kids. You'll never be able to relive those moments. And it might not seem like it now, but when you look back, that time will be gone like this.
Number 25. A sign of being a good parent is whether or not your kids want to hang with you when they're older. And if that's a goal of yours, then you need to invest the time now rather than thinking you can make up for it later.
Number 26. Being a parent is a human right of passage. It is one of the only ways that you will love something more than yourself. When I hear about the reasons why people don't want to have kids, which is they want to take as many trips to Italy or they want to go to Costco whenever they want and they want to buy this and they want to buy that, all of those experiences pale in comparison to being a parent. Unfortunately, most people won't understand this until they have kids.
Number 27. When you become a parent, you realize how hard it is to raise a child while juggling multiple responsibilities. This should make you appreciate your parents much more.
Number 28. The best thing that you can do for your kids is to love your partner. You are the first example of what a healthy relationship should look like. And at least for me, loving your partner is a choice. And it's a choice that you make every single day. And something that I've been doing since last year is create a habit of complimenting my wife at least once a day. Damn. And this has made a tremendous impact on my relationship with her because every time that you are living with your partner, you forget about how important they are, the work that they're doing, and the amount of effort that they're putting into your family. And when I do this, it forces me to appreciate what my wife is doing as opposed to seeing the things that she's not doing. And the side benefit is that it makes her feel better as well. Now, one might say happy wife, happy life. I do agree with that, but I also agree with happy house, happy spouse.
Number 29. The example you set for your children will become the behavior they see as normal when they grow up. If you let your body go, your kids will see that and they will see that as normal. If you are not responsible with your finances, your kids will see that and they will take that as being normal. It's not about what's taught, it's about what's caught. And you could be screaming at the top of your lungs that you should be doing this and you should be doing that to your kids when the reality is is that they will actually follow your example more so than the things that you say.
Number 30, it is on you to break your generational curses so your kids don't have to deal with them as they grow up. Generational curses can come in many forms. It could be letting your body go. It could be not being able to manage your emotions. It could be not being able to manage your finances. You can have multiple generational curses. Who knows? But it's on us as parents to break these curses so we set up our kids for a greater future.
Number 31. Your kids will tell you the truth while everyone tries not to hurt your feelings. If I'm getting fat, my daughters are going to tell me I'm getting fat. If I'm treating my wife in a less than desirable way, they will be straight up and they will tell me. Kids are unfiltered. So, what we must do as parents is listen to them and take their feedback seriously.
Number 32. Your partner will also give you hints on where you're not showing up. I had this client and one of the things that he told me was he had this conversation with his partner and she was telling him that hey you're you're kind of letting yourself go. Your belly is getting a little bit bigger than when I first married you. And thankfully my client took that seriously because something that I understand especially about these messages is that they will not be demonstrable when they give you these messages. So they will not say it over and over and over. They may be saying it once or twice and then afterwards they will take it as a standard you are setting for yourself. If you ignore this enough times, they will stop telling you, and you don't want that.
Number 33, the goal of life is not to retire. It's to be as useful as you can for as long as you can while doing something you love. When you find that you're not useful anymore, that's probably the time when you should retire.
Number 34. One of the keys to a great life is to find people who share your values and preferably inspire you to be better. Community and camaraderie are the keys to living a long life. And also, life is meant to be shared with other people. It's not to be meant living on your own.
Number 35. A great heuristic in life is to always ask yourself if you will regret the decision that you are currently going to make. So if you're about to react to your anger, are you going to regret that? Or if you're thinking about starting a new business, ask yourself, are you going to regret not starting that business? A good life is focused on regret minimization. Now, one thing I'll add is that one of the biggest regrets that I see happening is the amount of time that people spend on their phones. So, anytime you pick up your phone, ask yourself, am I going to regret the time that I'm spending looking at my phone as opposed to doing things that are more fulfilling, like spending time with your family? If the answer is yes, then go do the thing to avoid regret.
And number 36, the top regrets of the dying are not living true to oneself, working too hard, not expressing feelings, losing touch with friends, and not choosing happiness. If you ever want to ask yourself of the things that you may regret in life, look to the people who actually have those regrets in the first place.
Number 37. The best advisors on the planet are your 8-year-old self and your 80-year-old self. Your 8-year-old self will remind you how amazing it is that you're able to make this decision in the first place. Your 80-year-old self will be able to advise you on the decisions that you're making and whether or not it aligns with your ultimate vision for yourself.
Number 38. The second best advisors on the planet are people with skin in the game. I was on X the other day and there was this well-known entrepreneur who was telling everyone, all of his followers to skip their daughter's dance recital. The funny thing is this person was not even a parent. They had zero experience in what they were talking about and no skin in the game whatsoever. One of the questions I ask myself when I'm taking advice from another person is whether or not they have skin in the game and the thing I'm trying to achieve. If they don't have skin in the game, then they can say anything, but it will not be backed up by actual experience. Now, this doesn't mean that all of their advice is completely worthless, but when it comes to your actual life situation, do not listen to them.
Number 39, know the difference between earned status, which is having a great family life, having a fit body, having a good level of self-esteem, and borrowed status, which is the expensive car or the Rolex or the clothing with the fancy brand name. One of the things I've realized in my 45 years of life is that you will get so much more fulfillment from earned status as opposed to the status that you can buy.
And number 40, the best status item on the planet is a healthy body. This cannot be bought. It must be earned.
Number 41, you need to have goals. Your mind is a server mechanism that's directed upon the goals you place on it. For most people, they're focused on the wrong goals. You must direct yourself towards something that you want to achieve that's going to affect your life in a positive way. Regardless of what you think, we are goal-driven machines. You either choose your goals or your goals will be given to you and you won't like it.
Number 42. Your 40s should be the time when you truly do not give a damn about what other people think about you. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't take feedback, but what it does mean is that other people's opinions on what you should be doing with your life should bear far less weight than your opinion.
Number 43. Regardless of your age, you must have a vision. Set a five-year goal, a three-year goal, and a one-year goal. Break that one-year goal down into quarterly projects and tasks. Set those tasks in your weekly calendar. Each day will be dedicated to knocking down a task. Much like goals, you either create a vision for yourself or your vision will be created for you and you won't like it.
Number 44, believe that life begins after 40 and every year is better than the last. Your perception is malleable and it will always dictate your reality.
Number 45. If you ever wonder why you're not successful, go directly to your line of thinking. Your thoughts create your beliefs. Your beliefs create your behaviors. Your behaviors create your actions. Your actions create your reality. If you want to see the cause of the quality of your life, look no further than the quality of your thoughts.
And finally, 46. Do not take anything I say at face value. I am just a dude on the internet. I've lived out a lot of this stuff, but you must test it out and see for yourself. As Bruce Lee would say, absorb what is useful and reject what is useless. Now, I have a lot more, but I'm going to stop there. A great life starts with being physically and mentally healthy while being lived with intention. My hope for you is that these serve you in your 40s and beyond. And thanks for watching. I'll see you on the next video.