The secret to aging well is not that complicated. As I hit 45 years of age, here are the 4 simple habits that I’m prioritizing so I can live to 90 years old.

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It’s halftime in this game we call life.

I just turned 45 years old.

When was the last time you thought about the end game?

Would you be able to say that you accomplished everything you set out to do at a young age?

What are the adjectives you’d use to define your life so far?

Would you say this journey was a success?

Enjoyable?

Miserable?

Difficult?

A roller coaster?

If you could write a book about your life, what pieces would you include?

I’m now 45 years old. By all measures I’m likely a bit more than halfway through my own adventure.

The average life expectancy of American men is an unimpressive 74 years old. For women, it’s 80. And for comparison, our counterparts in the UK have life expectancies of 80 and 82 years old, respectively.

That would give me a little less than 30 more trips around the sun before my expiration date.

Although, my plan is to do what I can to extend that and live to 90 years old … or perhaps even longer.

Today, I’m going to break down my plan to live another 45 years and make this second half of my story be one full of love, happiness, success, fulfillment and resilience.

If you’re in your 40s (and beyond) and ready to unlock that better life you always thought possible, but never truly actualized, this newsletter is for you.

Let’s get into it.

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How many more days do you have left to live?

Suddenly you wake up and it’s midlife. What the hell happened.

You’ve settled for the life you currently live.

But, now you’re realizing there’s more to life than just living for the weekend, hoping your NPC boss gives you a raise, and just praying that one day you can retire and do something fun.

The ambitions you once had in your 20s have been slowly drained out of you. Instead you’ve now just stagnated and you’re essentially regressed into a slow death of just mediocrity.

Fuck that. It’s time to wake up.

This quick exercise is going to be an ice cold glass of water to your face right now. Grab a pen and paper.

Warning: Math is imminent. But, we’ll keep this pretty simple.

Write down right now how long you’d like to live (or expect to live).

What age is it? Be realistic here. We know ain’t nobody living to 156 years old. This isn’t a Marvel movie.

For me, I’d like to double my age and live to 90 years old. Seems like a solid target to shoot for given my focus on taking care of my body.

Take that target age and multiply it by 365. This is how many total days you’d live.

For example:
90 years of life = 32,850 total days

Now take your current age and multiply that by 365 days.

This is how many days you’ve actually lived so far.

For example:
I’m now 45 years old x 365 days = 16,425 total days that I’ve lived.

Here’s where the mindfuck comes into play.

You’ll then take the first number (your target number of total days you’d like to live) and subtract from that the days you’ve already lived.

For example:
32,850 total days (or 90 years) – 16,425 days lived so far (or 45 years) = 16,425 total days left to live (hopefully)

These are how many days you have left. Theoretically, of course (in a perfect setting).

In other words, at 45 years old, I’m now halfway through my life.

This exercise gets you thinking introspectively. You start reflecting on what you’ve seen and done and accomplished and fallen short on.

And it gets you thinking about what you have left to achieve and how much time left you have in which to do it realistically.

The regrets of the dying

Australian author Bronnie Ware spent years working in palliative care facilities where she worked with and helped people literally on their deathbed.

She chatted often about their life experiences and even their many regrets as they reached the final chapters of their own journeys.

There were five common regrets:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

You don’t have to wait until you are on your deathbed to think about this with regret.

You have the benefit of their hindsight so you can use it as your own foresight.

My wake up call

Just before my 44th birthday, I hit a massive wall of burnout and overwhelm.

It was a realization that tomorrow is not promised and that if the end was to come sooner rather than later, I’d be less than pleased with where I was heading.

It was my signal to make a change.

But that change did not come overnight. It took lots of going on long walks, thinking, journaling, being bored, playing video games.

I had to lose myself a little bit.

After I emerged from my den of depression, I was refreshed and realized the potential for greatness before me:

It was all in the simplicity of how I wanted to tackle the next chapters of my life.

No more burning out and spinning my wheels to the hustle culture.

I was going to dictate my own schedule, direction, and how I wanted my business to evolve and grow.

Enough with the obsession over optimization with my own fitness.

It was time to practice what I preached. Ditch the calorie counting, skip the endless sweat inducing, time-sucking workouts. It was a full embrace of minimalist principles to strength training.

More connecting with my loved ones and friends.

No more making excuses for why I didn’t book that trip to see my buddies. Just make it happen.

And embracing more fun.

Happiness is a choice, We can choose to be happy. We can either choose to maximize our time or else someone else will make that choice for us. For me, I choose to spend at least 15 minutes per day doing something that I love, enjoy and that is fun for me.

Usually that’s firing up my PlayStation 5 and playing some games without feeling shame as a 45 year old dad of two young kids.

Four things that helped turn my life around.

These four things are going to be the pillars that keep me going well into my 50s, 60s and beyond.

How to live to 90 years old (or even 100): Follow the Blue Zones

There’s this documentary on Netflix called, “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones.”

In it, author Dan Buettner (a longevity researcher) travels to communities where the population has the highest concentration of centenarians—people who live to be 100 or more, otherwise known as “blue zones.”

Buettner visits:

• Okinawa, Japan
• Ikaria, Greece
• Sardinia, Italy
• Nicoya, Costa Rica
• Loma Linda, California

They found nine common traits or practices that the peoples of those communities practiced regularly, which Buettner and his team call, “The Power Nine:”

1. Movement — all of the Blue Zones featured lots of walking and natural movement

2. Purpose — having a reason to wake up in the morning

3. Downshift — practicing mindfulness and removing stress as much as possible

4. 80% rule — also known as Hara hachi bu or the ancient Okinawan art of eating until 80-percent full, rather than to complete satiation (it’s one of the habits I teach in my online coaching program)

5. Plant slant — eating more plants (add some fruits and veggies to your plates)

6. Wine @ 5 — enjoying a glass of wine without overindulging. This is not required.

7. Belong — being involved in some kind of faith-based community that works for you

8. Loved ones first — connecting regularly with the people that bring meaning, joy, laughter and fulfillment into your life

9. Right Tribe — belonging to a group of like-minded people that practice similar approaches to health and wellness (it’s contagious and also provides built-in accountability)

These are all pretty commonsensical solutions that are fairly easy to implement.

And if you’ve been following along for a while, you’ll see how those nine common traits match up pretty well with the four pillars of fulfillment we discuss here in the LevelUP Letter:

If you are satisfying the BODY, you are exercising regularly, eating well with lots of plants without eating (or drinking) like an irresponsible asshole.

With the focus on the MIND, you’ll be learning new things and giving yourself purpose to wake up every morning.

When you prioritize deeper RELATIONSHIPS, you are putting your phone away to be more present so you can put loved ones first, you are connecting with others and finding the right tribe for you.

And if you are making sure to PLAY and relax more, you’ll be finding ways to be more mindful so you can “downshift” while bringing even more meaning and intention to your day.

What are you doing to live according to those common principles?

If the answer is not much, then you’re likely going to need to make a change and figure out how to slowly adopt more of a Blue Zone approach to life.

Here’s how …

How to live longer, healthier and happier

Like any new habit or behavior, you’re going to need to start small and have a plan.

Where do you need to focus the most in order to live to 90 years old? Or at least according to the principles laid out above?

• Health
• Mind
• Relationships
• Play and Relaxation

Instead of trying to solve all of the world’s problems at once, I like the idea of a singular focal point to get started and let that build momentum into the other pillars.

That said, I’m a big believer in using exercise and movement as a catalyst for the ultimate transformations.

Moving your body and developing an appreciation for regular strength training and conditioning is a confidence booster that signals to your body and mind that … Yes, you can do hard things.

That confidence echoes from the gym to the office and even to the bedroom.

If exercise is not a priority for you, then it is time to start with even the most minimalist of programming.

Here’s how I train at home as a 45 year old busy dad and while still getting into the best shape of my life.

Exercise promotes improved sleep and more energy during the day. And we also know that directly after exercise, people are more likely to want to eat something healthier, over more processed options.

Before you even start going down the calorie counting rabbit hole of suck, I want you to first think about how you can actually take more time for your movement to begin your transformation.

How I plan to live to 90 years old by following the 4 Pillars

I’m honoring that commitment to movement with the following.

We’ll start with MOVEMENT

Walking as much as possible.

This is easy since I live in Brooklyn and do not own a car, so I get close to 13,000 steps per day.

Practicing mobility daily.

If there is one thing on top of walking that anyone 40 and up needs to be doing, it’s mobility (this will help prevent falls, promote better balance and recovery in the event of a fall and just generally allow for a higher quality of life as I age … also allowing me to live longer without necessary assistance).

Strength training.

You know I train at home with a key focus on basic bodyweight resistance movements (the pull-up, the push-up, and squat/lunge with a few variations and sometimes some weighted variations of each).

Resistance training promotes better mobility when executed through full ranges of motion (so I’m getting a 2-for-1 here).

But also it helps preserve testosterone in men as we age.

And it prevents the onset of sarcopenia (or the natural loss of muscle tissue as we get older that is particularly common in women) while also strengthening bones, which is also crucial to secure ourselves in the case of a fall.

MIND

Each day I have a commitment to expand my knowledge by reading or learning about a new and relevant skill.

It can be as simple as picking up a good nonfiction book.

Or taking that course on a business-related skill.

Other times it’s as simple as watching a YouTube lecture or even a MasterClass on a topic of interest.

Honestly, if you wanted to go down the rabbit hole on something with a bunch of high-quality blogs and newsletters, that works, too.

Formal education should never be the end of learning.

Because, if you are not stimulating your brain, it will atrophy. Just like a muscle that doesn’t get used.

Make it a point to find something worth going deeper on. Then set aside some time in your day or at least a few times per week to challenge yourself and learn.

RELATIONSHIPS

I realized recently that life was passing by and I would go far too long in between connecting with loved ones.

And I’m not just talking about droppin’ silly memes, talkin’ sports and bustin’ each others’ balls in the group text, I realized that I was missing core pieces from the lives of my favorite people.

I developed a simple daily metric to fix that.

Every day, I must have at least one meaningful touch point with a friend or relative. This can be via text, call or even DM on a social platform.

But, I will send out a non-needy prompt to check in, something like:
“Hey I’m thinking of you. I hope you’re doing well. Call or shoot me a text anytime. Have a great day.”

Sometimes the person responds and we end up having deeper conversations. Sometimes I get no response, but that’s okay because I’m not asking for you to respond. I’m simply checking in and letting them know that I’m thinking about them.

Over time, this has built up to reconnecting with some of my closest buddies from years ago that I hadn’t talked with in far too long.

PLAY and RELAXATION

As I hit the halfway point, it becomes more and more clear just how short life can be. Tomorrow is not promised.

Take time to enjoy your time while you still have the time.

When was the last time you carved a space in your schedule to do something fun? Intentionally?

A year ago, I realized that my love for video games was not being met. I enjoy playing role playing games (RPGs) and just losing myself in an interactive movie.

Instead of letting my gaming console collect dust, I opted to start using it.

Every weekday, I’ll shut my work down by about 4:00 p.m. and then I’ll fire up my PlayStation5 or Nintendo Switch and play a video game for about 20-30 minutes before I get my kids from their After School programs.

It’s my way to wind down from my work and then make a transition into my next role as a dad.

Oh yeah, it’s also fun.

You don’t have to play video games, but you damn sure need to find something fun and entertaining that you can prioritize in your life every day. Even for a few minutes just to laugh, enjoy and get into that playful flow state where you lose all track of time and forget about all the damn seriousness of being in our 40s.

It’s not just video games for me, either. I like to read two books at a time.

In the early parts of the day, I’ll focus on nonfiction and then I’ll try to lose myself in a story with a work of fiction later in the evening.

Maybe you like to play chess, work on puzzles, enjoy spa treatments, whatever it is. Go do it. Do it because it’s fun, not because you are learning something or burning calories. Just be a kid again.

From there, the options and opportunities for self improvement and reinvention are endless and this is like choosing your own adventure.

It does not take some Herculean effort to live to 90 years old and up

You just need to commit to the one or two levers to pull to start building that momentum.

And you really only need like 15 minutes per day of each thing to do it.

Honestly it doesn’t take much more than just 15 minutes per day of each pillar to LevelUP. That’s one total hour of working on yourself.

Over the course of a year, that will lead to dramatic results.

Find one thing to do in each category and get to work.

You owe it to yourself. 

I hope you enjoyed this newsletter.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “live to 90 years old” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete