I beat burnout and my midlife crisis by embracing small habits and routines. These are the 4 systems that changed my life so I can thrive after the age of 40.

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One day you wake up on the other side of 40 and you’ve got questions.

Is this it?

I’m supposed to be grinding all day, every day, until I can’t grind no more?

The rest of life is just toiling away to line the pockets of my capitalist overlord with no hope for a fulfilling future?

We’ve been told that life peaks in your 20s and 30s and by the time we hit 40s, we’re considered all grown up and stuff.

Life after 40 means we’re “too old,” or “washed up,” or we “can’t learn new things.”

But I didn’t get the memo that we were supposed to peak in our 40s.

Instead, I think we are uniquely equipped to thrive after the age of 40 given our experiences.

And the ones that can harness a growth mindset by adopting some of the habits, systems, routines, and abilities in this newsletter will be the ones that can succeed.

Let’s get into it.

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Stop constantly playing defense

It’s easy at this age to get caught up in a nonstop case of reactionary mode.

• Leaping to answer the email in the middle of dinner;
• Dropping everything you’re doing to meet that random request;
• Those To Do Lists are increasing in length, yet never nearing completion.

You’re taking in so much information from your phones, emails, work that you’re left dizzy, anxious and overstimulated.

And as a result, you never have the runway to make mistakes, to explore new things or to simply slow down, rest and have a little fun.

All because now we’re grown up and it’s time to be serious? Fuck that.

It’s time to take back control of your time, energy and life. Start playing more offense. Start being more proactive.

There’s a shifting paradigm about midlife

We can thrive.

It might be the start of the second half, but my friend, the game is far from over.

Yes, despite the world collapsing and burning around us, you can still achieve great things.

I’m living proof.

After a midlife crisis, I resisted the masculine urge to buy a motorcycle or run off with a young barista in Europe.

Instead, I slowed down and reflected.

And I realized that small, unsexy habits would be the catalyst for a lifestyle redesign.

The habits that improved my life after 40

These are the biggest bang for your buck systems.

I cannot flick a wand like a fairy godfather and magically wish away all of your corporate office problems.

But I can help you recapture your attention and retrain your priorities so you can create the best possible version of yourself.

Here’s where I started:

I. Block out the distractions and focus

Focus is now a superpower. There’s a reason why all of the social media apps have the infinite scroll that lures you into staying on the for you page longer than you planned.

Big Tech and its capitalist overlord companions have all mastered the art of sucking your attention away and now people are spending over five hours on their phones every single day.

I’m 46, I know what life was like before my phone.

And I’m actively working every day to spend less time on that phone and embrace more of that analog era I remember from the 80s and 90s.

You’re going to have the advantage if you can figure out how to keep your phone from dominating your life.

Set new barriers and limitations to how much screentime you’re giving yourself (just like you’d do for your kids).

This includes doomscrolling on the news or social media.

You’re not going to miss the big headlines, I promise.

That new beauty trend or hilarious video can wait, I assure you.

Put the phone in another room when you work. Turn off notifications. Set time limits for scrolling on social media.

Resist the temptation to pick up the phone first thing when you pop out of bed in the morning.

Building better systems for my phone cut my screentime from 6.5 hours per day down to a more respectable 1.5 hours per day.

Imagine what you can achieve with four or five more hours back in your day?

II. Develop a fitness regime you can follow to the end game

No more “I’ll start Monday.”

At this age, it’s no longer an option to play around with your health. You must understand how important it is to take care of yourself.

Eating well.

Moving your body daily.

Rest and prioritize consistent sleep.

You can get in shape at any age.

But there’s something about being in your 40s that ends up being a bit of a point of no return for a lot of folks.

You get set in your ways and believe that you’re too old to get healthy because it looks really hard.

The truth is that if you start now, you still have plenty of time to enjoy the benefits of better health, without potentially being tied down to a metric fuck ton of crazy illnesses that come from being sedentary.

Start small. It can be walking or just doing some activity you enjoy for now.

Eventually, graduate to some resistance training and perhaps a little cardio to long-term quality of life.

But get started. Not Monday. Today.

III. Creating curiosity

Strive to learn something new. And no, it shouldn’t always be career-related or something you need to develop for those quarterly KPIs.

Take 10-15 minutes per day to learn about history, philosophy, a new language, musical instrument—something, anything, that lights you up and gets you excited to expand your knowledge base.

I spent time learning how to do a handstand (I suck at it).

My wife is learning a new language.

Dive into a subject with a passion. Be cool with it being imperfect, messy, or confusing.

No one has to see that painting you made or read that short story you wrote.

Do it for you. Just because.

It gives you more of a reason to wake up every single day.

IV. Finding fun

How can you bring more fun or play into your day?

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m into video games again at the age of 46. They’re fucking fun and life is too fucking short.

I don’t care if a grown ass man is playing Final Fantasy XVI.

Find some ways to add more play into your daily routine.

You get into a flow state where time, stress and anxiety melt away and it’s just you and that activity.

Practice the small actions, build momentum

Most people will read this, get inspired, feel validated and then get distracted by the next ping from their phone and forget about it all.

Or try to do everything, everywhere all at once and get overwhelmed, anxious and quit.

Don’t do that.

I just want you to start with a few small habits or systems per day. Ease your way into this. We have plenty of time (as long as you start now).

My point is that you need to stop getting down on yourself and start realizing that you have an opportunity to shine and thrive.

The world needs people ready to build from the ashes left behind by whatever mess this timeline leaves in its wake.

Our generation can be the Avengers ready to assemble and rebuild. I truly believe that.

It’s time that we all get out of our own way and finally step into that role.

That’s why I created a community. The LevelUP Life (formerly “Midlife Mastery”).

It’s time to find your tribe of fellow midlifers that are ready to lift one another up.

Each week, you’ll get short essays from me on everything you received here, but in more depth.

And members receive mini-courses with my frameworks for better health/fitness … productivity/time management … habit building and consistency …. And you’ll be challenged to grow as a person.

Small measures meant to unlock massive results.

With fellow 40+ year olds ready to do the same.

It’s time to Level UP.

I hope you found this useful. If so, I’d appreciate it if you sent this newsletter to one person you think would benefit from my writing today.

And if you’re new here and enjoyed this newsletter, I’d be honored if you subscribed for more at this link.

And 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 “systems that changed my life” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete