Five Ways To Age Before Your Time
You should probably avoid all these things
Happy Whatever-Day-You’re-Reading-This, Primager!
I’m kinda hoping you’re installing one or more of the Ten Primage Pillars in your life, as I’m sure they’re going to help you build the foundations of longevity, legacy and healthspan.
If you want a refresh, here’s where to reskim them.
I’m sure you see a lot folks around your age who, by any immediate assessment, are not doing life as well as you are.
You know what I mean - you meet someone you haven’t seen in a while and your first reaction is “Jeez, he/she’s let him/herself go!”
Beer belly, blotchy skin, bloodshot eyes, swollen ankles, talks with a limp.
I sometimes even find myself assuming (on no sound medical basis) that they may not be long for this earth, so they need to go home right now and put their affairs in order.
And don’t worry, you’re not being judgy when you come to a similar conclusion. I’m fairly sure the ability to quickly score someone on the likelihood they could attack and kill you is some kind of hard-wired evolutionary trait to keep us safe.
Confirming they’re benign and incapable of inflicting more than verbal harm on you is probably a blessed relief to your prehistoric prefrontal cortex.
Anyway, let’s not digress into Darwinian dogma.
Today’s Primage thing is about reminding you that aging is optional, or at least the rate at which you age is largely at your discretion.
Let’s dig into 5 ways you could screw the whole thing up, and totally Let Yourself Go.
1: List The Things You USED To Do.
This is close to home for me.
I’ve been racing cars on-and-off for almost 30 years. In the mid-2010s, I had a sabbatical from competition to focus on building my new business, working with coaches and therapists.
One of my clients posed an innocent query when she asked,
“Didn’t you used to race cars?”
Wowzer. Bingo. Bullseye. Ouch. etc etc…
I so immediately hated the idea that I didn’t race cars anymore, that I applied for my race licence that afternoon.
Within a month I was sitting on the grid, blipping the throttle of my snarling beast before I hurtled off on the first lap I’d completed in over 5 years.
You see, there was never any reason why I’d not been racing. I love it, I’ve become reasonably good at it, and it fills me with joy.
You need to get used to not being a “Used To” and keep on keeping on, until you physically can’t anymore.
2: Hang Out With People Your Age
We’ve already established that many people let themselves go, and willingly conform to ageist stereotypes way more readily that they should.
Of course it’s a statistical truth that on average, people are going to age in the way that’s expected of them.
The old sum-total-of the-people-closest-to-you cliche is brutally applicable here.
That’s why it’s worth seeking out some of your age-bracket icons who are defying biology physically and mentally.
Alongside that, maintain relationships with younger folks. They’ll keep you trendy, current and active like what they are.
My wife was born a couple of decades after me. I mentor secondary school kids (that’s high school for you ‘Mericans) on business.
My own lad is ten, and his mates are always asking my opinions on life, the universe and everything.
Be the cool wiseacre. The hip, groovy dude(ss) who youngsters yearn to spend time with.
3: Keep Perfectly Still
We all had an aunt or uncle who retired and decided to do absolutely nothing.
My Uncle Les was the poster boy for inactivity.
When he retired at 66 from a job he clearly hated, basking like a supine gecko in front of his TV felt like an upgrade.
I never met anyone who had a more detailed knowledge of daytime broadcasts in all their woeful banality.
Fanatically averse to spending an ounce of energy on anything besides respiring, digesting and excreting, Les had one of those swivel trays bolted to his armchair so Auntie Janice could bring him his thrice-daily slop.
Within a couple of years, he added the mass of another human to his bodyweight, had two strokes and became insulin-dependent. I forget the actual timeline, but I’ll take a stab at 72 when he passed.
Look, you’re not Les-like, and neither are most people.
But activity’s on a spectrum. Just be careful which end you’re loitering around.
4: Assume You’re Done With Learning
We all understand the benefits of learning new stuff. After two days on-and-off YouTube tutorials, I can now unravel a Rubik’s Cube. Almost every time.
I could make a long list of things like that you could learn - and I might - but for today, here’s one learning habit that trumps them all, according to science…
Presented at the 2026 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum, a study analyzed brain scans from nearly 800 people to build a “brain-aging clock.”
Bilingual participants had brains that appeared about six years younger than those of monolinguals, while people who spoke four or more languages had brains that looked up to 13 years younger.
Learning a second language and achieving high fluency were also linked to slower brain aging.
So, what will you learn? Spanish? Mandarin? Finnish? Swahili?
Pick one you’ll use, and get fluent.
5: Grumble About Today’s Youth
Here’s a surprising revelation.
Literally every generation thinks they’re smarter than the next. We can track this back to the Ancient Greeks, and likely before.
In 423 BC, Aristophanes’ play The Cloud relentlessly mocked the youth of his time.
He paints a vivid picture of how the younger generation has gone to ruin compared to the “Heroes of Marathon”.
He mocks them for being physically weak and pale, saying “traditional boys” used to exercise outdoors, giving them “broad shoulders, a healthy complexion, and a small tongue.”
Modern young people, by contrast, spend all day indoors sitting in classrooms talking. They are mocked as being “pale, narrow-chested, and long-tongued”
Think “smartphone addiction” and this sounds horribly familiar.
He also stated boys were overly talkative and disrespectful: In the old days, boys were “seen and not heard” and stood up out of respect when an elder entered the room.
Aristophanes mocks the modern youth for constantly talking back, questioning their parents, and ignoring traditional manners.
He noted how they are obsessed with luxury and pleasure, mocking them for being addicted to warm baths (which traditionalists thought made men soft), delicate foods, and constant comfort rather than enduring physical hardship for the city.
My god…how many times have I thought those things about the “Youth Of Today”?
Fact is, if you lose touch with younger people than you (see #2 above) you lose touch with life as it’s lived today, and your future becomes consumed with nostalgia for your yesterdays.
And that ain’t no way to live.
Takeaways from today:
1: Keep on doing what you love
2: Lower the average age of your social circles
3: Get up, move, much more
4: Learn new stuff, all the time
5: Realise the YoT are not dumber than us. Mostly.
You are in your Primage. It’d be a crime to waste it.
Jonny
PS: Feel free to like, subscribe and most importantly, SHARE the heck out of this channel and this article. You already know dozens or hundreds of people who will get this, right away. Make sure they have the chance to be part of it, right from the start.
Also PS: Let me know what you’d like me to cover in future Primage Bulletins, as we develop our community and direction!