“You’ve lived more time than what you have left.”
So the cold reality is this, at some point in your life, you realize that you’ve lived more time than what you have left. Now, I don’t say that to be morbid. I say that to help you realize that even at say, 42 years old, you still have half your life left to do whatever you want. And not only that, but if you think about it… half your life up until this point, you were a kid and couldn’t make your own decisions.
You’re not a kid anymore. You’re a grown man who’s hopefully supporting himself and his family. Maybe you’ve been married for 20+ years….. the kids have moved out and you’re planning for retirement. Maybe you’re divorced and you’re out there dating trying to find a partner for the next chapter in your life. Maybe you’ve never been married and don’t have kids. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Statistically, men are living longer now than ever before. So my question to you is, what are you doing with the time you have left?
You haven’t given up on life yet
If you’re watching this video, thank you very much. And I’ll assume that you haven’t given up on life. Because if you have, you’re probably not interested in this stuff. But, the men who read this blog haven’t given up. They pay attention to their appearance, their clothing and their grooming because they know the best years are still to come. Alright, that’s enough setup. As you can tell, I feel pretty strongly about this. So let’s get into my list.
Manage your Stress
First up is to manage your stress. Slow down….. take time for yourself….. Go get a massage and relax. Evaluate your life and identify the things in your day to day life that cause you stress, and eliminate them if you can. Yes, I know…. Careers and finances can be stressful. But cut your expenses if you can or move to a smaller place that’s not so expensive. If you have toxic people in your life that that are happiness vampires and always stress you out, stand the hell up, assert yourself, and remove them from your life.
Care for your skin
Next up, and you had to know this was coming…. Take care of your face and use sunscreen. This is critical and we all know it. So why is it so hard for a lot of men to get on board with it? Doing something to look after your face and the skin on your body is a heck of a lot better than doing nothing. Because here’s the thing….. if you do nothing, you don’t get to look in the mirror and then complain about how old you look.
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Fix your teeth
The next thing you can do is fix your teeth. Get your teeth whitened professionally, or get ‘em straightened. I’ve already told my story about getting braces at 42 years old and then getting 4 veneers once the braces came off. I was only in braces for about 6 months and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made. It was always an area of insecurity for me, so I finally did something about it. It’s not the most affordable option, but go talk to an orthodontist and ask about 6-month braces. Because if you only need some cosmetic correction, they’re a great option and they’re off before you know it.
Stay active and motivated
Stay active mentally and physically. Exercise. Have a positive attitude. Have goals and be actively working towards your goals. There’s a lot to be said about being motivated and having something you’re working towards. There’s an energy and enthusiasm you give off, and people can see it and they’re attracted to it. If you’re the guy on the couch every day watching sports, or worse yet, spending hours playing video games…. I don’t know man. You can disagree if you want, but I just think there’s a lot more to life than that. There’s a lot more you can be doing to make your life more engaging and more exciting.
Color your hair
Okay, let’s talk hair style and hair color. So, about two weeks ago we were at a local winery and struck up conversation with a couple probably in their mid to late 60’s. You could tell they both have had Botox and she looked really good. But the guy had a white goatee and a full head of jet black hair. Now, he had a really nice head of hair, but the color was all you could see. It’s like he just had it dyed yesterday. There wasn’t a grey strand anywhere. Gentlemen, I would encourage you to not go crazy with hair color because everybody can tell.
If you’re gray like me and want to experiment with hair color, I’d recommend starting with gray blending. I made a video about it a few years ago that I’ll link to down in the description. Gray blending isn’t really color. It just adds a little darkness, kind of like how your hair looks when it’s wet. It works by making the white hairs look darker gray. Keep in mind this is something you’ll need to go to a salon for. But specify that you’re looking for gray blending, not hair color. They should know what you mean.
Dress in more tailored clothes
You probably knew this one was coming too, and it’s to dress better and pay attention to how your clothing fits you. Changing from loose fit clothes to something more tailored makes a world of difference. The wider and baggier your clothes are, the larger you look. A great way to appear younger is to look trim and lean. And your clothing choices play a big part in this. As older men, mistakes in our clothing fit get amplified because we should know better. If your clothes fit too tight, it looks like we’re trying too hard to look young and trendy. Bit if you wear baggy clothes, we look irrelevant, outdated and uninformed.
Maintain a healthy diet and get your vitamins
Next is maintaining a proper diet and getting enough of the specific vitamins that we need as we get older. Diet should go without saying and I’m not perfect, but we all know that you are what you eat. We also know that vegetable smoothies are a lot better for us than bacon and pancakes. I’ve made a few other videos about this in the past, but vitamin C, D, E, B12 and Magnesium are some of the most important vitamins your body needs as it gets older. There’s a few others like Saw Palmetto and Omena 3’s, but finding a good whole-food multi-vitamin supplement is not only important, but it can make you look and feel a lot better.
Get at least 7 hours of sleep
Get more sleep. At least 7 hours. Shut the world off about 30 minutes before going to bed. Get off your phone or computer and turn off the TV. Read a book or magazine and allow your brain time to settle down. Make it dark in your bedroom and keep it cool because a cool bedroom helps you sleep better. If you wake up with neck pain or back pain, but you didn’t go to bed with it, it might be time for a new mattress. There’s a lot of mattress companies right now that’ll ship you high quality vacuum packed mattresses that you simply unwrap and let inflate.
Stay relevant and up to date
Next is to stay relevant. The world is moving pretty fast, especially in the technology space. Instead of always dogging on new technology, new websites or new popular apps, instead, try to stay curious. Because honestly, if you don’t explore it, you don’t even know what you’re dogging on and potentially missing out on. Say you’re 52 and you’re out looking for a new job. Ageism is a real thing, so if you can’t communicate effectively about current events or current technology… that puts you at a disadvantage.
Pay attention to your grooming
Finally, look after your grooming. As we get older, we get hairs poking out of places we never did when we were younger. I’m not sure why this is, but it happens and it’s up to you to pay attention to it. Keep your eyebrows from getting out of control and keep your nose hair in check. I mean.. you look at yourself in the mirror every single day. Take an extra 30 seconds and check yourself out to make sure you’re looking clean and in check. If you have a partner, ask them to help you.
Most everything on this list is pretty simple and doesn’t require a ton of effort. But if you haven’t given up on yourself yet, and you want to look the best you can, for as long as you can… implement some of these tips and I assure you, you’ll be looking better and feeling better in no time.
