The Six Step Checklist For An Early Death
If you want to die early, here’s a simple game plan:
Never exercise.
Let your blood pressure, lipids, and blood sugar run wild.
Stay significantly overweight for decades.
Sleep like garbage.
Eat mostly ultra-processed junk.
Wash it all down with plenty of alcohol.
This is the default path for a shocking number of smart, capable people.
Now, sure—there’s plenty of nuance. We all know the guy who drank whiskey and smoked cigars into his 90s. Outliers exist. But most people aren’t outliers. And the worst part? You can ignore all six of these habits and feel fine for 50 years. Then things fall apart. Fast.
Every week, I meet people suffering from decades of choices that felt harmless at the time.
Here’s why these six habits are quietly speeding up your decline—reverse them, and you’ll build the foundation for strength, energy, and long-term health.
1. Never Exercise
Skip movement long enough, and your body forgets how to move.
Muscle breaks down. Joints stiffen. Blood sugar climbs. You feel slower, tighter, weaker—and it doesn’t happen all at once. It sneaks up on you.
The real risk?
It’s not just physical. Loss of strength = loss of confidence. You avoid activities you used to enjoy. Before long, your world shrinks.
Do the opposite:
→ Lift weights 2-4x/week. Doesn’t need to be extremely intense—just challenging and consistent.
→ Walk more. >8k steps per day is a sweet spot for health.
→ Add 5 minutes of mobility to the end of workouts. Your hips and shoulders will thank you.
2. Let Your Bloodwork Spiral
You won’t feel your blood pressure rising.
Or your LDL creeping up. Or your fasting glucose hovering at the edge of prediabetes. That’s the danger—these markers are silent until they’re not.
What happens next?
You wake up one day with a diagnosis, not a warning. I see it all the time—smart, capable people blindsided by labs they never checked.
Do the opposite:
→ Get bloodwork yearly. Know your baselines. I know, it’s annoying, time consuming, and who wants to go out of their way to get bad news? Much better to take care of it at 30 or than die from it at 50 or 60.
→ Eat more fiber, protein, and plants—your blood sugar and lipids will respond fast.
→ Walk after meals. Even 10 minutes helps.
→ Strength train. It boosts insulin sensitivity and improves HDL better than cardio alone.
3. Carry Excess Body Fat for Decades
It’s not about vanity. It’s about risk.
Excess body fat—especially around your waist—drives up inflammation, blood sugar, blood pressure, and long-term disease risk. It also worsens joint pain, sleep quality, and energy.
And the longer you carry it, the harder it gets to lose.
Not impossible—but harder. Your body adapts to its current state. Wait 10–15 years, and the climb gets steeper.
Do the opposite:
→ Aim for 5–10% fat loss if you’re in the danger zone—it makes a massive difference.
→ Strength train 2–4x/week to preserve muscle while losing weight.
→ Hit your protein target daily (0.7–1g per pound of goal body weight).
→ Prioritize sleep. Poor sleep increases hunger and insulin resistance.
4. Neglect Sleep
Sleep debt doesn’t show up on a bill—but rest assured, you pay for it!
Poor sleep wrecks recovery, focus, hunger regulation, mood, and long-term health. And no, you can’t “push through it” forever.
The damage is gradual—until it’s not.
Over time, poor sleep raises your risk for heart disease, insulin resistance, and depression. It also makes fat loss harder and workouts less effective.
Do the opposite:
→ Set a non-negotiable sleep window: 7+ hours in bed, same time each night.
→ Cut caffeine after noon. Even if you “sleep fine,” it still fragments deep sleep.
→ Wind down 30 minutes before bed—dim lights, stretch, read, breathe.
→ No phones in bed. Seriously.
5. Live on Ultra-Processed Foods
No need to demonize food—but let’s be honest about patterns.
Ultra-processed foods aren’t evil. They’re just really easy to overeat—and usually lower in protein, fiber, and nutrients your body actually needs.
The issue isn’t one snack—it’s your defaults.
If most of what you eat comes from packages and drive-thrus, you’re probably undernourished and overfed. That combo tanks energy, appetite control, and long-term health.
Do the opposite:
→ Build 80% of your intake around whole, minimally processed foods.
→ Make protein and plants the center of your meals.
→ Keep snacks simple—think Greek yogurt, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, or a protein shake.
→ Use processed foods with intention, not as the foundation.
6. Drink Like A Fish
Alcohol isn’t the enemy—but it’s not harmless, either.
Drinking regularly disrupts sleep, recovery, hormones, digestion, and fat loss. The effects are subtle at first—then they compound.
The real issue is frequency, not one night out.
Nightly drinks to wind down or weekend binges "because it's fun" start to wear on your system fast—especially in your 30s and 40s.
Do the opposite:
→ Set boundaries: 0–2 drinks per week is ideal for most people.
→ Track your sleep after drinking—you’ll see the impact.
→ Swap the habit, not just the drink. Go for a walk, read, call a friend.
→ If you drink, hydrate and keep it occasional—not automatic.
Stop Ignoring The Obvious
If you’re optimizing supplements, tracking HRV, or debating whether to fast until noon, but haven’t nailed the basics - what are we even doing?!
You don’t need to overhaul your life to stay strong, lean, and healthy into your 40s, 50s, and beyond. But you do need to stop ignoring the obvious. Ignore it long enough, and it catches up to you. Fast. But dial it in—even just a little—and everything gets easier: energy, strength, sleep, fat loss, long-term health.
And if you need help putting it into action, that’s what I do.
Click here to learn more about coaching.
Or, apply for a free chat below:
Best,
John
P.S. By the time you read this, I’ll either be celebrating an incredible win or recovering from a soul-crushing loss at the PSU–Oregon whiteout for my dad’s 70th. Either way, it’s a weekend I wouldn’t trade—family, football, and a milestone birthday all in one!
3 Steps You Can Take
Apply for coaching - If you’re ready to start, you can fill out a coaching application here (it takes 90 seconds or less). Best case, you change your life. Worst case, I’ll help you draw up a road map to get closer to your goals.
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Keep learning - You can check out my other articles here. Nobody asked me to, but I’ve spent a ton of time researching everything from artificial sweeteners to saturated fat to testosterone and more, so you don’t have to.
