Age is time divided by achievement. Achievements come in many forms: writing “Blackbird” or raising a family or starting a business or helping someone through a difficult time—anything that extends or endures beyond you. Whatever form it takes, the more you achieve, the younger you are (relative to that number).

Jagger and McCartney hardly ever engage in age-based self-deprecation. They tend not to make those slightly nervous “I’m just an old geezer” jokes, of the kind that the rest of us start making from the moment we pass 30. I think that might have something to do with the almost ridiculously good time they’re having in their eighties. They play the do... See more

1. People who know they’re approaching the last stop aren’t wiser than the rest of us, they’re just even more self-deluded than we are. I recently listened to an interview with the entrepreneur/self-help guru Alex Hormozi. I liked what he said about those “deathbed regrets” which get spun into cute homilies—I wish I’d stopped to smell the roses, I wis

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In a quasi-scientific study of “wisdom at the end of life,” researchers interviewed people who knew they were dying, mostly old people. These interviews elicited such crystalline insights as, “I think you would have more wisdom if you have empathy and compassion.” Right. “Wisdom means seeing life on life’s terms.” Deep.