Stay Young

The Stay Young Book

Following the steps

My purpose here is not to teach you philosophy, theology, or metaphysics. It is to present some simple, easy-to-follow exercises that will change your life.

If you have not carefully read the last two chapters, take the time and do so. Some of the things here won’t make sense if you do not.

Complicated instructions are easier to follow than simple ones. Attach piece XY to piece AY using fasteners MM and NN as shown in diagram 17a… When it’s complicated, you can say, “I don’t get that at all.” You quit trying to figure it out and trust whoever wrote the instructions. You just do what they tell you to. It is the easy instructions that are toughest to follow.

When I was in 9th grade we were given a strange test. Instruction #1 said, “Read all the instructions before you start your work.” Step #2 said, “Now that you have read all of the instructions, start following these steps.” A whole lot of complicated steps followed. We had 10 minutes to finish. I tried to get through all of the steps in the allowed time but couldn’t do it. I made it up to step #5. I sat there frustrated as the teacher collected our exam papers.

The teacher then asked someone to read out loud the first step. “Read all the instructions before you start your work.” He then had them read the very last instruction. It said, “Skip all the steps except step #7.” What? If I had read all the instructions like I was told to, it would have been easy to finish. The problem was that the instructions were too simple… and I was too smart for my own good. I thought I knew what was best so I didn’t follow the instructions. I skipped something that didn’t seem important, and never even finished.

This process is like that junior high “test.” It is so simple some people will have trouble accepting it. They will walk away shaking their heads and look to science for complicated and expensive “solutions” to the aging “problem.” It is so simple that the smart people—people like me—will skip the “unnecessary” stuff and never finish. It won’t work for them. Some day when I feel more motivated I may write a complicated and expensive version of this process. It would help people like me. For now, though, I will keep it simple.

I once figured out how to make cinnamon rolls that tasted just like those at Cinnabon™, the amazingly gooey cinnamon rolls that you can get in many airports. They were sweet and sticky and drenched in that amazing icing. They were good. Everyone who tried them was impressed.

A friend who was very skilled at baking asked me to show her how to make them. I agreed. We met one Saturday at her house. I explained the steps and she followed them. About halfway through, though, she started to get frustrated with me. She stopped my explanation with, “I already know how to do that part!” This same person once said to me, “My mind’s made up. Don’t confuse me with facts!” I knew it would do no good to argue. I let her do it her way.

When the cinnamon rolls came out, though, she was angry with me. “These aren’t at all like Cinnabon™ rolls. They’re just like the ones I always make.” Of course they were! She followed the steps she knew and she got the same results she always did. Albert Einstein said the very definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” My friend wanted to learn something new. She meant well, but she was trapped by what she “already knew.” It kept her from paying attention to the details.

In the steps that follow the small details are important. If you skip any of them because you “already know that stuff,” you will be disappointed. What you will get at the end is the same thing you have always been getting: older. You do not need to believe anything. You do not even have to understand how it works. Simply follow the steps, carefully, with an open mind. The results are better than Cinnabon™.

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