“Circle Square and I are definitely on the same team. We both see later life as a time of opening, rather than closing doors.”

Over two decades ago, Carl Honoré took on the cult of speed by championing the Slow Movement and reminding us all to live more fully. Now, in his 50s, he continues to use his intellect, wit and deep understanding of human behaviour to inspire audiences across the globe. His two main stage TED talks have racked up millions of views and momentum continues to grow for his simple but game-changing message: To thrive in a fast world, you have to slow down.

Carl’s series of groundbreaking books chronicle the global trend toward putting on the brakes on everything from work to food to relationships.

His last book, Bolder: Making The Most Of Our Longer Lives is a spirited manifesto against ageism and a must-read for Circle Square members. His conclusion? We are entering a golden age of ageing. People in later life are healthier, happier, wealthier and fitter than ever before. So why not learn a language in your 50s, launch a business in your 60s, take up surfing in your 70s, fall in love in your 80s or join a protest movement in your 90s? To do so, however, we must reinvent our view of ageing – and redesign everything from education and politics to business and healthcare.

We chatted to Carl about how he has embraced mid-life as an adventure, the advantages of ageing and the impact of living longer on the fabric of our society.

Last week, Nick shared his own “mid-life” trigger that caused him to pause and rethink his direction. What was yours?
I was at a hockey tournament, and playing well, when I suddenly discovered I was the oldest player there. For some reason the news shook me to the core. I began wondering whether I looked out of place, whether people were laughing at me, whether I should take up a gentler pastime, like Bingo. It got me thinking about how we often feel ashamed and afraid of growing older. How we imagine it’s all about loss, decline, decrepitude and sadness. After the shock at that hockey tournament, I wanted to know if there was another, happier story to tell about ageing.

Having had a career in journalism you changed paths in mid-life, researching and championing the global “Slow Movement” and becoming an influential voice against ageism.  What have you learnt in the process?
My view of ageing has changed completely. Now I see it more as an adventure that’s all about opening doors rather than closing them. The thing that really blew me away is that people are generally more contented in later life. Across the world happiness seems to follow a U-shaped curve, bottoming out in middle age and then rising again thereafter. We become more comfortable in our own skin and less worried about what others think of us. We tend to form stronger, more fulfilling relationships as we age. Ageing also makes many of us more altruistic and eager to serve the common good.

Should we be worried about our bodies and brains as we age?
The news is not nearly as bad as you think. These days we have more and more levers to pull (nutrition, technology, medicine, exercise) to go on doing amazing things with our bodies deep into later life.

When it comes to our brains, some experts think ageing alters the brain structure in ways that make us even more creative. Older adults also tend to be better at seeing the big picture, embracing compromise, weighing multiple points of view and accepting that knowledge can only take you so far. When tackling problems in a familiar field, older brains are quicker to spot the patterns and details that open the door to finding a solution. We can (and should) carry on learning new things right up to the end of life.

Social and emotional smarts often improve with age, too. We get better at reading people. Our richer vocabulary helps us speak, write and communicate better and our capacity to co-operate and negotiate improves. We also get better at putting ourselves in other people’s shoes, finding compromises and resolving conflicts. As we age, we become less prone to wild swings of emotion and better able to cope with negative feelings such as anger, fear and envy.

What does all this mean for the role of 50+ in society? 
We can bring a lot to the party. Productivity rises with age in jobs that rely on social skills. When companies set up suggestion boxes, older staff usually generate more and better ideas, with the best proposals tending to come from the over- 55s. Older people are also smashing it in the start-up world. A study of all new businesses launched in the United States between 2007 and 2014 came to the following conclusion: “We find no evidence to suggest that founders in their 20s are especially likely to succeed. Rather, all evidence points to founders being especially successful when starting businesses in middle age or beyond.” Bottom line: the idea of being ‘finished at forty’ is absurd. Experience can be a superpower.

One of the biggest benefits of ageing is that we become more interested in giving back to the world and being of service to others. That means we can share our knowledge, experience, wisdom and insights – to make the world a better place for future generations.

How has ageing changed you?
What you stop obsessing about the drawbacks of ageing, you discover that as you grow older many things get even better.Like anyone else, I still worry about what the passage of time will do to my health, my finances, my looks, my loved ones. Nor am I in a hurry for my life to end. Confronting mortality – at any age – spurs us to make the most of what life we have left. These worries feel less daunting now because I know that, with a little luck and the right attitude, lots of good stuff awaits me in the coming years.

What are your top tips for mid-life and beyond?
Keeping up strong social bonds is one of the most important keys to living and ageing well. My advice to everyone, but especially those in later life, is to keep on fostering strong social networks. And, whatever age we are we should carry on learning new things and always seek out new experiences such as with food, relationships, art, travel and so on. I actually have 12 tips on ageing boldly which you can find here!

To finish, here’s our quick-fire Q&A with Carl: