We have the potential to get happier (and more successful) as we get older. Here’s how
Arthur C. Brooks shares five key insights from his new book, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. Listen to the audio version-read by Brooks himself-in the Next Big Idea App to find out what they are.
Happiness is not just up to chance
It’s made up of enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose
- We can control these things, and we can get happier as we get older
- Each of us can be happier at 75 than we were at 25, if we focus on the right things
Don’t add without subtracting
Early on, life is like a canvas that you’re filling up with paint-creatively, with energy, with enthusiasm, more brush strokes, more pain!
- After a certain point, that canvas gets pretty full.
- In the second half of your life, you need to become a sculptor and chip away at the things that aren’t you-the possessions, the attachments, the beliefs, even the opinions.
Happiness is based on love
If you don’t have a lot of love in your life, you can’t get happier as you get older
- You need to cultivate your relationships
- Be a part of a vast root system, not just look out for your leaves and your individual tree
The striver’s curse
Most people think that to be on the upper branch, to get happier as you get older, you have to be one of the successful people-the people who do a lot with their lives, who see a lot of worldly success-because then you can dine out on your success and be happy.
- Well, it’s not true. People on the lower branch tend to get unhappier as they age, because they experienced a lot more success earlier in their lives.
Our natural strengths change-and we need to get from one success curve to the second.
Fluid intelligence: ability to work hard with focus and solve problems
- Decreases as you age
- Crystallized intelligence: wisdom and passing on knowledge
- You get wiser as you get older, which means you know a lot
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