When I was younger, I used to be motivated by living to be a hundred years old. The motivation for living to one hundred was it signaled a long and successful life. That age is also something we celebrate as an extra special mark of aging in our society. I used to be amazed that someone could live that long. However today I see articles of a great grandmother running a 100 meter dash at one hundred. I watch videos of a hundred and three year old physician mowing his lawn and being mentally sharp. It is incredible to see the quality of life that many people have as they move past a century of living.
As a general mark of a culture’s health, we also use longevity. We evaluate the general health of a population by speaking about the life expectancy of that populations. We estimate their demographics by speaking about their average age. And book after book is written, giving keys to a successful life, by distilling a culture that has the most centenarians down into a list of foods to eat and habits to adopt.
When we use life expectancy as a sign of a successful life, we end up with projects such as Human Longevity Inc and Google’s Calico. These projects aim to increase one’s life expectancy, not by small increments, but in exponential terms. In many ways I am fascinated by this work. It is interesting from a scientific perspective. I am also optimistic at the potential they will be successful. I don’t believe it will be long before humans commonly live to be 150 years old. Then following the exponential advancement, what is the next milestone? Will we live to 250, 500 or will Ray Kurzweil’s prediction of indefinite lifespans be realized?
It’s interesting to construct the mind experiments on what human life would be like when we live to 500, however it leaves me concerned that we are focused on the wrong metric of a healthy life.
I know too many individuals in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s who struggle each day to find happiness and meaning. I talk to individuals in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s that are concerned because they are on their second half of life and haven’t found contentment.
When the focus is on extending the lifespan, but not considering the quality of life a person is able to live each day, then we are creating the potential for long and unsatisfying years of living.
One reason a culture’s health is evaluated based upon their life expectancy is because it is easy to measure. Estimating the quality of a life, for each member of a population is much more complicated. Because it is complicated, does not mean that it is less valuable.
At the individual level, we believe that living a meaningful life is more critical than living a long life. A life with purpose, that brings happiness, is more important spending years with your feet on the ground breathing air.
When you begin to adopt this perspective, it becomes essential to squeeze every ounce of opportunity out of each day. The goal should be to live a hundred years worth of impact and meaning within the first fifty years of your life, opposed to trying to live for a hundred years to get fifty years of experiences.
This guidance leads us to two key elements of being successful:
Find happiness in each day. When you stop using longevity as your metric and life expectancy and a guideline, it enables you to think about what brings happiness today.
Take action each day that provides meaning to your life. Build a foundation for your legacy which will live on beyond the years you live