I am so enjoying The 100 Year Life by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott. It’s a well-researched and easy to read presentation of how living longer invites new questions about life and work. The traditional three-phase life (learn, work, retire) is being replaced with a multi-stage life which requires new perspectives on the choices we make and how we spend our time. There are some scary pieces in it – like whether there’s enough money to pay pensions as more people live into their nineties – and there’s lots of stimulating ideas for the opportunities and gifts longevity presents. Taking up second or even third careers for example. Returning to learning and developing new skills or finding the freedom to pursue new adventures well into the later stages of life. Of course, it requires us to be healthy and take good care of ourselves as well. I think everyone should read this book to jolt us out of the comfort of thinking life carries on as it always has done. There’s new questions and new conversations to be had. Do you realise, for example, that if you’re in your 30s at the moment, you have a 50% chance of reaching 100 years of age? I’m 62 and there’s a good possibility I can make it to my mid 90s – which means I could create another whole career ahead of me. A new chapter yet to begin.
SPARK A CONVERSATION: If you had a whole new career ahead of you (as you may well have) – how will you use it? What’s the life, work and contribution you dream of? What will make your extra years worthwhile? #DREAM BIG
