What makes a good life2020

 What makes us comfortable in life with healthy and happy things?
 If you are now going to invest in your future best self, 
where will you invest your time and energy?

 In a recent survey, they were asked what their most important goals in life have been for thousands of years,

 and more than 80 percent said one of the most important goals in their lives is to become rich.

 And that same 50% of young people said that another big purpose in life was to be famous.

 (Laughter) And we are constantly told to keep working,

 face more difficulties, and get more work.

 We are given the impression that we must practice these things in order to live a good life.

 Lifelong images, the people who make the choices, and the outcome of those choices, are almost impossible to achieve. 

What we know most about human life is that we ask people to remember the past, and as we know,

 the obstacle is nothing more than 20/20. We forget a great deal about what happens in life, and sometimes memory is very creative.

 But what if we could see life as time went on?

 What if we could study people from time immemorial on how to keep people really happy and healthy?

 What we've done is the Harvard Study of Adult Development may be the longest study of adult life so far.

 For 80 years, we tracked the lives of 636 men year after year, asked about their work, their home life, their health, 

and of course how their life stories would unfold without being asked. Such teachings are rare.

Almost all projects of this nature fall apart within a decade because too many people drop out of the study, 

or the funds for research dry up, or the researchers get upset, or they die, and any ball Does not grow below the field.

 But through a combination of destiny and the perseverance of many generations of researchers, the study survived.

 Of our original 636 men, 60 are still alive, still studying, most of them in their 90s. 

And now we are educating more than 2,000 children of these men. 

And I am the fourth director of this study. Since 1938, 

we have killed two groups of men. 

The first group studied when they were sophomores at Harvard College.

 All of them graduated from college during World War II and then served in most of the wars. 

And the second group we followed was a group of boys from Boston's poorest neighborhoods, boys who were specially selected for the study because they lived in some of Boston's most distressed and disadvantaged families in the 1930s. 

Was in the decade. Most lived in tents, without hot or cold water. When they entered the study, 

all of these teens were interviewed.

 He underwent a medical test. We went to her house and we interviewed her parents. And then these teenagers grew up into adults who entered all walks of life

. He became a factory worker and lawyer and a bricklayer and a doctor, President of the United States.

 Some created alcoholism. Some advanced schizophrenia

. Some climbed the social ladder from the bottom to the top, 

and some traveled in the opposite direction. 

The founders of this study never thought in their dreams that I would stand here today after 80 years and tell you that it is still being studied.

 Every two years, our patient and dedicated research staff call our men and asks if we can send them another set about their lives. 

Many men in Boston ask us, "Why do you keep reading to me? My life is not so interesting." Harvard men never ask that question.

 (Laughter) To get a clear picture of these lives, we don't send them question marks. 

We interview them in their living rooms. We get their medical records from their doctors. We draw their blood, 

we scan their brains, we talk to their children. We videotaped our wives talking to them about their deepest concerns. And when almost a decade ago,

 we finally asked our spouse if she would join us as a study member, many women said, 

"You know, the time is near." (Laughter) So what did we learn?

 Do we know what lessons we have learned from tens of thousands of pages of information? 

Well, the lessons are not about wealth or fame or hard work.

 This 80-year's study sends a clear message: 

Good relationships keep us happy and healthy.

 Over time we have learned three great lessons about relationships. 

The first is that social interactions are really good for us and they kill loneliness.

 It shows that people who are more socially connected to family, friends, 

and community are happier, healthier

 

, and live longer than less connected people. And the experience of loneliness has turned out to be toxic.