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The cover of The Good Life

The Good Life

Robert Waldinger, Marc Schulz

What the Harvard Study of Adult Development, following lives for over eighty years, reveals about why warm relationships keep us happier and healthier, and how to invest in them.

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11 parts, about 27 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Learn what a decades long study found: good relationships, more than career, exercise or diet, tie to health and longevity
  • Take stock of your own relationships by charting who energizes or depletes you, and use a five stage model to slow emotional reactions
  • See how marriage, family, work and friendship each affect wellbeing, and why it is never too late to build connection

Who it is for

  • People feeling lonely or unsure how close their relationships really are
  • Ambitious professionals weighing career achievement against time with family and friends
  • Couples and parents wanting to understand attachment and family patterns

What the summary covers

  1. What Makes a Good Life?2 min
  2. Why Relationships Matter3 min
  3. Relationships on the Winding Road of Life2 min
  4. Social Fitness3 min
  5. Attention to Relationships3 min
  6. Facing the Music2 min
  7. The Person Beside You2 min
  8. Family Matters3 min
  9. The Good Life at Work: Investing in Connections3 min
  10. All Friends Have Benefits2 min
  11. Conclusion: It's Never Too Late to Be Happy2 min

Recommended by

  • Angela DuckworthBestselling author of Grit; professor, University of Pennsylvania
    In a crowded field of life advice, and even life advice based on scientific research, Schulz and Waldinger stand apart. Capitalizing on the most intensive study of adult development in history, they tell us what makes a good life and why.
  • Daniel H. PinkBestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind
    Waldinger and Schulz have written an essential—perhaps the essential—book on human flourishing. Backed by extraordinary research and packed with actionable advice, The Good Life will expand your brain and enrich your heart.
  • Arthur C. BrooksProfessor, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School
    Want the secret to the good life? Waldinger and Schulz give it to you in this magnificent new book. Based on the longest survey ever conducted over people’s lives, The Good Life reveals who winds up happy, who doesn’t, and why—and how you can use this information, starting today.
  • Laurie SantosProfessor of Psychology, Yale University, host of The Happiness Lab
    Waldinger and Schulz are world experts on the counterintuitive things that make life meaningful. Their book will provide welcome advice for a world facing unprecedented levels of unhappiness and loneliness.
  • Jay ShettyBestselling author of Think Like a Monk, host of On Purpose
    Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz lead us on an empowering quest toward our greatest need: meaningful human connection. Blending research from an ongoing eighty-year study of life satisfaction with emotional storytelling proves that ancient wisdom has been right all along—a good life is built with good relationships.
  • Daniel GilbertAuthor of Stumbling on Happiness, host of This Emotional Life
    The Good Life tells the story of a rare and fascinating study of lives over time. This insightful, interesting, and well-informed book reveals the secret of happiness and reminds us that it was never really a secret after all.

About the authors

  • Robert WaldingerHarvard psychiatrist who directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development
    • He is an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and also a Zen priest.
    • He grew up in Des Moines, Iowa.
    • He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1973 and earned his MD at Harvard Medical School in 1978.
    • He directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest running studies of adult life ever conducted.
    • The study tracked 724 men for nearly 80 years and now follows their baby boomer children.
    • He is the founding director of the Lifespan Research Foundation, which shares lifespan research with the public.
    • He directs a teaching program in psychodynamic psychotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital.
    • His TED talk, What Makes a Good Life, has been watched more than 75 million times.
  • Marc SchulzBryn Mawr psychologist and associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development
    • He is the associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.
    • He holds the Sue Kardas PhD 1971 Chair in Psychology at Bryn Mawr College.
    • He directs the data science program at Bryn Mawr and previously chaired its psychology department.
    • He earned his BA at Amherst College and his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
    • He is a practicing therapist with postdoctoral training in health and clinical psychology at Harvard Medical School.

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