A fundamental redesign of life

For those of us born in the West today, living to 100 will be the norm not the exception — how does this affect our relationship to work?

Many of us have been raised on the traditional idea of a three-stage approach to our work lives which goes like this:

Education > Work > Retirement

However this well-known pathway is already beginning to collapse — life expectancy is rising, pensions are vanishing and increasing numbers of people are juggling multiple careers.

Whether you are 18, 45 or 60, you will need to do things very differently from previous generations and learn to structure your life in completely new ways.

At the heart of their work is the concept of human ingenuity, where rather than being passengers, we’re called to become social pioneers in order to make the most of new technologies and longer, healthier lives.

However this means navigating a new life story — where we explore by learning and transitioning, and connect more deeply to others, but also to ourselves.

This means thinking more like a designer. Where you are more intentional about your work and life — treating it like a design project — rather than reactive to whatever comes your way.

Whilst this process will be gradual — it has already been going on at the edges for many years (just ask any entrepreneur or freelancer) — it will culminate in a social and economic revolution.

Just as technology and globalisation have transformed the way we live, so the changes needed to make the most of a 100-year life will do the same.

Here’s how:

Tangible assets such as housing, cash or savings in the bank have a physical existence and so tend to be relatively simple to measure and define. Which is why they are so attractive to measure our life by — they are an easy metric.

Intangible assets on the other hand such as friends and family, physical and mental health and skills and knowledge, lack this obvious physical existence which creates challenges in how they are measured.

However this group of assets will become much more crucial in a multi-stage life.

There are 3 distinct categories of intangible assets:

These help us become productive and successful at work and boost our income. Whilst skills and knowledge are clearly important, it also includes access to peers and the development of our reputation or personal ‘brand’.

Broadly these capture mental and physical health and wellbeing — friendships, positive family relationships and partnerships, as well as personal fitness and health. Studies suggest that high stocks of vitality assets are a key component of a good life.

Across a 100-year life people will experience great change and many transitions. These transformational assets refer to their self-knowledge, their capacity to reach out into diverse networks and their openness to new experiences.

Each of them are taking control of their own life story and futures, exploring by learning and growing, and in turn connecting deeply to one another. All bound together through a desire to find more balance, in the pursuit of work that lights them up and positively impacts the world around them.

At times it feels like we are on a collective curiosity quest to better understand what constitutes a long, happy life.

Many people see the financing of a long life as a curse. Whether that is to do with a lack of knowledge or because the rewards of doing this are typically felt far away — preparing for the future means transferring money from today. So it’s no wonder that the thought of finances can cause anxiety, especially where there are complex questions to answer.

Appropriate financial planning depends on both efficacy and agency:

Many knowledge workers in particular are working longer hours than ever before, with less work-life balance than previous generations. This means there is less time for family and friends, side projects and other leisure pursuits.

The future will bring more flexibility and autonomy, where we focus less on leisure and downtime, but more on up-skilling through learning and growth opportunities.

A fascinating study of tens of thousands people by researcher Julianne Holt-Lunstad — made famous in this TED talk — came to some surprising conclusions about our chances of living a long and happy life.

It turns out that it’s not from having the right genes, vast wealth or even the healthiest lifestyle, but rather having deep relationships, and regular interactions, with others each day.

The evidence is clear — invest in your relationships, starting today. Your future self will thank you for it.

Can you be sure that the decisions you are making now will stand up to the scrutiny of your future self?

As the three-stage working life becomes a thing of the past, we need to consider ways of redesigning life so that a longer working life becomes a gift that is energising, creative and fun rather than a necessarily evil. How can you learn to make the transitions that will be so crucial and experiment with new ways of living, working and learning?

What are the most effective ways of boosting your physical and mental health over a longer and more dynamic lifespan? How can you nurture or grow your intangible assets — such as family, friends and networks — as you build a productive, longer life?

What activities would you want to do even if you weren’t paid? What areas of interest, or new beginnings, are exciting you and keep gnawing away at you? What could you invest in now that might benefit your future self whether education, relationships or experiences?

When lives are short, the concept of who you are develops without a great deal of insight of transformation. Yet when lives are long, what is the thread that connects the many transitions a person goes through? What is it that remains essentially you? How can you carve out a career and life path that defines you and your values?

We’ll never know whether we’ll live to 100. But we can certainly start thinking now about what life we might want to step into as we grow older.

I believe work can be wonderfully rewarding and a way for us to share our deepest passions and beliefs with others. Health permitting I never want to retire fully because I’ll always want to create things, teach and learn, and guide and connect others.

This isn’t based on an assumption that I’m going to live for another 50 years, but on the basis that it could all end tomorrow.

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