Find Purpose, Live Longer

Find Purpose, Live Longer: "Keep working

A job is probably the easiest way to help you feel your life has purpose, so consider staying with it as long as you can, says Robert N. Butler, M.D., founding director of the National Institute on Aging and author of The Longevity Revolution: The Benefits and Challenges of Living a Long Life (Public Affairs, 2008). Even if your job is not the greatest, Butler notes, “accomplishment—and, most important, income—can provide an ongoing sense of purpose.” But there’s more. A European study that tracked 16,827 Greek men and women for 12 years found that those who retired early had a 51 percent higher mortality rate than those who kept working. And according to a 2005 study that followed 3,500 Shell Oil employees, those who retired at 55 were twice as likely to die during the next ten years as people the same age who continued to work.

Take stock of yourself

If you’re struggling to bring your purpose into view, Richard Leider, life coach and author of Something to Live For: Finding Your Way in the Second Half of Life (Barrett-Koehler, 2008), suggests making a list of what you consider your gifts, values, and passions, then identifying your top quality in each category. Together, he says, the three can help reveal your calling—a formula he describes as G+V+P=C. Chopra"