Want to Live a Longer, Happier Life? Science Says Work to Be More Successful (But Not in the Way You Might Think)

A decades-long (and counting) study reveals happiness lies not necessarily in the achievement, but in the pursuit.

EXPERT OPINION BY JEFF HADEN @JEFF_HADEN

You want to be happier. You want to feel more fulfilled. You want to live longer, healthier lives.

Lewis Terman, a Stanford University psychologist, was a pioneer in I.Q. testing. His revisions of the Stanford-Binet test helped it become a widespread tool for measuring general intelligence.

In 1921 he identified 1,500 children who had scored 135 or higher on the test and began one of the longest longitudinal studies ever conducted. (The New York Times calls Terman and his study of “Termites,” as the kids called themselves, the “grandfather of all lifespan research.”) 

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Terman’s study was guaranteed to outlive him, but that was the point: analyzing large groups of people over many decades allows researchers to uncover connections between cause and effect that short-term studies naturally miss. (It’s really hard to know if what you did in your 20s actually made you happy in your 40s and 70s unless the researchers catch you at all three stages of your life.)

Who tended to live the longest, most fulfilling lives? 

People who actively pursued, and were highly engaged, in pursuing their goals. In fact, many of those who worked the hardest turned out to live the longest.

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