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The Better Good Life: An Essay on Personal Sustainability

Imagine a cherry tree in full bloom, its roots sunk into rich earth and its branches covered with thousands of blossoms, all emitting a lovely fragrance and containing thousands of seeds capable of producing many more cherry trees. The petals begin to fall, covering the ground in a blanket of white flowers and scattering the seeds everywhere.

Some of the seeds will take root, but the vast majority will simply break down along with the spent petals, becoming part of the soil that nourishes the tree — along with thousands of other plants and animals.

Looking at this scene, do we shake our heads at the senseless waste, mess and inefficiency? Does it look like the tree is working too hard, showing signs of strain or collapse? Of course not. But why not?

Well, for one thing, because the whole process is beautiful, abundant and pleasure producing: We enjoy seeing and smelling the trees in bloom, we’re pleased by the idea of the trees multiplying (and producing delicious cherries ), and everyone for miles around seems to benefit in the process.

The entire lifecycle of the cherry tree is rewarding, and the only “waste” involved is an abundant sort of nutrient cycling that only leads to more good things.

The entire lifecycle of the cherry tree is rewarding, and the only “waste” involved is an abundant sort of nutrient cycling that only leads to more good things. Best of all, this show of productivity and generosity seems to come quite naturally to the tree. It shows no signs of discontent or resentment — in fact, it looks like it could keep this up indefinitely with nothing but good, sustainable outcomes.

The cherry-tree scenario is one model that renowned designer and sustainable-development expert William McDonough uses to illustrate how healthy, sustainable systems are supposed to work. “Every last particle contributes in some way to the health of a thriving ecosystem,” he writes in his essay (coauthored with Michael Braungart), “The Extravagant Gesture: Nature, Design and the Transformation of Human Industry” (available at).

Rampant production in this scenario poses no problem, McDonough explains, because the tree returns all of the resources it extracts (without deterioration or diminution), and it produces no dangerous stockpiles of garbage or residual toxins in the process. In fact, rampant production by the cherry tree only enriches everything around it.

In this system and most systems designed by nature, McDonough notes, “Waste that stays waste does not exist. Instead, waste nourishes; waste equals food.”

If only we humans could be lucky and wise enough to live this way — using our resources and energy to such good effect; making useful, beautiful, extravagant contributions; and producing nothing but nourishing “byproducts” in the process.

If only we humans could be lucky and wise enough to live this way — using our resources and energy to such good effect; making useful, beautiful, extravagant contributions ; and producing nothing but nourishing “byproducts” in the process. If only our version of rampant production and consumption produced so much pleasure and value and so little exhaustion, anxiety, depletion and waste.

Well, perhaps we can learn. More to the point, if we hope to create a decent future for ourselves and succeeding generations, we must. After all, a future produced by trends of the present — in which children are increasingly treated for stress, obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease, and in which our chronic health problems threaten to bankrupt our economy  — is not much of a future.

We need to create something better. And for that to happen, we must begin to reconsider which parts of our lives contribute to the cherry tree’s brand of healthy vibrance and abundance, and which don’t.

The happy news is, the search for a more sustainable way of life can go hand in hand with the pursuit of a healthier, more rewarding life. And isn’t that the kind of life most of us are after?

In Search of Sustainability and Satisfaction

McDonough’s cherry-tree model represents several key principles of sustainability — including lifecycle awareness, no-waste nutrient cycling and a commitment to “it’s-all-connected” systems thinking (see “ See the Connection “). And it turns out that many of these principles can be usefully applied not just to natural resources and ecosystems, but to all systems — from frameworks for economic and industrial production to blueprints for individual and collective well-being.

For example, when we look at our lives through the lens of sustainability, we can begin to see how unwise short-term tradeoffs (fast food, skipped workouts, skimpy sleep, strictly-for-the-money jobs) produce waste (squandered energy and vitality, unfulfilled personal potential, excessive material consumption) and toxic byproducts (illness, excess weight , depression, frustration, debt).

We can also see how healthy choices and investments in our personal well-being can produce profoundly positive results that extend to our broader circles of influence and communities at large.

Conversely, we can also see how healthy choices and investments in our personal well-being can produce profoundly positive results that extend to our broader circles of influence and communities at large. When we’re  feeling our best and overflowing with energy and optimism, we tend to be of greater service and support to others. We’re clearer of mind, meaning we can identify opportunities to reengineer the things that aren’t working in our lives. We can also more fully appreciate and emphasize the things that are (as opposed to feeling stuck in a rut , down in the dumps, unappreciated or entitled to something we’re not getting).

When you look at it this way, it’s not hard to see why sustainability plays such an important role in creating the conditions of a true “ good life ”: By definition, sustainability principles discourage people from consuming or destroying resources at a greater pace than they can replenish them. They also encourage people to notice when buildups and depletions begin occurring and to correct them as quickly as possible.

As a result, sustainability-oriented approaches tend to produce not just robust, resilient individuals , but resilient and regenerative societies — the kind that manage to produce long-term benefits for a great many without undermining the resources on which those benefits depend. (For a thought-provoking exploration of how and why this has been true historically, read Jared Diamond’s excellent book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed .)

The Good Life Gone Bad

So, what exactly is a “good life”? Clearly, not everyone shares the same definition, but most of us would prefer a life filled with experiences we find pleasing and worthwhile and that contribute to an overall sense of well-being.

We’d prefer a life that feels good in the moment, but that also lays the ground for a promising future — a life, like the cherry tree’s, that contributes something of value and that benefits and enriches the lives of others, or at least doesn’t cause them anxiety and harm.

Unfortunately, historically, our pursuit of the good life has focused on increasing our material wealth and upgrading our socioeconomic status in the short term (learn more at “ What Is Affluenza? “). And, in the big picture, that approach has not turned out quite the way we might have hoped.

For too many, the current version of “the good life” involves working too-long hours and driving too-long commutes. It has us worrying and running ourselves ragged.

For too many, the current version of “the good life” involves working too-long hours and driving too-long commutes. It has us worrying and running ourselves ragged, overeating to soothe ourselves, watching TV to distract ourselves, binge-shopping to sate our desire for more, and popping prescription pills to keep troubling symptoms at bay. This version of “the good life” has given us only moments a day with the people we love, and virtually no time or inclination to participate as citizens or community members.

It has also given us anxiety attacks; obesity; depression ; traffic jams; urban sprawl; crushing daycare bills; a broken healthcare system; record rates of addiction, divorce and incarceration; an imploding economy; and a planet in peril.

From an economic standpoint, we’re more productive than we’ve ever been. We’ve focused on getting more done in less time. We’ve surrounded ourselves with technologies designed to make our lives easier, more comfortable and more amusing.

Yet, instead of making us happy and healthy, all of this has left a great many of us feeling depleted, lonely, strapped, stressed and resentful. We don’t have enough time for ourselves, our loved ones, our creative aspirations or our communities. And in the wake of the bad-mortgage-meets-Wall-Street-greed crisis, much of the so-called value we’ve been busy creating has seemingly vanished before our eyes, leaving future generations of citizens to pay almost inconceivably huge bills.

The conveniences we’ve embraced to save ourselves time have reduced us to an unimaginative, sedentary existence that undermines our physical fitness and mental health and reduces our ability to give our best gifts.

Meanwhile, the quick-energy fuels we use to keep ourselves going ultimately leave us feeling sluggish, inflamed and fatigued. The conveniences we’ve embraced to save ourselves time have reduced us to an unimaginative, sedentary existence that undermines our physical fitness and mental health and reduces our ability to give our best gifts. (Not sure what your best gift is? See “ Play to Your Strengths ” for more.)

Our bodies and minds are showing the telltale symptoms of unsustainable systems at work — systems that put short-term rewards ahead of long-term value. We’re beginning to suspect that the costs we’re incurring could turn out to be unacceptably high if we ever stop to properly account for them, which some of us are beginning to do.

Accounting for What Matters

Defining the good life in terms of productivity, material rewards and personal accomplishment is a little like viewing the gross domestic product (GDP) as an accurate measurement of social and economic progress.

In fact, the GDP is nothing more than a gross tally of products and services bought and sold, with no distinctions between transactions that enhance well-being and transactions that diminish it, and no accounting for most of the “externalities” (like losses in vitality, beauty and satisfaction) that actually have the greatest impact on our personal health and welfare.

We’d balk if any business attempted to present a picture of financial health by simply tallying up all of its business activity — lumping income and expense, assets and liabilities, and debits and credits together in one impressive, apparently positive bottom-line number (which is, incidentally, much the way our GDP is calculated).

Yet, in many ways, we do the same kind of flawed calculus in our own lives — regarding as measures of success the gross sum of the to-dos we check off, the salaries we earn, the admiration we attract and the rungs we climb on the corporate ladder.

But not all of these activities actually net us the happiness and satisfaction we seek, and in the process of pursuing them, we can incur appalling costs to our health and happiness. We also make vast sacrifices in terms of our personal relationships and our contributions to the communities, societies and environments on which we depend.

This is the essence of unsustainability , the equivalent of a cherry tree sucking up nutrients and resources and growing nothing but bare branches, or worse — ugly, toxic, foul-smelling blooms. So what are our options?

Asking the Right Questions

In the past several years, many alternative, GDP-like indexes have emerged and attempted to more accurately account for how well (or, more often, how poorly) our economic growth is translating to quality-of-life improvements.

Measurement tools like the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), developed by Redefining Progress, a nonpartisan public-policy and economic think tank, factor in well-being and quality-of-life concerns by considering both positive and negative impacts of various products and services. They also measure more impacts overall (including impacts on elements of “being” and “doing” vs. just “having”). And they evaluate whether various financial expenditures represent a net gain or net loss — not just in economic terms, but also in human, social and ecological ones (see “Sustainable Happiness,” below).

Perhaps it’s time to consider our personal health and well-being in the same sort of broader context — distinguishing productive activities from destructive ones, and figuring the true costs and unintended consequences of our choices into the assessment of how well our lives are working.

To that end, we might begin asking questions like these:

• Where, in our rush to accomplish or enjoy “more” in the short run, are we inadvertently creating the equivalent of garbage dumps and toxic spills (stress overloads, health crises, battered relationships, debt) that will need to be cleaned up later at great (think Superfund) effort and expense?
• Where, in our impatience to garner maximum gains in personal productivity, wealth or achievement in minimum time, are we setting the stage for bailout scenarios down the road? (Consider the sacrifices endured by our families, friends and colleagues when we fall victim to a bad mood, much less a serious illness or disabling health condition.)
• Where, in an attempt to avoid uncertainty, experimentation or change , are we burning through our limited and unrenewable resource of time (staying at jobs that leave us depleted, for example), rather than striving to harness our bottomless stores of purpose-driven enthusiasm (by, say, pursuing careers or civic duties of real meaning)?
• Where are we making short-sighted choices or non-choices (about our health, for example) that sacrifice the resources we need (energy, vitality, clear focus) to make progress and contributions in other areas of our lives?

In addition to these assessments, we can also begin imagining what a better alternative would look like:

• What might be possible if we embraced a different version of the good life — the kind of good life in which the vast majority of our choices both feel good and do good?
• What if we took a systems view of our life , acknowledging how various inputs and outputs play out (for better or worse) over time? What if we fully considered how those around us are affected by our choices now and in the long term?
• What if we embraced more choices that honor our true nature, that gave us more opportunities to use our talents and enthusiasms in the service of a higher purpose?

One has to wonder how many of our health and fitness challenges would evaporate under such conditions — how many compensatory behaviors (overeating, hiding out, numbing out) would simply no longer have a draw.

How many health-sustaining behaviors would become easy and natural choices if each of us were driven by a strong and joyful purpose , and were no longer saddled with the stress and dissatisfaction inherent in the lives we live now?

Think about the cherry-tree effect implicit in such a scenario: each of us getting our needs met, fulfilling our best potential, living at full vitality, and contributing to healthy, vital, sustainable communities in the process.

If it sounds a bit idealistic, that’s probably because it describes an ideal distant enough from our current reality to provoke a certain amount of hopelessness. But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely unrealistic. In fact, it’s a vision that many people are increasingly convinced is the only kind worth pursuing.

Turning the Corner

Maybe it has something to do with how many of our social, economic and ecological systems are showing signs of extreme strain. Maybe it’s how many of us are sick and tired of being sick and tired — or of living in a culture where everyone else seems sick and tired. Maybe it’s the growing realization that no matter how busy and efficient we are, if our efforts don’t feed us in a deep way, then all that output may be more than a little misguided. Whatever the reason, a lot of us are asking: If our rampant productivity doesn’t make us happy, doesn’t allow for calm and creativity, doesn’t give us an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way — then, really, what’s the point?

These days, it seems that more of us are taking a keen interest in seeking out better ways, and seeing the value of extending the lessons of sustainability beyond the natural world and into our own perspectives on what the good life is all about.

In her book MegaTrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism , futurist Patricia Aburdene describes a hopeful collection of social and economic trends shaped by a large and influential subset of the American consuming public. What these 70 million individuals have in common, she explains, are some very specific values-driven behaviors — most of which revolve around seeking a better, deeper, more meaningful and sustainable quality of life (discover the four pillars or meaning at “ How to Build a Meaningful Life “).

[“Conscious Consumers” balance] short-term desires and conveniences with long-term well-being — not just their own, but that of their local and larger communities, and of the planet as a whole.

These “Conscious Consumers,” as Aburdene characterizes them, are more carefully weighing material and economic payoffs against moral and spiritual ones. They are balancing short-term desires and conveniences with long-term well-being — not just their own, but that of their local and larger communities, and of the planet as a whole. They are acting, says Aburdene, out of a sort of “enlightened self-interest,” one that is deeply rooted in concerns about sustainability in all its forms.

“Enlightened self-interest is not altruism,” she explains. “It’s self-interest with a wider view. It asks: If I act in my own self-interest and keep doing so, what are the ramifications of my choices? Which acts — that may look fine right now — will come around and bite me and others one year from now? Ten years? Twenty-five years?”

In other words, Conscious Consumers are not merely consumers, but engaged and concerned individuals who think in terms of lifecycles, who perceive the subtleties and complexities of interconnected systems .

As John Muir famously said: “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” Just as the cherry tree is tethered in a complex ecosystem of relationships, so are we.

Facing Reality

When we live in a way that diminishes us or weighs us down — whether as the result of poor physical health and fitness, excess stress and anxiety, or any compromise of our best potential — we inevitably affect countless other people and systems whose well-being relies on our own.

For example, if we don’t have the time and energy to make food for ourselves and our families, we end up eating poorly, which further diminishes our energy, and may also result in our kids having behavior or attention problems at school, undermining the quality of their experience there, and potentially creating problems for others.

As satisfaction and well-being go down, need and consumption go up.

If we skimp on sleep and relaxation in order to “get more done,” we court illness and depression, risking both our own and others’ productivity and happiness in the process and diminishing the creativity with which we approach challenges.

At the individual level, unsustainable choices create strain and misery. At the collective level, they do the same thing, with exponential effect. Because, when not enough of us are living like thriving cherry trees, cycles of scarcity (rather than abundance) ensue. Life gets harder for everyone. As satisfaction and well-being go down, need and consumption go up. Our sense of “enough” becomes distorted.

Taking Full Account

The basic question of sustainability is this: Can you keep doing what you’re doing indefinitely and without ill effect to yourself and the systems on which you depend — or are you (despite short-term rewards you may be enjoying now, or the “someday” relief you’re hoping for) on a likely trajectory to eventual suffering and destruction?

When it comes to the ecology of the planet, this question has become very pointed in recent years. But posed in the context of our personal lives, the question is equally instructive: Are we living like the cherry tree — part of a sustainable and regenerative cycle — or are we sucking up resources, yet still obsessed with what we don’t have? Are we continually generating new energy, vitality, generosity and personal potential , or wasting it?

We can work just so hard and consume just so much before we begin to experience both diminishing personal returns and increasing degenerative costs.

The human reality, in most cases, isn’t quite as pretty as the cherry tree in full bloom. We can work just so hard and consume just so much before we begin to experience both diminishing personal returns and increasing degenerative costs. And when enough of us are in a chronically diminished state of well-being, the effect is a sort of social and moral pollution — the human equivalent of the greenhouse gasses that threaten our entire ecosystem.

Accounting for these soft costs, or even recognizing them as relevant externalities, is not something we’ve been trained to do well. But all that is changing — in part, because many of us are beginning to realize that much of what we’ve been sold in the name of “progress” is now looking like anything but. And, in part, because we’re starting to believe that not only might there be a better way, but that the principles for creating it are staring us right in the face.

By making personal choices that respect the principles of sustainability, we can interrupt the toxic cycles of overconsumption and overexertion. Ultimately, when confronted with the possibility of a better quality of life and more satisfying expression of our potential, the primary question becomes not just can we continue living the way we have been, but perhaps just as important, why would we even want to ?

If the approach we’ve been taking appears likely to make us miserable (and perhaps extinct), then it makes sense to consider our options. How do we want to live for the foreseeable and sustainable future, and what are the building blocks for that future? What would it be like to live in a community where most people were overflowing with vitality and looking for ways to be of service to others?

While no one expert or index or council claims to have all the answers to that question, when it comes to discerning the fundamentals of the good life, nature conveniently provides most of the models we need. It suggests a framework by which we can better understand and apply the principles of sustainability to our own lives. Now it’s up to us to apply them.

Make It Sustainable

Here are some right-now changes you can make to enhance and sustain your personal well-being:

1. Rethink Your Eating.

Look beyond meal-to-meal concerns with weight. Aim to eat consciously and selectively in keeping with the nourishment you want to take in, the energy and personal gifts you want to contribute, and the influence you want to have on the world around you.

To that end, you might start eating less meat, or fewer packaged foods, or you might start eating regularly so that you have enough energy to exercise (and so that your low blood sugar doesn’t negatively affect your mood and everyone around you).

You also might start packing your lunch, suggests money expert Vicki Robin: Not only will you have more control over what and how you eat, but the money you’ll save over the course of a career can amount to a year’s worth of work. “Bringing your lunch saves you a year of your life,” she says.

2. Set a Regular Bedtime

Having a target bedtime can help you get the sleep you need to be positive and productive, and to avoid becoming depleted and depressed. Research confirms that adequate sleep is essential to clear thinking, balanced mood, healthy metabolism, strong immunity, optimal vitality and strong professional performance.

Research also shows that going to bed earlier provides a higher quality of rest than sleeping in, so get your hours at the start of the night. By taking care of yourself in this simple way, you lay the groundwork for all kinds of regenerative (vs. depleting) cycles.

3. Own Your Outcomes

If there are parts of your life you don’t like — parts that feel toxic, frustrating or wasteful to you — be willing to trace the outcomes back to their origins, including your choices around self-care , seeking help, balancing priorities and sticking to your core values.

Also examine the full range of outputs and impacts: What waste or damage is occurring as a result of this area of unresolved challenge? Who else and what else in your life might be paying too-high a price for the scenario in question? If you’re unsure about whether or not a choice or an activity you’re involved in is sustainable, ask yourself the following questions:

• Given the option, would I do or choose this again? Would I do it indefinitely?
• How long can I keep this up, and at what cost — not just to me, but to the other people and systems I care about?
• What have I sacrificed to get here; what will it take for me to continue? Are the rewards worth it, even if the other areas of my life suffer?

Sustainable Happiness

Not all growth and productivity represent progress, particularly if you consider happiness and well-being as part of the equation. The growing gap between our gross domestic product and Genuine Progress Indicator (as represented below) suggests we could be investing our resources with far happier results.

Data source: Redefining Progress, rprogress.org . Chart graphic courtesy of Yes! magazine.

Learn more about the most reliable, sustainable sources of happiness and well-being in the Winter 2009 issue of Yes! magazine, available at www.yesmagazine.org .

Learning From Nature

What can we learn from ecological sustainability about the best ways to balance and sustain our own lives? Here are a few key lessons:

• Everything is in relationship with everything else. So overdrawing or overproducing in one area tends to negatively affect other areas. An excessive focus on work can undermine your relationship with your partner or kids. Diminished physical vitality or low mood can affect the quality of your work and service to others.
• What comes around goes around. Trying to “cheat” or “skimp” or “get away with something” in the short term generally doesn’t work because the true costs of cheating eventually become painfully obvious. And very often the “cleanup” costs more and takes longer than it would have to simply do the right thing in the first place.
• Waste not, want not. Unpleasant accumulations or unsustainable drains represent opportunities for improvement and reinvention. Nature’s models of nutrient cycling show us that what looks like waste can become food for a process we simply haven’t engaged yet: Anxiety may be nervous energy that needs to be burned off, or a nudge to do relaxation and self-inquiry exercises that will churn up new insights and ideas. Excess fat may be fuel for enjoyable activities we’ve resisted doing or haven’t yet discovered — or a clue that we’re hungry for something other than food. The clutter in our homes may represent resources that we haven’t gotten around to sharing. Look for ways to put waste and excess to work, and you may discover all kinds of “nutrients” just looking for attention. (See “ The Emotional Toll of Clutter “.)

The Sustainable Self

Connie Grauds, RPh, is a pharmacist who combines her Western medical training with shamanic teachings, and in her view, we get caught in wearying patterns primarily because of fear . “Energy-depleting thoughts and feelings underlie energy-depleting habits,” Grauds writes in her book  The Energy Prescription , cowritten with Doug Childers. She says that we often burn ourselves out because we’re unconsciously afraid of what will happen if we don’t.

Grauds uses the shamanic term “susto” to describe our anxious response to external situations we can’t control — the traffic jam, the work deadline, the pressure to buy stuff we don’t really need. “Susto” triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response, which encourages short-term, unconscious reactions to stress. When we shift to a more internal focus, tuning in to our body’s physical and emotional signals more reflectively, we act from what Grauds calls our “sustainable self.” She says the sustainable self can be accessed anytime with a simple four-step process:

• Take a deep breath ;
• Feel your body;
• Notice your thoughts, and then;
• Recognize that you are connected to a larger network of energy .

“A sustainable self recognizes and embraces its interdependent relationship to life,” she says, explaining that when we get our energy from controlling external circumstances we’re bound to collapse eventually, but when we’re connected to our internal reserves, we can be much more effective. “By consistently doing things that replenish us and not doing things that needlessly deplete us,” Grauds writes, “we access and conduct the energy we need to make and sustain positive changes and function at peak levels.”

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Follow YES! For Teachers

Eight brilliant student essays on what matters most in life.

Read winning essays from our spring 2019 student writing contest.

For the spring 2019 student writing contest, we invited students to read the YES! article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age” by Nancy Hill. Like the author, students interviewed someone significantly older than them about the three things that matter most in life. Students then wrote about what they learned, and about how their interviewees’ answers compare to their own top priorities.

The Winners

From the hundreds of essays written, these eight were chosen as winners. Be sure to read the author’s response to the essay winners and the literary gems that caught our eye. Plus, we share an essay from teacher Charles Sanderson, who also responded to the writing prompt.

Middle School Winner: Rory Leyva

High School Winner:  Praethong Klomsum

University Winner:  Emily Greenbaum

Powerful Voice Winner: Amanda Schwaben

Powerful Voice Winner: Antonia Mills

Powerful Voice Winner:  Isaac Ziemba

Powerful Voice Winner: Lily Hersch

“Tell It Like It Is” Interview Winner: Jonas Buckner

From the Author: Response to Student Winners

Literary Gems

From A Teacher: Charles Sanderson

From the Author: Response to Charles Sanderson

Middle School Winner

Village Home Education Resource Center, Portland, Ore.

The Lessons Of Mortality 

“As I’ve aged, things that are more personal to me have become somewhat less important. Perhaps I’ve become less self-centered with the awareness of mortality, how short one person’s life is.” This is how my 72-year-old grandma believes her values have changed over the course of her life. Even though I am only 12 years old, I know my life won’t last forever, and someday I, too, will reflect on my past decisions. We were all born to exist and eventually die, so we have evolved to value things in the context of mortality.

One of the ways I feel most alive is when I play roller derby. I started playing for the Rose City Rollers Juniors two years ago, and this year, I made the Rosebud All-Stars travel team. Roller derby is a fast-paced, full-contact sport. The physicality and intense training make me feel in control of and present in my body.

My roller derby team is like a second family to me. Adolescence is complicated. We understand each other in ways no one else can. I love my friends more than I love almost anything else. My family would have been higher on my list a few years ago, but as I’ve aged it has been important to make my own social connections.

Music led me to roller derby.  I started out jam skating at the roller rink. Jam skating is all about feeling the music. It integrates gymnastics, breakdancing, figure skating, and modern dance with R & B and hip hop music. When I was younger, I once lay down in the DJ booth at the roller rink and was lulled to sleep by the drawl of wheels rolling in rhythm and people talking about the things they came there to escape. Sometimes, I go up on the roof of my house at night to listen to music and feel the wind rustle my hair. These unique sensations make me feel safe like nothing else ever has.

My grandma tells me, “Being close with family and friends is the most important thing because I haven’t

always had that.” When my grandma was two years old, her father died. Her mother became depressed and moved around a lot, which made it hard for my grandma to make friends. Once my grandma went to college, she made lots of friends. She met my grandfather, Joaquin Leyva when she was working as a park ranger and he was a surfer. They bought two acres of land on the edge of a redwood forest and had a son and a daughter. My grandma created a stable family that was missing throughout her early life.

My grandma is motivated to maintain good health so she can be there for her family. I can relate because I have to be fit and strong for my team. Since she lost my grandfather to cancer, she realizes how lucky she is to have a functional body and no life-threatening illnesses. My grandma tries to eat well and exercise, but she still struggles with depression. Over time, she has learned that reaching out to others is essential to her emotional wellbeing.  

Caring for the earth is also a priority for my grandma I’ve been lucky to learn from my grandma. She’s taught me how to hunt for fossils in the desert and find shells on the beach. Although my grandma grew up with no access to the wilderness, she admired the green open areas of urban cemeteries. In college, she studied geology and hiked in the High Sierras. For years, she’s been an advocate for conserving wildlife habitat and open spaces.

Our priorities may seem different, but it all comes down to basic human needs. We all desire a purpose, strive to be happy, and need to be loved. Like Nancy Hill says in the YES! Magazine article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” it can be hard to decipher what is important in life. I believe that the constant search for satisfaction and meaning is the only thing everyone has in common. We all want to know what matters, and we walk around this confusing world trying to find it. The lessons I’ve learned from my grandma about forging connections, caring for my body, and getting out in the world inspire me to live my life my way before it’s gone.

Rory Leyva is a seventh-grader from Portland, Oregon. Rory skates for the Rosebuds All-Stars roller derby team. She loves listening to music and hanging out with her friends.

High School Winner

Praethong Klomsum

  Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, Calif.

Time Only Moves Forward

Sandra Hernandez gazed at the tiny house while her mother’s gentle hands caressed her shoulders. It wasn’t much, especially for a family of five. This was 1960, she was 17, and her family had just moved to Culver City.

Flash forward to 2019. Sandra sits in a rocking chair, knitting a blanket for her latest grandchild, in the same living room. Sandra remembers working hard to feed her eight children. She took many different jobs before settling behind the cash register at a Japanese restaurant called Magos. “It was a struggle, and my husband Augustine, was planning to join the military at that time, too.”

In the YES! Magazine article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” author Nancy Hill states that one of the most important things is “…connecting with others in general, but in particular with those who have lived long lives.” Sandra feels similarly. It’s been hard for Sandra to keep in contact with her family, which leaves her downhearted some days. “It’s important to maintain that connection you have with your family, not just next-door neighbors you talk to once a month.”

Despite her age, Sandra is a daring woman. Taking risks is important to her, and she’ll try anything—from skydiving to hiking. Sandra has some regrets from the past, but nowadays, she doesn’t wonder about the “would have, could have, should haves.” She just goes for it with a smile.

Sandra thought harder about her last important thing, the blue and green blanket now finished and covering

her lap. “I’ve definitely lived a longer life than most, and maybe this is just wishful thinking, but I hope I can see the day my great-grandchildren are born.” She’s laughing, but her eyes look beyond what’s in front of her. Maybe she is reminiscing about the day she held her son for the first time or thinking of her grandchildren becoming parents. I thank her for her time and she waves it off, offering me a styrofoam cup of lemonade before I head for the bus station.

The bus is sparsely filled. A voice in my head reminds me to finish my 10-page history research paper before spring break. I take a window seat and pull out my phone and earbuds. My playlist is already on shuffle, and I push away thoughts of that dreaded paper. Music has been a constant in my life—from singing my lungs out in kindergarten to Barbie’s “I Need To Know,” to jamming out to Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” in sixth grade, to BTS’s “Intro: Never Mind” comforting me when I’m at my lowest. Music is my magic shop, a place where I can trade away my fears for calm.

I’ve always been afraid of doing something wrong—not finishing my homework or getting a C when I can do better. When I was 8, I wanted to be like the big kids. As I got older, I realized that I had exchanged my childhood longing for the 48 pack of crayons for bigger problems, balancing grades, a social life, and mental stability—all at once. I’m going to get older whether I like it or not, so there’s no point forcing myself to grow up faster.  I’m learning to live in the moment.

The bus is approaching my apartment, where I know my comfy bed and a home-cooked meal from my mom are waiting. My mom is hard-working, confident, and very stubborn. I admire her strength of character. She always keeps me in line, even through my rebellious phases.

My best friend sends me a text—an update on how broken her laptop is. She is annoying. She says the stupidest things and loves to state the obvious. Despite this, she never fails to make me laugh until my cheeks feel numb. The rest of my friends are like that too—loud, talkative, and always brightening my day. Even friends I stopped talking to have a place in my heart. Recently, I’ve tried to reconnect with some of them. This interview was possible because a close friend from sixth grade offered to introduce me to Sandra, her grandmother.  

I’m decades younger than Sandra, so my view of what’s important isn’t as broad as hers, but we share similar values, with friends and family at the top. I have a feeling that when Sandra was my age, she used to love music, too. Maybe in a few decades, when I’m sitting in my rocking chair, drawing in my sketchbook, I’ll remember this article and think back fondly to the days when life was simple.

Praethong Klomsum is a tenth-grader at Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California.  Praethong has a strange affinity for rhyme games and is involved in her school’s dance team. She enjoys drawing and writing, hoping to impact people willing to listen to her thoughts and ideas.

University Winner

Emily Greenbaum

Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 

The Life-Long War

Every morning we open our eyes, ready for a new day. Some immediately turn to their phones and social media. Others work out or do yoga. For a certain person, a deep breath and the morning sun ground him. He hears the clink-clank of his wife cooking low sodium meat for breakfast—doctor’s orders! He sees that the other side of the bed is already made, the dogs are no longer in the room, and his clothes are set out nicely on the loveseat.

Today, though, this man wakes up to something different: faded cream walls and jello. This person, my hero, is Master Chief Petty Officer Roger James.

I pulled up my chair close to Roger’s vinyl recliner so I could hear him above the noise of the beeping dialysis machine. I noticed Roger would occasionally glance at his wife Susan with sparkly eyes when he would recall memories of the war or their grandkids. He looked at Susan like she walked on water.

Roger James served his country for thirty years. Now, he has enlisted in another type of war. He suffers from a rare blood cancer—the result of the wars he fought in. Roger has good and bad days. He says, “The good outweighs the bad, so I have to be grateful for what I have on those good days.”

When Roger retired, he never thought the effects of the war would reach him. The once shallow wrinkles upon his face become deeper, as he tells me, “It’s just cancer. Others are suffering from far worse. I know I’ll make it.”

Like Nancy Hill did in her article “Three Things that Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” I asked Roger, “What are the three most important things to you?” James answered, “My wife Susan, my grandkids, and church.”

Roger and Susan served together in the Vietnam war. She was a nurse who treated his cuts and scrapes one day. I asked Roger why he chose Susan. He said, “Susan told me to look at her while she cleaned me up. ‘This may sting, but don’t be a baby.’ When I looked into her eyes, I felt like she was looking into my soul, and I didn’t want her to leave. She gave me this sense of home. Every day I wake up, she makes me feel the same way, and I fall in love with her all over again.”

Roger and Susan have two kids and four grandkids, with great-grandchildren on the way. He claims that his grandkids give him the youth that he feels slowly escaping from his body. This adoring grandfather is energized by coaching t-ball and playing evening card games with the grandkids.

The last thing on his list was church. His oldest daughter married a pastor. Together they founded a church. Roger said that the connection between his faith and family is important to him because it gave him a reason to want to live again. I learned from Roger that when you’re across the ocean, you tend to lose sight of why you are fighting. When Roger returned, he didn’t have the will to live. Most days were a struggle, adapting back into a society that lacked empathy for the injuries, pain, and psychological trauma carried by returning soldiers. Church changed that for Roger and gave him a sense of purpose.

When I began this project, my attitude was to just get the assignment done. I never thought I could view Master Chief Petty Officer Roger James as more than a role model, but he definitely changed my mind. It’s as if Roger magically lit a fire inside of me and showed me where one’s true passions should lie. I see our similarities and embrace our differences. We both value family and our own connections to home—his home being church and mine being where I can breathe the easiest.

Master Chief Petty Officer Roger James has shown me how to appreciate what I have around me and that every once in a while, I should step back and stop to smell the roses. As we concluded the interview, amidst squeaky clogs and the stale smell of bleach and bedpans, I looked to Roger, his kind, tired eyes, and weathered skin, with a deeper sense of admiration, knowing that his values still run true, no matter what he faces.

Emily Greenbaum is a senior at Kent State University, graduating with a major in Conflict Management and minor in Geography. Emily hopes to use her major to facilitate better conversations, while she works in the Washington, D.C. area.  

Powerful Voice Winner

Amanda Schwaben

Wise Words From Winnie the Pooh

As I read through Nancy Hill’s article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” I was comforted by the similar responses given by both children and older adults. The emphasis participants placed on family, social connections, and love was not only heartwarming but hopeful. While the messages in the article filled me with warmth, I felt a twinge of guilt building within me. As a twenty-one-year-old college student weeks from graduation, I honestly don’t think much about the most important things in life. But if I was asked, I would most likely say family, friendship, and love. As much as I hate to admit it, I often find myself obsessing over achieving a successful career and finding a way to “save the world.”

A few weeks ago, I was at my family home watching the new Winnie the Pooh movie Christopher Robin with my mom and younger sister. Well, I wasn’t really watching. I had my laptop in front of me, and I was aggressively typing up an assignment. Halfway through the movie, I realized I left my laptop charger in my car. I walked outside into the brisk March air. Instinctively, I looked up. The sky was perfectly clear, revealing a beautiful array of stars. When my twin sister and I were in high school, we would always take a moment to look up at the sparkling night sky before we came into the house after soccer practice.

I think that was the last time I stood in my driveway and gazed at the stars. I did not get the laptop charger from

my car; instead, I turned around and went back inside. I shut my laptop and watched the rest of the movie. My twin sister loves Winnie the Pooh. So much so that my parents got her a stuffed animal version of him for Christmas. While I thought he was adorable and a token of my childhood, I did not really understand her obsession. However, it was clear to me after watching the movie. Winnie the Pooh certainly had it figured out. He believed that the simple things in life were the most important: love, friendship, and having fun.

I thought about asking my mom right then what the three most important things were to her, but I decided not to. I just wanted to be in the moment. I didn’t want to be doing homework. It was a beautiful thing to just sit there and be present with my mom and sister.

I did ask her, though, a couple of weeks later. Her response was simple.  All she said was family, health, and happiness. When she told me this, I imagined Winnie the Pooh smiling. I think he would be proud of that answer.

I was not surprised by my mom’s reply. It suited her perfectly. I wonder if we relearn what is most important when we grow older—that the pressure to be successful subsides. Could it be that valuing family, health, and happiness is what ends up saving the world?

Amanda Schwaben is a graduating senior from Kent State University with a major in Applied Conflict Management. Amanda also has minors in Psychology and Interpersonal Communication. She hopes to further her education and focus on how museums not only preserve history but also promote peace.

Antonia Mills

Rachel Carson High School, Brooklyn, N.Y. 

Decoding The Butterfly

For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it must first digest itself. The caterpillar, overwhelmed by accumulating tissue, splits its skin open to form its protective shell, the chrysalis, and later becomes the pretty butterfly we all know and love. There are approximately 20,000 species of butterflies, and just as every species is different, so is the life of every butterfly. No matter how long and hard a caterpillar has strived to become the colorful and vibrant butterfly that we marvel at on a warm spring day, it does not live a long life. A butterfly can live for a year, six months, two weeks, and even as little as twenty-four hours.

I have often wondered if butterflies live long enough to be blissful of blue skies. Do they take time to feast upon the sweet nectar they crave, midst their hustling life of pollinating pretty flowers? Do they ever take a lull in their itineraries, or are they always rushing towards completing their four-stage metamorphosis? Has anyone asked the butterfly, “Who are you?” instead of “What are you”? Or, How did you get here, on my windowsill?  How did you become ‘you’?

Humans are similar to butterflies. As a caterpillar

Suzanna Ruby/Getty Images

becomes a butterfly, a baby becomes an elder. As a butterfly soars through summer skies, an elder watches summer skies turn into cold winter nights and back toward summer skies yet again.  And as a butterfly flits slowly by the porch light, a passerby makes assumptions about the wrinkled, slow-moving elder, who is sturdier than he appears. These creatures are not seen for who they are—who they were—because people have “better things to do” or they are too busy to ask, “How are you”?

Our world can be a lonely place. Pressured by expectations, haunted by dreams, overpowered by weakness, and drowned out by lofty goals, we tend to forget ourselves—and others. Rather than hang onto the strands of our diminishing sanity, we might benefit from listening to our elders. Many elders have experienced setbacks in their young lives. Overcoming hardship and surviving to old age is wisdom that they carry.  We can learn from them—and can even make their day by taking the time to hear their stories.  

Nancy Hill, who wrote the YES! Magazine article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” was right: “We live among such remarkable people, yet few know their stories.” I know a lot about my grandmother’s life, and it isn’t as serene as my own. My grandmother, Liza, who cooks every day, bakes bread on holidays for our neighbors, brings gifts to her doctor out of the kindness of her heart, and makes conversation with neighbors even though she is isn’t fluent in English—Russian is her first language—has struggled all her life. Her mother, Anna, a single parent, had tuberculosis, and even though she had an inviolable spirit, she was too frail to care for four children. She passed away when my grandmother was sixteen, so my grandmother and her siblings spent most of their childhood in an orphanage. My grandmother got married at nineteen to my grandfather, Pinhas. He was a man who loved her more than he loved himself and was a godsend to every person he met. Liza was—and still is—always quick to do what was best for others, even if that person treated her poorly. My grandmother has lived with physical pain all her life, yet she pushed herself to climb heights that she wasn’t ready for. Against all odds, she has lived to tell her story to people who are willing to listen. And I always am.

I asked my grandmother, “What are three things most important to you?” Her answer was one that I already expected: One, for everyone to live long healthy lives. Two, for you to graduate from college. Three, for you to always remember that I love you.

What may be basic to you means the world to my grandmother. She just wants what she never had the chance to experience: a healthy life, an education, and the chance to express love to the people she values. The three things that matter most to her may be so simple and ordinary to outsiders, but to her, it is so much more. And who could take that away?

Antonia Mills was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and attends Rachel Carson High School.  Antonia enjoys creative activities, including writing, painting, reading, and baking. She hopes to pursue culinary arts professionally in the future. One of her favorite quotes is, “When you start seeing your worth, you’ll find it harder to stay around people who don’t.” -Emily S.P.  

  Powerful Voice Winner

   Isaac Ziemba

Odyssey Multiage Program, Bainbridge Island, Wash. 

This Former State Trooper Has His Priorities Straight: Family, Climate Change, and Integrity

I have a personal connection to people who served in the military and first responders. My uncle is a first responder on the island I live on, and my dad retired from the Navy. That was what made a man named Glen Tyrell, a state trooper for 25 years, 2 months and 9 days, my first choice to interview about what three things matter in life. In the YES! Magazine article “The Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” I learned that old and young people have a great deal in common. I know that’s true because Glen and I care about a lot of the same things.

For Glen, family is at the top of his list of important things. “My wife was, and is, always there for me. My daughters mean the world to me, too, but Penny is my partner,” Glen said. I can understand why Glen’s wife is so important to him. She’s family. Family will always be there for you.

Glen loves his family, and so do I with all my heart. My dad especially means the world to me. He is my top supporter and tells me that if I need help, just “say the word.” When we are fishing or crabbing, sometimes I

think, what if these times were erased from my memory? I wouldn’t be able to describe the horrible feeling that would rush through my mind, and I’m sure that Glen would feel the same about his wife.

My uncle once told me that the world is always going to change over time. It’s what the world has turned out to be that worries me. Both Glen and I are extremely concerned about climate change and the effect that rising temperatures have on animals and their habitats. We’re driving them to extinction. Some people might say, “So what? Animals don’t pay taxes or do any of the things we do.” What we are doing to them is like the Black Death times 100.

Glen is also frustrated by how much plastic we use and where it ends up. He would be shocked that an explorer recently dived to the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean—seven miles!— and discovered a plastic bag and candy wrappers. Glen told me that, unfortunately, his generation did the damage and my generation is here to fix it. We need to take better care of Earth because if we don’t, we, as a species, will have failed.

Both Glen and I care deeply for our families and the earth, but for our third important value, I chose education and Glen chose integrity. My education is super important to me because without it, I would be a blank slate. I wouldn’t know how to figure out problems. I wouldn’t be able to tell right from wrong. I wouldn’t understand the Bill of Rights. I would be stuck. Everyone should be able to go to school, no matter where they’re from or who they are.  It makes me angry and sad to think that some people, especially girls, get shot because they are trying to go to school. I understand how lucky I am.

Integrity is sacred to Glen—I could tell by the serious tone of Glen’s voice when he told me that integrity was the code he lived by as a former state trooper. He knew that he had the power to change a person’s life, and he was committed to not abusing that power.  When Glen put someone under arrest—and my uncle says the same—his judgment and integrity were paramount. “Either you’re right or you’re wrong.” You can’t judge a person by what you think, you can only judge a person from what you know.”

I learned many things about Glen and what’s important in life, but there is one thing that stands out—something Glen always does and does well. Glen helps people. He did it as a state trooper, and he does it in our school, where he works on construction projects. Glen told me that he believes that our most powerful tools are writing and listening to others. I think those tools are important, too, but I also believe there are other tools to help solve many of our problems and create a better future: to be compassionate, to create caring relationships, and to help others. Just like Glen Tyrell does each and every day.

Isaac Ziemba is in seventh grade at the Odyssey Multiage Program on a small island called Bainbridge near Seattle, Washington. Isaac’s favorite subject in school is history because he has always been interested in how the past affects the future. In his spare time, you can find Isaac hunting for crab with his Dad, looking for artifacts around his house with his metal detector, and having fun with his younger cousin, Conner.     

Lily Hersch

 The Crest Academy, Salida, Colo.

The Phone Call

Dear Grandpa,

In my short span of life—12 years so far—you’ve taught me a lot of important life lessons that I’ll always have with me. Some of the values I talk about in this writing I’ve learned from you.

Dedicated to my Gramps.

In the YES! Magazine article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age,” author and photographer Nancy Hill asked people to name the three things that mattered most to them. After reading the essay prompt for the article, I immediately knew who I wanted to interview: my grandpa Gil.      

My grandpa was born on January 25, 1942. He lived in a minuscule tenement in The Bronx with his mother,

father, and brother. His father wasn’t around much, and, when he was, he was reticent and would snap occasionally, revealing his constrained mental pain. My grandpa says this happened because my great grandfather did not have a father figure in his life. His mother was a classy, sharp lady who was the head secretary at a local police district station. My grandpa and his brother Larry did not care for each other. Gramps said he was very close to his mother, and Larry wasn’t. Perhaps Larry was envious for what he didn’t have.

Decades after little to no communication with his brother, my grandpa decided to spontaneously visit him in Florida, where he resided with his wife. Larry was taken aback at the sudden reappearance of his brother and told him to leave. Since then, the two brothers have not been in contact. My grandpa doesn’t even know if Larry is alive.         

My grandpa is now a retired lawyer, married to my wonderful grandma, and living in a pretty house with an ugly dog named BoBo.

So, what’s important to you, Gramps?

He paused a second, then replied, “Family, kindness, and empathy.”

“Family, because it’s my family. It’s important to stay connected with your family. My brother, father, and I never connected in the way I wished, and sometimes I contemplated what could’ve happened.  But you can’t change the past. So, that’s why family’s important to me.”

Family will always be on my “Top Three Most Important Things” list, too. I can’t imagine not having my older brother, Zeke, or my grandma in my life. I wonder how other kids feel about their families? How do kids trapped and separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border feel?  What about orphans? Too many questions, too few answers.

“Kindness, because growing up and not seeing a lot of kindness made me realize how important it is to have that in the world. Kindness makes the world go round.”

What is kindness? Helping my brother, Eli, who has Down syndrome, get ready in the morning? Telling people what they need to hear, rather than what they want to hear? Maybe, for now, I’ll put wisdom, not kindness, on my list.

“Empathy, because of all the killings and shootings [in this country.] We also need to care for people—people who are not living in as good circumstances as I have. Donald Trump and other people I’ve met have no empathy. Empathy is very important.”

Empathy is something I’ve felt my whole life. It’ll always be important to me like it is important to my grandpa. My grandpa shows his empathy when he works with disabled children. Once he took a disabled child to a Christina Aguilera concert because that child was too young to go by himself. The moments I feel the most empathy are when Eli gets those looks from people. Seeing Eli wonder why people stare at him like he’s a freak makes me sad, and annoyed that they have the audacity to stare.

After this 2 minute and 36-second phone call, my grandpa has helped me define what’s most important to me at this time in my life: family, wisdom, and empathy. Although these things are important now, I realize they can change and most likely will.

When I’m an old woman, I envision myself scrambling through a stack of storage boxes and finding this paper. Perhaps after reading words from my 12-year-old self, I’ll ask myself “What’s important to me?”

Lily Hersch is a sixth-grader at Crest Academy in Salida, Colorado. Lily is an avid indoorsman, finding joy in competitive spelling, art, and of course, writing. She does not like Swiss cheese.

  “Tell It Like It Is” Interview Winner

Jonas Buckner

KIPP: Gaston College Preparatory, Gaston, N.C.

Lessons My Nana Taught Me

I walked into the house. In the other room, I heard my cousin screaming at his game. There were a lot of Pioneer Woman dishes everywhere. The room had the television on max volume. The fan in the other room was on. I didn’t know it yet, but I was about to learn something powerful.

I was in my Nana’s house, and when I walked in, she said, “Hey Monkey Butt.”

I said, “Hey Nana.”

Before the interview, I was talking to her about what I was gonna interview her on. Also, I had asked her why I might have wanted to interview her, and she responded with, “Because you love me, and I love you too.”

Now, it was time to start the interview. The first

question I asked was the main and most important question ever: “What three things matter most to you and you only?”

She thought of it very thoughtfully and responded with, “My grandchildren, my children, and my health.”

Then, I said, “OK, can you please tell me more about your health?”

She responded with, “My health is bad right now. I have heart problems, blood sugar, and that’s about it.” When she said it, she looked at me and smiled because she loved me and was happy I chose her to interview.

I replied with, “K um, why is it important to you?”

She smiled and said, “Why is it…Why is my health important? Well, because I want to live a long time and see my grandchildren grow up.”

I was scared when she said that, but she still smiled. I was so happy, and then I said, “Has your health always been important to you.”

She responded with “Nah.”

Then, I asked, “Do you happen to have a story to help me understand your reasoning?”

She said, “No, not really.”

Now we were getting into the next set of questions. I said, “Remember how you said that your grandchildren matter to you? Can you please tell me why they matter to you?”

Then, she responded with, “So I can spend time with them, play with them, and everything.”

Next, I asked the same question I did before: “Have you always loved your grandchildren?” 

She responded with, “Yes, they have always been important to me.”

Then, the next two questions I asked she had no response to at all. She was very happy until I asked, “Why do your children matter most to you?”

She had a frown on and responded, “My daughter Tammy died a long time ago.”

Then, at this point, the other questions were answered the same as the other ones. When I left to go home I was thinking about how her answers were similar to mine. She said health, and I care about my health a lot, and I didn’t say, but I wanted to. She also didn’t have answers for the last two questions on each thing, and I was like that too.

The lesson I learned was that no matter what, always keep pushing because even though my aunt or my Nana’s daughter died, she kept on pushing and loving everyone. I also learned that everything should matter to us. Once again, I chose to interview my Nana because she matters to me, and I know when she was younger she had a lot of things happen to her, so I wanted to know what she would say. The point I’m trying to make is that be grateful for what you have and what you have done in life.

Jonas Buckner is a sixth-grader at KIPP: Gaston College Preparatory in Gaston, North Carolina. Jonas’ favorite activities are drawing, writing, math, piano, and playing AltSpace VR. He found his passion for writing in fourth grade when he wrote a quick autobiography. Jonas hopes to become a horror writer someday.

From The Author: Responses to Student Winners

Dear Emily, Isaac, Antonia, Rory, Praethong, Amanda, Lily, and Jonas,

Your thought-provoking essays sent my head spinning. The more I read, the more impressed I was with the depth of thought, beauty of expression, and originality. It left me wondering just how to capture all of my reactions in a single letter. After multiple false starts, I’ve landed on this: I will stick to the theme of three most important things.

The three things I found most inspirational about your essays:

You listened.

You connected.

We live in troubled times. Tensions mount between countries, cultures, genders, religious beliefs, and generations. If we fail to find a way to understand each other, to see similarities between us, the future will be fraught with increased hostility.

You all took critical steps toward connecting with someone who might not value the same things you do by asking a person who is generations older than you what matters to them. Then, you listened to their answers. You saw connections between what is important to them and what is important to you. Many of you noted similarities, others wondered if your own list of the three most important things would change as you go through life. You all saw the validity of the responses you received and looked for reasons why your interviewees have come to value what they have.

It is through these things—asking, listening, and connecting—that we can begin to bridge the differences in experiences and beliefs that are currently dividing us.

Individual observations

Each one of you made observations that all of us, regardless of age or experience, would do well to keep in mind. I chose one quote from each person and trust those reading your essays will discover more valuable insights.

“Our priorities may seem different, but they come back to basic human needs. We all desire a purpose, strive to be happy, and work to make a positive impact.” 

“You can’t judge a person by what you think , you can only judge a person by what you know .”

Emily (referencing your interviewee, who is battling cancer):

“Master Chief Petty Officer James has shown me how to appreciate what I have around me.”

Lily (quoting your grandfather):

“Kindness makes the world go round.”

“Everything should matter to us.”

Praethong (quoting your interviewee, Sandra, on the importance of family):

“It’s important to always maintain that connection you have with each other, your family, not just next-door neighbors you talk to once a month.”

“I wonder if maybe we relearn what is most important when we grow older. That the pressure to be successful subsides and that valuing family, health, and happiness is what ends up saving the world.”

“Listen to what others have to say. Listen to the people who have already experienced hardship. You will learn from them and you can even make their day by giving them a chance to voice their thoughts.”

I end this letter to you with the hope that you never stop asking others what is most important to them and that you to continue to take time to reflect on what matters most to you…and why. May you never stop asking, listening, and connecting with others, especially those who may seem to be unlike you. Keep writing, and keep sharing your thoughts and observations with others, for your ideas are awe-inspiring.

I also want to thank the more than 1,000 students who submitted essays. Together, by sharing what’s important to us with others, especially those who may believe or act differently, we can fill the world with joy, peace, beauty, and love.

We received many outstanding essays for the Winter 2019 Student Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we’d like to share some excerpts that caught our eye:

Whether it is a painting on a milky canvas with watercolors or pasting photos onto a scrapbook with her granddaughters, it is always a piece of artwork to her. She values the things in life that keep her in the moment, while still exploring things she may not have initially thought would bring her joy.

—Ondine Grant-Krasno, Immaculate Heart Middle School, Los Angeles, Calif.

“Ganas”… It means “desire” in Spanish. My ganas is fueled by my family’s belief in me. I cannot and will not fail them. 

—Adan Rios, Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

I hope when I grow up I can have the love for my kids like my grandma has for her kids. She makes being a mother even more of a beautiful thing than it already is.

—Ashley Shaw, Columbus City Prep School for Girls, Grove City, Ohio

You become a collage of little pieces of your friends and family. They also encourage you to be the best you can be. They lift you up onto the seat of your bike, they give you the first push, and they don’t hesitate to remind you that everything will be alright when you fall off and scrape your knee.

— Cecilia Stanton, Bellafonte Area Middle School, Bellafonte, Pa.

Without good friends, I wouldn’t know what I would do to endure the brutal machine of public education.

—Kenneth Jenkins, Garrison Middle School, Walla Walla, Wash.

My dog, as ridiculous as it may seem, is a beautiful example of what we all should aspire to be. We should live in the moment, not stress, and make it our goal to lift someone’s spirits, even just a little.

—Kate Garland, Immaculate Heart Middle School, Los Angeles, Calif. 

I strongly hope that every child can spare more time to accompany their elderly parents when they are struggling, and moving forward, and give them more care and patience. so as to truly achieve the goal of “you accompany me to grow up, and I will accompany you to grow old.”

—Taiyi Li, Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

I have three cats, and they are my brothers and sisters. We share a special bond that I think would not be possible if they were human. Since they do not speak English, we have to find other ways to connect, and I think that those other ways can be more powerful than language.

—Maya Dombroskie, Delta Program Middle School, Boulsburg, Pa.

We are made to love and be loved. To have joy and be relational. As a member of the loneliest generation in possibly all of history, I feel keenly aware of the need for relationships and authentic connection. That is why I decided to talk to my grandmother.

—Luke Steinkamp, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

After interviewing my grandma and writing my paper, I realized that as we grow older, the things that are important to us don’t change, what changes is why those things are important to us.

—Emily Giffer, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.

The media works to marginalize elders, often isolating them and their stories, and the wealth of knowledge that comes with their additional years of lived experiences. It also undermines the depth of children’s curiosity and capacity to learn and understand. When the worlds of elders and children collide, a classroom opens.

—Cristina Reitano, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.

My values, although similar to my dad, only looked the same in the sense that a shadow is similar to the object it was cast on.

—Timofey Lisenskiy, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, Calif.

I can release my anger through writing without having to take it out on someone. I can escape and be a different person; it feels good not to be myself for a while. I can make up my own characters, so I can be someone different every day, and I think that’s pretty cool.

—Jasua Carillo, Wellness, Business, and Sports School, Woodburn, Ore. 

Notice how all the important things in his life are people: the people who he loves and who love him back. This is because “people are more important than things like money or possessions, and families are treasures,” says grandpa Pat. And I couldn’t agree more.

—Brody Hartley, Garrison Middle School, Walla Walla, Wash.  

Curiosity for other people’s stories could be what is needed to save the world.

—Noah Smith, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

Peace to me is a calm lake without a ripple in sight. It’s a starry night with a gentle breeze that pillows upon your face. It’s the absence of arguments, fighting, or war. It’s when egos stop working against each other and finally begin working with each other. Peace is free from fear, anxiety, and depression. To me, peace is an important ingredient in the recipe of life.

—JP Bogan, Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

From A Teacher

Charles Sanderson

Wellness, Business and Sports School, Woodburn, Ore. 

The Birthday Gift

I’ve known Jodelle for years, watching her grow from a quiet and timid twelve-year-old to a young woman who just returned from India, where she played Kabaddi, a kind of rugby meets Red Rover.

One of my core beliefs as an educator is to show up for the things that matter to kids, so I go to their games, watch their plays, and eat the strawberry jam they make for the county fair. On this occasion, I met Jodelle at a robotics competition to watch her little sister Abby compete. Think Nerd Paradise: more hats made from traffic cones than Golden State Warrior ball caps, more unicorn capes than Nike swooshes, more fanny packs with Legos than clutches with eyeliner.

We started chatting as the crowd chanted and waved six-foot flags for teams like Mystic Biscuits, Shrek, and everyone’s nemesis The Mean Machine. Apparently, when it’s time for lunch at a robotics competition, they don’t mess around. The once-packed gym was left to Jodelle and me, and we kept talking and talking. I eventually asked her about the three things that matter to her most.

She told me about her mom, her sister, and her addiction—to horses. I’ve read enough of her writing to know that horses were her drug of choice and her mom and sister were her support network.

I learned about her desire to become a teacher and how hours at the barn with her horse, Heart, recharge her when she’s exhausted. At one point, our rambling conversation turned to a topic I’ve known far too well—her father.

Later that evening, I received an email from Jodelle, and she had a lot to say. One line really struck me: “In so many movies, I have seen a dad wanting to protect his daughter from the world, but I’ve only understood the scene cognitively. Yesterday, I felt it.”

Long ago, I decided that I would never be a dad. I had seen movies with fathers and daughters, and for me, those movies might as well have been Star Wars, ET, or Alien—worlds filled with creatures I’d never know. However, over the years, I’ve attended Jodelle’s parent-teacher conferences, gone to her graduation, and driven hours to watch her ride Heart at horse shows. Simply, I showed up. I listened. I supported.

Jodelle shared a series of dad poems, as well. I had read the first two poems in their original form when Jodelle was my student. The revised versions revealed new graphic details of her past. The third poem, however, was something entirely different.

She called the poems my early birthday present. When I read the lines “You are my father figure/Who I look up to/Without being looked down on,” I froze for an instant and had to reread the lines. After fifty years of consciously deciding not to be a dad, I was seen as one—and it felt incredible. Jodelle’s poem and recognition were two of the best presents I’ve ever received.

I  know that I was the language arts teacher that Jodelle needed at the time, but her poem revealed things I never knew I taught her: “My father figure/ Who taught me/ That listening is for observing the world/ That listening is for learning/Not obeying/Writing is for connecting/Healing with others.”

Teaching is often a thankless job, one that frequently brings more stress and anxiety than joy and hope. Stress erodes my patience. Anxiety curtails my ability to enter each interaction with every student with the grace they deserve. However, my time with Jodelle reminds me of the importance of leaning in and listening.

In the article “Three Things That Matter Most in Youth and Old Age” by Nancy Hill, she illuminates how we “live among such remarkable people, yet few know their stories.” For the last twenty years, I’ve had the privilege to work with countless of these “remarkable people,” and I’ve done my best to listen, and, in so doing, I hope my students will realize what I’ve known for a long time; their voices matter and deserve to be heard, but the voices of their tias and abuelitos and babushkas are equally important. When we take the time to listen, I believe we do more than affirm the humanity of others; we affirm our own as well.

Charles Sanderson has grounded his nineteen-year teaching career in a philosophy he describes as “Mirror, Window, Bridge.” Charles seeks to ensure all students see themselves, see others, and begin to learn the skills to build bridges of empathy, affinity, and understanding between communities and cultures that may seem vastly different. He proudly teaches at the Wellness, Business and Sports School in Woodburn, Oregon, a school and community that brings him joy and hope on a daily basis.

From   The Author: Response to Charles Sanderson

Dear Charles Sanderson,

Thank you for submitting an essay of your own in addition to encouraging your students to participate in YES! Magazine’s essay contest.

Your essay focused not on what is important to you, but rather on what is important to one of your students. You took what mattered to her to heart, acting upon it by going beyond the school day and creating a connection that has helped fill a huge gap in her life. Your efforts will affect her far beyond her years in school. It is clear that your involvement with this student is far from the only time you have gone beyond the classroom, and while you are not seeking personal acknowledgment, I cannot help but applaud you.

In an ideal world, every teacher, every adult, would show the same interest in our children and adolescents that you do. By taking the time to listen to what is important to our youth, we can help them grow into compassionate, caring adults, capable of making our world a better place.

Your concerted efforts to guide our youth to success not only as students but also as human beings is commendable. May others be inspired by your insights, concerns, and actions. You define excellence in teaching.

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Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

How to Find Your Purpose in Life

Do you have a sense of purpose?

For decades, psychologists have studied how long-term, meaningful goals develop over the span of our lives. The goals that foster a sense of purpose are ones that can potentially change the lives of other people, like launching an organization, researching disease, or teaching kids to read.

Indeed, a sense of purpose appears to have evolved in humans so that we can accomplish big things together—which may be why it’s associated with better physical and mental health. Purpose is adaptive, in an evolutionary sense. It helps both individuals and the species to survive.

Many seem to believe that purpose arises from your special gifts and sets you apart from other people—but that’s only part of the truth. It also grows from our connection to others, which is why a crisis of purpose is often a symptom of isolation. Once you find your path, you’ll almost certainly find others traveling along with you, hoping to reach the same destination—a community.

Here are six ways to overcome isolation and discover your purpose in life.

Reading connects us to people we’ll never know, across time and space—an experience that research says is linked to a sense of meaning and purpose. (Note: “Meaning” and “purpose” are related but separate social-scientific constructs. Purpose is a part of meaning; meaning is a much broader concept that usually also includes value, efficacy, and self-worth.)

In a 2010 paper , for example, Leslie Francis studied a group of nearly 26,000 teenagers throughout England and Wales—and found that those who read the Bible more tended to have a stronger sense of purpose. Secular reading seems to make a difference, as well. In a survey of empirical studies , Raymond A. Mar and colleagues found a link between reading poetry and fiction and a sense of purpose among adolescents.

“Reading fiction might allow adolescents to reason about the whole lives of characters, giving them specific insight into an entire lifespan without having to have fully lived most of their own lives,” they suggest. By seeing purpose in the lives of other people, teens are more likely to see it in their own lives. In this sense, purpose is an act of the imagination.

Many people I interviewed for this article mentioned pivotal books or ideas they found in books.

The writing of historian W.E.B. Du Bois pushed social-justice activist Art McGee to embrace a specific vision of African-American identity and liberation. Journalist Michael Stoll found inspiration in the “social responsibility theory of journalism,” which he read about at Stanford University. “Basically, reporters and editors have not just the ability but also the duty to improve their community by being independent arbiters of problems that need solving,” he says. “It’s been my professional North Star ever since.” Spurred by this idea, Michael went on to launch an award-winning nonprofit news agency called The San Francisco Public Press .

So, if you’re feeling a crisis of purpose in your life, go to the bookstore or library or university. Find books that matter to you—and they might help you to see what matters in your own life.

2. Turn hurts into healing for others

Of course, finding purpose is not just an intellectual pursuit; it’s something we need to feel. That’s why it can grow out of suffering, both our own and others’.

Kezia Willingham was raised in poverty in Corvallis, Oregon, her family riven by domestic violence. “No one at school intervened or helped or supported my mother, myself, or my brother when I was growing up poor, ashamed, and sure that my existence was a mistake,” she says. “I was running the streets, skipping school, having sex with strangers, and abusing every drug I could get my hands on.”

When she was 16, Kezia enrolled at an alternative high school that “led me to believe I had options and a path out of poverty.” She made her way to college and was especially “drawn to the kids with ‘issues’”—kids like the one she had once been. She says:

I want the kids out there who grew up like me, to know they have futures ahead of them. I want them to know they are smart, even if they may not meet state academic standards. I want them to know that they are just as good and valuable as any other human who happens to be born into more privileged circumstances. Because they are. And there are so damn many messages telling them otherwise.

Sometimes, another person’s pain can lead us to purpose. When Christopher Pepper was a senior in high school, a “trembling, tearful friend” told him that she had been raped by a classmate. “I comforted as well as I could, and left that conversation vowing that I would do something to keep this from happening to others,” says Christopher. He kept that promise by becoming a Peer Rape Educator in college—and then a sex educator in San Francisco public schools.

Why do people like Kezia and Christopher seem to find purpose in suffering—while others are crushed by it? Part of the answer, as we’ll see next, might have to do with the emotions and behaviors we cultivate in ourselves.

3. Cultivate awe, gratitude, and altruism

Certain emotions and behaviors that promote health and well-being can also foster a sense of purpose—specifically, awe , gratitude , and altruism .

Several studies conducted by the Greater Good Science Center’s Dacher Keltner have shown that the experience of awe makes us feel connected to something larger than ourselves—and so can provide the emotional foundation for a sense of purpose.

Of course, awe all by itself won’t give you a purpose in life. It’s not enough to just feel like you’re a small part of something big; you also need to feel driven to make a positive impact on the world. That’s where gratitude and generosity come into play.

“It may seem counterintuitive to foster purpose by cultivating a grateful mindset, but it works,” writes psychologist Kendall Bronk , a leading expert on purpose. As research by William Damon, Robert Emmons, and others has found, children and adults who are able to count their blessings are much more likely to try to “contribute to the world beyond themselves.” This is probably because, if we can see how others make our world a better place, we’ll be more motivated to give something back.

Here we arrive at altruism. There’s little question, at this point, that helping others is associated with a meaningful, purposeful life. In one study, for example, Daryl Van Tongeren and colleagues found that people who engage in more altruistic behaviors, like volunteering or donating money, tend to have a greater sense of purpose in their lives .

Interestingly, gratitude and altruism seem to work together to generate meaning and purpose. In a second experiment, the researchers randomly assigned some participants to write letters of gratitude—and those people later reported a stronger sense of purpose. More recent work by Christina Karns and colleagues found that altruism and gratitude are neurologically linked, activating the same reward circuits in the brain.

4. Listen to what other people appreciate about you

Giving thanks can help you find your purpose. But you can also find purpose in what people thank you for.

Like Kezia Willingham, Shawn Taylor had a tough childhood—and he was also drawn to working with kids who had severe behavioral problems. Unlike her, however, he often felt like the work was a dead-end. “I thought I sucked at my chosen profession,” he says. Then, one day, a girl he’d worked with five years before contacted him.

“She detailed how I helped to change her life,” says Shawn—and she asked him to walk her down the aisle when she got married. Shawn hadn’t even thought about her, in all that time. “Something clicked and I knew this was my path. No specifics, but youth work was my purpose.”

The artists, writers, and musicians I interviewed often described how appreciation from others fueled their work. Dani Burlison never lacked a sense of purpose, and she toiled for years as a writer and social-justice activist in Santa Rosa, California. But when wildfires swept through her community, Dani discovered that her strengths were needed in a new way: “I’ve found that my networking and emergency response skills have been really helpful to my community, my students, and to firefighters!”

Although there is no research that directly explores how being thanked might fuel a sense of purpose, we do know that gratitude strengthens relationships —and those are often the source of our purpose, as many of these stories suggest.

5. Find and build community

As we see in Dani’s case, we can often find our sense of purpose in the people around us.

Many people told me about finding purpose in family. In tandem with his reading, Art McGee found purpose—working for social and racial justice—in “love and respect for my hardworking father,” he says. “Working people like him deserved so much better.”

Environmental and social-justice organizer Jodi Sugerman-Brozan feels driven “to leave the world in a better place than I found it.” Becoming a mom “strengthened that purpose (it’s going to be their world, and their kids’ world),” she says. It “definitely influences how I parent (wanting to raise anti-racist, feminist, radical kids who will want to continue the fight and be leaders).”

Of course, our kids may not embrace our purpose. Amber Cantorna was raised by purpose-driven parents who were right-wing Christians. “My mom had us involved in stuff all the time, all within that conservative Christian bubble,” she says. This family and community fueled a strong sense of purpose in Amber: “To be a good Christian and role model. To be a blessing to other people.”

The trouble is that this underlying purpose involved making other people more like them. When she came out as a lesbian at age 27, Amber’s family and community swiftly and suddenly cast her out. This triggered a deep crisis of purpose—one that she resolved by finding a new faith community “that helped shape me and gave me a sense of belonging,” she says.

Often, the nobility of our purpose reflects the company we keep. The purpose that came from Amber’s parents was based on exclusion, as she discovered. There was no place—and no purpose—for her in that community once she embraced an identity they couldn’t accept. A new sense of purpose came with the new community and identity she helped to build, of gay and lesbian Christians.

If you’re having trouble remembering your purpose, take a look at the people around you. What do you have in common with them? What are they trying to be? What impact do you see them having on the world? Is that impact a positive one? Can you join with them in making that impact? What do they need? Can you give it them?

If the answers to those questions don’t inspire you, then you might need to find a new community—and with that, a new purpose may come.

6. Tell your story

Reading can help you find your purpose—but so can writing,

Purpose often arises from curiosity about your own life. What obstacles have you encountered? What strengths helped you to overcome them? How did other people help you? How did your strengths help make life better for others?

“We all have the ability to make a narrative out of our own lives,” says Emily Esfahani Smith , author of the 2017 book The Power of Meaning . “It gives us clarity on our own lives, how to understand ourselves, and gives us a framework that goes beyond the day-to-day and basically helps us make sense of our experiences.”

That’s why Amber Cantorna wrote her memoir, Refocusing My Family: Coming Out, Being Cast Out, and Discovering the True Love of God . At first depressed after losing everyone she loved, Amber soon discovered new strengths in herself—and she is using her book to help build a nonprofit organization called Beyond to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Christians in their coming-out process.

One 2008 study found that those who see meaning and purpose in their lives are able to tell a story of change and growth, where they managed to overcome the obstacles they encountered. In other words, creating a narrative like Amber’s can help us to see our own strengths and how applying those strengths can make a difference in the world, which increases our sense of self-efficacy.

This is a valuable reflective process to all people, but Amber took it one step further, by publishing her autobiography and turning it into a tool for social change. Today, Amber’s purpose is to help people like her feel less alone.

“My sense of purpose has grown a lot with my desire to share my story—and the realization that so many other people have shared my journey.”

About the Author

Jeremy Adam Smith

Uc berkeley.

Jeremy Adam Smith edits the GGSC's online magazine, Greater Good . He is also the author or coeditor of five books, including The Daddy Shift , Are We Born Racist? , and (most recently) The Gratitude Project: How the Science of Thankfulness Can Rewire Our Brains for Resilience, Optimism, and the Greater Good . Before joining the GGSC, Jeremy was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.

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• Philosophical Theories & Ideas
• Major Philosophers
• Ph.D., Philosophy, The University of Texas at Austin
• M.A., Philosophy, McGill University
• B.A., Philosophy, University of Sheffield

What is “the good life”? This is one of the oldest philosophical questions . It has been posed in different ways—How should one live? What does it mean to “live well”?—but these are really just the same question. After all, everyone wants to live well, and no one wants “the bad life.”

But the question isn’t as simple as it sounds. Philosophers specialize in unpacking hidden complexities, and the concept of the good life is one of those that needs quite a bit of unpacking.

The Moral Life

One basic way we use the word “good” is to express moral approval. So when we say someone is living well or that they have lived a good life, we may simply mean that they are a good person, someone who is courageous, honest, trustworthy, kind, selfless, generous, helpful, loyal, principled, and so on.

They possess and practice many of the most important virtues. And they don’t spend all their time merely pursuing their own pleasure; they devote a certain amount of time to activities that benefit others, perhaps through their engagement with family and friends, or through their work, or through various voluntary activities.

This moral conception of the good life has had plenty of champions. Socrates and Plato both gave absolute priority to being a virtuous person over all other supposedly good things such as pleasure, wealth, or power.

In Plato’s dialogue Gorgias , Socrates takes this position to an extreme. He argues that it is much better to suffer wrong than to do it; that a good man who has his eyes gouged out and is tortured to death is more fortunate than a corrupt person who has used wealth and power dishonorably.

In his masterpiece, the Republic , Plato develops this argument in greater detail. The morally good person, he claims, enjoys a sort of inner harmony, whereas the wicked person, no matter how rich and powerful he may be or how many pleasure he enjoys, is disharmonious, fundamentally at odds with himself and the world.

It is worth noting, though, that in both the Gorgias and the Republic , Plato bolsters his argument with a speculative account of an afterlife in which virtuous people are rewarded and wicked people are punished.

Many religions also conceive of the good life in moral terms as a life lived according to God’s laws. A person who lives this way—obeying the commandments and performing the proper rituals—is pious . And in most religions, such piety will be rewarded. Obviously, many people do not receive their reward in this life.

But devout believers are confident that their piety will not be in vain. Christian martyrs went singing to their deaths confident that they would soon be in heaven. Hindus expect that the law of karma will ensure that their good deeds and intentions will be rewarded, while evil actions and desires will be punished, either in this life or in future lives.

The Life of Pleasure

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was one of the first to declare, bluntly, that what makes life worth living is that we can experience pleasure. Pleasure is enjoyable, it’s fun, it’s...well...pleasant! The view that pleasure is the good, or, to put I another way, that pleasure is what makes life worth living, is known as hedonism .

The word “hedonist,” when applied to a person, has slightly negative connotations. It suggests that they are devoted to what some have called the “lower” pleasures such as sex, food, drink, and sensual indulgence in general.

Epicurus was thought by some of his contemporaries to be advocating and practicing this sort of lifestyle, and even today an “epicure” is someone who is especially appreciative of food and drink. But this is a misrepresentation of Epicureanism. Epicurus certainly praised all kinds of pleasures. But he didn’t advocate that we lose ourselves in sensual debauchery for various reasons:

• Doing so will probably reduce our pleasures in the long run since over-indulgence tends to cause health problems and limit the range of pleasure we enjoy.
• The so-called “higher” pleasures such as friendship and study are at least as important as “pleasures of the flesh."
• The good life has to be virtuous. Although Epicurus disagreed with Plato about the value of pleasure, he fully agreed with him on this point.

Today, this hedonistic conception of the good life is arguably dominant in Western culture. Even in everyday speech, if we say someone is “living the good life,” we probably mean that they enjoying lots of recreational pleasures: good food, good wine, skiing, scuba diving, lounging by the pool in the sun with a cocktail and a beautiful partner.

What is key to this hedonistic conception of the good life is that it emphasizes subjective experiences . On this view, to describe a person as “happy” means that they “feel good,” and a happy life is one that contains many “feel good” experiences.

The Fulfilled Life

If Socrates emphasizes virtue and Epicurus emphasizes pleasure, another great Greek thinker, Aristotle , views the good life in a more comprehensive way. According to Aristotle, we all want to be happy.

We value many things because they are a means to other things. For instance, we value money because it enables us to buy things we want; we value leisure because it gives us time to pursue our interests. But happiness is something we value not as a means to some other end but for its own sake. It has intrinsic value rather than instrumental value.

So for Aristotle , the good life is a happy life. But what does that mean? Today, many people automatically think of happiness in subjectivist terms: To them, a person is happy if they are enjoying a positive state of mind, and their life is happy if this is true for them most of the time.

There is a problem with this way of thinking about happiness in this way, though. Imagine a powerful sadist who spends much of his time gratifying cruel desires. Or imagine a pot-smoking, beer-guzzling couch potato who does nothing but sit around all day watching old TV shows and playing video games. These people may have plenty of pleasurable subjective experiences. But should we really describe them as “living well”?

Aristotle would certainly say no. He agrees with Socrates that to live the good life one must be a morally good person. And he agrees with Epicurus that a happy life will involve many and varied pleasurable experiences. We can’t really say someone is living the good life if they are often miserable or constantly suffering.

But Aristotle’s idea of what it means to live well is objectivist rather than subjectivist. It isn’t just a matter of how a person feels inside, although that does matter. It’s also important that certain objective conditions be satisfied.

For instance:

• Virtue: They must be morally virtuous.
• Health: They should enjoy good health and reasonably long life.
• Prosperity: They should be comfortably off (for Aristotle this meant affluent enough so that they don’t need to work for a living doing something that they would not freely choose to do.)
• Friendship: They must have good friends. According to Aristotle human beings are innately social; so the good life can’t be that of a hermit , a recluse, or a misanthrope.
• Respect: They should enjoy the respect of others. Aristotle doesn’t think that fame or glory is necessary; in fact, a craving for fame can lead people astray, just as the desire for excessive wealth can. But ideally, a person’s qualities and achievements will be recognized by others.
• Luck: They need good luck. This is an example of Aristotle’s common sense. Any life can be rendered unhappy by tragic loss or misfortune.
• Engagement: They must exercise their uniquely human abilities and capacities. This is why the couch potato is not living well, even if they report that they are content. Aristotle argues that what separates human beings from the other animals is the human reason. So the good life is one in which a person cultivates and exercises their rational faculties by, for instance, engaging in scientific inquiry, philosophical discussion, artistic creation, or legislation. Were he alive today he might well include some forms of technological innovation.

If at the end of your life you can check all these boxes then you could reasonably claim to have lived well, to have achieved the good life. Of course, the great majority of people today do not belong to the leisure class as Aristotle did. They have to work for a living.

But it’s still true that we think the ideal circumstance is to be doing for a living what you would choose to do anyway. So people who are able to pursue their calling are generally regarded as extremely fortunate.

The Meaningful Life

Recent research shows that people who have children are not necessarily happier than people who don’t have children. Indeed, during the child-raising years, and especially when children have turned into teenagers, parents typically have lower levels of happiness and higher levels of stress. But even though having children may not make people happier, it does seem to give them the sense that their lives are more meaningful.

For many people, the well-being of their family, especially their children and grandchildren, is the main source of meaning in life. This outlook goes back a very long way. In ancient times, the definition of good fortune was to have lots of children who do well for themselves.

But obviously, there can be other sources of meaning in a person’s life. They may, for instance, pursue a particular kind of work with great dedication: e.g. scientific research, artistic creation, or scholarship. They may devote themselves to a cause: e.g. fighting against racism or protecting the environment. Or they may be thoroughly immersed in and engaged with some particular community: e.g. a church, a soccer team, or a school.

The Finished Life

The Greeks had a saying: Call no man happy until he’s dead. There is wisdom in this. In fact, one might want to amend it to: Call no man happy until he’s long dead. For sometimes a person can appear to live a fine life, and be able to check all the boxes—virtue, prosperity, friendship, respect, meaning, etc.—yet eventually be revealed as something other than what we thought they were.

A good example of this Jimmy Saville, the British TV personality who was much admired in his lifetime but who, after he died, was exposed as a serial sexual predator.

Cases like this bring out the great advantage of an objectivist rather than a subjectivist notion of what it means to live well. Jimmy Saville may have enjoyed his life. But surely, we would not want to say that he lived the good life. A truly good life is one that is both enviable and admirable in all or most of the ways outlined above.

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The Science and Practice of a Good Life

A good life equals happiness plus meaning plus psychological richness..

Posted March 11, 2022 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

• Scientists increasingly focus on three visions of a good life: happiness, meaning, and psychological richness.
• The vision of a good life that gets prioritized may impact many facets of society.
• As we enter a new phase of the pandemic, we may do well to reflect on what aspect of a good life we've been most neglecting.

Two years ago today, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. Now, after two years of living with various restrictions, many of us are entering a new phase, with some long-neglected life options returning. We may be asking ourselves: “ how do I want to live now? ” As we wrestle with this question – aided by the greater perspective and wisdom that comes from adversity – we may benefit from considering what constitutes, for us, a good life.

Psychological scientists increasingly focus on three different visions of a good life.

First, a life of happiness tends to be characterized by pleasure, stability, and comfort. (On the flip side, a life of happiness seeks to minimize pain, instability, and discomfort.) Of course, we all find happiness in different ways, but research often shows how the experience of close relationships plays a vital role in this vision of a good life. For example, in a recent study, research participants rated having a party to be the daily activity most likely to make them happy. I’m also reminded of Elizabeth Gilbert’s quest for a good life in her bestselling book Eat, Pray, Love, and how her pursuit of pleasure translated for her to eating really good food in Italy. If we want to focus our lives on happiness, we might do well to habitually ask ourselves, “What would I most enjoy?”

A second vision for a good life involves the pursuit of meaning , characterized by purpose, coherence, and significance. (On the other hand, a life of meaning seeks to avoid aimlessness, fragmentation, and insignificance.) People living this kind of good life often feel like they are making the world somehow better. Religious and spiritual activities often play an important role. For instance, in Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert sought a life of devotion through yoga and meditation in India. We can concentrate on this vision of a good life by consistently asking ourselves, “What would be most meaningful?”

Increasingly, psychologists of the good life discuss a third vision: a psychologically rich life . This kind of life comes with a variety of interesting experiences that produce changes in perspective. (The opposite of a psychologically rich life may be found in a lifestyle characterized by repetition, boredom , and stagnation.) Research shows how study abroad experiences in college, for example, tend to increase feelings of psychological richness. Live music, in-person art, and many other kinds of stimulating, mind-opening experiences may play a special role in nurturing a psychologically rich life as well. For those of us wanting to pursue this vision of a good life, we might do well to frequently ask ourselves, “What would be most interesting?”

What vision of a good life gets prioritized may impact many facets of society. For instance, a community college offering a mostly online schedule of courses may be seen to prioritize happiness, as the focus is on helping students finish their degrees to find good-paying employment in as convenient and flexible a manner as possible. In contrast, a small liberal arts college promoting questioning, curiosity, and experiential learning of many kinds — including a requirement to live on campus, regular field trips, and an encouragement to study away — can be seen to emphasize psychological richness.

When forced, research shows most people say they prefer a life of happiness. But if you’re like me, you likely find all three of these visions of a good life to hold some appeal. In that sense, a good life equals happiness plus meaning plus psychological richness. If this equation rings true, the question for us might then become, “What have I been most neglecting during the pandemic: happiness, meaning, or psychological richness?” And, “What do I want to prioritize next?”

Oishi, S., & Westgate, E. C. (2021). A psychologically rich life: Beyond happiness and meaning. Psychological Review . Advance online publication.

Oishi, S., Choi, H., Liu, A., & Kurtz, J. (2021). Experiences associated with psychological richness. European Journal of Personality , 35 , 754-770.

Andy Tix, Ph.D., is a professor, writer, and consultant with expertise in the psychology of well-being, religion, and spirituality.

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What Is a Good Life and How To Live It

Introduction.

Living the good life can have different connotations to different people though in basic form, living a good life involves exploration that gives a person joy and satisfaction. A good life may mean finding purpose as well as meaning in life and obtaining happiness from what one does. Almost everyone aspires to live a good life though people have different meanings for what good life means to them. As some seek wealth, power, or social status to live a good life, others think living a good life entails having an honest, joyful, and happy life. This particular paper seeks to understand good life and how to live it by exploring what good life for everyone, how every person should live, the requirement for living good life, and the challenges and rewards of a good life.

What is a good life for everyone?

Living the good life for any person entails living a life that sets someone free, a life that fulfills a person, gives joy, happiness, and a sense of purpose in one’s life. A good life for everyone needs to be a worthwhile life, and one must also contribute to society instead of just living a self-centered life. Besides, a person living a good life must avoid mundane engagements. Life makes more sense and turns out to be good for everyone when everyone lives a life that adds value and plays a significant role in making the world a better place to live (Fischer 12). Giving such contributes significantly benefit one, especially in terms of personal growth. Achievement of a high standard of living alone may not be fulfilling as such, and for everyone to have a good life, there is a need for everyone to attain what they seek in life, which makes everyone free and live a good life.

Although people have a different purpose on what they want in life, a good life would be attained when everyone lives a purposeful life. A purposeful life deals with moving towards a specific goal that helps one align with personal values, passions, and things that make one happy. However, it is significantly important to admit that having a purposeful life is than it may sound since many people struggle with living a purposeful life. Apart from having a purposeful life for everyone, life needs to be a life of pleasure to be considered good. Live is worth living when every member of the society can experience pleasure since pleasure is fun and pleasant.

How should everyone live?

After understanding what good life for everyone entails, there is a need to consider how everyone needs to live that good life. Some experts claim that living a good life is not a sprint but rather an exerting marathon of perseverance, purpose, patience, and passion. Everyone living a good life means something they are doing that gives them joy, helps one develop love towards others, and attain the intended success. Living a good life involves observing some golden rules that members of the community need to ensure they observe while living a good life.

Achieving good life for everyone in the community demands people to live in harmony and promote peace. By doing so, society can maintain social order and hence have the freedom to do some of the things that make one feel satisfied, fulfilled, and do your own things to fulfill the purpose (Manuel et al. 35). Secondly, for every community member to attain a good life, critical virtues and values need to be observed, particularly respect. Respect greatly help in bringing a conducive environment whereby everyone lives without overstepping boundaries or doing things that would affect other peoples’ joy and happiness.

Furthermore, for every member of the community to attain a good life, it demands all people to be selfless and avoid things like greed, which promotes self-interests to appoint of doing anything irrespective of moral concept to attain what one wishes. Through selfless life, one can attain what they have worked for and give others an opportunity to also attain what they wish through working hard and exploiting the available resources. Some members of society have engaged in corruption deals because of being selfish and want them to be the only persons who have everything and achieve social status.

Society significantly needs to develop laws that everyone must abide by and be aware of to avoid engaging in some behaviors that can definitely interfere with life of others. Laws should for maintain tranquility and order. Through laws, it becomes possible to discourage vices that may interfere with the good life of others, including robbery or stealing.

What is required to live such a life?

Achieving a good life, especially for every community member, is not a walk in the park and demands observation of some golden tips. One of them includes experiencing true pleasure, which means one needs to keep their life simple. Since every person is after pleasure, there is a need to avoid shallow and transient pleasure, which sometimes only lasts within a short period. To attain the purpose, one has and live a good life, there demand extra working hard and working towards achieving the goal one has. Without working hard or towards the goal, it turns out to be extremely difficult to access some of the things that facilitate living a good life (Sutton 20). Money is one of the things that help people to get anything they wish, and without working hard to get money, it becomes extremely difficult to attain basic needs like food and other basic needs.People should also avoid excess and live in harmony. Too much ambitions make a member of society interfere with the life of others by disturbing them, especially when one engages in things that demand consideration of morality questions. Living a happy life demands members of the be responsible human beings and avoid emerging in things that could adversely affect lower other peoples’ life way of living a good life. Take care of those around you as well as consider preserving the surroundings since it is the source of everything we enjoy including food. Time management is also another consideration that greatly influences good life. When time is effectively used, one manages to fulfill their dreams within the stipulated time.

What are the challenges and rewards of such a life?

Although attaining a good life is possible, some factors significantly hinder people from attaining a good life. one of them is the presence of disasters and accidents that sometimes entirely change one’s life. Attaining a good life can also render one into some behaviors that affect their lives. A good life like achieving goals and living a luxurious life can make a person engage in things like just sleeping, eating, and doing nothing can affect one’s health by gaining too much weight and exposing one to lifestyle like heart problems (Sutton 41). Being health is part of living a good health and this means that all people need to be concerned with their health, and avoid things that can affect their health. In such a scenario, instead of a person enjoying life and living a good life, they end up living a life full of frustrations due to pain and interference.

When only a portion of the community members attain a good life, others are left in distress and discouraged. Such frustrations have significantly contributed to mental health complications, which explains why the rate of suicidal cases is very apparent today. Good life for everyone is very rewarding in many ways, including living in harmony since everyone is enjoying life and has everything they need. Therefore, no need to engage in activities that could interfere with other peoples’ lives.

Conclusion 

Living a good life has a different meaning to different people though some of the basic things that help to identify a good life mean living a free life, having happiness, and other things like purposeful life. The paper has managed to define what good life entails, the means of living a good life, and some of the considerations that favor good life before looking at some of the challenges and benefits that arise from having a good life. society members need to understand what good life entails and how attaining it is as simple as knowing what one wants life and working towards it.

Fischer, Edward F.  The good life . Stanford University Press, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780804792615/html

Manuel, Tiffany. “How Does One Live the Good Life?: Assessing the State of Intersectionality in Public Policy.”  The Palgrave handbook of intersectionality in public policy . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 31-58. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-98473-5_2

Sutton, Anna. “Living the good life: A meta-analysis of authenticity, well-being and engagement.”  Personality and Individual Differences  153 (2020): 109645.

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How to Set and Achieve Life Goals The Right Way

So, can we take this premise and apply it to the biggest, most meaningful objectives we could possibly set for ourselves—our life goals?

And what would that really mean, in terms of planning and getting on with it?

Locke’s seminal research has given us a good deal to go on when it comes to effective goal-setting. But understanding goal-setting theory is only one step toward crafting personal life goals. In this article, we’ll take a closer peek at some ideas and resources that will help you set out on the right path, and stick at it for success.

Whether you’ve got no clue what you want, or you have a mile-long bucket list, hopefully, there will be something in here to get you motivated.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change.

This Article Contains:

What are life goals, why should we set goals in life, 5 examples of setting life goals, life goal ideas: a list of goals to achieve in life, the process and steps of setting life goals, how to find and determine personal goals in life, healthy goal setting objectives and guidelines, planning life goals and how to prioritize them (incl. planner), 5 worksheets for creating and setting life goals (incl. pdf), how to track and evaluate the status of your life goals: the role of accountability, 11 strategies and techniques for achieving success, a look at life without goals, 3 life goal apps, 6 books on the topic, 17 inspiring quotes, a take-home message.

Life goals are what we want to achieve, and they’re much more meaningful than just ‘ what we need to accomplish to survive ’. Unlike daily routines or short-term objectives, they drive our behaviors over the long run. There’s no single psychological definition for them, and they aren’t strictly a clinical construct, but they help us determine what we want to experience in terms of our values .

And because they are personal ambitions, they can take many different forms. But they give us a sense of direction and make us accountable as we strive for happiness and wellbeing—for our best possible lives.

Lots of us have dreams. We know what makes us happy, what we’d love to try out, and we may have a vague idea of how we’d go about it. But setting clear goals can be beneficial in several ways, above and beyond wishful thinking: here are a few.

1. Setting Goals Can Clarify Our Behaviors

First and foremost, Locke’s Theory of Goal-Setting puts intentions squarely at the center of our behavior (Locke, 1968). The act of setting goals and the thought we put into crafting them directs our attention to the why, how, and what of our aspirations. As such, they give us something to focus on and impact positively on our motivation.

Of course, there are limitations to the generalizability of this finding—simply setting goals won’t drive the actions that lead us to success.

We’ll look at this shortly, but for now, suffice to say that they give us something to commit to. It may not be easy to switch careers, but acknowledge that it’s your goal and you’ll at least be able to choose some appropriate actions (Ajzen, 1991).

2. Goals Allow for Feedback

If and when we know where we want to be, we can assess where we are now, and essentially, we can chart our progress. This feedback helps us adjust our behavior accordingly (and when it’s rewarding feedback, our brains release dopamine, e.g. Treadway et al., 2012). By allowing for feedback, goals let us align or re-align our behaviors, keeping us on track with our eyes on the prize.

3. Goal-setting Can Promote Happiness

When our goals are based on our values, they are meaningful. Meaning, purpose, and striving for something ‘bigger’ is a key element of happiness theory in positive psychology, and the ‘M’ in Seligman’s PERMA model (Seligman, 2004).

Along with positive emotion, relationships, engagement, and accomplishment (which goals allow for), it makes up what we’ve come to known as ‘The Good Life’.

In other words, life goals represent something besides the daily grind. They allow us to pursue authentic aims of our own choosing and enjoy a feeling of achievement when we get there. That said, even striving to be the very best we can sometimes lead to happiness in itself, according to eudaimonic wellbeing research (Ryan & Huta, 2009; Huta, 2016).

4. They Encourage Us to Use Our Strengths

When we consider what matters the most to us, we can get more attuned with our inner strengths as well as our passions. Charting a course for ourselves is one thing, but using our strengths to get there comes with a whole set of other benefits.

Studies show that knowing and leveraging our strengths can increase our confidence (Crabtree 2002), boost our engagement (Sorensen, 2014), and even promote feelings of good health and life satisfaction (Proyer et al., 2013).

Using them in pursuit of our goals, therefore—even discovering what they are—can be a good thing for our wellbeing.

As you may have seen elsewhere in our goal-setting articles, positive psychologists tend to draw on (at least) four main findings from his original work and the literature that followed (Locke & Latham, 2002; 2006).

We can then take a ‘nice idea’ and create some examples of setting goals from it. Let’s assume, therefore, that Jamie wants to set goals based on her passion – teaching.

• The more difficult Jamie’s goal, the greater the accomplishment. Challenge, in other words, is important. Jamie could approach her goal-setting with an easy task like “ Helping my brother with his homework “, but she will derive a greater sense of achievement if she sets the bar a bit higher. An example here would be, “ Become a certified teacher ”. At the other extreme, she might try to avoid overly excessive and potentially unattainable goals, like “ Starting my own boarding school by the end of the year .”
• The more explicit Jamie’s goal, the better she will be able to regulate her performance. Here, she could specify exactly what she wants to achieve in greater detail: “ Become a certified K1 teacher for asylum seekers in Svenborgia ”. With more precise details, Jamie can get more explicit feedback on her progress and align her performance accordingly—helping her on the path to achievement.
• High goal commitment comes from setting important, attainable goals. At this point, Jamie has addressed challenge and clarity (or difficulty and specificity) (vanSonnenberg, 2011). She will need to reflect on whether it really matters to her and whether it’s realistic. This is more of a principle and less of a ‘step’. Does she understand what it involves and does it align with her values?
• Jamie needs to ensure she can get feedback to stay motivated. In other words, she needs to be able to look at where she is along the way and compare that to her goal. Has she enrolled in the relevant academic pathway? Has she signed up for professional experience? Or has she achieved those and now she’s getting her Svenborgia work visa? Even better, she could see if someone might mentor her, allowing her more regular feedback on her progress.
• Jamie’s goal should not be overly complex. As life goes on, our goals may change. Jamie might realize at teacher’s college that she wants to redefine the goal. Maybe she now wants to teach in another country and decides to learn another language. Although there’s no harm in reassessing her goals, the main takeaway is that she should not increase the difficulty of her task(s) beyond what is achievable or realistic—or she may become overwhelmed.

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Inherently, life goals need to be meaningful, and meaning is subjective. In that respect, it’s probably more useful to think about categories or types of life goals before reeling off potential bucket list objectives.

According to Kasser and Ryan (2001), therefore, there are two types of life goals, and these relate to our wellbeing in different ways:

• Intrinsic goals relate to emotional intimacy, personal growth, and helping others. They are believed to be aligned with our needs as humans, reflecting our inherent desire for self-knowledge and more fulfilling relationships (Maslow, 1943).
• Extrinsic goals  are more culturally defined and less about our nature as human beings, encompassing things like our physical appearance, social standing, status symbols, and wealth.

Research suggests that intrinsic life goals are related to greater happiness, self-actualization, vitality, and satisfaction with life, compared with extrinsic life goals (Ryan et al., 1999; Niemiec et al., 2009).

But at the end of the day, evidence also shows that the content of our goals may be less important to our wellbeing than our reasons for pursuing them. Having the ‘right’ reason for goal pursuit—irrespective of the aspiration itself, that is—has been found to contribute to our wellbeing, and the opposite applies (Carver & Baird, 1998).

Intrinsic Life Goals

These satisfy the needs that stem from being human—including our psychological and self-fulfillment needs, as shown below in Maslow’s Hierarchy (1943).

Life goals based on the former might include:

• Having a loving marriage or a trusting relationship with your significant other;
• Finding and keeping a healthy work-life balance, with time for friends and family;
• Living with integrity, being honest and open with others;
• Inspiring others through your beliefs and actions;
• Being a great listener so that others can turn to you; or
• Becoming an expert in your field and helping others.

Self-fulfillment needs-based goals could entail:

• Coming up with a new invention that reflects your creative abilities;
• Being a successful entrepreneur and running your own business;
• Creating your own personal brand for your work;
• Graduating with a Master’s or Ph.D. in something;
• Learning a new language; or
• Picking up a ‘hard skill’ and mastering it.

Extrinsic Life Goals

Extrinsic goals aren’t necessarily material, but because they are generally ‘wants’ rather than human needs, they are easier to come up with. They require less self-reflection, for example:

• Owning the very latest Tesla;
• Becoming a millionaire;
• Getting a big promotion or being in a senior position at work;
• Starring in a movie;
• Having your own workshop/studio or
• Visiting every country in Europe.

At the end of this article, I’ve also included some recommended books on setting life goals. Miller and Frisch’s Creating Your Best Life , for one, has many more examples that you’ll hopefully find useful.

You can (and easily will) find countless models for goal setting in the self-help literature. But what does positive psychology say about the process and steps of goal-setting? The following framework is taken from the well-known psychological capital intervention (PCI), and it uses three steps: goal design, pathway generation, and overcoming obstacles (Luthans et al., 2006).

1. Goal Design

The first step is to design our goals. When crafting goals, we need to remember the key premise of goal-setting theory—that they are intentions which guide our behavior. They are “targets for mental action sequences” (Synder, 2002: 250).

Ideally, by design:

• Goals should be concrete endpoints. That is, we should be able to measure our success because they are clear and detailed;
• They should be approach-based. This means we should easily be able to focus on moving positively towards their accomplishment, rather than on away from negative outcomes. (“Working toward” rather than “avoiding” something) (Coats et al., 1996); and
• We should be able to break them down into sub-goals if necessary so that we can celebrate little successes along the way (Snyder et al., 1991).

2. Pathway Generation

We now have personally meaningful life goals designed and we can start thinking about different potential pathways for achieving them. Luthans and colleagues’ PsyCap Intervention invited participants to brainstorm multiple pathways without worrying at first about their feasibility. ‘As many possibilities as they could think of’, essentially, and not unlike ‘there are no bad ideas in brainstorming’.

Participants then invited others to weigh in and add to their potential pathways. In the same way, you might ask friends, family, or someone in a mentor-like position to help you come up with ideas on how to pursue your goals. What possible pathways might Jamie take to become a certified K1 teacher for asylum seekers in Svenborgia, for example?

The last part of pathway generation considers inventory pathways: what resources will you need to pursue pathway A, B, or C? Essentially, we refine our potential pathways—we think carefully about what we can realistically expect, and this leaves us with fewer, more viable options (Luthans et al., 2006).

3. Overcoming Obstacles

We have inherent beliefs about our ability to use pathways for goal success—our agency—and these are accordingly termed ‘agency thought’ (Snyder, 2002). This kind of thinking plays a particularly important role when we come up against obstacles, especially unexpected ones, as they can determine whether we pick ourselves up or just disengage.

When setting life goals, therefore, it helps to consider the possible barriers that might arise. Independently, we can self-reflect, thinking about our potential pathways as well as our strategies we might use to deal with them (Luthans et al., 2006). We might do this alone or with others, like in the pathway generation stage, and our focus here is to ready ourselves for contingencies.

Put differently, “ What might prevent me from achieving my goal? ” and “ How could I work through or around this? ”

We’ve put it further into context using Maslow ’s Needs Hierarchy, and we’ve laid out a 3-step positive psychology framework for the process of life goal-setting, so now it’s about self-reflection.

You will definitely be able to find inspiration all over the place for different possible goals, but because meaning is intrinsic, your answers will be unique.

With the aim of discovering your own values and inspiration, have a look at these self-reflection exercises and see what the right questions might be for you personally.

No matter what you’ve set as your life goals, adopt some best practice guidelines to make the whole journey a positive experience. Based on what we have looked at so far, we can draw a few objectives to keep in mind.

• Be realistic. Try to keep things in perspective both when designing your goals and as you work toward them. Research indicates that the best goals are challenging, yet achievable (Locke & Latham, 2002).
• A healthy goal is a positive ‘approach’ goal . Rather than setting negative, avoidance goals that have us working away from certain harmful, averse, or unpleasant outcomes, set yourself positive targets. Depending on whether they are intrinsic or extrinsic, therefore, they might be desirable, enjoyable, or ‘good’ in a deeper sense (Coats et al., 1996).
• Be ready to fail along the way…but don’t let it stop you . Resilience is the capacity to persevere in spite of setbacks, and obstacles are inevitable in some form or another. So as well as accepting this inevitability first up, resilience is a useful skill to develop throughout your journey. How do you plan to overcome obstacles? Can you brainstorm some alternative pathways?
• Involve others . As we’ve discussed earlier, family and friends can be invaluable. Not only do they help us generate ideas, but they are social resources that we can reach out to for support along the way.
• Break them down where possible . Celebrating our wins along the way is the same as celebrating our progress towards a larger life goal. Whether that celebration takes place on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis will depend on your unique aims and the pathway you choose to follow. Nonetheless, research shows that they are critical for momentum and motivation (Amabile & Kramer, 2011).

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So, do you have a million things you want to accomplish? Or even just a couple of goals, but lots of milestones along the way? We don’t really need statistics to understand why writing them down adds some organization to the whole thing, but active planning can also boost our motivation.

Personal Strategic Planning

According to Brian Tracy, author of Goals! , getting from A to B is about personal strategic planning. Quite simply, his suggested approach takes organizational management principles and applies them in the personal realm.

Rather than aiming to maximize return on investment (ROI) as we would in corporate settings, we aim instead to boost our efficiency by reducing the physical, mental, and emotional energy we might waste on the journey. He calls it ‘return on energy’ (ROE).

The idea is to think in terms of human capital. If you like, we can think back to the generating pathways step we described earlier in Luthans et al.’s 3-pronged framework. When refining our pathways, we can think beyond just what’s feasible to reflect on what might also maximize our return on energy (ROE).

Unless walking to every EU country is a life goal in itself for you, might it not be more efficient to fly or take a train? Or, could you take a few extra days on your next business trip? Two very logistics-based examples, but hopefully they illustrate the premise of personal strategic planning.

Prioritizing Life Goals

Prioritization is about identifying the most personally important life goals you’ve designed and written down. The following might help (Collingwood, 2018):

• After you’ve formalized them by writing them down, rank them on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10, or whatever works for you. As long as you systematically apply the same ranking system to all of them, the most important ones should stand out.
• An alternative would be to categorize them first into whatever domains work best for them, then rank within each category. What’s your most important health goal? Career goal? The PDF goal-setting worksheets below are full of categories you might find useful, but you are unique, and there’s no one best way to go about it.
• Is it feasible or realistic to focus on the top five goals? Or is three a more viable figure? Highlight, circle, or pick out the ones that are most worthy of your energy—what would make you happiest? What’s most meaningful to you personally, in terms of your values? (Interestingly, billionaire Warren Buffet would have you stick to the top five and avoid the rest.)
• Get planning. What are the sub-goals you’ve identified? What resources will you need for each stage, and when will you need them? ‘Reverse engineering’ goals and working backward from the finish line is helpful for some people (Collingwood, 2018).
• Find a good, but not necessarily the best time to start, as the latter might never come around. Then, use a planner to work it all out. When you’re scheduling, don’t forget celebrations as well as milestones.

Some useful planners include:

• LifeTick – a free or paid online planning calendar;
• GoalScape – which allows you to share your goals and create projects;
• This free PDF , which is more of a planning tool than a calendar; or
• Any of the free Full PDFs here from Passion Planner.

These life goals worksheets will hopefully be useful to you as a means of getting started.

1. Workbook for Goal-setting and Evidence-based Strategies for Success

Put together by Caroline Miller, The Ultimate Life List Guide author, this is an entire workbook about setting goals and staying on track. It is based on six concepts that come together as a strategy for designing goals and creating optimal conditions for success:

• Finding what enables you to create a happy life;
• Envisioning your best potential self, an intention which will motivate your actions;
• Designing short- and longer-term life goals;
• Cultivating an environment that facilitates your success;
• Developing willpower and habits that support this; and
• Encouraging a mindset conducive to long-term change.

3 particularly useful worksheets in here include:

• The Mission and Purpose Worksheet – this guides you through creating your own personal purpose statement (p. 36);
• The Evaluating Goals Worksheet – over several pages, you can assess how or whether your life goals meet certain criteria for success (p. 40); and
• The Ifs, Ands, and Buts Worksheet – which focuses on overcoming obstacles (p. 67).

2. Goal Exploration Worksheet

Breaking down life goals into different areas can be helpful, and this Goal Exploration exercise provides you with 7 different categories that might stimulate your thinking. With useful prompts, a few tips, and some examples, the layout of this sheet includes spaces for 5-year, 1-year, and 1-month goals.

• Social goals;
• Career goals;
• Physical goals;
• Family goals;
• Leisure goals;
• Personality goals; and

3. Goal Setting Workbook

Starting on Page 7 of this Citrus College workbook , you’ll find useful information about long- and short-term goal-setting. There are brainstorming exercise and categories for your inspiration, such as:

• I want to be…
• I want to learn…
• I want to give…

This is followed as you progress by questions about your goals:

• “Are they achievable?”
• “Does the goal come with an alternative?”
• “Do I want to do what’s necessary to accomplish it?” and
• “Is the goal compatible with my values?”

We write down our goals to formalize them in one respect, and in another, to give us a sense of personal accountability for their outcomes (Schlenker & Weigold, 1989). If we share those goals with others, we create even more accountability, as we’re ‘answerable’ to more than one person (Schlenker et al., 1994).

The first kind of accountability is internal, and psychologists suggest it motivate us to keep going if these goals are aligned with our personal values (Rutledge, 1998). This is all well and good, but how do we track and evaluate our progress?

Tracking Your Life Goals

First, as discussed, we can identify our goals and create clarity around them. Prioritizing them allows us to channel our focus on the top important goals, and one or more of the planners above will hopefully be useful for this.

We can then break down our larger, key goals into smaller sub-goals or objectives. These might be step-wise milestones, or we might have several alternative pathways running concurrently, but breaking down these goals allows us to plan better.

If you want to set deadlines or time frames for accomplishing each small sub-goal, feel free—this adds another layer of personal accountability and is commonly used in project management contexts.

Set realistic, sufficiently challenging time frames, and you’ll also benefit from a healthy amount of pressure— eustress , in other words (Brulé & Morgan, 2018; Mills et al., 2018).

When you have time-bound goals, therefore, you can better evaluate your progress. And from here, we can adapt or adjust our generated pathways accordingly to maximize our chances at success (Snyder, 2002).

Why the secret to success is setting the right goals – John Doerr

If it’s all a lot of information to take in at once—or if you’ve skipped ahead—here’s a neat recap. These goal-setting strategies and techniques draw from the literature we’ve mentioned already, starting with Locke and Latham’s work and moving on to what we know about motivation.

Let’s cover the techniques within the three-pronged strategy we discussed earlier for maximum relevance.

Goal Design

Based on what we know, the following techniques help us craft well-designed goals.

• Set intrinsic life goals as well as extrinsic ones . This requires self-reflection on your personal values, as well as your psychological and self-fulfillment needs as a human being (Maslow, 1943). Aligning your goals with what you really consider important will make them more meaningful (Kasser and Ryan, 2001), and meaning is considered a key part of happiness in positive psychology (Seligman, 2004).
• Set approach, rather than avoidance goals . Aim for positive outcomes rather than focusing your psychological, emotional, and physical energy on avoiding negative ones (Locke, 1968; Tracy, 2003; Locke & Latham 2006).
• Make them clear and actionable . Ideally, you should be easily able to break these down into sub-goals after some thought on potential pathways. If you can create concrete steps that lead toward a positive vision of the future, it will be easier to start thinking about resources you might need (Luthans et al., 2006).
• Make them challenging, but keep them realistic . When it comes to outcomes, excessively easy goals won’t motivate you enough and could be boring. Overly challenging aspirations, on the other hand, can lead to stress and overwhelm you (Locke, 1968; Luthans et al., 2006). Similarly, don’t rush yourself in terms of getting started if it’s not necessary, but don’t wait until the time is perfect, either.

Generating Pathways

These include some brainstorming techniques and ideas about creating the ideal conditions that support your goal pursuit (Miller & Frisch, 2009).

• Brainstorm as many alternative pathways as you can . Think about all the potential ways you might go about achieving your goal and don’t be too quick to discount them. Give your creative brain a workout and record them as you go. This will keep you from forgetting them later down the line.
• Identify the resources you’ll need . What is absolutely necessary for each step along the way? Then, what will make things easier for you? Consider people who might support you as well as more tangible resources (Emmons, 2003).
• Plan out your progress if it helps . Think motivation and accountability, this time applying the eustress principle to the goal pursuit process rather than its outcomes (Frink & Ferris, 1998). Use a planner, an app, or whatever else you find most valuable, and don’t be afraid to adapt your pathway if it’s necessary.

Overcoming Obstacles

Here, some planning techniques and useful resources from elsewhere on this site, to help you stay on track.

• Plan for potential obstacles . Part of being realistic means planning for contingencies (Luthans et al., 2006). What might stop you from pursuing one pathway and force you onto another? How can you avoid or overcome obstacles through proactive strategizing?
• Use positive self-talk . Our self-talk is very powerful. Preparing proactively for worst-case scenarios helps counter pessimistic self-talk, but your perceived self-efficacy is also critical to goal accomplishment (Schunk, 1990). Hope is very important and positive self-talk plays a key role in overcoming obstacles (Snyder, 2002).
• Develop resilience . Setbacks can take their toll emotionally and lead to disengagement (again, if we let them). It’s possible to develop your capacity to deal with setbacks through resilience training and exercises, so why not try some of these approaches?
• Evaluate your progress . Remember that your priorities might change along the way, so evaluation is not necessarily about success or failure. If you like, tweak your goals—make them more or less challenging, or change their nature as you see fit.

But while there are real benefits to goal-setting, is the absence of goals really so terrible?

Essentially, this dives into a more complex philosophical debate. To put it succinctly, though, we can think of happiness as both subjective wellbeing ( SWB ) and eudaimonic wellbeing ( EWB )—or hedonic vs eudaimonic happiness .

The first is related to feelings of life satisfaction and the predominance of positive over negative affect, the second premises that life is about the pursuit of virtue and fulfillment of one’s own potential (Ryan & Deci, 2001; Diener et al., 2002).

What do you think?

Some apps will help you store your short-term goals in one place, and can be pretty handy if you’ve got objectives you’d like to stay on top of daily.

Goalify is an Android and iOs app that lets you log and review your objectives regularly. As well as sending you updates and reminders, you can compare your accomplishments against friends with identical goals. With this app, you can categorize, tweak, and get tips on how to better accomplish them. And let’s face it, gamification has its merits.

2. Coach.me Habit Tracker

This nifty app lets you do more than just list your goals—it’s pretty effective at keeping you accountable and is simple to use. You can log your targets and view your stats, ask questions of the community, and sync it with other gizmos. The free version is enough if you simply want to start creating a habit, but paid users can also get advice from pro coaches.

It’s only available for iOs devices, but Strides is quite popular nonetheless. This lets you stay on top of your progress for short-term or daily goals, with a calendar function and some more sophisticated stats. If you want to see your progress as averages or celebrate the small wins with time-bound targets, they are all easily accessible from one straightforward dashboard.

Here are some of the titles we have already mentioned, as well as a few more books that you might find insightful. Some are more ‘how to’-focused, and others cover the psychology of goal-setting theory.

• Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide by Caroline Adams Miller and Dr. Michael Frisch ( Amazon )
• Think Small: The Surprisingly Simple Ways to Reach Big Goals by Owain Service and Rory Gallagher ( Amazon )
• Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want – Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy ( Amazon )
• A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance by Edwin Locke, Gary Latham, Ken Smith, and Robert Wood ( Amazon )
• New Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham ( Amazon )
• Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique That Works! by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham ( Amazon )

17 Tools To Increase Motivation and Goal Achievement

These 17 Motivation & Goal Achievement Exercises [PDF] contain all you need to help others set meaningful goals, increase self-drive, and experience greater accomplishment and life satisfaction.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.

Albert Einstein

By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.

Mark Victor Hansen

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

Robert Schuller

The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

Michelle Obama

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.

William Jennings Bryan

You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.

C. S. Lewis

If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.

You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.

Edmund Hillary

A goal is a dream with its work boots on.

Rachel Hollis

You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.

Wayne Gretsky

Goals transform a random walk into a chase.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The important thing isn’t where you’ve been, or where you are, but where you want to go.

Dean Bokhari

Goals are the road maps that guide you to your destination.

Roy Bennett

An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding.

Robert Louis Stevenson

When you know what you want and you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to get it.

The question I ask myself like almost every day is, ‘Am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?’

Mark Zuckerberg

It doesn’t matter where you came from. All that matters is where you are going.

Brian Tracy

We all have dreams, but some merit more of our energy than others. When we reflect on the second type of aspiration along with our personal values, we’re already on the way to setting life goals. In this article, we have considered goal-setting theory and some actionable strategies that use positive psychology concepts to frame the whole concept.

We’ve also looked at how human nature leads to intrinsic goals, and how the whole idea fits into wellbeing. Have you discovered any ideas that you find useful? Or how do you motivate yourself to keep on track?

More importantly, why not share some of your life goals with us in the comments? Let’s get those ideas flowing!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free .

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3 Goal Achievement Exercises Pack

Table of Contents

Warm-up: so you want to live a good life.

We all want to live good lives. No one wakes up in the morning and decides that they want to live a purposeless, empty, meaningless existence. But what exactly does it mean to live a good life? How will we know when we achieve it? There are many different things that are thought to contribute to the good life – wealth, happiness, deep friendships, and passionate romance are all examples. While these all might be involved in living a good life, we are interested in the core of the good life. What is the most fundamental thing that makes a life good? Today, we’ll consider Aristotle’s answer to that question, but before we do that, weigh in on the following poll to cast your vote for what makes a life good.

Introduction

Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a Greek philosopher who studied under Plato and went on to be one of the most influential thinkers to ever live. Simply called “The Philosopher” by Thomas Aquinas and others in the medieval period, Aristotle’s views would eventually be synthesized with Christian theology, laying the intellectual foundation for later scholarly developments in Western Europe.

You’ll be reading a selection from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics . Comprised of ten books (or what we think of as chapters), the Nicomachean Ethics lays out Aristotle’s moral philosophy, and is widely considered to be one of the most important works of ancient philosophy and a foundational text for the area of philosophy called virtue ethics. If you’re interested, the full text of the Nicomachean Ethics can be found here .

Key Concepts

Final Good – A good that we pursue for its own sake. Common examples of final goods include happiness, knowledge, and friendship

Instrumental Good – A good that we pursue for the sake of some other good. A common example is money, as money allows us to purchase other kinds of goods

Eudaimonia – Frequently translated as ‘happiness’, eudaimonia means the attainment of active human flourishing, and is the end Aristotle identifies as humanity’s highest final good

Function – T he characteristic activity of a given thing which makes it what it is. The function of a knife is cutting, while the function of a heart is to pump blood

Virtue – The consistent and reliable tendency to perform one’s function excellently. When a person has a certain virtue, like courage, they have spent time developing the habit, in this case reacting to danger well, using their human abilities. The virtues then make it possible for us to live a life of flourishing

Hitting the Target

Aristotle begins by considering the difference between two kinds of goals, those that we aim to achieve because they help us accomplish other goals and those that we aim at for their own sake.

Every art and every kind of inquiry, and likewise every act and purpose, seems to aim at some good: and so it has been well said that the good is that at which everything aims.

But a difference is observable among these aims or ends. What is aimed at is sometimes the exercise of a faculty, sometimes a certain result beyond that exercise. And where there is an end beyond the act, there the result is better than the exercise of the faculty.

Now since there are many kinds of actions and many arts and sciences, it follows that there are many ends also; e.g. health is the end of medicine, ships of shipbuilding, victory of the art of war, and wealth of economy […]

If then in what we do there be some end which we wish for on its own account, choosing all the others as means to this, but not every end without exception as a means to something else (for so we should go on ad infinitum, and desire would be left void and objectless),—this evidently will be the good or the best of all things. And surely from a practical point of view it much concerns us to know this good; for then, like archers shooting at a definite mark, we shall be more likely to attain what we want.

Final vs. Instrumental Goods

In this passage, Aristotle points out that all of the actions we perform aim at some kind of good. When we go shopping, we aim to buy food. When we go to school, we aim to acquire knowledge. And when we apply for jobs, we aim to be employed. Some of the goods we aim at are helpful because they help us to pursue other goods. We want a job, so that we can make money. And we want to make money because then we can buy food. And we want to buy food so that we can eat. For this reason, all of these goods – the job, the money, the food – are potential examples of instrumental goods . They are good because of the other goods they help us obtain.

But Aristotle points out that this chain cannot go on forever. If every good we seek is only good because it leads to something else, then this process of aiming at one thing so we can get another would never end. Instead, Aristotle thinks that there must be some final good that we pursue for its own sake. This final good helps explain why we pursue instrumental goods in the first place. Ultimately, we are trying to reach some final good or goods that make it worth pursuing things like a job, money, and food.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Having established that, when we act, we are ultimately aiming at a final good, Aristotle asks what that final good might be. And that good is happiness!

Since — to resume — all knowledge and all purpose aims at some good, what is this which we say is the aim of Politics; or, in other words, what is the highest of all realizable goods? As to its name, I suppose nearly all men are agreed; for the masses and the men of culture alike declare that it is happiness, and hold that to “live well” or to “do well” is the same as to be “happy.”

But they differ as to what this happiness is, and the masses do not give the same account of it as the philosophers. The former take it to be something palpable and plain, as pleasure or wealth or fame; one man holds it to be this, and another that, and often the same man is of different minds at different times,—after sickness it is health, and in poverty it is wealth; while when they are impressed with the consciousness of their ignorance, they admire most those who say grand things that are above their comprehension.

What is our final good, the thing that we do everything else for the sake of? Aristotle says that good is eudaimonia , translated here as ‘happiness’. But it is important to note that what we think of as happiness can distort what Aristotle is saying here. When we say, “I am happy”, we often mean that we are feeling a particular emotion or having a certain kind of experience. But when Aristotle talks about eudaimonia, he has a broader concept in mind. He wants to know, not what makes us psychologically happy, but what makes our lives go well. He wants to know what it takes to live a flourishing, well-lived life, and so we can also translate eudaimonia as ‘flourishing’. So when you are considering Aristotle’s arguments, think about not just what it takes to experience a feeling of happiness, but what it takes to live a flourishing life.

Is Happiness Pleasure?

As Aristotle said at the end of the previous section, even though we agree that happiness in the form of flourishing is ultimately what we are aiming at, there is a considerable amount of disagreement about what a flourishing human life is like. To make progress on this question, Aristotle considers some popular proposals for what happiness might be like, starting with a life of pleasure.

It seems that men not unreasonably take their notions of the good or happiness from the lives actually led, and that the masses who are the least refined suppose it to be pleasure, which is the reason why they aim at nothing higher than the life of enjoyment […]

The mass of men show themselves utterly slavish in their preference for the life of brute beasts, but their views receive consideration because many of those in high places have the tastes of Sardanapalus .

The first option that Aristotle considers for a flourishing life is a life focused on enjoying various pleasures like food and sex. While he doesn’t think that these things are bad in themselves, he does think that a life that only focuses on these things is too much like that of lower animals to be what human happiness is like. In fact, this contrast between humans and other animals will play a large role below in Aristotle’s ultimate conclusions about happiness when he considers the unique function of humans.

Epicurus and the Life of Pleasure

Does Aristotle give the life of pleasure its due? While it may be true that pursuing pleasure like lower animals do will not lead to a life of flourishing, there are other philosophers who have defended a more nuanced view of the role that pleasure plays in a happy human life. Epicurus held that pleasure is the only final good and that all other things we pursue are merely instrumental goods on the way to more pleasure, but he didn’t think of pleasure simply in terms of indulging our appetites for food and sex. Instead, Epicurus thought that the philosophical life would lead to more pleasure than a life of partying, leaving open the possibility that there is more to be said in favor of the life of pleasure.

Is Happiness Fame?

If pleasure isn’t the ultimate goal of a flourishing life, then it must be something else. Next, Aristotle considers whether the final end of the happy life is to be honored by others.

Book I.9-10

Men of refinement with a practical turn prefer honour; for I suppose we may say that honour is the aim of the statesman’s life.

But this seems too superficial to be the good we are seeking: for it appears to depend upon those who give rather than upon those who receive it; while we have a presentiment that the good is something that is peculiarly a man’s own and can scarce be taken away from him.

Moreover, these men seem to pursue honour in order that they may be assured of their own excellence,—at least, they wish to be honoured by men of sense, and by those who know them, and on the ground of their virtue or excellence. It is plain, then, that in their view, at any rate, virtue or excellence is better than honour; and perhaps we should take this to be the end of the statesman’s life, rather than honour.

Fame Follows the Crowd

Here, Aristotle considers whether the flourishing human life might be found in being famous. He points out, though, that those who acquire fame and honor are always famous and honored for something . 

Premise 1: Fame and honor are given to a person for some characteristic they possess

Premise 2: If fame and honor are given to a person for some characteristic they possess, then there is a characteristic that is more valuable than fame and honor

Premise 3: If there is a characteristic that is more valuable than fame or honor, then fame and honor cannot be the highest good

Conclusion: Fame and honor cannot be the highest good

The athlete who can sell out a stadium is famous for their athletic ability, and the soldier who receives the medal of honor is honored for their service and their bravery. But if we honor these individuals because of their character or talent, it must be that character or talent that is ultimately valuable, not the fame that comes along with it. From this, Aristotle concludes that fame and honor are not essential to the flourishing life, but that we must continue our search for what happiness consists of.

Is Happiness Virtue?

In the last passage, Aristotle mentions virtue as one of the things that can make a man worthy of honor. And this does seem to be a strong candidate. When we think of someone who has strong character – that is compassionate, honest, loyal, and just – we tend to think of them as flourishing people. So maybe this is what Aristotle has in mind?

But virtue or excellence also appears too incomplete to be what we want; for it seems that a man might have virtue and yet be asleep or be inactive all his life, and, moreover, might meet with the greatest disasters and misfortunes; and no one would maintain that such a man is happy, except for argument’s sake.

Surprisingly, Aristotle does not say that flourishing consists in being a virtuous person (though we will see reason to qualify this position later on). Instead, he points out that someone could be virtuous but not living a flourishing life due to inactivity or bad luck. If someone is a virtuous person but falls into a coma, we would not say that they are living a flourishing life. So even though virtue will be an important part of how Aristotle thinks about happiness, simply being a virtuous person is not enough to capture his full account of eudaimonia.

Is Happiness Wealth?

Having ruled out other possibilities, Aristotle then turns to wealth. Earlier, we pointed out that some goods are final while others are merely instrumental. Final goods are those we want for their own sake, while instrumental goods are only desirable because of the other things they can help us acquire. Here, Aristotle emphasizes that money is only an instrumental good.

As for the money-making life, it is something quite contrary to nature; and wealth evidently is not the good of which we are in search, for it is merely useful as a means to something else. So we might rather take pleasure and virtue or excellence to be ends than wealth; for they are chosen on their own account. But it seems that not even they are the end, though much breath has been wasted in attempts to show that they are.

Money is an instrumental good, because we want it for the things it can help us get, whether that is food, fame, or a fancy car. If your dollars tomorrow became worthless and you couldn’t buy anything with them, then money would cease to be valuable. But because money is an instrumental good, it can’t be the final end we are seeking. The best money could do is help us buy something that makes us happy, but it cannot make us flourishing people on its own.

Function, Function, What's Your Function?

If Aristotle is right that happiness is the final good that we are all aiming at, it is worth knowing more about what happiness is. In this section, Aristotle elaborates on happiness not by considering the kinds of things that give us happiness and joy. Remember, he is not working with just a psychological understanding of happiness. Instead, Aristotle thinks that what it is to flourish is tightly connected to our purpose or function . If we are performing our function well, that is when we are truly flourishing.

But perhaps the reader thinks that though no one will dispute the statement that happiness is the best thing in the world, yet a still more precise definition of it is needed.

This will best be gained, I think, by asking, What is the function of man? For as the goodness and the excellence of a piper or a sculptor, or the practiser of any art, and generally of those who have any function or business to do, lies in that function, so man’s good would seem to lie in his function, if he has one.

But can we suppose that, while a carpenter and a cobbler has a function and a business of his own, man has no business and no function assigned him by nature? Nay, surely as his several members, eye and hand and foot, plainly have each his own function, so we must suppose that man also has some function over and above all these.

What then is it? Life evidently he has in common even with the plants, but we want that which is peculiar to him. We must exclude, therefore, the life of mere nutrition and growth. Next to this comes the life of sense; but this too he plainly shares with horses and cattle and all kinds of animals. There remains then the life whereby he acts—the life of his rational nature, with its two sides or divisions, one rational as obeying reason, the other rational as having and exercising reason […]

Man’s function then being, as we say, a kind of life—that is to say, exercise of his faculties and action of various kinds with reason—the good man’s function is to do this well and beautifully [or nobly]. But the function of anything is done well when it is done in accordance with the proper excellence of that thing.

If this be so the result is that the good of man is exercise of his faculties in accordance with excellence or virtue, or, if there be more than one, in accordance with the best and most complete virtue.

But there must also be a full term of years for this exercise; for one swallow or one fine day does not make a spring, nor does one day or any small space of time make a blessed or happy man.

After eliminating a number of options for the happy life, Aristotle here begins to give his own account. According to Aristotle, the final good which we aim at is “exercise of our faculties in accordance with excellence or virtue,” and this is what leads to a flourishing or happy life. But wait a second. Didn’t Aristotle previously say that virtue is too incomplete to characterize the good life? Notice before that Aristotle said before that virtue wasn’t enough for flourishing, since a virtuous person could fall into a coma and be unable to exercise their virtues. But here, Aristotle says that exercising virtue is the key to flourishing, which avoids the previous difficulty.

The Function Argument

In this passage, Aristotle draws a connection between when we say that something is good and when it fulfills its function. Knives are made for cutting, and so good knives are ones that cut well. Likewise, hammers are made for pounding in nails, and thus good hammers are those that are well-suited for the purpose of pounding nails. Aristotle then considers what our function is, what sort of thing humans are designed to do. He argues that the function unique to humans is living rationally, or living in accord with reason, making this a key part of what it is to live a good life.

Premise 1: If a human lives a good life, then he performs his function well or excellently.

Premise 2: The function of every human being is to consistently think and act rationally.

Conclusion: If a human lives a good life, then they do an excellent job of consistently thinking and acting rationally.

Aristotle motivates the second premise by considering what we have in common with other creatures. He considers, for example, whether our function is just being a live organism, but he points out that plants are also live organisms. He then asks whether our function is to be sentient, but other kinds of animals like horses and oxen are also sentient. This leads him to the conclusion that our rationality, and the fact that we can reason about the good, is what sets us apart from other kinds of living organisms, giving us a distinctive function that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Can You Only Be Happy When You're Dead?

In the previous passage, Aristotle said that it is not possible to flourish, or be happy, for just a single moment. Instead, whether someone is fulfilling their purpose or function is something that can only be seen over the course of a life. For this reason, Aristotle had concluded that “to be happy takes a complete lifetime”. But if this is true, does that mean someone can only be happy after they’re dead, only after we know how their entire life went? Let’s see what Aristotle says.

For, as we said, happiness requires not only perfect excellence or virtue, but also a full term of years for its exercise. For our circumstances are liable to many changes and to all sorts of chances, and it is possible that he who is now most prosperous will in his old age meet with great disasters, as is told of Priam in the tales of Troy; and a man who is thus used by fortune and comes to a miserable end cannot be called happy […]

Are we, then, to call no man happy as long as he lives, but to wait for the end, as Solon said? And, supposing we have to allow this, do we mean that he actually is happy after he is dead? Surely that is absurd, especially for us who say that happiness is a kind of activity or life […]

We reply that it cannot be right thus to follow fortune. For it is not in this that our weal or woe lies; but, as we said, though good fortune is needed to complete man’s life, yet it is the excellent employment of his powers that constitutes his happiness, as the reverse of this constitutes his misery.

But the discussion of this difficulty leads to a further confirmation of our account. For nothing human is so constant as the excellent exercise of our faculties. The sciences themselves seem to be less abiding. And the highest of these exercises are the most abiding, because the happy are occupied with them most of all and most continuously (for this seems to be the reason why we do not forget how to do them).

The happy man, then, as we define him, will have this required property of permanence, and all through life will preserve his character; for he will be occupied continually, or with the least possible interruption, in excellent deeds and excellent speculations; and, whatever his fortune be, he will take it in the noblest fashion, and bear himself always and in all things suitably, since he is truly good.

Here, Aristotle says that someone can be happy even if they do not know how their life will end up. This is because someone can be virtuous even when they face misfortune. As Aristotle says, the virtuous person will “bear changes of fortune most nobly, and with perfect propriety in every way”. Thus, whether or not someone is virtuous, and therefore whether or not they are flourishing, can be revealed even in the moments that their life is going poorly due to circumstances beyond their control.

The Ultimate Cliffhanger: What is Virtue?

Aristotle has already mentioned that happiness, and the good human life, is the one lived in accordance with virtue. But he hasn’t said too much about the nature of virtue or what the specific virtues are. Setting the stage for his more detailed discussion of virtue in the rest of the Nicomachean Ethics , Aristotle gives us just a taste here of a few intellectual and moral virtues.

Since happiness is an exercise of the vital faculties in accordance with perfect virtue or excellence, we will now inquire about virtue or excellence; for this will probably help us in our inquiry about happiness […]

We speak of intellectual excellences and of moral excellences; wisdom and understanding and prudence we call intellectual, liberality and temperance we call moral virtues or excellences. When we are speaking of a man’s moral character we do not say that he is wise or intelligent, but that he is gentle or temperate. But we praise the wise man, too, for his habit of mind or trained faculty; and a habit or trained faculty that is praiseworthy is what we call an excellence or virtue.

Virtue Ethics

At the end of Book I, Aristotle turns to discuss the virtues, a topic that will occupy much of the rest of the  Nicomachean Ethics . Because of his focus on the virtues, Aristotle is now one of the primary influences for contemporary philosophers working on virtue ethics. Along with taking the virtues to give us insight into how to live good lives, virtue ethicists also think that virtues like justice, honesty, temperance, and humility can help us determine what we should do and the kind of people we should be. For this reason, proponents of virtue ethics put an emphasis on developing the virtues through habitual practice rather than just following a list of moral rules.

In Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics , Aristotle gives us a broad view of what he thinks it means to live a good life. For Aristotle, the good life is one in which we develop and exercise the distinctive human ability to think and act rationally. Such a life, on Aristotle’s view, is a happy or flourishing life. In the rest of the Nicomachean Ethics , Aristotle will fill in this more general picture, discussing the particular virtues that it takes to fulfill our unique human nature.

For a recap of Book I, and for a bit of the big picture of how Aristotle thinks about human flourishing and the virtues in the Nicomachean Ethics , check out this video on the Good Life in Aristotle:

Want to Learn More?

For a more complete picture of what it means to live well, keep on reading Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics , including his thinking about the moral virtues (Books II-V), the intellectual virtues (Book VI), and friendship (Books VIII-IX). And for more about virtue ethics, the area of ethics that develops Aristotle’s insights about the moral life, check out this essay on “Virtue Ethics” from 1000-Word Philosophy.

Acknowledgements

This work has been adapted from The Nicomachean Ethics , a title from the eCampusOntario Public Domain Core Collection . This work is in the public domain. All images were created using Midjourney and are the property of the Philosophy Teaching Library.

Siscoe, Robert Weston. 2023. “The Good Life and How to Live It: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics , Book I.”  The Philosophy Teaching Library . Edited by Robert Weston Siscoe, < https://philolibrary.crc.nd.edu/article/the-good-life-how-to-live-it/ >

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Key concept.

Contract Theory  – a modern political theory identifying consent as the sole justification for government. Contract theory is associated with Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), and more recently, John Rawls (1921-2002)

Prejudice  – a foundational, strongly held, unreasoned (but not necessarily irrational) moral opinion or belief. We might believe, for example, that parents have special obligations towards their own children.

A Priori –  a philosophical term of art meaning (in Latin) “prior to experience,” which refers to knowledge that is innate or arrived at purely through reasoning, like the truths of mathematics.

Rights  – moral claims invoking immunity from (or entitlement to) some specific treatment (or good) from others. Commonly recognized rights include the right to free speech or the right to healthcare. 

Reform  – a change in the social order that originates from the existing character of society. An example would be market-based healthcare reform in a capitalist society.

Conservatism –  a modern political ideology that aims to preserve and promote the existing (or traditional)  institutions of society. These institutions typically include the rule of law, property, the family, and religion. 

Contingent Being – A being that can fail to exist. Its existence is not guaranteed. This being might come to exist or it might not.

Necessary Being –  A being that can’t fail to exist. Its non-existence is impossible. This also means that such a being has always existed.

Want to read more about why the infinite regress option doesn’t work in the Second Way? Check out Sean Floyd’s entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy .

Efficient Cause – An efficient cause is something that directly makes another thing exist or move. An example of this is when I kick a ball down a hill. I am the efficient cause of the ball rolling down the hill because I make it move down the hill.

Infinite Regress:  Begin with some fact. We begin to explain that fact by appealing to another fact, where these facts are related by either causality or dependence. To create the regress, you keep appealing to more and more facts about causality and dependence without end.

Actuality – An ability or action something is currently exercising. Imagine that I am sitting comfortably at my desk, and then I stand up to take a break from reading. In this case, I am now actually standing. 

Potentiality –  What something has the capacity to do, but isn’t currently doing. Imagine I am sitting comfortably at my desk. Even though I’m not currently standing, I have the capacity to be standing. So, even while I’m not standing, I have the potential to stand. 

Theists and Non-Theists – A theist is someone who believes that God exists, while a non-theist does not. Non-theists include atheists, who believe that God does not exist, and agnostics, who are uncertain about whether God exists.

Glaucon – one of Plato’s brothers and one of Socrates’ main interlocutors in the Republic dialogue. In that dialogue, he challenges Socrates to provide a compelling justification for why one should be a just person beyond merely following conventions or avoiding punishment. This sets up Socrates’ defense of justice as intrinsically worthwhile. Throughout the Republic, Glaucon prods Socrates to fully explain his theories of the ideal society, philosopher-kings, and the Form of the Good.

Aristotle – a Greek philosopher (384-322 BC) who studied under Plato and went on to be one of the most influential philosophers to ever live. Simply called “The Philosopher” by Thomas Aquinas and others in the medieval period, Aristotle’s views would eventually be synthesized with Christian theology, laying the intellectual foundation for later scholarly developments in Western Europe.

Understanding  – Socrates describes education as turning one’s “understanding” in the right direction. The word “understanding” here translates the ancient Greek term “ to phronēsai ,” which means “understanding,” “being conscious,” or “having insight.” People who are wicked focus their “understanding” on how best to accomplish their selfish and narrow desires. Those who are wise, in contrast, have learned to focus their “understanding” on what is truly good and beneficial.

The Form of the Good – Socrates characterizes the ultimate goal of education as coming to know “the Form of the Good.” The Form of the Good is his technical term for the meaning of goodness: what it is to be good. Socrates is clear that this “knowledge of the Good” is not simply theoretical knowledge, but also knowledge in the sense of “knowing how”: knowing how to achieve what’s good, to do what’s good, to accomplish what’s good. Mere “book knowledge” or simply being smart is not enough.

The Intelligible  – Socrates uses “the intelligible” to name the aspects of the world that we can only grasp through thinking or insight. With my eyes I can see the tree outside my window, but what it means to be a tree is something I can only comprehend in thought. Likewise, I can see the people around me, but human nature, human dignity, and what it means to be human is something I can only grasp conceptually. “The intelligible” is the world insofar as it “makes sense” and can be comprehended.

The Visible  – By “the visible,” Socrates means those aspects of the world we can perceive with our five senses and our imagination—those aspects of the world we can see, hear, taste, smell, touch, and imagine. For example, with my eyes I can see the sky, trees, people around me, and so on as visible things. “The visible” is the world insofar as it can be perceived and imagined. 

Education  – Socrates says that the allegorical story he tells represents the effect of education on human nature. “Education” here is a translation of the ancient Greek word “ paideia ,” which means “education” in the widest sense of the term. “ Paideia ” doesn’t mean “education” in the sense of going to school or getting good grades. Instead, it refers to the process of becoming a wise, intelligent, good, and well-rounded human being.

Allegory –  An allegory is a symbolic narrative where characters, events, and/or settings represent abstract ideas or convey deeper meanings beyond the literal story. Socrates tells such a symbolic narrative in the passages below. The characters, events, and setting of his narrative symbolize the effect of what he calls “education.” 

Self-knowledge  – Knowledge of the contents of one’s own mind, such as one’s own beliefs and desires. Self-knowledge can be gained through introspection, that is, by reflecting on what one thinks and experiences. Some philosophers believe that self-knowledge has special properties that our knowledge of the external world lacks, such as being clearer, more reliable, or more valuable.

Dualism  – The view that the mind is entirely distinct from the body. This view is usually contrasted with different kinds of  monism , which hold that the mind is ultimately just a part of the body ( materialism ) or that the body is ultimately just a part of the mind ( idealism ). Dualists hold that the mind and the body are fundamentally different aspects of reality, and both categories are needed to properly describe the universe, especially the human person. 

The Self  – What the ‘I’ in ‘I am, I exist’ refers to; the part of you that really makes you  you . Many philosophers have provided rich accounts of what the self ultimately is, including the soul, the mind, one special feature of the mind (such as consciousness), a mixture of all these elements, or perhaps a mere illusion.  

The ‘C ogito’  – Descartes’ famous claim ‘I think, therefore I am’ is often referred to as the cogito. The name comes from the Latin rendering of this phrase, which is  ‘cogito, ergo sum.’  Descartes held that one can always believe this proposition with certainty. We cannot doubt our own existence, so the cogito survives his exercise of intense doubt. The cogito appears several times in Descartes’ writings, and he often phrased it slightly differently each time. It appears in the Second Meditation as ‘I am, I exist.’

Certainty  – When one believes something with certainty, one is maximally confident that it is true. A certainty is something that is beyond dispute or immune to doubt. Although this captures the basic idea, like many epistemological notions, clarifying precisely what the notion of certainty amounts to is an ongoing area of philosophical research. 

Vice  – A bad habit that we learn over time through instruction or instinct and that we develop through repetition. What makes the habit bad is that, once we have that habit, our tendency is to do the incorrect thing in certain types of situations. We may choose to do something entirely uncalled for in that situation, or we may act at the wrong time, in the wrong way, to the wrong degree, or with the wrong attitudes, or for the wrong reasons.

Relative Mean  – The “Goldilocks amount” of some type of action or emotion. When you act in this way, according to Aristotle, you act exactly as is required under the current circumstances. This means that you do what is called for by the situation at hand, rather than doing something too extreme or not doing something extreme enough. You do something in the moderate amount (the  mean  amount) relative to the specific situation you are in when you need to act.

Excellence/Virtue  – A good habit that we learn over time through instruction and repetition. What makes the habit good is that, once we have that habit, we have a strong tendency to do the right thing at the right time, in the right way, to the right degree, with the right attitudes, whenever we are confronted with a situation that we know calls us to exercise that habit.

Doxastic Voluntarism –  the view that we have at least some control over what we believe.

Evidence  – information that increases the probability that a claim is true.

Sufficient – enough of something for a particular purpose. Whether something is sufficient is context-dependent.

Solon – In the Histories of Herodotus, Solon visits Croesus, the king of Lydia. Even though Croesus shows Solon all of his wealth, Solon refuses to call him the happiest man who ever lived because he does not know how Croesus will die

Priam – According to Greek mythology, Priam was the final king of Troy during the Trojan War. Despite his wealth and political power, he was killed by Achilles’ son Neopotolemus during the Sack of Troy

Virtue – The consistent and reliable tendency to perform one’s function excellently. When a person has a certain virtue, like courage, they have spent time developing the habit, in this case reacting to danger well, using their human abilities. The virtues then make it possible for us to live a life of flourishing

Sardanapalus – An Assyrian king described by the historian Diodorus as living a life of extreme decadence. Sardanapalus indulged himself with food, alcohol, and many concubines, even going so far to say that physical gratification is the purpose of life. Chrysippus said that, on his tomb is inscribed the following: “Though knowing full well that thou art but mortal, indulge thy desire, find joy in thy feasts. Dead, thou shalt have no delight […] I have only what I have eaten, what wantonness I have committed, what joys I received through passion; but my many rich possessions are now utterly dissolved.”

Function – the characteristic activity of a given thing which makes it what it is. The function of a knife is cutting, while the function of a heart is to pump blood

Final Good  – A good that we pursue for its own sake. Common examples of final goods include happiness, knowledge, and friendship

Instrumental Good  – A good that we pursue for the sake of some other good. A common example is money, as money allows us to purchase other kinds of goods

Anytus – an Athenian politician, war general, and  one of the primary accusers behind Socrates’ prosecution. Anytus feared that Socrates would undermine the young Athenian democracy he had helped create and defend

Oracle of Delphi – the high priestess at the temple at Delphi, the oracle was one of the most sought after seers of the ancient world and was thought to relay messages from the god Apollo

Chaerephon  – an ancient Greek from the city Sphettus, Chaerephon is remembered as a loyal friend of Socrates, also making an appearance in two other Platonic dialogues, the Charmides and the Gorgias

Meletus – A poet and citizen of Athens and one of Socrates’ accusers. Amongst other things, Meletus accused Socrates of corrupting the youth

Apollo – the ancient sacred site Delphi was dedicated to the god Apollo, an ancient Greek god and the god that Socrates refers to throughout the Apology

Virtue –  a character trait, acquired through habitual practice, that enables one to act well. The virtues can also be thought of as excellences of human character, as they make it possible for us to live a life of flourishing. Examples of the virtues include courage, prudence, and justice

The Evil Demon Argument – Argues that we cannot hold any of our beliefs with certainty because we could be radically deceived by an evil demon. A classic argument given by Descartes for doubting the reliability of almost all of our beliefs

Philosophical Skepticism  – The position that we do not know many things that we ordinarily take ourselves to know

A Posteriori Knowledge  – Knowledge that can only be acquired through having particular, concrete experiences. Such knowledge can be gained simply through our everyday experiences, or through more complex means like controlled scientific experiments

A Priori Knowledge  – Knowledge that can be gained without having any particular concrete experiences. Such knowledge is typically gained by rational insight or intuition

Cartesian Method of Doubt – A process employed by René Descartes of rejecting all beliefs that he had at least some reason to doubt in order to see if he had any beliefs that he could know with certainty

Revelation – Theological truths that have been made known by means of some religious text, testimony, authority, or experience, or the act or process in which such truths are made known.

Rationalism – The view that the only reliable means of coming to know truths about God is reason. As a result, what we might otherwise believe by means of faith ought to be disregarded or even rejected in favor of what we must believe by means of reason.

Fideism – The view that the only reliable means of coming to know truths about God is faith. As a result, what we might otherwise believe by means of reason ought to be disregarded or even rejected in favor of what we must believe by means of faith.

Faith – The act of accepting a proposition as true for which there is less than demonstrable evidence, which rises above mere opinion but falls short of logical or scientific demonstration. Faith can also refer to a particular religious tradition or the body of beliefs that are central to that religious tradition.

Virtue  – a character trait, acquired through habitual practice, that enables one to act well. The virtues can also be thought of as excellences of human character, as they make it possible for us to live a life of flourishing. Examples of the virtues include courage, prudence, and justice

Socratic Ignorance  – an awareness of one’s own ignorance, and the reason that Socrates was deemed wise by the Oracle of Delphi. A person who lacks Socratic Ignorance may believe they know many things they actually don’t, leading them to overestimate how well they understand the world

Apology – a formal defense of justification of an action or belief. A Christian apologist, for example, is someone who defends their faith and seeks to justify it through an appeal to reason.

Historical Connection

Solon’s Warning

In the Histories of Herodotus, Solon visits Croesus, the king of Lydia. Even though Croesus shows Solon all of his wealth, Solon refuses to call him the happiest man who ever lived because he does not know how Croesus will die

According to Greek mythology, Priam was the final king of Troy during the Trojan War. Despite his wealth and political power, he was killed by Achilles’ son Neopotolemus during the Sack of Troy

Life Potential

How to turn a good life into a great life.

“Life is short, enjoy it while it lasts.”

This kind of statement is common to those who believe that the essence of life is for personal pleasure, self-fulfillment, and enjoyment. Therefore, many seek to attain the “good life” with this mindset.

But what is good life and how can one attain it? Is it just enough to live a good life? What about moving from a seemingly good life to a great life?

This article considers what it means to live a good life and how you can transition from a rather good life to a great life.

Continue reading to learn more.

Table of Contents

What is a good life, qualities of a good life, how to transition from a good life to a great life, final thoughts.

A good life can be described as a life that is self-satisfying and self-fulfilling. It is characterized by personal joy, fulfillment, and enjoyment of the small pleasures of life. When someone says their life is good, it means that they can access the basic things that give them comfort and pleasure.

A good life is a combination of the experience of goodness in different areas. So when you have a good life, it can be said that you are healthy, happy, pleased, blessed, and have a good reputation.

Health is a state of feeling, looking, and being healthy. It refers to a state of complete emotional and physical well-being and is also referred to by the WHO as a resource of everyday life. [1]

Health is not just the absence of disease(s) but also the ability to perform your daily activities without the limitations of health. Without good health, it would be practically impossible to do or achieve the things that give us a good life.

2. Happiness

Happiness is a state of being satisfied with what you are seeing and the experience you are having. Although happiness is usually short-lived, it plays a significant role in triggering the enthusiasm required to achieve and live a good life.

3. Pleasure

Pleasure is an experience that makes us feel good . Different things give people pleasure. To some, it may be money, to others, it may be a loving and caring spouse, children, or the ability to access whatever they want at any point in time.

Although something is pleasant doesn’t mean it is good, but people often pursue different pleasures to make them feel good. As it is noted in Plato’s Gorgias [2] ,

“Pleasant is not the same as good but pleasure is to be pursued for the sake of good, and the good is that of which the presence makes us good.”

Peace is a state of physical, mental, and emotional calmness and the feeling of being secured. Peace does not necessarily mean the absence of challenges but the ability to stay afloat despite the storms. When one is at peace, the mind is free from worries and anxieties.

Money is an essential commodity in life. The lack of it can create stress but having enough money to take care of your needs can create an experience of a good life. The idea of pleasure being a component of the good life already signifies that there is a measure of satisfaction that can be gotten by the availability of money.

6. Good Reputation

A good life is not only characterized by what you do or enjoy for yourself, but it is also about the perception of others about you. A good name, the good book says, is better than riches. Integrity and character are required to earn a good reputation with people and this is also a very important component of the good life.

Living a good life is not good enough; you might just be living an average life. This is because unless you continue to grow, the things you cherish now might begin to slip out of your hand without growth.

Moreover, the real essence of life is not only in personal happiness, but it is also in growing continually, being the best version of yourself , and making meaningful impacts on others.

Therefore, to turn a good life into a great life, you have to begin to look beyond your personal pleasure and convenience. Below are seven things you can do to transit from a good life into a great life.

1. Be Committed to Growth

Never be complacent with any level of success you may achieve. This is because success can come in the way of progress.

As Myles Munroe puts it:

“The greatest enemy of progress is your last success, you could become so proud of what you’ve already accomplished that you stop moving ahead to what you can still accomplish.”

Therefore, to transition to greatness, you have to keep the pace of progress. Move from one level of success to another and from average accomplishments to greater accomplishments.

2. Discover Your Passion

To achieve greater accomplishments in life, you need to discover and turn on your passion. Your passion represents your true desire and what you are wired to do. Your greatest source of motivation will likely come from your passion.

Passion creates “hunger for more” in you and produces the energy and drive required for living a great life. When you focus on what unleashes the energy in you, there is no limit to what you can accomplish.

3. Find your Life Purpose

Life is measured by its impact and not just by its accomplishment. Your purpose is the reason behind your existence. It is the impact you are meant to make in life. Purpose is unique in that purpose is not self-serving but people-serving.

Therefore, the focus of life should not only be about pleasing yourself but also going out of your way to help others, championing a cause, and transforming society. Most great people in history are not remembered for what they accomplished for themselves but by the impacts they made in the world.

4. Cultivate Personal Discipline

Average people revel in pleasure when they achieve little success, but great people celebrate their wins and go on to spur themselves up unto greater accomplishment. If you want to turn your goodness to greatness, you have to cultivate personal discipline. Be moderate with pleasure and concentrate your energy and resources on building greater dreams.

5. Set Bigger Goals to Stretch Yourself

To achieve a greater level of success, you should set bigger goals that can stretch your abilities. You can’t recognize your capacities until you have placed a greater demand on yourself. Therefore, turn goodness into greatness by continually pushing your limits. Set lofty goals for yourself – goals that are big and ambitious and will take you out of your comfort zone to accomplish.

6. Build Your Network

Greatness in life will continue to be a mirage if you don’t cultivate the habit of building and nourishing your network. To network effectively, you will have to be clear about your networking goals. You will also have to be specific in identifying your networking prospects.

Networking is meant to be a mutual relationship. Therefore, you must bring value to the table when networking. People are often attracted to people of value.

When networking, consider connecting both vertically and horizontally; network with people above and below you as well as people of your own cadre. You will also win more people to yourself if you learn to lend a helping hand rather than being the one demanding help all the time.

7. Leverage on Technology

Technology can help you make a greater impact whether as an individual or with your organization. You can use technology to connect with new people of interest around the globe, and you can also use it to amplify whatever you are doing. Don’t be comfortable with only being influential in your immediate sphere. Use technology to reach new friends, clients, and prospects wherever you can find them on the globe.

Sometimes, we learn the greatest life lessons as kids, but we often discard them when we grow and become more sophisticated. An example is the St. Jerome’s rhyme below which summarizes the main point of this article:

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.”

So, don’t be comfortable with living a good life but turn goodness into greatness by continually developing yourself, exercising your passion, setting bigger goals, making meaningful impacts on society.

Featured photo credit: Daniel Salcius via unsplash.com

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How To Live The Good Life

Living the good life can mean something different for everyone. However, there is still a general understanding as what this idea entails to most human beings living in the modern world. The good life, in its most simple form, is a series of never ending satisfaction that only grows more powerful as time goes on.

The good life consists of wanting to get out of bed every morning, excited to take on whatever each day has in store for you. It has nothing to do with the material possessions or artificially induced sensations. The good life is based on the compassionate deeds you perform, the personal goals you strive to achieve, and the legacy you decide to leave behind as a result of the mark you made on the world around you.

Who could forget that episode of Entourage when the private jet was taking off and Kanye West debuted the chorus of the single "The Good Life?" What he was talking about was not the money the characters had attained but the celebration of everything they had been through, their recollection of their success as a team.

Far too many people get tangled up in the past and future, wondering what is going to happen to them and contemplating the "if's." They become numb to the little moments that are unknowingly the building blocks of time. Time, after all, is actually our single most advantage to living life to the fullest.

This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it. - Thomas Carlyle

Here are several simple ways to live the good life.

1. Slow Down

Urgency and haste instantly diminish accuracy, awareness and happiness. There is a big difference between getting things done and getting things done effectively.

2. Appreciate Life’s Simple Pleasures

The best things in life truly are free. From a quiet ocean sunset to sleeping in on a rainy day, life's greatest simple pleasures can only be purchased if your mind is conscious of their arrival.

3. Foster and Nurture Relationships

A happy and fulfilling life is a life that is shared with people that you enjoy being around the most. Cherish those relationships and treat your friends as you would like to be treated.

4. Be Self Sufficient

Depending on other people for your own tranquility will only cause anxiety and frustration. Embrace your freedom and self-sufficiency. At the end of the day, the only person who can tell you what you really want or need is yourself.

5. Learn About Different Things

As many great men have said in the past, the day you stop learning is the day that you die. Every day is a chance to learn something new about the life you wish to attain or the person you wish to become. Keep inquiring and exploring. A jack of all trades is far more equipped than a master of only one.

6. Concentrate on Your Passions

Your passion is what you love to do every day because it gives you a sense of worth and fulfillment. This can be concentrated into your true life purpose, which is the key to real wealth on this earth. Use your passion in the most productive and universal way possible and you will discover the reasons behind your most important endeavors and goals.

7. Travel to Distant Places

Humanity has been blessed with a beautiful place to live. Experience all the natural and cultural wonders it has to offer. There are places in this world that will open your mind to realities you have never even imagined in your wildest dreams. These realities will inject your conscience with healthy, new perspectives.

8. Talk to Strangers

Meet new people who are like you and different from you in every way you could have imagined. This will help you embrace the gift of individuality and realize the role you play in society. Understanding these people will increase your knowledge of how the world works and the types of people its experiences creates.

9. Exercise Your 5 Senses

Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Each provides a gateway to rewarding personal experiences, so use them to truly make you understand what it means to be a living, breathing human being. See the most beautiful things, hear the most pleasant sounds, taste the best food, smell the finest scents and touch the nicest pair of tits.

10. Use What You Have

Success is not the byproduct of limitless resources. Success happens when you stretch the limits of the available resources. Don't focus on what you don't have, focus on what you do have and how it can help you get the rest.

12. Assist Others

What goes around comes around. You have no idea what type of fulfillment and security you will attain for yourself after you help other people more and more.

13.  Be Clear on Your Goals

The sky is the limit but to get there, your goals need to be made crystal clear by believing in them with all of your heart and soul.  You will never get where you want to go if you don't know what you want and don't think you have what it takes to get it.

14. Make a Decision

Each time you wait to make a decision, you are wasting your time and an opportunity is passing you by. Stop being indecisive and start listening to your gut. Decisions are how we learn about how to effectively build the life we have always dreamed of.

15. Practice General Time Management

Trying to achieve your goals without doing a little time planning is like sailing the open ocean without a compass and map. Sure it's fun but at the end of the day you need to remember why you are out there in the first place.

16. Be Spontaneous

Opportunity sometimes knocks at unexpected times. Make sure you have enough flexibility in your schedule to respond accordingly.

Be spontaneous and step outside of your comfort zone at any chance you get. Experience new things that you may have been afraid of but always wanted to try for your own personal satisfaction. The most euphoric activities tend to seem incredibly scary at first glance.

17. Be present

One of the biggest problems people have in this world is that they are so trapped in the past or the future that they refuse to take control of their life by acknowledging the moment right before their eyes.

They are constantly worrying about other things; their body is there but their mind is somewhere else. Be present in each and every moment, it will make you a much happier and inspired human being.

18. Think More, Talk Less

The more you think and the less you talk, the more you will learn and the less you will miss. And when you do talk, make sure you do so with worth, meaning and conviction.

19. Own Up to Your Actions

Judge yourself based on how you act on your responsibilities and promises. Either you own up to your actions or your actions will ultimately own you. Always remember that you are in the drivers seat so keep your hands on the wheel and stop texting.

20. Keep Your Promises

Not doing so guarantees loneliness and failure. Stay true to your word as that is what your character is based off of and how you will always be remembered.

21. Always Find the Positive Lesson

Every negative outcome holds a positive lesson. Remembering them is the key to greatness.

22. Forget Perfection, Find Satisfaction

There is no such a thing as perfect, there is only perception. The idea of it is based on your own definition. Instead of always searching for perfection, strive for the things that satisfy your individual wants and needs.

23. Work Hard

Being lazy and doing the bare minimum only guarantees mediocrity and dissatisfaction. Work hard to get closer and closer towards your goal every day.

We all need to work to make a living, so why not make this life-consuming activity as consistently fun as possible? Make sure your work is something that drains your energy but also makes you feel like you are making good use of it.

24. Sleep Well

A tired mind is inefficient and unhappy. No one can perform to the best of their ability without rest.

As the good old fashioned saying goes, those who laugh more are the ones who live longer. Stop taking life so seriously and realize that everything that makes you nervous or uncomfortable may really just be there to make you laugh.

26. Be Here Now

Right now is the time that you can use however you want to. Right now is life. Don’t miss it. It is an entire world waiting to be shaped by your own desires.

Preston Waters | Elite. 

Essay on How to Achieve Success in Life

Students are often asked to write an essay on How to Achieve Success in Life in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on How to Achieve Success in Life

Understanding success.

Success means different things to different people. For some, it could mean earning a lot of money, while for others, it could mean achieving happiness or personal goals.

Setting Goals

To achieve success, you must first define what it means to you. Set clear, achievable goals that align with your definition of success.

Hard Work and Persistence

Success requires hard work and persistence. No matter how many times you fail, don’t give up. Learn from your mistakes and keep trying.

Continuous Learning

Never stop learning. Knowledge is power and it can open many doors to success. Always be curious and seek to learn more.

Healthy Lifestyle

Positive attitude.

Maintain a positive attitude. It helps you stay motivated and overcome challenges. Remember, success is a journey, not a destination.

250 Words Essay on How to Achieve Success in Life

Defining success.

Success is a subjective concept, varying from person to person. For some, it may be wealth or fame, while for others, it may be personal satisfaction or making a difference in the world. Therefore, the first step towards achieving success is defining what it means to you.

After defining success, set clear, specific, and measurable goals. These goals should be achievable, yet challenging enough to push you out of your comfort zone. They act as stepping stones towards your ultimate vision of success.

Embracing Learning

Success is not achieved overnight. It requires constant learning and growth. Embrace every opportunity to learn, be it from books, people, or experiences. Remember, every failure is a lesson that brings you one step closer to success.

Perseverance and Determination

The path to success is fraught with obstacles. Perseverance and determination are key traits needed to overcome these challenges. It is not about how many times you fall, but how many times you get up and continue to strive.

Work-Life Balance

In conclusion, success is a journey, not a destination. It is achieved through a combination of defining what success means to you, setting goals, continuous learning, perseverance, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. It is a personal and unique journey, where the true measure of success lies in the fulfillment and satisfaction derived from the journey itself.

500 Words Essay on How to Achieve Success in Life

Introduction.

Success is a multifaceted concept that is often uniquely defined by each individual. However, universally, it is often associated with the achievement of personal goals. The path to success is not linear, and it requires a blend of several factors including hard work, resilience, and a positive mindset. This essay aims to provide a roadmap on how to achieve success in life.

Setting Clear Goals

Embrace continuous learning.

In the journey to success, one must embrace continuous learning. In an ever-evolving world, new knowledge and skills are constantly required. This could be achieved through formal education, self-teaching, or experiential learning. By adopting a growth mindset, one becomes open to new ideas and perspectives, enhancing their adaptability in various life situations.

Hard Work and Perseverance

Hard work and perseverance are the bedrock of success. Success rarely comes easy; it requires effort, dedication, and an unwavering commitment to achieving set goals. Perseverance entails staying the course even in the face of obstacles and setbacks. It involves having the resilience to bounce back from failure and continue pursuing your goals.

Effective Time Management

Building healthy relationships.

Success is not achieved in isolation. Building healthy relationships with others—be it personal or professional—can greatly enhance one’s journey to success. These relationships provide support, mentorship, and can open doors to opportunities that would otherwise remain closed.

Self-Care and Mental Health

Lastly, the importance of self-care and mental health in achieving success cannot be overstated. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, which includes proper nutrition, regular exercise, and adequate sleep, is essential for optimal functioning. Additionally, taking care of one’s mental health, through stress management and seeking help when needed, is crucial in maintaining the motivation and focus needed to achieve success.

In conclusion, achieving success in life is a journey that requires setting clear goals, continuous learning, hard work, perseverance, effective time management, building healthy relationships, and taking care of one’s physical and mental health. Each of these elements contributes to creating a holistic approach to success, enabling one to navigate the complexities of life and achieve their desired goals.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Life Goals

Essay Titles About Life Goals

If you're looking to craft a life goals essay that truly stands out, you've come to the right place. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the art of creating an impactful life goals essay that captivates your readers and effectively communicates your aspirations. So, let's get started with the essentials!

1. Life Goals Essay Prompt

Before you embark on your essay-writing journey, it's crucial to grasp the nuances of the essay prompt. Let's take a look at some sample prompts to help you get a better understanding:

Prompt Sample 1: "Discuss the most significant life goals you hope to achieve and explain why they are important to you."

Prompt Sample 2: "Reflect on your long-term ambitions and how they relate to your personal growth and development."

These prompts encourage you to explore your life goals, their significance, and how they align with your personal journey. Understanding the prompt is the first step toward crafting a compelling essay.

2. Brainstorming and Selecting a Winning Essay Topic

Selecting the right essay topic is pivotal to your essay's success. Here are some points to consider when brainstorming and choosing your topic:

• Passion and Personal Connection: Opt for a topic that genuinely resonates with you. Your enthusiasm will shine through in your writing.
• Specificity: Focus on a particular life goal rather than attempting to cover all aspects. Specific goals make for more engaging essays.
• Relevance: Ensure your chosen topic is relevant to your life stage and experiences. It should reflect who you are.
• Uniqueness: Avoid common or clichéd topics. Aim for a unique angle or perspective on your chosen goal.

3. Examples of Unique Essay Topics

To spark your creativity, here's a list of distinctive life goals essay topics that stand out from the ordinary:

• "Becoming a Published Author: My Journey Towards Sharing My Stories."
• "From Broken Dreams to Thriving Reality: My Quest to Open a Sustainable Animal Sanctuary."
• "Overcoming Adversity: How My Goal to Climb Mount Everest Rewired My Mindset."
• "The Art of Giving Back: Nurturing My Vision for a Non-Profit Organization."
• "A Symphony of Dreams: Pursuing My Aspiration to Become a World-Class Pianist."

These topics are not only unique but also offer ample opportunities for in-depth exploration and personal connection.

4. Sample Paragraphs and Phrases for Inspiration

Now, let's dive into some sample paragraphs and phrases to ignite your creativity:

Opening Paragraph: "In the quiet corners of my mind, amidst the chaos of daily life, there exists a profound yearning – a vision of a future where I stand triumphant atop my personal Everest."

Body Paragraph (Discussing Obstacles): "As I embarked on this journey, I encountered a formidable adversary – fear. The sheer magnitude of the goal I'd set for myself was overwhelming, and self-doubt became a constant companion."

Body Paragraph (Discussing Personal Growth): "Through this pursuit, I discovered that my journey was not just about conquering physical peaks but also about scaling the internal mountains of resilience, determination, and self-belief."

Closing Paragraph: "In conclusion, my life goals are not mere aspirations but the guiding stars that illuminate my path. As I continue to chase my dreams, I realize that they are not the destination but rather the catalyst for my personal growth and transformation."

Remember, the essence of a compelling life goals essay lies in your ability to convey your passion, determination, and unique perspective. By following these steps and staying true to your authentic self, you'll craft an essay that leaves a lasting impression.

So, go ahead, set your goals, pick up your pen, and let your aspirations shine through your words. Your life goals essay awaits its moment to inspire and captivate your readers!

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