The 4 Stages of Life, Psychological Richness, and How Much Is Enough?

How can you cope when life throws unexpected changes your way? To find out, Bruce Feiler traveled around the United States, interviewing hundreds of people about the ups and downs of their life stories. In Life Is in the Transitions, he discusses his findings, arguing that although popular wisdom tells you to expect one major midlife crisis where you’ll deal with upheaval, most people actually face dozens of life-changing events over the course of their lives. During his research, Feiler discovered that life's disruptions follow a particular pattern, and by understanding this pattern, we can better navigate these changes.

In this guide, we’ll explore the types of changes we encounter, why these transitions can be so challenging, and Feiler's advice for navigating them more effectively. We’ll also explore how other experts define life changes, discuss insights from people whose lives have changed dramatically, and provide psychological perspectives that can help you deal with both positive and negative life events.

What’s the secret to having a good life?

Many of us believe that our happiness depends on how successful we are in our careers. But in The Good Life (2023), psychiatrist Robert Waldinger and psychologist Marc Schulz argue that the key to a good life is to cultivate good relationships. They base this conclusion on what they’ve learned from hundreds of people while directing the world’s longest-running longitudinal research study on how adults develop.

In this guide, we’ll define what a good life is and how to evaluate the current quality of your relationships. We’ll also share Waldinger and Schulz’s tips on how to improve your relationships with your spouse, family, coworkers, and friends. Along the way, we’ll share what other authors and psychologists have to say about Waldinger and Schulz’s findings.

What makes some organizations more effective than others? In Tribal Leadership, authors Dave Logan, Halee Fischer-Wright, and John King contend that culture makes all the difference. Any organization succeeds or fails on the culture of its tribes—groups of individuals that share ways of thinking, interacting, and working—and we can improve our organizations by upgrading the cultures of those tribes.

To elevate a group’s culture, tribal leaders coach their people through five stages, progressing toward the inspired teamwork of Stages 4 and 5. Implement these leadership stages and strategies effectively, and you’ll improve both your bottom line and your employees’ happiness.

Tribal Leadership synthesizes the authors’ shared expertise in business management, leadership, and cultural transformation. In this guide, we’ll explain the “tribes” framework and describe each of the five stages. We’ll also explore perspectives from Team of Teams, Radical Candor, and other business titles that expand, clarify, support, or dispute their claims.

How can you cope when life throws unexpected changes your way? To find out, Bruce Feiler traveled around the United States, interviewing hundreds of people about the ups and downs of their life stories. In Life Is in the Transitions, he discusses his findings, arguing that although popular wisdom tells you to expect one major midlife crisis where you’ll deal with upheaval, most people actually face dozens of life-changing events over the course of their lives. During his research, Feiler discovered that life's disruptions follow a particular pattern, and by understanding this pattern, we can better navigate these changes.

In this guide, we’ll explore the types of changes we encounter, why these transitions can be so challenging, and Feiler's advice for navigating them more effectively. We’ll also explore how other experts define life changes, discuss insights from people whose lives have changed dramatically, and provide psychological perspectives that can help you deal with both positive and negative life events.

What’s the secret to having a good life?

Many of us believe that our happiness depends on how successful we are in our careers. But in The Good Life (2023), psychiatrist Robert Waldinger and psychologist Marc Schulz argue that the key to a good life is to cultivate good relationships. They base this conclusion on what they’ve learned from hundreds of people while directing the world’s longest-running longitudinal research study on how adults develop.

In this guide, we’ll define what a good life is and how to evaluate the current quality of your relationships. We’ll also share Waldinger and Schulz’s tips on how to improve your relationships with your spouse, family, coworkers, and friends. Along the way, we’ll share what other authors and psychologists have to say about Waldinger and Schulz’s findings.

Organizations must change to survive, and yet periods of transformation are often when companies are most likely to fail. But that doesn’t have to be the case.

Managing Transitions is a guidebook for any leader who wants to survive organizational change. Renowned organizational consultants William and Susan Bridges argue that in order to accept external change, organizational leaders and team members must first go through the three-step emotional (internal) process of transition. Using the well-established Bridges Transition Model, William and Susan Bridges outline a set of human-centered management strategies that enable organizational leaders to support their teams through the necessary transition and emerge a more stable, cohesive, and purpose-driven organization.

In this guide, we’ll highlight common themes in the outlined strategies and compare the Bridges Transition Model to the work of other leading voices in the field of change management.

What if you could think yourself to better health and a happier life—using the power of your brain and your body, not by asking the universe to do it for you? Science writer David Robson argues in The Expectation Effect that your brain’s predictions about your body, your health, your intellect, and your emotions are so powerful that they create your reality. By changing what your brain predicts, you can change the reality your brain creates for you and the limits it sets for you.

Drawing on extensive scientific research, the book explores the expectation effects that shape your health, determine how well you age and how long you live, and influence how you respond to stress. Throughout the guide, we’ll look at the strategies Robson recommends for stopping the negative outcomes of expectation effects and creating positive outcomes, and we’ll connect his ideas to what other experts say about how you can use these effects to improve your health and happiness.

In From Strength to Strength, management expert Arthur Brooks says that as we get older, our professional skills start to decline, and we can no longer succeed in our current jobs. Despite this, with the right mindset, the second half of your life can be even happier and more meaningful than the first. If you find a job that suits your changing skill set, and if you change your idea of “success” from career achievement and material wealth to happiness and fulfillment, you can continue to thrive.

In this guide, we’ll first explain how and why you lose your job skills as you get older. We’ll then discuss solutions: how you can find a job that suits your changing brain, and how to achieve a meaningful life instead of fruitlessly chasing success in your former field. In our commentary, we’ll discuss whether this professional decline really is inevitable and explore some methods to keep your mind sharp. We’ll also offer strategies for making the most of your life as you age.

How can you cope when life throws unexpected changes your way? To find out, Bruce Feiler traveled around the United States, interviewing hundreds of people about the ups and downs of their life stories. In Life Is in the Transitions, he discusses his findings, arguing that although popular wisdom tells you to expect one major midlife crisis where you’ll deal with upheaval, most people actually face dozens of life-changing events over the course of their lives. During his research, Feiler discovered that life's disruptions follow a particular pattern, and by understanding this pattern, we can better navigate these changes.

In this guide, we’ll explore the types of changes we encounter, why these transitions can be so challenging, and Feiler's advice for navigating them more effectively. We’ll also explore how other experts define life changes, discuss insights from people whose lives have changed dramatically, and provide psychological perspectives that can help you deal with both positive and negative life events.