Lessons from David Brooks’ Life Reports:
- Divide your life into chapters: Center them around important decisions.
- Beware rumination: Self-examination and Self-deception could be double-edged swords.
- You can’t control other people.
- Lean Towards Risk: Avoids regrets!
- Measure people by their growth rate, not by their talents.
- Be aware of generational bias: People are proud of their kids but not of their parents.
- Work within institutions, not outside: A life of rebelling can not be satisfying.
- People get better at the art of living.
- Resilience is a central theme in these essays. I don’t think we remind young people enough that life is hard. Bad things happen.
- Most people give themselves higher grades for their professional lives than for their private lives. Almost everybody is satisfied with the contributions they made at work. The people who started family businesses seem especially happy.
- People who work in the same company all their life, let life happen to them.
Akshat Rathi 