How To Choose What You Do
By David Williams
Our goal is to support you in managing your longevity as usefully as possible from midlife, making choices which reflect your values, goals and circumstances.
Good choices usually follow good preparation. Even when random events oblige us to make prompt choices, having an underlying sense of direction, with reasons, helps us deal with the trade-offs involved. We can better focus on the opportunities and are more resilient in facing the challenges.
Longevity continues to increase in Australia. With a realistic time framework for ourselves, and an appreciation of what can affect this, we are better placed to make the best of our own longevity.
Your SHAPE results
The SHAPE Analyser provides the personal time frame for your important longevity decisions. It prompts you to develop immediate health action plans reflecting your SHAPE results and any other chronic health issues. Seven key longer-term steps form part of longevity planning. The first is ‘My Activities’.
My Activities
Paid work and bringing up families are typically major occupations into midlife. From then it’s possible start thinking about what lies down the track — the rest of your life.
Paid Work
Firstly consider your ‘personal capital’- what you bring by way of capabilities and experience, and the potential this may unlock. For more information see Really Grow Your Personal Capital as part of the longevity planning process. This article also links to two important concepts:
- Boost Your Longevity Bonus Your longevity bonus is how much longer you are now expected to live than at birth. It helps in framing your later life decisions
- Mindset A positive mindset is an important factor in making the best of your longevity
A study of 70-year-olds showed that work correlated with better perceived health, greater self-sufficiency, and longevity.
A further incentive for considering paid work for longer is the current high demand for productive workers of all ages, accompanied by rising awareness of the available skills and experience of older workers.
Unpaid Work
Not everyone needs to, wants to or is able to pursue paid work. However, not feeling useful can have a negative impact on longevity. We can still be ‘useful’ and continue to contribute without necessarily being paid. Two examples:
- Volunteering has long been a contribution by older people. Whether this affects their longevity can depend on their motives. Volunteers with altruistic reasons or wanted social connections were more likely to outlive those volunteering simply for personal satisfaction. There is also some support for the proposition that people who volunteer for one thing have a better longevity than those who volunteer for many: it’s suggested that this is the consequence of greater commitment — ‘it gets me out of bed and at it’. For more information about volunteering see GoVolunteer.
- Grandparenting is another typical contribution. Grandparents who looked after their grandchildren have tended to live longer (on average) than those who did not. paid Grandparenting involves social and practical support such as housekeeping. Looking after grandchildren requires grandparents to take more care of themselves and can reflect the power of positive emotion. More information is available here
Continuing to contribute
Having a ‘useful purpose’ is a common theme in both paid and unpaid work, reflecting self-sufficiency, ongoing challenges, and social connections, all of which contribute to our own wellbeing and potential longevity.
In a wider sense, continuing to contribute to society also acknowledges that our society has provided the framework within which community longevity has continued to increase, as outlined in the earlier link to Longevity Bonus.
Many other activities could qualify as being useful, just as there are other activities which are not ‘useful’ but are reasonable choices, such as travel and other interests and pursuits.
Extending longevity may not be a primary goal for many people, but it’s worth remembering that the factors that can positively influence longevity often improve quality of life. Also, extension of longevity is often accompanied by less dependency, as outlined in a later step in longevity planning.
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