The Problem Isn't Just Eighty, It's Impossible

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i can't judge steve jobbs, maybe he was not the best father. But i'm really glad he spent a long time on apple. I made my life a little better. There's so many ways you can rationalize projects that are actually not good for you andare leading you astray. Sometimes it's instrumentally useful to leverage your own competitiveness to get yourself to do things,. But in itself's, it's very often a way of allowing your sense of what's valuable in your own life to be determined by how you think other people are going to perceive you. For all of us we grapple with these deep philosophical issues - but there isn't a formal test or formula

John Stuart Mill's midlife crisis came at 20 when he realized that if he got what he desired he still wouldn't be happy. Art and poetry (and maybe love) saved the day for him. In this week's episode, philosopher Kieran Setiya of MIT talks about his book Midlife with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Setiya argues we can learn from Mill to help deal with the ennui to which so many midlifers succumb--along with regrets for roads not taken and wistfulness for what could have been. Setiya argues that a well-lived life needs fewer projects and more pursuits that don't have goals or endpoints. He explains why past mistakes can turn out to be good things and how lost chances can help us appreciate the richness of life.