Today’s guest is Marc Schulz, PhD. Marc is the Associate Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development which is the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted. The study has followed the lives of two generations of individuals from the same families for more than eighty years. Dr. Schulz received his Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College and his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a practicing therapist with postdoctoral training in health and clinical psychology at Harvard Medical School.  Marc is the co-author of the newly released book The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study on Happiness.  Today Dr. Schulz and I chat about the findings of his study and what actually makes people happy long term. We discuss how things like money, relationships and work impact our levels of happiness and what it actually means to live a Good Life. 

What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:38 How does someone know if they lived a “good life”?
• 03:14 What types of relationships are most meaningful?  
• 05:35 Does technology change what makes people happy?
• 08:24 Online vs. in person relationships
• 10:45 How to strengthen in person relationships
• 12:31 How do scientists define happiness?
• 14:20 Handling adversity (according to 80 years of research)
• 16:47 How to remain optimistic during hard times
• 19:23 Common happiness traps
• 22:45 Can money make you happy?
• 27:29 Is happiness a choice?
• 31:17 How did people deal with their mental health 80 years ago?
• 34:57 Does being married make you happy?
• 38:16 How to improve intimate relationships
• 44:38 What makes people happy at work?

Episode Resources:

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