Welcome to Nobody Told Me.

I'm Laura Owens and I'm Jan Black.

On this episode, we'll explore what creates happiness and purpose as we age.

And we're going to look at ways in which we can navigate change and

strengthen our relationships as we get older. Joining us is social scientist Arthur C. Brooks, who is a

Harvard professor, bestselling author and columnist at the Atlantic. He's also the author of a new book

called From Strength to Strength, Finding Success, Happiness, and deep purpose in the second half of life.

Professor, thank you so much for joining us.

Delighted to be with you.

Congratulations on your wonderful show, helping people every time we tune in.

Well, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Congratulations on your new book, which is doing the same thing.

And the book is somewhat the result of your own personal journey, isn't it?

It really is.

You know, I'm a happiness specialist.

I'm a social scientist, and I look at behavior, all different kinds of behaviors.

And I've been thinking about happiness for a long time for 25 years, but I realized that

that nobody was doing happiness work that asked the following

question. What can I do at 25 or 45 or even 65 that can remarkably change the odds of being

happy when I'm 75? Most people just think, I don't know, I'll live right and hope for the best.

And if I get happy, I'm happy, it'll be good luck. But it turns out

...