You might know this because you are a psychiatrist.

How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

One.

Exactly.

One, but the light bulb has to really want to change.

I love that joke.

We all want to live a happy life.

Of course.

In fact, we want it so much that there's a whole cottage industry built around helping us find it.

But what does a happy life actually look like?

In the 1930s, some Harvard scientists started tracking 724 teenagers.

They kept detailed records about how they lived their lives and what gave them satisfaction.

They tracked all 724 people for their entire lives. Only 10 of them

are still living today, and they are all in their hundreds. But just like the people the study

tracked, the scientists got old too. So the director of the study was handed to subsequent generations,

and Dr. Robert Waldinger is the current director, a position he's held for the past 22 years,

so he knows a lot about what actually leads to a happy life.

I wanted to know the things he's learning.

I also wanted to know how he's changed his own life as a result of the data he reads.

And let's just say I'm making a few changes to how I live my life

too. This is a bit of optimism. I don't know how to ask this without it sounding not polite,

but it's the only way I can think to ask it. How to come they picked you to lead the happiness study?

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